Long overdue update

Well, around here is back to school time. All the K's are suddenly very busy. K1 started @ Castleton (commutes from home), still works, and spends all her "free" time with her horse. K2 is back to Stafford in the cosmetology program, she also works & all her "free" time belongs to K boy. K3 is doing the mooselamoo program at OV. Which is a more hands on/outdoor type of learning, and she likes it much better than "regular" school. She is also the field hockey goalie. All three girls played last year, so it seems strange to only have one on the field.

Life at the petting barn is good. We have some birthday parties & field trips planned for this month. I did cut back my days to Friday - Sunday. It's really nice to be able to catch up at home.

We processed all our turkeys two weeks ago. It's a relief to have them gone. We were feeding/taking care of 5 different groups of birds 19 turkeys, 40 layers, 75 meat chicks, the chickens at the petting barn, and the pullets. The pullets are the chicks we got the first week the petting barn opened. The are getting really big, and we brought them home, so they could go outside. Can you find them in the tall grass?

Here are the meat chickens. We move them everyday. They are growing really fast. I have to say that I don't like these chickens, but boy the meat is sure good. Everyone thinks so...we sold out of our chicken shares. Next year we aim to do more. This year we processed almost 200 birds. In VT you can do up to a thousand on farm per year. We definitely have room for growth. 

We brought the two female piglets home, so they could be outside for a while. We brought a big pig to the petting barn. He was full of mud, so Mark decided to brush him. The pig loved it! He laid down like a dog wanting his tummy rubbed.

Marks favorite animals on the farm, His cows! Black Beauties calf which we call Black Jack (was going to be Ebony, but this fits better) is huge. He is going fast! We sent our Hereford steer to be processed. I got the call he was done & went to pick up the meat. Which I than unloaded by myself. Mark with his impeccable timing showed up as I was putting the last box in the freezer. Fall is the time of year to prepare for winter. We still have winter CSA meat shares available.

We made a upgrade to the farm store- very fitting....