On the FARM

Greetings! This is Cathy the Development Manager. The Development Office is non-stop busy with outreach and marketing, grant writing, donor cultivation and planning our annual fundraiser, Meals in the Meadow. Because Meals in the Meadow is a big party, we’ll start there.

Meals in the Meadow will be held on July 17th and this is our 5th year of hosting the event. If any of you have planned a giant party or wedding you can imagine all the tiny, little details that need attention! Right now we are busy getting sponsorships, volunteers and auction items for the event. We’ve been fortunate to have great volunteers for the event each year so I’m sure this year won’t be an exception. Buckley’s Gourmet Catering has a great menu called Summer on the FARM and includes a lot of produce and meat from The FARM Institute making it a very homegrown event. The setting of the event is in the north field under a giant tent and is really quite magical, especially if the cows are nearby. 

Development is also overseeing a capital campaign to have water lines installed on the property. Our generous donors have helped us raise over $16,500 so far and we keep going. The lines will be installed by the start of summer programming and it’s the major completion of a project that signals the FARM’s ongoing growth and evolution. For the FARM staff it’s a good reminder of how much our dedication is positively changing the farm; for our supporters we hope that it is a reminder of the great difference they make to the farm and to the MV community.

Please come by the farm at any time and walk around, check out the animals or volunteer. We’d love to see you down on The FARM!
Cathy

In less than an hour our Farmers-in-Training program will be out on the FARM harrowing a part of the Friendship Garden with Danny, our 2500 pound Ox.

This is Emily from the Education Department writing to tell you all about our programs.

There has been a bit of chill in the air the past few days, I’ve started to wear my long john’s and wool sweaters again, and we’ve even had a few frosts. I eagerly check the weather reports and walk out to the garden to remind myself that it is indeed Spring. Right now the sun is coming out and it’s warming up just enough to make me smile. The plants and animals don’t seem to mind this temporary temperature reality check, and they are still growing big and strong.

Like a grand crescendo we’ve had more and more and more people visiting the FARM. Right now there are people walking around, talking to the animals, and checking up on our plants for us. In the next few days, we’ll have Wee Farmers and the Saturday Work Program planting some things in the garden and helping to take care of our animals. Their most favorite thing is to help clean and move the baby meat chicks, which is a great help for our busy FARM staff.

Every day we set aside time to clean up the FARM and get everything in order for our Summer Programs. We’re especially excited for this Summer because of all the new Camp options we’ve added. Kids can come to be a “Farmer-for-a-Day” or participate in our theme-based Harvesters program. We’ve also developed our “Homesteaders” and “Future-Farm-Hands” programs for our older participants who want to learn more about the culture of agriculture and raising plants and animals for profit!

So, don’t forget to sign up for camp! And don’t miss out, sign up for multiple weeks!

It has been a really interesting spring. One day it feels like february at the farm with 30 mile an hour winds and bitter cold temperatures. The next we are out in t-shirts and feeling bad for the sheep who are anxiously awaiting their early summer shearing. We have already welcomed our first 4 lambs! Bean welcomed triplets for a second year in a row and her daughter Java bean had her first little ram lamb.

All are doing well and we are keeping a very close eye on the rest of the flock for filling udders and odd behaviors. Generally when an animal is about to give birth, they do very similar things. They will often seperate themselves from the flock or herd and sort of keep to themselves. There udders will also become noticeably larger  and their vulvas get very  swollen.  There are of course every year the babies that surprise us-some mothers just do not show the signs as predominately as others.  Pearl the goat is about 2 weeks over due which is either because I miss calculated her due date (very possible) or because baby just doesnt want out yet. We keep a close eye on all our mommas to make sure they can have a happy and safe delivery!

Here is Jessup, our Alpine dairy goat and her kids. We were lucky enough to have Wes, Joey and Crystal from the Rebecca Amos Institute at the high school witness their birth! It was a tricky one, the first kid was stuck and I had to pull it out. Luckily I had spent 4 days at Heifer International’s Overlook farm livestock birthing program and had all the skills I needed for the kid to appear alive and healthy. We named the kids Rebecca and Amos and they are growing like weeds! (luckily they are eating them too).

Over the past few months we have been trying to artifically inseminate Miss Piggy our gloucestershire old spot sow. Although it was an incredible learning experience, we are about 99% sure we were unsuccessful both times. Lucky for us John Packer, an island farmer in West Tisbury, let us borrow his boar, Tarzan. Sure enough as soon as Miss Piggy came back into heat, Tarzan was ready for action. He makes it look so easy! This Thursday Miss Piggy will come into heat again if she did not get bred by tarzan the first time. We are crossing fingers that she wont and the deed will be done! Yay for summer piglets!

