Farm Blog 3: Bobolinks, Green Grass and Goats, OH MY!

Goats grazing at dusk

The bobolinks are back on the farm with all their black and white chittering! I was able to hear them distantly among the trees for a week before I actually saw one flit through our nesting bird field. Did you know that the farm hosts a 7 acre bird reserve field that is off limits to mowing, grazing and even walking for a 2 month chunk of the summer? This year we have the benefit of the new livestock fences and lots of great new signs that make this even easier to explain and show visitors to the farm that there is a designated area for our bird reserve. The bird reserve serves to help our ground-nesting birds like the charismatic bobolinks, and other less well known birds such as Savannah sparrows, meadowlarks and woodcock, raise their babies (in nests built on the ground) in safety from farm equipment, grazing animals, and FEET. These ground-nesting birds are in decline in our ever increasing suburban landscape as farms disappear and are replaced with short grassed lawns, playing fields and parks so it is pretty awesome that we, as one of the last farms in town (and one that was permanently protected by the town) are able to do our small part to make sure that our town retains the habitat that helps protect these bird species.

Hannah & Rachel transplanting flowers

Killdeer are also busy laying eggs again on the bare ground we conveniently provide for them in our vegetable fields. If you see an ugly green patch or a strange tower of rocks in an otherwise neat field of row veggies, this is most likely the location of a killdeer's nest. We go around them whenever we see them until the eggs hatch and the adorable blue-legged clumsy babies are running around (which they do in less than 3 days from hatching).

CSA News: 

official shareholder emails have yet to go out, but we will be starting on the week of the 11th. If you have any friends that have been procrastinating on sign-up, give them their final 'get it done' because we are very close to selling out for the season (and if you are a peak season shareholder, you might want to sign up now too at the farmstand). The season is plowing forward fast, and we are barely keeping up, but should be ready right on time with our typical assortment of spring greens. Peas are a little spottier than we would like but we are hoping they will fill in- if not, we are gearing up to plant early beans since the soil is so unseasonably warm. Fava beans are growing strong this year!!!! 
Animal News:The goat herd has grown exponentially with the addition of a lovely flock of 20 more does, wethers and bucklings from UMass Amherst. These additional goats will help make our conservation grazing plans come to fruition and we will start to get some of our more robust invasives under control. The entire flock moved into the new livestock barn (it looks like a greenhouse, but is actually a barn) in April and have loved being warm and dry! Our old livestock barn (built into the hill, was adequate for shelter but often damp and so we are happy to have a new home for the goats. A big chunk of the herd (not the dairy girls and their babes) will also be moving down to Weir River Farm in the next month or so to work on cleaning up some troublesome areas there (don't worry they will be back at the end of the summer).
A big flock of laying hens arrived from Moose Hill Farm to help with cleaning up some of our pastures (snails are yucky) and are happily learning how to range on grass and bugs while following behind the goats. Their eggs will be funneling through the Meat CSA and Jesse is pretty tight this season on extras, but if we have them they can be found in the Farmstand fridge.
Chicks- we DO have a small bunch of chicks right now that just arrived last week in the mail. They are heritage breeds and we will be making them available for public viewing at the next Meet the Farmer in June. They are still really small and fragile so we are keeping them tucked away for now.

FARMSTAND: 

The farmstand is filled with gorgeous transplants for your gardens- everything from tea herbs to flowers to tomatoes of all shapes, sizes and colors. We are open every Saturday from 9a-2pm until CSA week starts! Get the preview on the new things we are carrying and stock up on your favorite local products- if you know of anything you wish we stocked in the store- let us know!

EVENTS: 

Our annual Running of the Goats was a huge success this year- we are super sorry if you wanted to come and found that it was sold out! Next year we will hopefully (finally) have the goat numbers to have more than one fun run race and so we can have more folks running with the goats. If you were super disappointed- come out on June 2nd from 10a-12p for our Kids' Cuddle Party. We will have our beautiful kid goats in a large pen and it will be open for snuggling with them. Come get your goat baby in before they get too big to fit in a lap.

Recipe of the Week: Desiree's Goat Chorizo and Skillet Gnocchi with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Ingredients:
1lb Goat chorizo (or Kielbasa, but if you haven't tried our chorizo, its deliciously garlicky without being too spicy)
1 pint cherry tomatoes
Powdered garlic
12-24oz of 'skillet gnocchi (I find it at Hannafords in a fridge near the deli)
1/2 bunch of fresh basil
1/2 bunch of fresh parsley
EVOO
garnish: fresh goat chevre, feta or parmesan
good coarse sea salt to taste

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425. Place the sausage in a roasting pan drizzled with EVOO or Avocado oil, toss the tomatoes with EVOO and sprinkle with a little coarse salt and powdered garlic and put in the same roasting pan with sausage. Roast for about 25-30 mins until sausages are done, and tomatoes are nicely caramelized.
While sausage is cooking- prepare gnocchi according to package directions. Coarsely chop the herbs, and once gnocchi is done, sprinkle it with the herbs and a little coarse salt to taste. Add the tomatoes, chop and add the sausage and toss with a little extra EVOO. Serve with your favorite cheese.