Relly Bub FarmAdventures of a Small-Scale Farmstead in Southern Vermont

Last years chicken at 5 weeks old

Everyday our food system becomes more and more transparent and consumers are discovering more information surrounding the ridiculously weird things tied to industrial poultry production models. What does this mean? The demand for organic and pasture-raised chickens has and continues to be on the rise. And I’d like to help supply that demand as soon as possible. Which is why I had scheduled the baby chicks to arrive on April 6th. And then I realized I was making an unwise and unpractical farming decision and rescheduled for two weeks later on the 20th. While I am as excited as everyone else to not only sell, but eat fresh chicken here on the farmstead; it’s just too early and here is why:

Mother Nature. As grateful as I am for her and as beautiful as she is… I just don’t trust her these days. Call me a tree hugging conspiracy theorist if you like, but the proof is in the pudding. She is changing. She might even be getting old and grumpy. For the past three years, the weather in Vermont (and most of the country) has been nothing short of odd, irrational and often times devastating. The chickens would have been due to get turned out onto grass on May 6th…ish (at four weeks of age) – A winter storm in early May (not uncommon) could create an uncomfortable environment for the birds and ultimately result in unnecessary loss. And farming outdoors in the snow is not nearly as fun as the sunshine.

Forage: More forage for the birds means less grain to buy and a healthier bird with optimal nutrition. Clearly the grass will be taller and a bit more lush with the additional two weeks further along and into spring.

Brooder space. Worse case scenario: The weather turns sour when the birds are at the four week mark and I am forced to house them in the brooder space for an additional week. This means more brooder chores, more grain and more stress for the birds as they search for more room to roam. Best case scenario: A good stretch of warm weather moves in and the birds are hardy enough to hit the field at three weeks of age, one week earlier than expected; reducing brooder chores, dependence on grain and providing more comfort for the birds. Clearly the latter of the two is more ideal and much more likely in mid May rather than early May.

My Personal Life. The bottom line is this; once these baby chicks arrive, my social life off the farmstead might as well get flushed down the toilet. I do keep very busy on a daily basis all year round, and I feel it is important to allow myself just a few more weeks of sanity before this place turns into a revolving door of work and animal chores.

For those who have asked me why I decided to push the arrival of the chickens back… there ya have it. For more information on the chickens we raise, feel free to check out our products page and contact the farm with any questions you might have.

Have a great weekend everyone and happy farming!

-NAW

The greenhouse version 1.0

Before I get started I would like to do two things:

1. Apologize for any typos and poor grammar you find in this post and or any future posts moving forward. The farming season is under way and there is a great deal of content to share with little time to edit the material. But I am determined to share this bootstrapping experience with you all. I also cut my thumb and have a rather large bandage on my hand, making it a bit more difficult to type with accuracy. I hope you all understand.

2. This is important. I’d like to thank all of my friends and neighbors who volunteered their time, energy and materials to the greenhouse project. The support that this small farm receives on a daily basis continues to exceed my expectations and I am extremely grateful to have attracted such wonderful supporters to the farmstead and into my life. Thus far the law of attraction is certainly working in my favor and I am feeling nothing short of blessed and confident as I continue to venture down my farming path.

Back to the greenhouse… Back in February a good friend and neighbor mentioned that I should use her old sliding glass doors to build a greenhouse. She didn’t have to twist my arm and I wasted no time finding a great design on the Mother Earth News website. Two weeks ago in mid-March, I watched the weather forecast and noticed that Mother Nature  was going to provide a shot of pseudo summertime weather and the opportunity to construct my greenhouse had arrived. First things first… I needed to sketch out the frame and call on someone who knows how to really build things. I can whip up a small egg mobile, but a greenhouse is a completely different animal.  Within just a few days both tasks were complete.

Construction of the frame was nothing short of cold and stagnate. You see, I was lucky to  have my  good friend  (Steve pictured below) help me with the early stages of building. Steve has what I do not; excellent carpentry and building skills and the right tools for a decent sized project. One small problem… Steve and I had not seen each other in a few months and the few extra brews we enjoyed the night before, had us dragging our butts to work in the morning. Not to mention, the unexpected and fresh layer of snow in our work area wasn’t making life any easier. Our progress early in the day was virtually non existent.  The two of us soldiered on and eventually things started to actually look like *something*. The first thing we did was gather our materials. A trip to the local lumber yard turned out to be a bit more expensive than I would have liked. Or should I say expected?  Justification  for the expense came easy as I thought about the endless and free glass windows and insulated door that were all donated to the project as I handed over my bank card to the woman behind the counter.

