Apple Creek Farm

2012-01-24T06:47:00.002-05:00

It was a roller coaster of a winter heading into 2012. A large snowstorm hit the day before Halloween, then another the night before Thanksgiving. Below are some photographs from the snow we got at Thanksgiving. It sure made things feel cozy and festive.

The snow melted away again and it was pretty mild until we got into January. Even now as I write this we're at 40 degrees and rain - all the ice and snow are shrinking away, but I'm sure there will be more. You can tell the animals wish it would just do one thing and stick to it for a few months. Weather at 10 degrees or weather at 37 degrees, but not both, and not within 24 hours of itself. Roller coaster indeed.

updates coming soon

2012-01-20T15:37:00.007-05:00

Sorry, but farmin is busy work. There will be some new pictures and posts up soon enough. But in the mean time come by either the Brunswick Winter Market or the Midcoast Winter Farmers' Market in Topsham and say hello. Beef and lamb, eggs, wool and lamb skins - Saturdays 9am to 12:30 pm.

September calves

2011-09-12T20:25:00.005-04:00

Jolene still wet...

Jimoo and Jolene.

Clover's new bull calf

Jolene at ten days

a new june.

2011-06-13T16:56:00.006-04:00

Sun and rain, heat and chills, May & June have been a bit of a rollercoaster. But all the critters are out grazing the green grass that the sun and rain make grow. The hay is about ready, just need a stretch of full sunshine.

Busy as usual, we're at the Bowdoinham Farmers' Market every Saturday often with one of the bottle lambs. Stop by and say hi. Hope to be at Augusta Farmers' Market at Mill Park in another couple weeks.

grazers

grazers of a different size

Patsy and her big boy

browsing on bittersweet and other delectable greens

2011 lambs being weened

Weeners heading to satellite pasture

Five generations taking it easy after a good morning of grazing.

Jimoo

Lolabelle with Blue, Clover, Rocky, Daisy, & Pinto

The boys after shearing

In like a lamb

2011-03-24T20:06:00.007-04:00

Well everybody in the state of Maine thought spring had arrived a few days before the official date - temperatures in the low 60s, bright sunshine, snow melting...then of course it snowed the very next day. Here are some shots from that beautiful day and all the new lambs!

I caught some of the new little ones sleeping...

This was our winter project and is now our summer project and future pasture.

2011 blizzard #2

2011-01-12T21:38:00.006-05:00

All this snow has allowed for me to catch up somewhat with the blog. More pictures of all the critters!

The condition I found the hoop house in this afternoon where some of the chickens are living this winter.

Blu, Lolabelle, and Clover

Daisy and Adzuki

Pinto and Rocky

Rocky Crockett the IV

Yep, been some quiet.

2011-01-12T20:29:00.008-05:00

Apple Creek Farm has been dang busy the last 4+ months. The last of the hay was put up, firewood split and more cut for next year, the calves are growing great, all but 8 of the lambs have been sent off for customer orders, the rams have been in with the ewes, and Repeat, the bull, was here visiting the cows. It's gonna be a full house in 2011. Here are some pictures from the late summer and fall, a sight for sore eyes what with all our current January weather.

Grazing the North Field in September...one of the cows favorite pastimes.

Abby and I also spent a good deal of time working on projects at her farm in Unity. A new movable chicken coop, permanent fencing, and a lean-to off her barn were the three major things we checked off the list.

Calves!

2010-08-25T21:37:00.010-04:00

Jimoo was the first to go into labor. She had twins, TWINS! a rare thing for beef cows. The first was practically dead when she was born but after 36 hours of intensive care by all of us she made it through and is now super frisky. The little black and white one came out moments after the little brown girl. No problems with her. The sisters like to sleep next to each other and run in circles.

Arek and I helping Pete to get the calf breathing again

Jimoo cleaning up the second born. She was up in a matter of minutes while the rest of us still raced to save the first born.

Dr. Eli checking on the little brown calf the day after

Here are pictures of the all the calves. Lolabelle's girl is named Bluebell, but Lu or Blue for short.

Clover had a bull calf (as I predicted). His name is still to be determined.

The twins...

more Blue...

Late July

2010-08-25T21:21:00.005-04:00

This rainy day has allowed for many indoor things to get accomplished.

Here are some pictures from July here on the farm. Okra is planted in the hoop house along with sweet potatoes this year. We've been eating fried and steamed okra for weeks and no end in sight!

The garlic harvest.

Jimoo trying to keep the flies away with some hay on her back. Both she and Clover are getting bigger...calves to come in August.

Finally a rainy day to update the blog.

2010-08-25T21:02:00.005-04:00

Right at the end of July Abby and I processed the broilers on the farm. It was a beautiful morning for it, not a cloud in the sky. The afternoon was spent baling hay and loading it in the barn.

Lambs in the clover

2010-07-01T21:00:00.005-04:00

June 17th the lambs went to their "summer camp" in East Bowdoinham. They all seem very happy and growing well in the great pastures over there.

baaahh.

This was May...

2010-06-21T05:50:00.004-04:00

Additionally we cut hay from fields almost two months earlier than we normally do...this spring was the real deal.

A real spring

2010-04-25T20:35:00.012-04:00

Since the last post things have been busy...lambs comin' out our ears. And it hasn't been much of a Mud Season this spring. More like a real spring.

