Tonopah (boar) and Kapugen (guard dog) get along well.
Sometimes they curl up together to sleep, other times they share a meal.
Here's a photo of a couple of guys just hanging out at -11 degrees.
Formerly,Bar None Ranch, of Berlin, NY, we are now Climbing Tree Farm, of New Lebanon. We raise PASTURED POULTRY, LAMB, GRASS-FED BEEF, and WOODLAND/PASTURE-RAISED, MILK-FED PORK. We keep our animals true to their instincts- letting our pigs dig, our chickens range, our sheep graze. We feed rotationally graze on pasture and silvo-pasture (in the woods). We work with a local dairy to feed our pigs Jersey milk. We are conscientious stewards of the land, and our animals.
Please visit our website climbingtreefarm.com
or contact us with questions or to place orders.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
"Story Hour"
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| We've been regulars at library story hour for over seven years- both of our kids live(d) for it. I try really, really hard to be there, but sometimes we have work that can't wait and we can't go to the library. Here's what farm kid "story hour" looks like. |
Darrow School Comes to Climbing Tree
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| Students helping Colby move a round bale. |
We're working with Darrow school, a private high school in New Lebanon. The students have been challenged to recreate one of the most ubiquitous products in America - the McDonald's Happy Meal - from scratch, using only what we can find around us. They have been working with local farmers to help them learn some basic skills like cheese-making or bread-making, and they are trying to grow small pots of produce in various locations on campus. They are also raising chickens right now in the biology classroom - for meat, not eggs - and another farmer is going to help them slaughter and render them for cooking. Another team is working on the packaging - both paper and ink.
Ultimately, the goal of the project is to learn something about how we sustain ourselves - locally, nationally and globally - and to begin to think about whether what we are doing is in fact sustainable. This challenge is the core project in 9th grade history - it was meant to lure the kids into examining essential questions about human geography.
The students are learning project management, how to use social media to advocate for change, research and writing, and self-reflection and evaluation, in addition to content.
For a longer description, you can read this:
Here are some examples of student research:
We've been surprised and excited by how insightful, curious, and thoughtful these students are. We look forward to watching their mistakes and successes (both important!) throughout this project, and can't wait to see what they come up with for a finished project.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Fertilized Oak
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Guess which acorn grew on a tree that was fertilized by pig manure last year? The giant acorn fell from a tiny Red Oak tree in a spot that the pigs grazed in last year. The average sized acorn fell from a mature Red Oak that was not fertilized. Never doubt the power of poo (and animal impact)! P.S. - This is not an isolated incident- all of the Oaks that the pigs foraged around last year gave abnormally large acorns. |
Monday, October 6, 2014
It's Nut Season!
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| Hickory nuts |
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| Acorns |
Milk-fed Piglets
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| Well, hello there! |
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This year we began farrowing our own piglets in earnest. Last year we dabbled, this year we've jumped in. From here on out our herd will likely remain "closed." This will help us to preserve our favorite genetics, and to reduce the chance of bringing illness in from another farm via piglets. Piglets are one of the very best parts of our job! |
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We interfere with sows and their babies as little as possible-
believing that bonding is important and that the mama pigs
know how to raise their babies better than we could do it ourselves.
Unfortunately, our hands off approach means that we don't
get to snuggle the piglets as much as we would like.
(It's really hard to keep our hands off the little guys!)
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Piglets are usually shy, and skittish, which is why we don't have many
pictures of them.
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| This litter is unusually friendly-
I took advantage and spent some time with them today,
soaking up some cuteness.
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| Never too young to forage. |
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| Those dangly things are "wattles-" which are found only in Red Wattle hogs. Red Wattle is a rare, heritage breed with a mysterious origin- more on Wattles another time. |
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| Sisters! Margaret (lying down)- nursing her sister's (standing) babies. Margaret and her sister were separated for a couple of months because their babies were born at different times. They were reunited yesterday and Margaret very quickly installed herself as wet nurse. Her own piglets are big, and strong, and are nearby playing with the big kid piglets. |
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Rocktumbler-Discotheque
Before we had children we had a mental picture of how we would raise our future children. They would be inquisitive, and be shown the world. They would know nature, and be wild. They would eat well, and know their food. They would calmly and quietly fit into our life, and we would live with our children by our side. They would be loved, and feel happy.
It isn't quite as simple as this. Maybe someone tried to tell us, but we didn't hear. Parenting is difficult and it's full-time. So is farming. In many ways the work we do with our children is mirrored on our farm (though we never, ever have let a piglet who's having a nightmare climb into bed with us in the middle of the night, and I very much doubt that we ever will).
As a farming mother (who is pretty tied to this particular piece of the planet that we call our farm) I often wish I could show my kids more of the world- the part that isn't on our farm (or within a couple hour's drive). I wish they were slightly less wild- especially when I'm trying to make phone calls. These kids really know where food comes from, but I wish they were as excited about the first green beans of the season as they are about cookies. I wish they were quieter and calmer- so that I could (once in a while) complete a thought without interruption. I wish a lot of things (loving them all the while- while I slowly go insane).
Sometimes it feels like all we do is take care of animals, and soil microbes, and little people. It's overwhelming and exhausting. Recently we were trying to come up with metaphors for our life. I described the incessant noise, and motion, and care taking, and deal-making as feeling like I'm inside a rock tumbler. My mother thought it seemed like we live in a discotheque, with lots of strobe lights. From inside the discotheque- rock tumbler it feels as though we're doing everything wrong.
BUT...then miracle of miracles: I look back at the pictures I've taken in the last couple of weeks. It happens every time I upload pictures from my camera- I see that our life is exactly how it should be (though VERY loud). Our kids have found an entire universe to explore on our hillside. Our two year old can find and identify a Black Trumpet Mushroom, our seven year old literally swings on vines like Tarzan. They are perfectly wild and know nature like few adults do. They squeal and chant "yummy, yummy, yummy" when we pick up a whole, dead pig from the slaughterhouse (for delivery)- they know where food comes from in a way many adults do not. We are living with our rambunctious, LOUD children by our sides. The calm and quiet part- that's never going to happen, but (as long as we don't have a stroke from over stimulation) they have a lot of interesting things to say. They are loved, and my greatest wish (more than for quiet or calm) is that they know it.
Here are some pictures of our wild children. You can't hear the shrieking and bickering so you'll probably think we're living a quaint, simple life.
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| Young pyromaniacs cooking noodles and beans in a mini self-made wood fired oven...in the driveway. |
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| OK, not the happiest looking face on the little girl, but it was a good time. |
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