Groton Family Farm

Sunshine and Rain

2011-05-05T15:12:00.000-07:00

So far it is turning out to be a great spring. Lots of sunshine and lots of rain. The pasture is starting to fill in with the new grass, the lettuce, spinach, onions and sweet peas are coming along nicely. The tomato plants we started in the greenhouse are now five feet tall. All the animals seem happy. Life is good.

2011-05-03T05:10:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5ZSnlCTFKU

New Lambs enjoying the sunshine

2011-05-03T05:09:00.000-07:00

Check out the new gang. They seem happy enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5ZSnlCTFKU

The new lambs

2011-04-29T03:55:00.000-07:00

A few more pics of the new lambs...or are they pandas?

2011-04-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

And the chickens are out on pasture....

Spring is here and the planting has started

2011-04-28T18:58:00.000-07:00

Spring is here and the planting has started. Lettuce, spinach, onions, sugar snap peas, cabbage, and broccoli are all in the ground. The tomato plants in the greenhouse are five feet tall and full of flowers and even a few tomatoes ready for early harvest. the garlic is coming up. Just waiting for the potatoes to arrive so we can get those in the ground as well.

Sheep Shearing

2011-04-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

We had our annual sheep shearing on Easter Saturday. Several people of all ages came to watch. Click on the link to watch the process.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnADLvfb5vs

2011-04-28T18:37:00.000-07:00

We now have six lambs born. Two more ewes will deliver next month. They are all healthy and pretty frisky running a round like jack rabbits. It is fun to watch them play together as well. It is hard to tell them apart as they all look the same.....black with white faces and black eyes. They look like little pandas.

2011-04-13T18:39:00.000-07:00

We are looking forward to our annual sheep shearing event April 23rd, the Saturday before Easter Sunday. It usually if a fun event for people of all ages. the sheep don't seem to mind losing their thick coats of wool, especially with the warm weather coming. Finally it is warming up!

2011-04-13T18:31:00.000-07:00

Poor rip Tide lost his manhood last week. He was getting very "rammy" and actually dangerous. In hopes of quieting him down we had him castrated. He doesn't chase me now but I think it is because he is still quite sore. Once he is all healed he still might need some "education" as to proper manners. Basically he is a good ram and I hope be becomes well behaved.

New Lambs

2011-04-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

The first of the lambs were born last week. He is already feeling his oats and also runs around like a rabbit. Eight of our nine ewes are pregnant and so we expect a lot more lambs in the near future. Mama is eager to get out with the rest of the flock but it is raining outside and we don't want baby to catch a cold.

2011-04-13T18:17:00.000-07:00

Well, there have been a few births since our last entry which was some time ago. Buttercp the goat arrived from a family that was leaving CT and low and behold, at 4 AM the next morning she had a little kid, Lulu. Lulu is now more than a month old and is jumping around like a jack rabbit. She likes to jump up on her mothers back or up on just about everything.

Just where do those eggs come from anyway?

2010-12-19T14:18:00.000-08:00

Red Sex-linked Hen

Right now the farm has 500 laying hens. We have 350 Red Sex-linked hens and these are the most prolific. The sex-linked has nothing to do with their romantic capabilities but that the color of the chicks is on the sex-chromosome. This allows the hatchery to distinguish the boys from the girls. The Red Sex-linked are a cross between a Rhode Island Red and a White Leghorn. The second breed are Black Sex-linked and are across between a Rhode Island Red and a Bard Rock. They are a slightly larger bird and lay slightly larger eggs but not quite so many. We have 100 of these. And the third type is a less common breed, the Araucana. They lay blue eggs. They don't lay so many eggs but they are a pretty bird.

Black Sex-linked Hen

Araucana Hen

Araucana Rooster

Rhode Island Red Rooster

Thanksgiving Turkey?

2010-11-24T10:29:00.000-08:00

A local radio station dropped of this fine looking turkey, but made me promise she would not be Thanksgiving dinner. Her name is Matilda. The station had offered a free Thanksgiving turkey in a contest. The winner was expecting a nice frozen Butterball and didn't know what to do with a live turkey. So here she is. I am beginning to feel like Noah and the Ark. Two rescue dogs, two rescue mules, a rescue duck and now a rescue turkey. Happy Thanksgiving!

