Spring has sprung at Hidden Blossom Farm, and we (including the cows!) are very excited. Since our last update, our farm family has grown by 3 cows and over 100 fruit trees! We introduced our first calf of the season, Patch, in our last post. He was quite the surprise, born on a cold winter morning on January 14th. Since Patch, we've welcomed Clementine ( Born March 18th, 2019 -pictured above), Brute (Born March 20th, 2019 - pictured below), and Roz (Born April 6th, 2019 - pictured below). We are now up to 15! Our plan is to butcher the bull and one steer this summer, as we currently do not have enough pasture to feed everyone. It's also time for a new bull, otherwise our current bull will start breeding with his own kiddos...and we wouldn't want that to happen!
Photos in slider below: The first is Clementine next to her mom, Bonnie; the second is of Roz in our spring holding pasture before we could move the cows to green grass; and the last three are of Brute the day after he was born (he was massive!).
In other exciting news: Joe received a grant for his silvopasture research that allowed us to plant 100+ fruit trees! We planted a variety of apple, pear, peach, American chestnut, and walnut. While it will be several years before we will have any fruit/nuts, we are ecstatic to one day have a proper orchard for fruit and for silvopasture. More updates to come from Joe as he continues his research. We will be adding more content on his silvopasture research in the coming months. Our goal is to have our website also serve as a resource for other farmers.
In addition to the fruit trees, we also planted the first round of veggies in the greenhouse. So far, we have tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, greens, eggplant, and herbs. We planted a limited amount this year, as we don't yet have a market. Our plan is to build a farm stand at the end of the driveway and allow for online sales once produce is ready to sell. We are considering Boston delivery, given that Lindsay's job is in Cambridge. The primary goal for this summer is to build the house. We will also be looking into local markets to see where we might be a good fit. If anyone has any suggestions, don't hesitate to leave a comment or send us a message! We hope to hit the ground running in 2020.
The fig trees also arrived at Hidden Blossom Farm after a long winter in Joe's parents' garage! We are very thankful for all of their help with our transition from the Adirondacks to Connecticut. After a couple sad weeks outside of the greenhouse in the cold, the fig trees are happy and healthy in the warm and sunny greenhouse.
We were also happy to host our first party at the farm in honor of Joe's birthday and the cow's annual migration from the winter holding pasture to the fresh green grass! Our friends up in the Adirondacks call this a "Green Grass Get-Down" (check out their farm if you want some incredible cheese here: https://www.sugarhousecreamery.com/home). We aren't certain what we will call ours, but we hope to make this an annual event that will be open to friends and the community once we are established. See photos from this fun get-together below.
And last, but certainly not least, we have a house foundation! We were anxiously waiting for dry weather. It has been a wet and muddy spring. Now that the walls of the basement are up, Joe can begin the framing after the concrete floor is poured. Seeing the basement walls makes everything finally seem real. It's all happening, and we cannot wait until we are able to move-in, plant some roots, and build connections in our community. We really want this farm to be, not just our home, but a place for education and community events. We hope this will all begin happening next year. Until then, we will continue to update you on all the progress at Hidden Blossom Farm!
Check out photos of the foundation and more photos of the farm below. If you're visiting our page for the first time and you're local to the area, please reach out and introduce yourself by using our contact form or emailing us at hiddenblossomfarm@gmail.com.