Flowers coming up, leaves popping, garlic and asparagus are up, and the spinach and arugula in the hoop house are thick!

The lambs are growing great, racing around in packs, annoying their mothers, and getting to know the cows.

These guys are lazing around on a 70 degree spring afternoon.

February Lambs

2010-02-17T15:24:00.012-05:00

It's been a couple of wintery months and we've been moving a lot of wood in order to heat ourselves next year and open more pasture for the animals.

But things are feeling more like spring now and we've still got a month to go before it officially arrives. These twins decided to make an early appearance, being born on the 16th of February.

I'm placing my bets on that one heading towards the feeder that she'll be next...

Happy Holidays from Apple Creek Farm

2009-12-29T20:52:00.008-05:00

Onward to 2010!

Sweet Potato Harvest 2009

2009-10-17T10:46:00.008-04:00

Beauregards, White Yams, and a Maine native that really has no official name other than K-50.

For this being my first try growing sweet potatoes in Bowdoinham I feel pretty good with the harvest.

Chicken killin' & September Cows

2009-10-12T20:48:00.009-04:00

We processed the birds we raised for ourselves on Labor day, a few pictures of the grand occasion. Pete did most of the plucking while I did all the gutting and cleaning.

The cows enjoyed their time in our north field. Quite a bit in fact.

They're calling for snow in northern Maine tomorrow afternoon. Most of the garden has been harvested. Tonight I dug the rest of my sweet potatoes and I'll post those pictures in the next day or so.

September

2009-09-08T15:51:00.009-04:00

It finally feels like summer in Maine, with autumn right on it's heels. With weeks, yes WEEKS, of uninterrupted sunshine we were able to finish off the hay season on the 6th of September.

Pete and I baled up 500+ over the labor day weekend.

Coming this month:
Sweet Potato Harvest!

Chicken Processing!

and of course more pictures of the sheep and cows...

Late July photos

2009-08-10T19:47:00.006-04:00

Fifth wettest June on Record

2009-07-13T20:50:00.009-04:00

The timothy is like broom straw...

So I'm a better farmer than I am a blogger, which I believe is a good thing. That being said I apologize for the lack of posts in the month of June. I blame it on the soggy weather. Rain, gray skies, wood stove fires keeping kitchens warm in the morning, things that shouldn't be connected with Maine on the longest day of the year.

But with a two and a half day stretch of fairly good weather we cut the ridge of our north field. It's thin and should dry pretty quickly. Today being day two of the nice weather we had a sudden thunder storm blow up and dropped heavy rain and hail for five minutes this afternoon. Another tedding before the sun went down.

If you don't like the weather in Maine, just wait a minute, it'll change...seriously this set of pictures was taken in a two minute period.

We did have some wild west visitors during June and they had a pretty good time, click here to see...

Hoop House and Maine Sweet Potatoes!

2009-06-11T13:05:00.007-04:00

Got our hoop house built and finished up almost completely on June 7th. Some sweet potatoes are in and more are on their way. Come by in September and we should have a whole bunch!

Springtime in Maine

2009-05-16T19:34:00.006-04:00

Like you might expect Maine weather is never predictable nor dependable. Sunny days when rain is forecasted and rain when, well rain quite often. The pastures are still a bit soggy but the clearing/cleaning project for our east pasture is moving at a brisk pace. The cows and calves have been moved to a temporary oval pasture in the west mainly because they've been bawling for grass...and Jimmo and Lolabell made a late afternoon escape for the fresh spring clover.

The Bowdoinham Farmer's Market begins May 23 and we will have lamb meat products, eggs, and wool. The market is located in the Merrymeeting Grange at 27 Main Street and is open from 9 - 1. For more information of other vendors go to: http://www.bowdoinham.com/farmersmarket

no sitting around

2009-05-03T20:43:00.015-04:00

May 1st we got all those little lambs separated from their mommas. 48 hours of non-stop baa-ing.

May 2nd and the asparagus is beginning to poke forth from the soil. two shoots for dinner tonight, more by the end of the week for sure.

We've begun expanding the garden slightly - making more room for more potatoes, sweet corn, and asparagus. Finally we spread some black gold over the garden....

12 months to the day.

2009-04-29T09:09:00.019-04:00

After several days of upper 80-degree weather and even low 90s Virginia is finally cooling down, slightly. The journey north to Maine begins tomorrow and another 12 months of unknown. My time at Smith Meadows Farm carried its fair share of ups and downs, but in the end it was a good experience. I am glad to be getting out now as chicks by the hundreds arrive to fill brooders, turkeys and ducklings are scheduled for later in May, lambs are on the loose, and calves being born. But the Shenandoah Valley is graded in 50 shades of green while blossoms of white and pink fall on tree branches like spring snow.

Now my second spring waits for me in the brown tones of Maine, 30 lambs and their mothers that will need to be sheared come May, and pines to be cleared out of pastures

No sad farewells to Virginia for I’ll be back again and no new hellos to Maine as I know her well.

Return to Maine

2009-03-16T12:20:00.000-04:00

After having traveled the states for a number of years working at various farms for various stints and attending artist-in-residence programs I am planning my return to Maine at the beginning of May. With sketch books filled with art and farm related ideas the second stage of Apple Creek Farm is about to start. There are many unknowns, exciting opportunities, and challenges waiting in the spring thaw.