ZEUS, MIA and BUSTER the duck

2010-11-24T10:21:00.000-08:00

Zeus, Mia and yes Buster the duck are pretty much on their own today as the chickens have been moved to the barn for the winter (they still go out during the day for the grass, or what's left of it.) Soon I will move them out with the sheep in the back pasture. But first I have to teach them not the chase the sheep so they will be on a lead for about a week. I wonder if they know it is thanksgiving. Gosh, they are such good dogs. I feel very lucky.

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-24T10:12:00.000-08:00

Well it is now November and the hens are scrounging every little bit of green grass they can find. They have already eaten up my back yard. I then moved them out to the spent garden to finish off the last bits of lettuce, clover and weeds. They made quick work of that so now I am leading them out to the back pasture. It's the green grass (beta-carotene) that makes the yolks nice dark yellow. 400 chickens makes one impressive foraging machine!

2010-09-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

The Moms and their Lambs (Catherine, Aesop, Candy, Tim, Alice, Anne, Lucy, Ali, Lila, Lola, and Lucinda)
Tim

Lila, Lola and Lucinda

Aesop

Ali

Candy

The Moms and all their "Babies"Heading for the Barn

As I said, the sheep have grown, not quite as big, but almost as their moms. Also, feeling bad for the unnamed, I named them all this morning as I took their pictures. So....Cathering begat Aesop and Candy; Anne begat Lucy and TIm; Lila begat Lola and Lucinda; and Alice be gat Ali. Here they are in all their glory.

Gosh! It's September already

2010-09-06T18:23:00.000-07:00

dgacent

Heavens, it is already September! It's starting to get cooler at night.We were essentially untouched by Herb (it was Herb, wasn't it?), just a lot of much needed rain. Well, all the lambs are big now (pictures to follow) though they still hang near their mothers. I have had less time to spend with them so only three have names. When they are bold enough to get close enough to get a tummy scratch they get a name. Three have names: Lucy, Aesop and Tim. I am up to 17 sheep and my pasture is starting to show it. Fortunately I am renting an a adjacent field so I can give my pasture a bit of a rest. Of course, now I have two small mules (Molly and Sally) and they are hard on my pasture as well. I am also up to about 850 hens. Good lord, how did this all happen? Oh, did I mention that we adopted a goat as well, Henry the goat.

Spring is Here!

2010-05-05T18:03:00.000-07:00

Well spring is definitely here. Nothing like having a few younguns around to cheer you up.

New Lambs 1AM Friday April 30th

2010-05-05T05:50:00.000-07:00

Two of the ewes (Catherine and Annie) have delivered the goods. Each of them had twins. Right after they were born they were jumping around like jack rabbits. Quite a sight. The two other ewes well be delivering soon.

more pictures of the shearing

2010-04-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

Here us a kink to more pictures of shearing day.

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4202467014/a=1

The link is to "snapfish". I think you have to sign up to get to them. If you get an "error" page, just click on "home" and the pictures should come up.

2010-04-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

Well, we are done with the shearing. (See the pictures) All the sheep were pretty calm about the process except Rip Tide, our new fertile teenage ram. This was his first shearing and he was quite put off to say the least. He was not keen about being flipped on his back. Fortunately Bill Cornoyer, our shearer, was able to stay away from Rip Tides impressive horns and get the job done.

Funny, after shearing the sheep do not recognize each other and there is a whole lot of butting going on.

We also have about 30 new chicks that have hatched with their mothers sitting on their eggs, au natural. New babies of any kind are always fun. We would eventually like a good percentage of our flock hatched and raised by their mothers. How would like to be grown in and incubator and never have a mother to get you started. It is fun to watch the chicks scooting after mother.

Next step is baby lambs due sometime in May. Four ewes are "with child" and we may have anywhere from four to eight new lambs. Last time we had all rams. I hope this time we have some girls. I'll keep you posed.

RAIN#*@#!

