A few weeks ago, Pam and I drove out to Wind Drift Farm in the Village of Poestenkill, New York. We returned home with 20 young laying hens – nine New Hampshire Reds, nine Bard Rocks, and two Araucanas. All except the Araucanas will begin producing brown eggs pretty soon. (Actually, they are already producing “tiny” eggs that young hens make as their physiology shifts into laying mode). Araucanas produce the same kinds of eggs as the ‘Reds and the…
The food system is in crisis, but with every crisis come opportunities In case you hadn’t noticed, food prices are rising. The cost of eating is going up. The UN’s Food & Agriculture Organization, FAO, assesses monthly changes in the cost of a “basket of food” containing five basic food groups with a metric called the Food Price Index. In 2021, the average global Food Price Index rose by more than 16%. More than anything else, supply chain disruption (due…
Late in the afternoon one Sunday last April, a black pickup truck pulled onto the farm’s driveway just as I was leaving the barn. A man, looking to be in his early thirties, was at the wheel. He leaned out of the window and called to me, “This your farm?” “Yup. Can I help you?” “I saw you have sheep. There are a lot of coyotes around here and I was wondering if you’d want me to shoot some of…
On the afternoon of December 25th, Pam and I, like people all over the world, sat down to Christmas dinner. The main course was a leg of lamb – a lamb that we had raised, then took to be slaughtered, butchered, vacuum packed, and frozen. I roasted the meat in a terra cotta dish called a cazuela, in our wood fired oven, with vegetables and white wine. It was delicious. Shortly before I began writing this blog post, I glanced…
Recently, writer Byron Nilsson and his family visited Longfield Farm for an interview and to get a tour of our operation. The Nilssons also showed up at the Tuesday Delmar Farmers Market where they bought bread and some of our fine woolens. Nilsson’s article is posted on December 6th installment of Frank Berrie’s well-respected, “Know Where Your Food Comes From” website. Our border collie, Chip, made the top photo on the home page. I’ve posted the text of Byron Nilsson’s…
Much of what we do at Longfield Farm is aimed at demonstrating that agriculture can be environmentally sustainable if we allow ourselves to be guided by Nature. This post is a revision of an earlier piece. It has, hopefully, been made clearer and a bit easier to follow. Americans eat way too much meat. Most of us would do well to reduce our meat consumption by at least a third. And no one should be eating meat produced on factory…
Longfield Farm conducted its very first “Bread School” this past weekend (April 27th & 28th). The event was tremendously successful. Students baked wood-fired flatbreads, which we enjoyed at Saturday’s lunch of Longfield lamb meatballs, tahini source and Pam’s homemade yogurt sauce. Over the weekend, students learned about the art and science of bread making. They baked our German rye, Healthy Harvest quick-bread, whole wheat and pain au levain sourdough. And they took home everything they baked along with a pile…
“I have traveled far, but I haven’t seen a better place than the field behind my barn.” Wendell Berry’s Grandfather “Farming…that’s really hard work, isn’t it?” This is the typical response (usually expressed with a bit of concern in the voice) when people learn that Pam and I, now in our late 60s, have been farming for nearly 15 years. I usually reply with a story about my visit to Wall Street in the early 2000s: I was at a…
I recently ran into a farmland planning consultant on his way to a failing dairy in the Hudson Valley. Milk prices had fallen through the floor… again, and the farmer just couldn’t hold on anymore. When you’re about to lose the land that’s been in your family for five generations – the life’s work of your father, your grandfather, his father and his father – it can be hard to handle. And that’s why suicide is a leading cause of…
SAVE THE DATES – NOVEMBER 17 & 18 We’re proud to let you know that Longfield Farm will be participating in the Hudson Valley Hullabaloo Holiday Market! This juried craft show is limited to only 75 crafters. Check out the website (http://hvhullabaloo.com/) and the Face Book page (https://bit.ly/2CRNZI8). These are really high quality products that make special gifts for special folks (and even for yourself…you’re special). Longfield Farm will be showing our fine woolens and fiber crafts, including throw-blankets, scarves,…