Traveling Tuesday

We were out and about in different ways today.  We started our morning getting to know the "Chicken Coop" middle school children.  Wow, they were a lot of fun.  First we got to know them in a question and answer game and then we joined together to load and deliver firewood to Maggie's home.  Maggie is the woman who donated the land and farmhouse to establish the Chicken Coop School and the Adult Practical Skills training program.  She was born in the house shown below and has lived nearly her whole life on the ridge.

Backing up the truck

Unloading the wood

  Pass it along

After delivering the wood, we continued our soil work with Carlen.  We explored the layers of soil in a pasture and then in the homestead garden.  We found between 4 and 6 inches of top soil and several interesting layers below.  We learned that the soil in New England can freeze up to four feet deep and that the worms and other soil organisms migrate below the freezing line in order to survive.

Seminar in our common room

Our indoor discussion included learning how to submit a soil sample and looking at Nate's records regarding our study plots.  I was amazed to learn that alfalfa plants sink roots deeply into the soil in order to bring up minerals.  A little plant that is 15 inches high can have roots up to 5 feet underground.  We also discussed tree identification.

After lunch, we loaded up in the cars and trucks to travel over Chase Hill Farm, a raw dairy and cheese farm.  We met with Mark Fellows, the farmer, and he showed us around.  He is raising a French breed of milk cow--the normande cattle which is a multi-purpose breed--which is good for milk and good for meat.  He also conducts some of his work with horses and is dreaming of getting a "horse-powered treadmill" to power his milking operation.

"Pesticide" in a box

Normande cattle--beautiful spots!

This strange looking contraption is the answer to chemical pesticides.  It is a cow-sized box through which Mark's normande cattle pass each day.  As they walk through, the legs of old jeans hanging down inside knock the flies off.  The walls of the box are made of three layers of screen.  The outermost is a tiny mesh that entices the flies outward.  The two inner layers of screening--one of them flexible, the other not--trap the flies so they cannot return to their cow companions.  Voila!  Ideally, Mark says that this system works well when cows have to pass through it many times a day--for example, if they are heading for the water trough.

Cheese Cave

Waiting to see into the cheese cave.

Chase Hill Farm Milk room

April's offspring

Nora getting to know the horses

Did I mention this was the most beautiful autumn day I have ever experienced?  When we returned to Maggie's Farm, it was tough to go inside to do house chores.  Most of us wandered out to enjoy the warm evening.