2010-03-31T06:32:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, we did not excape the rain. The pasture was flooded. THer are now three new ponds in the pasture. My poor sheep. They looked so pathetic huddled on a patch of dry ground. Was going to move them to their quarters under the barn, but that had one foot of water. There was also one flock of 100 hens on the pasture. They were swimming in a foot of water. Had to pull the hoop coop to higher ground.. That was real fun in the mud. Everyone survived, but we all need to dry out.

oops!

2010-03-07T17:20:00.000-08:00

A friend let me know that I had described Zeus as big as a bear and gentle as a LION. No, he is gentle as a LAMB. He is no longer scared of Buster the duck. The duck follows Zeus around just as he followed Wheeler. I believe he thinks the new dog is Wheeler. Zeus is settling in. He no longer chases the chickens. He is good enough that I let him off the lead today to roam free. Boy, was he happy. Couldn't stop running around the field. I am leaving him out tonight to sleep in the small shed I made for Wheeler. Hope he doesn't bark too much.

Next week I will start introducing him with the sheep. I can't wait for the time where everyone is comfortable with each other and Zeus can lay around anywhere and keep an eye on things. I hope he is not lonely or gets bored. Maybe I should get him a companion Pyrenees, or some goats, or a donkey, or some more ducks..........

New Guard (?) Dog

2010-03-02T18:50:00.000-08:00

Well Zeus has arrived two days ago. What a dog. A gentle giant. Big as a bear and gentle as a lion. HE is 3 and 1/2 years old. Right now he just likes to chase the chickens and the sheep. Will definitely need some guard training. He is scared of Buster the duck. Hopefully things will work themselves out.

2010-02-25T19:38:00.000-08:00

Gosh, it's been a month. A bunch has happened. Wheeler, my gentle Great Pyrenees died. He was 16+ years, but it was still sad. We found him in the morning by the chicken coop and Buster, his friend the duck, was sitting by his side. The poor duck seemed lost for a few days. And then fortunately the hens, who had freaked before when we first put him in with them, now accepted him. At least he had some company. But I do not think it will ever be the same for the duck.
Wheeler had become quite a celebrity in the area. He was written up several times in the New London Day. The second graders wrote a book about him and his friend the duck. I will be getting another Great Pyrenees soon. He is youger (2-3 yrs old). I will need to train him. I hope he doesn't eat the chickens. His name is Zeus.

It has been raining here for four days and will do so for another two days. My farm is awash with huge puddles and mud. My poor chickens. They can't wait for spring so they can be outdoors all day, on fresh green grass.

http://www.theday.com/article/20100223/NWS01/100229947

http://www.theday.com/article/20100224/OP02/302249953

Fresh Eggs

2010-01-20T16:54:00.000-08:00

How's this for fresh eggs? Just collected this morning. This is something Big-y, Stop and Shop, etc. can't beat.

Wheeler the 16 year old Great Pyrenees Guard Dog

2010-01-13T05:42:00.000-08:00

Wheeler doesn't seem to mind the snow.

And the final product ready for the hand spinners (Pin Roving)

2010-01-13T05:29:00.000-08:00

THe process: Sheep to Wool (Pin Roving)

2010-01-10T17:35:00.000-08:00

The Shetland Sheep The Shetland Sheep

2010-01-03T06:40:00.000-08:00

The chickens do go out, but just to get a little sunshine.

2010-01-03T06:29:00.000-08:00

Well, winter is here with the snow. The sheep don't mind but the hens find it a bit chilly. How would you like to walk in the snow with bare feet? All the chickens are now moved into the barn and go out when they want to. In spite of keeping the lights on for a few hours at night and in the early morning (so they have 16 hours of light so they continue to lay.....am I mean or what?), the cold slows them down a bit. Still getting about 20 dozen a day. Hope all my customers are happy. Well, at least I don't have to weed.

As you can see, Wheeler doesn't mind the snow. Old as he is, he still thinks this is his kingdom.

