Jonathan Gates reports from Howmars Farm in Franklin, Vermont. Howmars is a certified organic dairy farm, one of many Organic Valley/CROPP Cooperative farmer members who supply the milk that goes into making Stonyfield's yogurts and smoothies. The entire family pitches in on this third-generation farm. Jonathan and his father, Howard, converted the farm from conventional dairy farming to organic 9 years ago. Meet Jonathan. He farms with his wife Karen, sons Benjamin, Justin, and Noah, and Jonathan's parents, Howard and Mary.
The funniest thing happened today. Karen had a phone call from one of our raw milk customers. Lynn told her that they had a hen hanging around their house that had suddenly appeared a few days ago. They didn't want it, so could they bring it over to our farm. Karen said sure, we'd be happy to give it a home. Lynn's husband, Ricki, came over to the farm about 6:30 with the hen inside a small animal transport cage.
As we walked down to the barn to put the hen inside for the night, I told Ricki that one of our chickens had gone missing a few days ago. It was a hen that roosted in the apple tree in front of the barn, but we hadn't seen it for a few days and there was no sign of a struggle suggesting that another animal had killed that chicken. Ricki took the hen out of the cage, and I made sure to look at the legs of the hen. Sure enough, on one of the legs of the hen was a plastic band that we had put on her two years ago. The hen that had showed up at Lynn and Ricki's house 2 1/2 miles away was our missing hen!!!
I burst out laughing upon the realization that it was our hen. Ricki asked me if I was sure, and I said absolutley. We then checked to see the last time he came to get milk. He had been here four days ago. While he was filling his milk containers, the hen must have flown into the back of his pickup. Once Ricki started for home, the hen must have been too frightened to fly out and had gone for a ride all the way to Ricki's place. I thanked Ricki for bringing her home and for solving the mystery of our missing hen. The hen seemed glad to be home, and her buddy who she hangs out with was glad to have her back, too. Before going to bed I checked the apple tree, and she was back in her usual spot.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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We were running low on sawdust for bedding, so I had called my supplier, across the border in Quebec, to order a load. He called this morning to say they would be here in about an hour to deliver the load. That gave me just enough time to clean out the bays and repair the back walls before the load got here. I ordered their larger load size, hoping that it will carry us through a good part of the winter. I want to avoid buying the bagged sawdust if possible because it is so expensive.
Pelletier's arrived with the tractor trailer load of sawdust and had unloaded about half of it when the milk truck pulled in to pick up the milk. The milk truck driver had just enough room to get his rig backed up to the barn. While he drained the bulk tank of its 3500 pounds of milk, the sawdust truck finished unloading and headed down the road. I joked to the milkman that it was too bad the grain truck, which was due at the farm sometime today, hadn't shown up at the same time as the other two trucks making stops at the farm.
It took me about half an hour to push what sawdust I could into the two bays of the shed, and later that afternoon I loaded the dump trailer four times and brought that sawdust around to the end of the freestall barn to put it under cover. With rain expected tonight, I wanted it all taken care of.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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The earth has yielded its fruits, and we feel truly blessed
The yield from the garden this year has been tremendous! With lots of sunshine, heat, and just enough rain, almost everything we planted has produced very well. Noah and I were out in the garden to see what needed to be harvested today.
A nice head of cauliflower was ready, so we cut it off the stem. Right next to the cauliflower the broccoli plants had already been harvested, but the plant grew some small heads of broccoli which have flowered. The bees were enjoying the abundant yellow blossoms. Some more tomatoes were ready. Karen has been busy making tomato sauce and salsa with the good tomato crop. The potatoes have done well, too. We dug what was left of the row of Red Norlands, and picked up almost 100 pounds. If it had been a full row, we would have gotten almost 150 pounds of potatoes from 10 pounds of seed potatoes. The four rows of Kennebecs are still waiting to be done.
We feel very lucky here. The summer has been a good one with fantastic grazing for the cows, a good crop of hay, a plentiful garden, and lots of nice weather for us to enjoy. Seeing the images of destruction left by Hurrican Katrina have made all of us here feel even luckier to live where we live. Our boys made us proud by wanting to donate immeadiately to the relief effort for the victims of the hurricane. It made them feel better knowing our donations were part of the effort to help the people they saw on the news everyday. The outpouring of help to the ravaged areas in Louisiana and Mississippi from Vermont and across the nation has made us proud of our country. We are truly blessed to live where we live.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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Dog Days of Summer require working on Christmas trees
The last three days have been unseasonably hot here in northwestern Vermont. The temperatures have been in the upper 80's with muggy conditions. So it seems pretty funny to tell you that Karen and I have been focusing our attention on, of all things, Christmas trees.
We have been shearing our balsam fir and blue spruce trees to get them ready for the upcoming Christmas season. We use both pruning knives and hand clippers to shape the trees. By doing this work this early, it gives the cut ends of the branches time to heal and harden over so that they won't be sticky when it is time to cut and handle the tree. The trees look really good, and we think we will be open to sell trees for the first time in a couple of years.
