by Laura Parker Roerden We’ve had a couple challenging weeks here at the farm. A weasel has been getting into the chicken coop and biting heads off of our newly-raised heritage breed Delawares. Mornings I’ll enter the coop and cringe—another headless chicken lying on the ground, already stiff. At first, I could joke about it.Continue reading “A Farm Family”
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A Day in the Life of a (Part-time) Farmer
by Laura Parker Roerden 5:30 am (May 8, 2014). I’m awakened by my cell phone ringing and the accompanying chime of a left voicemail message. It’s the post office calling: they have my forty baby chicks. The ones that were not supposed to come for three weeks. (Who knew that the post office opens atContinue reading “A Day in the Life of a (Part-time) Farmer”
Picking Out Chicks!
It’s spring, which means it’s time to incubate and brood baby chicks. But which ones to add to Jo-Erl Farm this year? Normally, we purchase 50-75 new laying hen chicks to diversify and stabilize production. I think of these hens as the workhorses of the farm. Rhode Island Reds and White Leghorns are what myContinue reading “Picking Out Chicks!”
Salt from the Earth and a Karina Dresses #Frockstar: a Home-Grown Partnership
by Laura Parker Roerden Many of you know that I’ve been a green ambassador for Karina Dresses for some time now—bringing tips for green living to the Karina Nation through their blog. Karina Dresses and Jo-Erl Farm have a lot in common. Founder Karina Cousineau is from Uxbridge, MA, where Jo-Erl Farm has fed fiveContinue reading “Salt from the Earth and a Karina Dresses #Frockstar: a Home-Grown Partnership”
10 Things About Cows That Will Amaze You
by Laura Parker Roerden 1. Researchers have discovered that cows tend to face either magnetic north or south when grazing or resting, regardless of the sun’s position or the wind’s direction. Why cows do this remains a mystery. 2. Cows have regional accents. After a group of dairy farmers noticed their cows had different moos,Continue reading “10 Things About Cows That Will Amaze You”
Farm Camp Chronicles: 1/27/14
By Evan Maietta and Gabby Morrow It was 28 degrees here at Jo-Erl Farm today. It gets pretty cold up here on the hill. We had our full “Farm Camp” crew of eight people, which is pretty unusual since everyone’s schedules are so different. We tried to clear any debris from the lower pasture, butContinue reading “Farm Camp Chronicles: 1/27/14”
Wild, Wild Horses
by Laura Parker Roerden “Wild horses couldn’t drag me away.” —the Rolling Stones When I was growing up, our farm (then a dairy) was one of three farms on our hill. The other two were horse farms. The confines of these farms held a large gang of kids, who roamed the combined 200 acres ofContinue reading “Wild, Wild Horses”
Hidden Treasures
by Laura Parker Roerden I leave magazines in our bathroom. It’s a slightly subversive act because I tend to stock the ones that my three sons wouldn’t pick up and read on their own: National Geographic, Modern Farmer, Orion, Harvard Magazine. I myself have learned some of the most amazing things about the world in theseContinue reading “Hidden Treasures”
Farm Sounds
by Laura Parker Roerden It is with us… as a little bird hidden in the leaves who sings quietly and waits, and sings. -The Hidden Singer by Wendell Berry, farmer and poet I like poetry. I write it. I read it. I particularly like listening to it. When I was younger, I used to feel thatContinue reading “Farm Sounds”
How Now. . .
by Laura Parker Roerden Quick. Close your eyes and picture a cow. What did you see? How many of you saw a black and white cow? I thought so. Poor misunderstood BROWN cows: Ashyires, Jerseys, and Herefords. Our farm has always had brown cows, which poses a bit ofContinue reading “How Now. . .”