2009-12-12T12:55:00.000-08:00

Well, finally the other sheep seem to have accepted Rip Tide, at least they are not running away. Funny how I seem to be more concerned about Rip Tides happiness than about drawing up a sound business plan. Better get back to crunching the numbers. Right now I am swamped with eggs. Three refrigerators full. Gotta get out and find more customers. Marketing. Woopie!.

2009-12-11T19:27:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to get the other boys to play nice, and include the new kid in class in their games with only limited success. There is nothing a sheep hates worse than being alone.

2009-12-11T19:21:00.000-08:00

Well, here's Rip Tide. Not much in the breeding category (tto young and too small) but a sweet kid. As you can see, affectionate.

2009-12-07T05:06:00.000-08:00

Well, now I have two rams! Rip tide just seemed too small to get up on the girls. So I put him in with the wethers (rams without their cojones) and drove up to Vermont to get an older ram to rent for 2 months. Ah yes, rent-a-ram. Poor Rip Tide. He now is trying to make friends with the five wethers. They just run from him. So an outcast with no home once again. Hope the guys will accept him soon otherwise I'll have to bring him into the house to keep him company. The ewes seemed to cozy up to the new ram right away. Guess they are ready for a little action. Maybe we'll have baby lambs in the spring after all.

2009-12-02T16:07:00.000-08:00

Well it has been 12 days now since Rip Tide came on the scene. The girls seem to have accepted him. At lease they are not running away. In fact, two of the young ewes have let him try to mount them. Unfortunately they are larger that he is so no bulls eye yet. He is trying, however. He certainly is feeling his ramhood. As I sat with them in the barn tonight, you know, for a little quality time, Rip Tide gave me some good butts. "This is my territory, man." I do hope he is not all butt but no bang. Otherwise I will have to get another older ram. Not ideal.

2009-11-23T15:05:00.000-08:00

Finally we have added a ram to the flock...Rip Tide. He is young and a bit small, but I expect he will perform. Hoping for 4-8 baby lambs in the spring. Rip is a gem; not a mean bone in his body. Loves a good scratch under the chin.

2009-11-19T17:03:00.000-08:00

It looks like you have to copy the links and then paste them on your address bar at the top of the page.

2009-11-19T16:37:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of links that may be interesting. The first is a video from our farm's Shameless Commerce Division. The second is a video about our guard dog and his friend the duck. The third is a second video my daughter did, also about the dog and the duck.They are becoming quite the celebrities. Enjoy.

http://galleries.paulfoley.com/Sequence%201Bqt-desktop.mp4

http://theday.com/section/MEDIA01

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMAERLeP19Y

2009-11-16T11:11:00.000-08:00

Second school field trip. Not exactly higher education.More like touchy education, holding the chickens, patting the timid sheep, chasing baby chicks. It's a start.

2009-11-15T11:54:00.000-08:00

So here are Wheler and Buster. Wheler is the an old Great Pyrenees, and Buster is a duck.I got Whe;er as a rescue dog a few years ago to guard the chickens. I was told he was 11, but he was actually 14, so now he is 16. That is old for a Great Pyrenees, but he seems to be content, lying around and looking at the sheep and chickens. I don't think he guards much. The duck was dropped off at the farm a month age. Now, he and Wheler are fast friends. They wont go anywhere without each other. The duck usually fowwows around, but I am sure they enjoy each others company.

2009-11-14T14:22:00.000-08:00

In the process of purchasing a ram. I need one with a good temperament (don't want him chasing me down), good wool, and good sized cojenes. Hope I find just the right daddy. I will post pictures of the winner.

2009-11-11T05:49:00.000-08:00

Well, fall is certainly here. The garden is pretty much tilled up and planted with winter rye. There are few sad looking row covers with cloiflower, cabbage,beets, broccoli, turnips and sugar snapp peas inside. Not wure they will go beyond childhood before the winter sets in. Mother hen still takes her chicks outside even with the chilly wind, although you can see they like to stay close.

