Old School Farm Blog Notification Now Working??

This photo was taken several years ago in Costa Rica, and we just thought it would send some warmth to everyone out there in the frozen tundra this season.

Actually the real reason for sending this very brief post is because we believe we have finally identified why most people were no longer receiving notifications of our posts.   It appears our blog post size had become too large.  We have changed some settings and our hope is that you now in fact have received this post!

To see the postings you may have been missing for the past few months, simply look to your right and click on any date you wish.

We'll be making another new post within the next week as well.  

Stay warm!

Your Friends at Old School Farm

The "Polar Vortex" & Some Good News

Typically January is a time when you hunker down, plan for spring and make the best of what mother nature throws at you in the way of weather.  This year has been no different, accept that things have been a bit more challenging than usual due to the extended periods of extremely low temperatures. Heating a sizable farmhouse from one central wood burner in the basement takes a lot of doing and Dave continues to cut and split a lot of wood. Thanks again to our neighbors Pat & Jim Sanders for the firewood logs!   Also, as you can see above, our new tractor grader blade works particularly well as a snow removal implement!  Dave has somehow also been doing the plowing without having to invest in chains for the tractor.  So far so good.

Call it what you will - a "polar vortex" (sounds too sinister) or just a good old fashioned winter, but these conditions do offer plenty of outdoor opportunities, and when dressed warmly enough, can be very enjoyable.  With twin seven year old boys around the farm, the opportunities are pretty limitless - sledding, ice fishing, building "snow caves", ice skating on the neighbor's pond, snow ball fights, making snow angels, snowmobiling, or even some skiing at nearby Elk Mountain.

As for farm-related activities, Farm Manager, Dave Campeau has been focused on making some much needed cosmetic touch-ups to the interior of our 1925 farmhouse. Fresh paint in several areas, a re-organized basement, and  a new granite counter top behind the kitchen sink just to name a few.

We have also recently purchased a special weather alert radio with battery backup that will alert us to local weather emergencies if and when they occur.  The radio can be programmed for a variety of settings - we chose just the flood warning setting for Wayne County.

The very good news we received recently from our friend John down at the Farm Service Agency near

Scranton was that our farm qualifies for crop insurance for all the crops we raise.  The policy will cover 55% of retail value for all crops and will cover for flood damage.  With this policy in place for the coming year, we plan on significantly expanding our growing areas with the aim of making the farm much more self-sustaining financially by having a lot more produce to sell through the local Wayne County Grown Farmers Cooperative (that name is in flux at the moment).

Knowing we will have this policy in place has put us in a position of needing not only to scale up production of certain crops (peppers, eggplants, carrots, and beets to name just a few), but also to obtain a bit more equipment in the way of attachments for the old Ferguson tractor so we can plow and till more areas and get them planted with cover crops like buckwheat and rye this coming season.  This will allow us to have more vegetable growing areas ready for the following year.  The cover crops break down weed roots in the soil, and also put back much needed organic matter and nitrogen into our silty river bottom soils.

We plan on converting the sheep pasture area on the near side of the road to a summer growing area and then bring the sheep back on in late fall for fertility reasons.  The sheep will spend the spring and summer months on the middle and possibly also the upper pasture areas.  We need to figure out our watering and transport systems soon.  We will also need to string quite a bit of electric fencing.

Dave is currently re-building the flood-damaged solar powered pump.  It appears the damage occurred when silt entered the bearing housing while the pump house was under water.

One other thing we will also be doing is using our rooftop gardens as cold frames for starting onions
and cole crops like broccoli and cabbage in late winter and early spring.  We are also working on finishing our counter tops in the barn kitchen area and also ordering a stainless evaporation pan for our small, gravity fed maple syruping set-up.

Until next time, enjoy all our winter photos, stay warm and take heart in the fact that each day is getting longer and before you know it the snow will be melting... In the meantime, become a seven year old again for a few hours and get outside and enjoy it!

Your Friends at Old School Farm

Grating Kolrobi for an au gratin

Idylic small boys sledding hill behind our farmhouse

A gold laced wyandotte hen 

Twin brothers in front of "twin" Catalpa tree

The Dyerry river icing over on top (and bottom)

Readying the ice auger to drill holes for ice fishing

Auguring holes in Thompson's pond 

2 on 1 snowball fight

Daddy and his boys

The winter hay bail delivery method 

The fat content in grain keeps a body warm in the coldest temps

Mom and her boys hit the sledding hill

Our tom has been in full color and strutting for his harem 

Where's that helmet Dave?

