Cloud 9 Blog

Rejected, abandoned calf found!

You think of spring calves being born, but this is winter!

This week’s chore list: Put some home made Christmas wreaths on the stone pillar security gate at Cloud 9 Farm. Clean up some rusty strands of barbed wire from a pile now visible with the winter weed die down. Oh, hey, wait… two chores one DO. When you live on a farm you have this mantra “Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle” going in your head [ MORE » ]

I didn’t know what a grye was until, my artist friend,  Robert, went on this research “vacation” to visit one. The sailing vessel, The Sea Dragon, is rounding the cape of South America. He’s concerned about the environment, too, just as much as we are at Cloud 9 Farm. We recycle plastic, glass, cardboard, paper and food scraps for chickens. But more importantly, we think [ MORE » ]

Who is getting fed? The toddler or the cows? She couldn’t resist tasting before feeding the calves.  This is just one of the many fun things to do with families when you stay on Cloud 9 Farm!

Today there was a Poetry Slam at our local library. A poetry “reading” was described to be like passively watching a golf tournament. A poetry slam is when you enthusiastically applaud everyone’s efforts and their bravery for getting up in front of an audience for the first time to share their inner most feelings. My long time blueberry picking friend, Marsha Jackson, felt so [ MORE » ]

So you think all eggs come in perfect elliptical medium to jumbo sizes? Not so.  There are often eggs with a slightly hour glass shape, jumbo double yolkers (ouch),  some with several shades of brown on the shell, and even an occasional shell-less egg. This egg, gathered yesterday,  is less than half the size. Young chickens lay these sort of as a warm up [ MORE » ]

What makes a farmer feel wealthy in the winter? A.  barn full of hay B.  freezer full of beef, veggies C.  seasoned firewood under cover D.  all of the above

When the weather looks like this…you don’t mind staying inside and cleaning out a closet or two, watching a TV show you usually wouldn’t in the middle of the day, but mostly ahh-ing over snow defined views from the warmth of the house… or even sorting those receipts for the dreaded tax 1040. But now these snows have melted, it’s past Ground Hog day [ MORE » ]

To get those fat chickens to dare take a step out of the coop when there is snow on the ground, you have to shovel out a spot so they can at least see a little brown. Then throw some of yellow and brown chicken scratch out to tempt them. They still hesitate. But eat they must because they still lay big brown eggs [ MORE » ]