The cows are finally out grazing on the spring grass! Their winter pen is pretty desolate now and we were still feeding out about 10 bales a day. Kiga, one of our resident Belted Galloways,  jumped straight in the air flailing her legs around in delight when I opened the fence to the new field. Happy cows come from Martha’s Vineyard!

Things are getting busier and busier by the day. We are now processing chickens every weekend and having to move the grazing sheep, goats and cows every few days. The piglets we purchased in February are now out in last years cornmaze and the cows are out in the far southeast field along Katama road which makes for long walks out to do chores twice a day.  Lucky for me I now have Joe, a farmhand from last fall and farmer teacher from last summer to help me do the dirty work.  More summer staff will be arriving shortly so we can stay in the fast lane. Big things happening over at the farm. Come see us! Eggs for sale too!

The farm has been a cold barren place these last few weeks. The gardens are empty and the seasonal staff have left and the animals are spending much more time indoors. I am surprised though at how much the sheep and cattle have continued to graze. If we were to have given them pastures like these in June they would have been outraged. They would have turned around and looked at me and mooo’d and moooo’d with much disgust. We just sent the 4 pigs born this summer and 2 cows off to slaughter. We purchased 15 angus cows (3 cows, 6 young heifers and 6 young steers) from a farm in New York state run by friends and family of Alan and Debbie from Blackwater Farm in West Tisbury.  We have already received 10 of the cows (all of which are doing well!) and are expecting the next 5 on Monday. Order your beef now!

We are also borrowing Danny the milking shorthorn ox from Bob Woodruff in West Tisbury. He arrived in good timing considering our 4-wheeler is broken and Danny is extremely useful for hauling things around the farm. We are hoping to incorporate draft animals into our education programs and use him for farm work.

Monday is our annual farm chore open house in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. day. come down to the farm and spend some time with the animals. They need friends in the winter too! Don’t forget to sign up for our summer programs or our meat and veggie CSA.

I really do think winter will come eventually. The days seem cool but then Mother Nature hits us with a beach day in the middle of November. Sometimes even more than one! We have blown out all our water lines to prepare for the upcoming freezes and began moving all of the animals closer to the barn for winter but the winter just isn’t coming.  One of these days i’m going to arrive at the farm only to find every ones water troughs frozen over, and it’s going to stay that way for a loooooong time.

A crew has been diligently working to redo the horse barn at the farm. The FARM received a grant for the horse barn and it has gotten a new wall, doors , windows, shingles and now the crew is beginning work on the roof. It looks Great!  We have been putting lots of work into planning for next year. Sidney and Nell have been redesigning curriculum’s and programs at the farm Kristen, Matthew and I have been creating and working on our meat and Veggie CSA for next year. Interested? give us a call for more information.  Part of the planning for the meat CSA involves making sure we have enough animals to meet the meat demand. Matthew and I sat down and figured out how many animals we would have to raise in order to fulfill 40 meat CSA shares and still have enough food to supply the customers at the farmers market, restaurants and farm stand.  In preparation for the 2010 season we have purchased 15 Angus cows and 6 pigs and are currently looking for more sheep. Come by and see them! 

Kristen has been keeping the greenhouses alive and well even though the outside world is chilly with strong winds. I am so excited about the wintertime veggies! Come to the winter farmers market once a month in West Tisbury.

the veggies are still growing, the animals are still grazing the chickens are still laying and the kids are still learning. Although the summer is behind us things at the FARM are still in full swing.  Here are some quick updates:

>Bobbie and Pumpkin both welcomed adorable little heifer (female) calves this month. Don’t tell the other cows but Bobbie’s little calf may just be the cutest calf I have ever seen.

Decide for yourself!

We have also deciced to raise Pekin ducklings for the holiday season. I am really enjoying watching the ducklings each day. They all bask in the sun all day until one gets up and decides to go splash around in the water or munch on some food and then as soon as one decides to go back and lay down, they all follow. Ducks definitely seem to “go with the flow”.

Our winter programs are in full swing and the kids have already been out picking pumpkins, setting up fences, planting and weeding and mucking out stalls. Each week more and more kids show up and its nice to see that as the days get colder (and shorter) the interest in the FARM grows!

Our cornmaze is still open and the corn is over 9 feet tall. The cornmaze will be open well into the fall so stop by and test your skills at maneuvering through the maze. (it’s challenging!)

We are in the process of developing a plan for a meat CSA next year. The meat CSA will focus on providing islanders and island visitors with farm raised meat throughout the season and provide us (the farmer) with some financial stability up front.  Stay tuned. I promise to keep you posted.

