Pigs!!

This is a really exciting night for me, and also for Sundora Farm...

I just got off the phone with Nancy at Hogwash Farm, and she just confirmed that we have 3 pigs reserved! So one month from today we will be driving to Norwich to pick up our piglets!! I can't tell you how excited I am about these pigs. It's been a dream of mine to have pigs of my own, and now that dream is coming true!

This also means that come November we will have locally raised pork for sale by the half pig. So, spread the word and please contact us asap if you'd like to reserve a half! 

Seeds Have Arrived!

Seeds are starting to come in! We've already gotten our orders from Johnny's and FedCo, and we're still waiting for High Mowing. It's so exciting to see the boxes arriving!

Also, something I haven't mentioned is that we are going to have an intern for the first part of the summer! Her name is Alison and I met up with her on Saturday. She's hoping to start a CSA at her college and wanted to come check out how ours works, so we're excited to have her on board!

Overall things are running pretty smoothly at the farm. Signs are in the works and should be up down by the road and on the barn in a week or two. We should have t-shirts for sale pretty soon here too, and hopefully we'll be building tables and setting up our potting space in the barn as well. Things are coming along nicely.

Making Progress

I think it's only fair to begin this post by giving Dora the spot light... I feel like she has been under represented on this blog until now...

She and I started off Sunday by having some fun in the show while Ben was in the barn hard at work...

Over the past couple of days Ben and I tore up a dangerous part of the floor in the barn. There were large gaps in the floorboards that were covered in hay that we decided we'd rather not risk falling in. Luckily we were able to find replacement boards left over from when the horse stalls were put in... we hope to finish off this part of the floor in a week or so.

We also worked on the second floor of the barn sweeping and organizing... as you can see things were really dusty.

This is my"Golly it's dusty in here!" face...

And this is Ben's face covered in dust particles... check out those lashes...

Here is what the second floor looked like when we were finished with it... all the windows and doors that had been strewn all over the barn are now organized and in the same place... 

The barn is shaping up to be a really beautiful space...

Finding the Floor

Since Tuesday was Town Meeting Day, Ben and I took advantage of classes being canceled and worked on the farm all day. I thought about going to town meeting day, but Randino and Mama G went down to represent the Garner clan, or as we sometimes call ourselves, "The 1052 Crew"(1052 is our house number), so I felt like it was okay to stay home and get some work done instead...
We started off the morning with Apple Cheddar Cornmeal Muffins (a fantastic suggestion from Mr.Ben). There's nothing like freshly baked muffins and coffee before heading out into the cold.

The rest of the day was spent out in the barn as per usual, cleaning and finding lovely little treasures along the way. I found an old wire egg basket... and a beautiful glass piece that seems to have some purpose, what? We don't know....

Ben is the ring leader of the barn-sprucing project, and I have to commend him for that. Over the years it's collected trinkets from different families and friends, all of which are covered in dust and straw, waiting to be discovered. So Ben has been out there with his pitchfork and brawn uncovering what appears to be a floor...

While I'm excited to get the barn in tip top condition too, I find that I need a little more encouragement to get really psyched about moving around in the dust for more than a half hour at a time. Ben's a good sport and doesn't give me a hard time when I need to take a break to work on the seed order or other farm related things...

Sunny's out there too, stamping his feet in approval. We think he's just as excited about getting the barn uncluttered and full of fresh air and animals as we are!

I suppose that's probably the first time I've mentioned our hopes of having more animals... at the moment we're considering (and I really mean considering, nothing is even close to final yet) getting 3 pigs, a bunch of chickens, 3 geese (for my dad), and perhaps some guinea hens too. Ben and I are currently working on plans for each of those. We're really hoping we can find a way to make all this work because, in my opinion, farms cannot truly be sustainable unless they have animals to complete the nutrient cycles on the farm... Plus they're just really cute... Anyway, we're thinking it over and we'll keep you posted.

Pressing Farm Chores

This past weekend was a big weekend at the farm... We finally tamed the beast that had become Ben's hair! It was wild and treacherous, and at times I didn't know if we were going to make it out alive, but in the end we were successful!

Now don't underestimate the importance of this

 farm chore... and I say farm chore intentionally. Sheep have to be shorn, and so does Ben's head. It's a serious matter...

As you can see, I have my concentration face on in all these photos while Ben is happily watching Nacho Libre...

Now that Ben's hair is under control we can get to other, more pressing tasks! 

Like registering the name "Sundora Farm" as our trade name with the Secretary of State and opening a bank account for the farm... Soon we'll be ordering seeds!

In other news, sales of CSA shares are going well so far! Keep calling us and emailing us with any questions you might have. Here's another link to our brochure in case you can't get down to Three Bean or Cover to Cover!

Reflections and Updates

Well this past weekend Ben and I went to the NOFA Winter Conference at Vermont Technical College, and we had an amazing time! We took workshops on raising chickens, draft horses, year-round CSA's, wild edible plants, and having a one-cow family among other things... we were also lucky enough to be able to sit in on an intensive workshop with Eliot Coleman who runs a 4-season farm in Maine! He is an inventive farmer who has written a few well known books such as "Four Season Harvest" and "The New Organic Grower". One example of his creative approach to farming is his planting of onions and leeks in the fall in cold frames in unheated hoop houses. This keeps them just warm enough through the snowy winter months to grow so that when June comes along he has mature, delicious onions and leeks! That's something we hope to try this fall...

CSA Share update: We have been advertising for a little over a week now and we already have 6 people signed up for shares! I can't tell you how amazing it is to have people calling and writing with their interest in becoming a part of what we have worked so hard on for these past months. This really is a dream coming true for us. So thank you for your support and for talking to your neighbors about the farm! We can't wait to share our summer with you!

We're Here!

The moment we've all been waiting for has finally arrived! 

Sundora Farm is open for business! 

We are so thrilled to have gotten to this place, it's taken a lot of time and organization, but we couldn't be more excited! Here is a link to our brochure. You can either print off the order form in the brochure, or just write down the information we need on a piece of paper and send it in... either one works for us! By Monday we should have brochures available at Bethany Church and Three Bean Cafe! 

And please spread the word about our farm to your friends! We are so excited to get this season going, and we hope you are too!