Its been awhile since we posted last. The World Cup has come and gone (soccer is the official sport of VoterVale farm) and I did take alot of time off to watch our beloved Yanks play. My kids were into the games this year and watch with their dad. Of coarse the farm work didn't get done so we are scrambling to try to catch up.
 We are picking raspberries right now. We are fortunate to have a very healthy raspberry patch. Angel and I planted it 10 years ago and prune it hard every fall. So far we have picked around 30 quarts. These berries are made into jam (or Sunday morning crepes for the kids).  Nothing like fresh raspberries.
The sheep and pigs are enjoying their rotational grazing. We haven't had alot of rain this summer and it has been HOT! (love it) so the grass isn't growing at its best. We have made 8 paddocks for the sheep. Usually the sheep spend about a week or two in each paddock. (that's the plan anyway, plans tend to change).
This past weekend we move 15 freezer pigs to a new paddock across the main rain onto the side of the mountain. Now I'm glad no one had a camera while I tried to catch these fifteen pigs and move them. (or a video camera, my mom wouldn't like what was coming out of my mouth). It took all day to get the pigs and move them. But we did it and they are doing what pigs do best, they are clearing land. In two weeks Ill move them to a different location and they will do the same there. Pigs are great animals. They have a natural plow on the end of their nose, we might as well put it to good use. The area we put them in is over grown with brush and goldenrod and sumac.
 If your in the area please feel free to stop in. We are 9 times out of ten working outside on some project and around.

Ok, not really.... we spent this gorgeous Sunday building "chicken tractors".  That's probably as close to a tractor as we're going to get for a while.  The chicken tractor is a fairly portable chicken pen that is frequesntly moved to give the chickens fresh ground to scratch and new bugs and plants to eat.  It's as close to free-range as a chicken can be without having them poop on the front steps like they loved to do last summer.  The added benefit for use is that we placed them between the rows in our garden so that the chickens can weed and fertilize for us! 

The construction process was actually a fun family activity with everyone playing a part and a good opportunity for the boys to learn some basic construction and power tool skills.... with the drill - they're certainly not reasy for a Skill saw yet.  As the chicks get bigger we'll need a couple more but for now, they're pretty happy.  (By the way - notice the lovely colors - recycled lumber is good)














































In other news, we picked up three more pigs this week.  When we began this whole endeavor, we researched pigs breeds ad nauseum.  Our first choice was actually a breed called a red wattle.  We simply couldn't find any in the state of Maine so we went with our Tamworths.  Well, a person that we know who buys and sells pigs found three red wattle piglets and offered them to us... how could we resist.  They are cute and amazingly friendly.  Our plan is to keep at least two of them and expand our breedstock... we'll end up having Tamworth-Large Black piglets and Red Wattle-Large Black piglets.

This is Evan (our little scientist) drawing each of the new pigs and documenting their differences.  Red Wattles are named for the odd little appendages that hang from their necks called "wattles".
















The sheep are all happily eating grass and growing quickly.  The piglets are ready to be moved to their "forest" pasture as soon as we can get the fence built and Boris has a new playmate... more piglets in September!


The raspberries and blackberries are looking terrific... of course so are the garden weeds, but we'll get to that.

The month of May was absolutely beautiful with warm temperatures. This jump started our farm work as well. Planting, fence building, moving pigs, sheep, chicken tractor construction as well as two days of farmers markets all have kicked into high gear. (throw in baseball for all three boys, and we are busy).
We finally finished pickling fiddleheads, over 400 pints and went right into our animal grazing rotation. The issue with the rotational grazing (paddock system) is I need miles and miles of fence which means many trips to the Tractor Supply store in Farmington. We purchase 16 foot cattle panels and use a "pig tail" to attach them to each other. I borrowed the idea from another sheep farmer. These panels are rugged and are versatile in their use. Yes they are a bit more expensive however they are worth the money.
The gardens are 2/3rds planted. Over the Memorial Day weekend we set out 120 tomato plants and laid garden fabric to help weed control. Some may say this isn't a "natural" practice. However its much better than starting up the rototiller and knocking down the weeds every week. Its a wonderful invention (garden fabric) saves on my back too when weeding. We also did alot of companion planting, different plants benefit when you plant them side by side. For example we planted carrots with tomatoes.
The only thing left to plant is about a 1/4 acre of corn. The corn we will eat (not all of it) but we will corn crib it over the winter and feed it out to the pigs and it will help keep the cost of pig grain down. We will do this Saturday.
Spring also means taking animals to Dover-Foxcroft to be processed. Yesterday I made the trip with three animals so we can finally have meat for the market on Fridays and Saturdays.
We are also expecting 60 chickens to arrive this week from Ridgeway in Ohio. I need to make a chick pens.
We also will be using the piglets in a rotational forest restoration experiment. Big words for heal the woods. The pigs will be in a paddock system in the woods, they will eat the underbrush, disturb the soil, and fertilize the trees. Joel Salatin of Polyface farm in Virginia uses this practice and his results are impressive. The pigs are moved to the next paddock after about a week or two.
Spring has sprung and moved us right into summer mode, as well as the work that goes along with it. I hope to see you at The Friday Market in Farmington or the Saturday Market on Main Street in Farmington.

Darren
Your Local Lunatic Farmer