It's a nice change of pace from the normal farm chores to go over and work in the trees for a few hours a day. The solitude is relaxing, and seeing a bushy tree transformed into a nicely shaped potential Christmas tree is very rewarding. Yukon, our black Lab, likes to tag along, too. He likes to explore the meadow and woods while Karen and I work away. With the heat, he worked up quite a thrist. Karen helped him out by pouring some of our water into a recess in the truck's tailgate.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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Back to school and back to Monarch butterfly season
It's been really crazy here at the farm with the beginning of school. Everyone starts a new routine, and all the help is gone all day. But we seem to be settling into the new routines, and Karen and I are getting used to not having any kids at home through the day for the first time in over 16 years. (Our youngest is now off to First Grade!)
With the start of school comes the search for Monarch butterfly caterpillars. Karen has a great knack for finding them, and she has found several the past couple of weeks. Starting with when our oldest, Ben, started school, we have usually had one or two two-liter soda bottles filled with milk weed and a hungrily munching Monarch caterpillar sitting in the kitchen in early September. It always amazes us to watch the magical transformation of the green, black, and yellow caterpillar into a beautiful red and black butterfly.
The first butterfly emerged from its chrysalis a couple days ago. We carefully brought the bottle outside and set the butterfly free. The next day, while I was trimming around the base of one of our Christmas trees, I spied a Monarch chrysalis hanging from a bottom branch (below). It's not often you spy one out in the field. I'll have to check that one to see when the butterfly emerges. Meanwhile, caterpilar number two is in the kitchen munching away and growing big and fat, getting ready to spin its chrysalis and make its amazing metamorphisis.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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Jonathan has sent us another movie of his cows--this time featuring Hooter, the latest newborn on the farm. Hooter (brother to Scooter) was born at the end of August and has been frolicking on the Vermont grass ever since. Press on the little arrow just above the blue arrow to see Hooter and hear Jonathan's narration. (We discover that some of these cows are really big hams on camera.)
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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At Stonyfield Farm today we were alerted to some aid groups specifically helping farmers and fishermen affected by Hurricane Katrina. The Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group has put together a list of links to organizations providing disaster relief assistance to agricultural communities. Won't you pay them a visit?
Look for more Bovine Bugle news, including a new video, from organic dairy farmer Jonathan Gates next week!
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Son Noah came along with me to give the cows a new paddock after the evening milking. The cows followed us down the lane, and waited impatiently while we took down the cross piece that would let them into the fresh, lush grass. As soon as the first few feet of fence were wound up, the cows poured through the opening and began looking for the best patch of grass. If there was any clover in the paddock, that is what the cows would want to eat first.
The grazing over the past few weeks has been the best I've seen in a few years. The grass is so lush, so thick, that I swear you could catch your foot in it and trip. I tried to capture the lushness with a few pictures, but the camera just doesn't do it justice.
And in the morning, when the grass is awash with dew, it looks so good that I want to take a bite. I may sound like a broken record, but it is such a joy to see the cows out grazing, enjoying the grass and the sunshine, lazing in the late summer sun chewing their cud contentedly. And then I think of the cows in confinement dairies that never get to enjoy any of these things. I know if I was a consumer, which cows I would want my milk and dairy products to come from.
As consumers, your purchasing choice in the end determines how well our organic dairy farms fare financially. Hopefully by telling you how we run our farm and take care of the land and the animals, you will appreciate what we do to produce a wholesome product and will chose to support our family farms by purchasing the milk and dairy products made from our milk.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont
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We can do no great things--
only small things
with great love. --Mother Theresa
Here in Londonderry, New Hampshire, as everywhere in the United States today, we’re feeling a little helpless. How do we respond to the tragedy unfolding along our Gulf Coast? We’re doing what we can. Some of us brought in American Red Cross donations. Some of us are working a telethon later today. These are small things, but we do them with the sincere conviction that they will make a difference.
What small thing can you do today? Next week? Next month? Next year when the massive rebuilding must ensue?
For now, please visit these charities and learn about how you can contribute:
Jonathan Gates reports from Howmars Farm in Franklin, Vermont.
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
A nice head of cauliflower was ready, so we cut it off the stem. Right next to the cauliflower the broccoli plants had already been harvested, but the plant grew some small heads of broccoli which have flowered. The bees were enjoying the abundant yellow blossoms. Some more tomatoes were ready. Karen has been busy making tomato sauce and salsa with the good tomato crop. The potatoes have done well, too. We dug what was left of the row of Red Norlands, and picked up almost 100 pounds. If it had been a full row, we would have gotten almost 150 pounds of potatoes from 10 pounds of seed potatoes. The four rows of Kennebecs are still waiting to be done.
The last three days have been unseasonably hot here in northwestern Vermont. The temperatures have been in the upper 80's with muggy conditions. So it seems pretty funny to tell you that Karen and I have been focusing our attention on, of all things, Christmas trees. 
It's a nice change of pace from the normal farm chores to go over and work in the trees for a few hours a day. The solitude is relaxing, and seeing a bushy tree transformed into a nicely shaped potential Christmas tree is very rewarding. Yukon, our black Lab, likes to tag along, too. He likes to explore the meadow and woods while Karen and I work away. With the heat, he worked up quite a thrist. Karen helped him out by pouring some of our water into a recess in the truck's tailgate.
We can do no great things--