Sometimes there is little clarity left at the end of the week to put words down to share in our farm note. Despite this lack of clarity I feel both obliged and inspired to share my thoughts. In holding both the obligation and inspiration I realize the week-end fatigue is comprised, at least partially, of the pressure of these “shoulds.” And so I would like to share my inspirations.
Last month we highlighted some of the ways our pork is different in flavor and the life the pigs lead. During our first annual Hog Harvest Sale we doubled our monthly pork sales, and packed over 360 lbs of pork! It was a great success.
It was my intention to follow up our Hog Harvest Sale with my cleverly named Spring Chicken Sale…:) and I simply ran out of time. I have been hugely inspired by two new faces on the farm. Last week we were lucky enough to have our friend and neighbor Noah Weber join our team. Noah will be helping on our farm production team keeping an eye on the animal groups and helping organize our processing team. Noah and his family also have a farm in the neighboring town of Westport, NY where they raise Yaks! This week Sophie Teachout also joined our team, Sophie is a dancer, and a teacher hailing from North Carolina. Sophie has already taught me many ways in which farming is like dance.
As you might imagine the last two weeks have been full of bringing these two curious and willing people up to speed. Sharing my own curiosity and nurturing the same in others is one of my favorite things. As Sophie has pointed out, it’s just like dance, how to move in new ways, how to look at the world around you with new eyes and how to coordinate with lots of other moving bodies. In my love for this space of learning and curiosity I leave little time for the other priorities on my list.
May is Chicken month, so stay tuned for more updates.
Spring is here
Sophie and Noah have trained the new piglets to electric fence and so they have started their pasture rotation. Sophie is learning to operate a loader tractor so we had our first practice session filling up the pig feeder. Nice work Sophie! We have been learning how to observe and be curious about each animal group, from the day old chicks, to the older broilers in the field and the pigs.
The grass is growing and with the last few afternoons in the 70s it has really felt like spring.
Recording an album
For those of you who do not know, I love to play music. In some ways you could say we have our farm because of music. Our name references not just the Rocks on our farm, but also a nod to Rock and Roll. Our arrival on our particular farm is largely due to our neighbor, friend and band member Jay Fiegl and his family, when they invited me and Racey to Reber to show us an abandoned property right next to their home. Inspired by our visit we purchased the farm across the street and Chad and Gwen eventually purchased the abandoned property. Chad, Jay and I have been playing music together for over 10 years. We were joined by Nick Gully on drums in 2018, and Nick Bailey on bass last year. Our band is called Ploughman’s Lunch.
Perhaps the next time my band decides to record an album we’ll pick a time that is not during our spring busy season… but time and opportunity take many forms. Last Sunday we ventured up to Addison Studios in Keeseville, NY, run by our dear friend and music mentor Skip Smithson. Skip invited us up for a day of recording in preparation for some longer sessions to record a full album.
We spent the day learning and practicing how to play “together” while not playing live on stage with one another. This Friday we started a four day recording schedule to record the rest of our songs at 22 Pawn just down the road here in Essex, NY. It is a project that has been years in the making and I will be proud to share what comes of it.
Happy Spring.
Reber Rock Farm Blog 