2009-11-09T15:07:00.000-08:00

Cut down and tilled Gamma's old black raspberry patch which was thorny and gave us small, seedy, bitter blackberries. I didn't think she would mind. Plan to put in thornless, raspberry bushes that make big,sweet raspberries. Fertilized and deep mulched the 35 blueberry bushes with wood chips mixed with sheep poop. Did you know that sheep droppings don't smell...just like rabbit turds. Next year will be the blueberry bushes third year and can harvest their fruit next year. Also, the sheep got their annual shots and tasty de-worming paste.They say it tastes like cinnamon. Soon will be getting a ram (1-2 weeks) so, if he performs, will have 4-8 new lambs. Making babies is the fun part isn't it?

2009-11-08T16:41:00.000-08:00

Just for the heck of it, a good friend has made a short promotional video of the farm. Here is a link to a preliminary copy. See what you think. Maybe it would make a good infomercial.

http://galleries.paulfoley.com/Sequence%201Bqt-desktop.mp4

2009-11-07T05:40:00.000-08:00

We shear our sheep for their fine wool. Hope eventually to do all the processing (washing, carding, roving and spinning) on the farm to avoid the high cost of processing and maybe make a little money. The real money is in the meat but I don't like to kill cute animals.

2009-11-07T05:25:00.000-08:00

We also have a few Shetland sheep. They don't make much money but are nice to look at, especially when they lamb.

2009-11-06T18:07:00.000-08:00

The main deal at the farm is raising free range, pasture raised eggs. Once you try them,, you will never go back to store bought, factory eggs. We started with 25, went to 100, then to 300, and next year we will have 500 layers. Chickens are great. They are nice to have around and I believe they are happy.

2009-11-06T17:53:00.000-08:00

Instead of bombarding folks with thousands of photos, I thought it wold be less painful just to give one or two and explain briefly what it is. The photos below are the old homestead, 70 Fort Hill Rd. in Groton.This was last winter, but heck, winter is almost here, and it's the best shot I have.The big barn in the back was built by Calvin Burrows for horses in 1899. The house was built for people (short people)by Silas Burrows (a cousin) in 1784. You don't want to know wha the heating bills are.

2009-11-06T12:06:00.000-08:00

I thought I would send a few pictures of the farm. Many have already seen some of them, but thought I would start with pictures as they are worth a thousand words.

Groton Family Farm - LocalHarvest

2009-11-05T04:37:00.000-08:00

This is the first entry in a new blog among a trillion other blogs. It will attempt to cronicle the goings on at the Groton Family Farm in Groton , CT. with as few words as possible. I will try to make it interesting and informative, avoiding too much rambling, bad language, personal perseverations, or petty complaints. The blog will mostly be for my own benefit so feel free to skip on to the next blog. I am not very good at meditating or thinking things through so I will be using this blog to gain my own personal encouragement and direction.

To be brief, the Groton Family Farm was started by happenstance. Not, perhaps, the best way to start a business. In fact I did not start this project as a business. Our family, or rather my five brothers and sisters, brought our ailing and failing parents down from their big, or should I say huge, house in Brookline, MA to the old homestead in Groton, CT where my father was born. This was the house in which my father was actually born in 1918, and in which his father was born in the late 1800's, and where his father's father moved after the Civil war, when he bought it from a relative who's family owned since it was built in 1784.
I digress. So we brought our parents down here for their last years as they were blessed with either Alzheimer's (father) or Parkinson's dementia (mother). The additional purpose was to turn this old family homestead with 5 acres of tillable land and a big barn into a small farm working farm for the sole purpose of getting the taxes reduced. This was four years ago. Dad has since died and Mom is still hanging in there, god bless her, and the farm now has grown to 400 free range, pasture raised eggs laying hens, nine Shetland sheep, and a 3/4 acre vegetable garden. For these last four years I have worked with a healthy negative cash flow. I am now at the point where I have got to figure out how to make this place sustainable instead of loosing gobs of money, I need to make the farm pay for itself as well as generate a little profit. And thus, the reason for this blog. Maybe I can figure this out as I write as I don't seem to be able to figure it out in my head. I will try to make each entry as brief as possible and not be totally self-oriented but to offer some tidbits to those who might be interested in trying this crazy business themselves. I still believe this way of life is well worth it on many levels, in spite of the low valleys and the high peaks.