2nd cutting hay - great stuff

hmm...  if I could just play offense and defense at the same time...maybe next year

close to zero and still outside for most of the day

spring fed and not freezing

Owen's snow cave

A large flock of wild turkey hens on the way to Elk Mountain

sweet winter sky

a boy on a frozen pond

a zest for life - even in skates on rough ice !

First solo chairlift ride

skiing with the cousins at Elk Mountain

Coleman Benner and his cousin Sophia Seligsohn

Farm Dinner Party and a Full Freezer

December is a month to make sure your freezer is full with all the good tasting, healthy food you worked so hard to raise.  It's also a good time to share that good food with friends.

This year the Benners decided to entertain a dozen friends and the menu (at end of post) was almost entirely made up of food produced at Old School Farm.  Al's beet saute was pretty amazing (thanks for the ingredient tips Dave :) , but it was Deena Benner's quiche that stole the show.  Great company of friends and fresh farm ingredients - nothing can beat it.

Rocco and his deer

Turning to more serious issues for this time of year, early winter is a time to make sure the freezer is stocked with venison for the coming months.  Al had been unsuccessful with his new crossbow, so now it came down to gun season. When the chips are down and a deer is needed, the Camilli clan (friends of the Benners) can usually be
counted on to deliver some venison.  This year was no exception as Rocco Camilli bagged a button buck with his

antlerless deer tag in the wooded hillside at the farm. Dave and Al butchered it, and then the vacuum sealer took over, and now the meat is in the freezer.

Don Whitman tempts the flock

Also over the holidays, a visit was paid to the farm by the parents of the Benner's sister-in-law, Lisa Seligsohn. Don and Charlotte Whitman from Maine/Virginia, just happened to time it right and enjoyed some of the Old School turkey leftovers in a hearty soup Al had made (the same turkey the Whitmans had eaten three days before at the Benners on Thanksgiving).  While Charlotte toured the farmhouse and viewed old photos of the farm, Al showed Don around the property, even paying a visit to the remainder of the turkey flock that was spared as breeding

Our Spanish Black Tom

stock for next season.  Don ("Fixer Pop" to his grandkids) is an avid outdoorsman and DIY guy who has been following this blog regularly, so he was most interested in seeing things firsthand. We're glad the Whitmans stopped by!

Dave has been hard at work making repairs around the house and grounds as needed and getting everything secure and stowed away for what is looking like it could be a long, cold winter.  Most importantly he has been focusing on bringing in a lot of seasoned firewood that had been cut earlier this past year.  He's also now working on securing interns for next season and creating a detailed report for USDA regarding production in our high tunnel greenhouse (a requirement for the grant we received)

Winter Oats just seeded

The ground inside the high tunnel was seeded with winter oats several weeks back and with 60 - 70 degree temps in there during sunny days, this cover crop is really taking off.  We are even attempting to over winter some of the serious eggplant "shrub" root stock - probably won't work, but we love to experiment - we've got about a foot of mulch on them. Speaking of mulch, the 400 asparagus plants are all mulched in for winter.






Finally, we are currently looking into the possibility of acquiring crop insurance for the flood plain growing area so we can have the peace of mind to expand our growing areas of vegetables.   We sell through the new Wayne County cooperative being organized by Sky Ballantine over at Ant Hill Farm. It's a great program where various farmers can list what they have extra of each week and local restaurants (and soon individuals) can order what they want and pick up at one of three weekly pick up locations.  Best of all each farmer sets their price for their offerings.  Last year our beets, carrots, kale and tomatoes moved very nicely and we would like to expand our offerings and volumes.

We'll be taking a break from the blog until mid to late January as there won't be a whole lot to report over the next few weeks.  Until next time we hope your holiday season is joyful and warm.

Your Friends at Old School Farm    

Farm to Table Dinner Menu - November 24^th, 2013

“Massaged” Kale Salad  -   Dinosaur Kale, Dried Cranberries, Currants, Toasted Almonds, Shredded Carrots, Diced Apple, w/ Olive Oil, Sea Salt, Black Pepper

Ethiopian Style Beets -  Diced Red & Gold  “Grex” Beets, Yogurt, Curry, Cumin, Yogurt, Olive Oil, Sea Salt, Black Pepper, touch of OSF Honey

Quiche a la Deena -  Old School Farm Free- Range Organic Eggs, Heavy Cream, Various Cheeses, Asparagus, Spinach, Crab, Puffball Mushroom, Sundried tomatoes

Thanksgiving - Deena Benner and her parents, Phyllis & Sheldon Seligsohn

Phyllis, Cousin Ben, and 99 year old Grandma Sophie

Charlotte Whitman

Sue Benner with some Old School Turkey and sides

Early winter view from above the garden area

The last day of the last front tooth!

It has since been cracked - it was a double yoker.  So would it have hatched two chicks?  We think so.