Author: Garth Brown

Later this summer Alanna and I will be heading out to Arizona to celebrate her grandparents’ wedding anniversary. Deer season isn’t open out there in early August, so I’ll have to hope I luck into a bear or mountain lion tag. Carnivores and omnivores usually aren’t eaten, but if I’ve learned anything over the past...

It looks like we're going to get a good apple crop this year. There are numerous wild apple trees spread around my farm, and last autumn was abysmal. One single tree yielded well, while all the others grew zero or just a few small fruits. I've read that wild apples often exhibit a biennial heavy...

Until today I hadn’t brewed beer for about ten years. But last fall’s cider was terrible, and the new batch is still months and months away, so I took the plunge. Of course, given the restrictions I’m operating under, I had to begin by figuring out how to malt barley. In theory it’s not too...

So obviously I got the analysis I wanted even if the sought after ratio isn't *quite* what I hoped for. The ratio of 5.5:1 omega 6:3 is not superb, but it is significantly closer to the "grass-fed" meat than most pork. The literature I've read for pork generally shows 6:3 ratios ranging from 10:1 to...

Since moving to the farm I’ve had cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, geese, and ducks. But until two days ago only the first of these had ever been born on here. I plan on farrowing my own pigs, but not until next year; so far I’ve purchased piglets that are weaned and a couple months old....

Two months ago I wrote a post about our pigs' feeding protocol and the possibility that it would result in a healthier balance of fats than that found in the average hog. While I settled on marketing my meat as "Cairncrest Farm Pork", I am interested enough in the topic that I sprang for a fat analysis...

Right before moving up here, Alanna and I lived on the north fork of Long Island. We spent a lot of time with our good friends at Oysterponds Farm, hanging out and helping them with whatever was going on. This was my first serious foray into veggie garden, and I fear it gave me some misapprehensions...

The two primary species of animals moved from their winter quarters to fresh green fields a few weeks ago. When they're on pasture the cattle move to fresh grass every day. I'm still waiting for a number of calves to drop. They should come in the next two to three weeks. It's marvelous to watch...

If you are new to the blog, this post explains what's going on. You may have noticed that, while I have largely followed the edicts set forth in Judge Hodgman’s ruling, I have not strictly adhered to the quantities. I drank less than half the allotted Fresca; I ate 4 ½ pounds of scrapple. I haven’t felt...

The garden is at a particularly frustrating stage; lots of veggies have been started, but aside from asparagus and a few kale and sage plants that miraculously over wintered, there is not yet much to show for all of the work. It's been dry enough that even with watering there has been some less than...