Steve laying down the planks for the foundation with his fancy nail gun

We were finally making progress on the frame

The frame complete

The weekend had come and gone and Steve needed to head back home. The good news; the frame was complete. The bad news; It was now my responsibility to install the windows, put up a north facing wall, build benches, lay the roof down and insulate the inside of the greenhouse. I knew it would not be quite as easy as it sounded when I thanked Steve for his hard work and said “I can take it from here”. It’s all fun and games until somebody tries to build a greenhouse. Here is where I went wrong… When I had initially looked at a couple of the windows and took down a few measurements, the dimensions of the windows were identical. Naturally, I assumed the same would be true for the remainder of the windows. I was wrong and we all know what happens when you assume. The bottom line was that a good portion of the “slots” that Steve and I had built for my windows were off by an inch or two. A small amount of space that was creating a large amount of cascading problems.  I really do not have time to list them all. Oh yeah, Steve didn’t build the frame with screws allowing me to easily remove and adjust the frame… Oh no… he used one of those big fancy nail guns with long nails. To make a long story short; I called on the help of a friend, experienced (more like amazing) jack of all trades and neighbor to help me adjust the frame and get it right. I am now pretty damn good with a nail puller.

Chaya overlooking progress

The next day I went back to work and did my best to expedite the mission. With the weather getting warmer by the day, I was eager to get my seedlings started. I struggled trying to build alone and grew frustrated of the wind that made handling 4′x8′ OSB board and 72 inch windows quite the adventure. Once the walls were up I scoured the house for some old and reflective insulation. I found a few good pieces kicking around and it was perfect for the inside of the walls. With the majority of the heavy lifting complete (literally) – I still needed to add the roof, finish the gable ends and build benches for seedling trays. I felt overwhelmed. My good fortune continued when a facebook friend reached out to help me finish the project. One facebook status update triggered an email and  transpired into several days of volunteer effort and a new ” In real life” friendship. Before I could say thank you, my new pal, Campbell had the roof up and was brainstorming with a plethora of creative ideas and plans to make the greenhouse better. Which he most certainly did. We continued to plug away on the planting benches, gable ends and other various tasks as we completed version one of this ongoing project. It is volunteers like Campbell, Steve and good neighbors that made the addition of the greenhouse possible and I remind myself of their generosity every time I check on my seedlings.

The challenge now? Temperatures have dropped back to normal for this time of year and are well below freezing at night and the greenhouse is difficult to heat with no sun. I fear (not really) a poor germination rate. More on that later… stay tuned.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post and I hope you enjoy the pictures as well. Don’t be shy if you have any comments and or questions.

Walls and windows are in!

Campbell working on the roof

Planting benches came out nice

Reflective insulation and planting schedule

Final touch... collecting rain water. Very nice.

Seedlings have been started!

Who says you can’t have a locavore pizza during the dead of winter (or lack thereof) in New England? I beg to differ! Take a look at the pizza below; made from my homemade sauce as a result of canning in the late summer months, green beans, leeks and corn which were blanched and frozen back in September, Invierno cheese made from Vermont Shepherd, a few miles up the road in Putney and donated by my farm-to-plate friends over at The Wilmington Inn. The flour for the crust comes from Vermont’s  very own King Arthur flour and last but not least, the cornmeal comes from the good people at Butterworks farm.

So… with the exception of the yeast, salt and olive oil, this pizza is as close to home (or at least Vermont) as you are going to get. Enjoy!

backyard pizza

What you need:

• 1/2 cup of preserved green beans
• 1/2 cup of preserved sweet corn
• 1/2 cup of preserved leeks
• 1/8 lb of Invierno cheese
• 3/4 cup homemade and preserved tomato and basil sauce
• 1 teaspoon cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 1/4 cup warm water (105° to 115° F)
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

The field is blanketed with snow and the animals have all been butchered for meat. The beginning of the farming season is still several long weeks from now. So why am I writing this post? I am more than delighted to tell you. You see, back on New Year’s Ever I posted a status update on facebook proclaiming that two of my resolutions were to expand the farmstead and build more meaningful relationships. It’s only February and both have already become a reality. As you can imagine, bootstrapping a farm from ground zero takes a tremendous amount of hard work, support and faith. The usual bottlenecks such as access to land, capital and equipment are major deterrents for countless young farmers who are just getting started. With extensive plans of expanding the garden plot, raising more animals and an endless list of rural living chores that come with living in one of the oldest houses in Windham County, I knew that I would need an equipment sponsor.

A little grunt work by hand on small jobs is great and all...

