Fox Holler Farmstead

The pivot bolt on our laying hen wagon sheared off yesterday. When I tried working on it I also managed to partially bust the tongue. With enough tow chain and some crafty maneuvering, I think I can get it back to functional enough... But this may be the final push I need to ditch fossil fuel conveyances in my pasturing. My hopes are to implement some human powered wagons by year's end. I'm not fully convinced by the Joel Salatin broiler types... I prefer my birds to have amp...le perch space. Perhaps we can move back to larger wagons once we're able to utilize draft animal power. Until then, my whole work seems to hinge on one broken bolt. Anyhow, here's Sugar grazing out on a paddock which previously contained turkeys. The grasses here are much more dense than in other adjacent areas... a testament to how tandem poultry and ruminant pasturing can be mutually beneficial. Moving 70 chickens at once without a mobile coop just isn't going to happen as I'm using all my allotted time for chasing birds at the moment.

With second winter behind us, the piglets are exploring the pastures more, and even begin to graze. A stark contrast from farrowing crate/containment hog raising. In our system, piglets quickly gain experience by hanging out with their mothers, and learning from them.

Little pigs... That's what I got.

The razor's edge dance that is pasturing goats in an orchard.

Back a decade ago when we were living in Kansas, I heard an adage regarding child-rearing from an Amish matriarch: "Children should break even by five, and turn a profit by ten." We're not quite there yet, and I don't really think having an efficient labor force of my own progeny should come at the cost of a stable childhood and adequate education, but I appreciate all the help I can get. I do rely on my daughter to care for the goat kids, dogs, and baby chicks, as well as g...athering kindling, wild greens, and berries. That said, we're going to need a bit of extra help this season with gardening, strawbale construction, milking, moving pasture, food preservation, etc... Feel free to reach out if you have interest in interning with us. Accomodations are rustic, a solid three out of five meals are pretty good, and the work can be physically and emotionally rewarding. Connect with us to see if we're a good fit. We're particularly interested in hosting someone in June to help with some construction and chestnut tree planting.

Hoping things warm up by kidding time...

My boogers are frozen.

We're all still alive here.

Tree fodder comes in many forms. I was coppicing the willows outside the pig yard, and they begged me to give them some twigs to nibble. While willow boughs seem pretty fibrous to me, I suspect their live nature is somewhat more appealing to the pigs this time of year when compared with the hay. That, and mid winter boredom, I s'pose. Anyhow, I plan to coarsely hack up the brush after the pigs have munched the tips and skinned the bark, so that it will be stomped into this ...muddy spot... an opportunity to reinvest some of the carbon being produced just downslope of this particularly concentrated load of nutrients. We also feed willow boughs to the goats at times in the winter. The goats do an excellent job of debarking polewood for building use, as well as to get our kindling to dry out more quickly. Thin willows, stripped down by goats and laid up in the braces of our hoop house have a quick turnaround into becoming useful fuel wood. Tannins in the bark and leaves of these quick growing woody perennial fodders can actually alter fermentation in ruminants to reduce methane emissions during digestion. We are just starting to experiment with biochar as a feed additive for our monogastric livestock for a similar effect, specifically regarding emissions related to manure. Biochar, which we can produce from the very same willow plantings... Are we closing the loop? Nah, not yet. But we can tighten a little with the help of willow. We're also planting more basket type willows this spring, in hopes that someone wants to show up and make some baskets one of these days.

A very fancy boy.