Summer is in full swing! We have successfully completed our first two weeks of camp and it seems as if the rain has finally ceased. Unfortunately both of our tractors have been down for the past few weeks but after our John Deere returned to us last Friday, the days have been filled with haying.  Hopefully we will still be able to bring in enough hay to feed the critters for the winter. Keep your fingers crossed!

On Friday we also welcomed our first calf of the year! Kiga our 8 year old Belted Galloway cow gave birth to a little heifer calf. Just like last year, the calf doesn’t look quite the same as the rest of the Beltie herd. She is all black with a big white spot on her belly. One interesting observation is that Kiga is very determined to keep the rest of the herd away from the new addition except for Tesa, her calf from last year. The three of them hang out together and nuzzle each other like a happy family.

This weekend was also the infamous 4thof July parade. I am proud to annouce that the FARM Institutes float took home the prize for most origional. Maybe it was because we had a giant chicken made out of hay and flowers or possibly because we gave out radishes instead of candy or i guess there is a chance its because our float was completely people powered! The farm staff rigged up an apparatus to pull the float on foot instead of using a tractor, truck or even draft animal. With the help of Edgartown Farmer Dickie Brown and longtime farm volunteer Mark DeFeo, we converted a draft horse forecart, a four person tug of war rope and a boat dolly into a mode of transportation. Although we were tired at the end of our day of hauling and chanting to parade go-ers it was well worth it. Check back for pictures!

This is one of my favorite times of year. The days are the perfect temperature, not too cold and not too hot, the grass is growing, the plants are growing and our farm occupants are growing in a few ways as well. The babies are getting bigger! The lambs are now about two months old and have practically tripled in size. Miss Piggy’s appetite seems to be getting bigger and bigger as well and we are hoping she has some bundles of joy wiggling around in that tummy of hers. We are expecting her to farrow (give birth) in about 2 weeks however although she is eating lots and lots she doesn’t seem to be gaining a whole lot of weight. She gave us quite the run around at breeding time this year, or I guess I should say her mates did. I can’t remember if I wrote about it before but we had to try two different boars this year and the second one, Miss Piggy’s mate from last year, seemed to have done the trick. Gilda, Miss Piggy’s daughter, celebrated her first birthday on May 21^st and it is hard to believe pigs can grow so big in just one year. Close to 350 pounds!

We recently had all of our sheep sheared by none other than Andy Rice, the shearing master. For me the most interesting part is after the sheep get back together, none of them recognize eachother. The lambs constantly baaaa looking for their mothers, who are right next to them. Lemon and Lime the Angora goats have to re-establish their bond by butting heads for a few minutes until they remember “oh right, you’re my pal” It really is quite a spectacle.

sheared sheep

Some of this years farmer/teachers have arrived and we are expecting the rest tomorrow. I am so excited to meet all of the new faces and have so much more help! This past week the few that had arrived helped muck out the old pig and calf barns, scrubbed all of the dirty water buckets that had lay dormant all winter collecting dust and became expert cattleman/woman when it came time for our big cross-farm cow move. The next two weeks are summer staff orientation and I will be on board making sure the new staff has the proper knowledge and experience needed to make their summer a great one!

The farm has already welcomed 14 lambs! We are proud to say we have beaten the odds and had three sets of triplets. Congratulations Scarlet, Bean and Lightning. After visiting the barn this morning to check on our menagerie I met Annie’s twins for the first time and welcomed them into the world by trimming their umbilical cords and dipping the belly buttons in iodine. We do this to all newborn animals to help fight off infection through the opening. We have been weighing the lambs at birth and for a few days after to track how quickly they are growing each day. The triplet lambs have all been born pretty normal size (between 5 and 7 pounds) but our twins have been little monsters! Annie’s lambs this morning were 10.5 pounds and 9.75 pounds. I think any mother out there can imagine what giving birth to two babies of that size would be like. These lambs are HUGE! but I am happy to say they are all healthy and nursing on their own. Come down and see them!

We have already begun raising this years meat birds. I love bringing the kids from the Saturday work program into brooder A to see the week old chicks and then into the barn to see the 4 week old chicks so they can see for themselves how fast they grow. It really is remarkable.

I have been lucky enough to take on yet another task here at the farm. Sidney, Cathy and I have been hard at work developing a residential program for The FARM Institute. We hope to get students from various cities over to the farm so they can spend three days here being engaged in all aspects of the farm. We are working with The Farm School in Athol, MA to get ideas from their current residential programs so we can be sure we provide the students with the best experience we possibly can. Stay tuned for more updates on that.

I am happy to say that Miss Piggy has been successfully bred by Jelly bean over at the Thompson’s farm . We are expecting piglets in about another 2 and a half months. Get excited!