“A sponsor?” You might be saying to yourself. Yes, that’s right… a sponsor. I needed to find a company willing to provide the farm with the tools it needs in exchange for what I do best; create content and engage people through social media. Oh yeah… there will be farming adventures to boot. More importantly, I was in search of a power equipment manufacturer who would understand the value in building a sustainable and long term relationship as my farming endeavors continue to flourish. Hey it’s 2012 – newbie farmers must get creative in order to survive. Sponsorships are not just for NASACAR drivers and charity events. Trust me when I tell you that they can play a critical role in a small farm financial model.

At first, my task at hand felt daunting. However, I always have a great deal of faith when I work towards a goal of mine. And I am a firm believer that good things are always just around the corner, you just have to will them to be true and not give up. Over the past few years, I have worked very hard and have taken on some wonderful projects that have created a genuine and personal brand. Above all, I have shaped a great deal of social capital and a paper trail of friends, colleagues and collaborators nationwide. As a newbie farmer this gives me a tremendous advantage in terms of finding the things I need most. I am blessed to have countless people who reach out to me when the farm is in need. When it came time to find an equipment sponsor, I knew the love and support would come my way.

As fate would have it, one tweet sparked a beautiful and new relationship with DR Power located a few hours north in Vergennes and Relly Bub Farm. After consulting with a few

But when it comes to big jobs, you gotta have the right tools.

friends who were quick to compliment the quality of their products, I sent an email to Jon Trobaugh explaining the status of the farm and my needs. He quickly arranged a meeting between me and the DR marketing team where we discussed how DR could help the farm with a sponsorship and how I could demonstrate the quality of their products and their commitment to helping a local farm get off the ground come spring. It is quite the match made in heaven if I do say so myself.

So what does all of this mean and how does it work? Good question. The bottom line is this… a small-scale and diversified organic farm encompasses a plethora of small and big jobs alike; many of which require power equipment and tools that the farm simply cannot afford, especially during year one of operation. DR Power will provide the farm with some of the much needed tools it needs to get the job done and I will be documenting the execution of these projects through media content, product demonstrations, social media and frequent blog posts. In other words… this is gonna be fun! Needless to say, I am excited and extremely grateful for the opportunity that the good people at DR Power have presented to Relly Bub Farm. When it is all said and done, I hope other newbie farmers can learn from this type of working relationship and trust in the power of social media, faith and creativity when working towards finding the support they need to start their own farm. I also hope that more companies will see the value in supporting their new and local farmers who are trying to make a go of it.

Now if you will please excuse me, I must leave you and prepare for one of the most important tasks on any New England homestead; splitting firewood to keep the house warm. What is my sponsored weapon of choice? The DR RapidFire log splitter. Parked safely, like a luxury car in the woodshed for more than a week, it’s time to take her out for a spin. Stay tuned…

The DR Power RapidFire Log Splitter

Hey y’all – It has been a while since I have written and so I figured I had better check in and mention that I have a nifty little list of the things I plan to share here on the blog this winter. Mostly some of the fun projects, lessons learned, good food and what lies ahead. So while I am leaving you with very little in the post, I ask that you check back soon! Please keep in mind that because the farm will be offering food to the public and establishing a CSA, both the blog and the newsletter will be updated weekly. In the meantime, you can feel free to find us on twitter @rellybubfarm and or facebook.

Have a great day everyone!

- Nathan

Things have been super busy here on the farmstead. Bootstrapping this little farm from scratch has been an amazing journey all summer long! As things begin to calm down in the near future we plan to sit down and provide a few adventurous updates and happenings. In the meantime, feel free to enjoy a few pictures from the season!

When I moved into the new farmstead I knew there was going to be an endless list of projects to complete. Adding laying hens to the farm was at the top of the list. This meant I had to build a chicken coop. I had to build it quick. And it had to be done on a newbie farmer’s budget. From the beginning, I had a good understanding of the style and functionality that I were looking for in my soon-to-be hen house. Mainly, it needed to be mobile, allowing me to move the birds onto fresh grass daily, where our chickens could forage on endless bugs, worms and plants. This is the perfect recipe for producing healthy eggs and increasing soil fertility. Read the rest of this entry »

This is our first growing season here on the Relly Bub  farmstead and before we got the vegetable beds ready for planting we decided to beautify the plot just a little bit. Along the back stretch of our veggie plot, we planted one row of mammoth sunflowers roughly 30 feet long. These sunflowers will serve as a beautiful backdrop for garden photos which reveals a tremendous view of Mt. Snow from the back yard.

Given the cold weather that followed the day we decided to plant them, I was nervous about germination. After the sun came out and heated the soil up pretty good we noticed that the sunflowers were taking to the soil like a pig in mud. Read the rest of this entry »