It’s over. As of this afternoon, there are eight lambs, one calf, 150+ chicks, and eight piglets in the barn (or, in the case of the piglets, in the woods). Some highlights: Embracing Intensity My favorite photo from this birthing season features a handful of semester students grouped around a lambing pen. They are […]
A Farmer’s Reflections on the Birthing Season Read More »
The elementary schoolers helped us to finish cutting our seed potatoes today. Because each eye has the ability to grow a new plant, we can grow a number of potato plants from each potato and therefore cut each seed potato into multiple pieces, each of which will be planted twelve inches apart in furrows dug
Mashed, Baked, French Fried: Looking forward to a Potato-Heavy Season Read More »
Every year about this time, I start to watch the pasture closely, paying particular attention to the clover. When each clover leaf is the size of a dime, we know from historical experience that the pasture is just about ready for cows and sheep to start grazing. At that time, the extra-verdant spring grass will
Paying Attention to Clover Read More »
The fall is a season of bountiful harvests and waning light, taking animals to the slaughterhouse and long lists of food from the farm read off at every meal. It is also – happily – the season to start to imagine starting the cycle all over again. This week the farm and kitchen crew met
Planning for Baby Animal Season Read More »
Oftentimes at Chewonki, we speak to the connection between the head, heart, and hands. Here are a few excerpts from stories shared with family and friends of Semester 55 students during Family Weekend just before Thanksgiving: That head-heart-hand connection has been seen so many times on the farm this semester, through heavy harvests and chicken
Giving Thanks for the Head, Heart, and Hands of Semester 55 Read More »
During our final Farm and Food Systems class of the semester, students gathered in my house to share their “This I Believe” statements about their approach to eating. Avery, one of our brilliant and passionate student farmers, shared the following: I believe that each person should have equal access to food. Good food. Food that
This I Believe: an essay by Avery Read More »
Recently, Hannah Ryde (Semester 48) returned to the farm to capture these images of daily moments around the barn. So lovely! While in Maine, she also visited Common Ground Country Fair, where Sal and I spent the weekend doing demonstrations in the round pen and working woodlot. Here, Hannah photographed me stretching Sal as part
Daily Moments on the Farm Read More »
As Chewonki’s fiscal year draws to a close, I take some time to total up the poundage and value of food grown on the farm this year. Some highlights: 16,000 pounds of vegetables (including more than 2100 pounds of onions and 1700 pounds of potatoes harvested in just one two-hour work program by Semester 55
Farming by the Numbers Read More »
What a season this is. We went from deep snow to summery temperatures on the farm in a matter of moments it seems. These days there are so many more things to do in a day than there are hours to do them. On the “To Do” list this week (a truncated version): Transplant collards,
When I think about the intersection of community and food, my mind goes to bountiful places: I reflect on the richness of directly growing food for the Chewonki community, and I picture the local farms that we support through our food purchasing in the dining hall. Though more difficult to attach images to, there are
Food Security Forum Read More »
