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Sustainability at the Flying T Ranch

Apr 11, 2018
3 min

Sustainability at the Flying T Ranch

Over the past years, we have found the “sustainable” goal to be one of the most elusive. Sustainable practices with our livestock began with the species and breeds we chose for the farm. Some of these have been successful, and others not so much. For example, our first few years with Muscovy ducks were very productive. We chose them for their hardiness and reputation for being good at reproducing and raising young on their own. However, when we later ran into significant

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Dec 25, 2012
2 min

A Christmas and New Year Message from Us at the Flying T

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” – Jeremiah 29:11-13 His plans, not ours… It’s so tempting to believe we can plan our lives completely. To decide what we will do and when we will do it, and to forget that our loving Creator has

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Yes, we’re alive!

Nov 16, 2012
3 min

Yes, we’re alive!

It’s been a long time since we posted, simply because this Fall has been pretty overwhelmingly busy! To give you an idea of some of the things going on these past couple months at the Flying T… Fall was spectacular this year, and though we got a light dusting, we didn’t have a repeat of the Halloween snowstorm of 2011. Here’s a pic of the Flying T in late fall from the air. The beginning of Fall also brought some new additions to the Flying T. One is “Rocky,” our new black

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Clearing the Land

Jun 14, 2012
3 min

Clearing the Land

When we bought the Flying T, we knew that one of our two pastures was “rough.” OK, it’s really rough. Half-forested, largely with poisonous [to livestock] pin cherry trees. Not much growing in it but rocks and goldenrod. Fence falling down. Steep slopes on a good portion of it. Rutted with holes to the point that it was unsafe to let the horses loose. Rough. The book answer for a pasture that had been let go for that long would be to call in the bulldozer, then trucklo

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NPIP – Exam Time for the Flock

May 2, 2012
2 min

NPIP – Exam Time for the Flock

Yesterday, at our request, a representative from the Department of Agriculture came out to visit and test our chickens in conjunction with the National Poultry Improvement Program. NPIP is a voluntary program that provides testing for common ailments in home and commercial flocks. NPIP helps us to ensure a safe food supply and avoid the transfer of disease through other means (after all, taking care of chickens is not a hands-off activity here at the Flying T). In addition

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Spring is in the Air

Apr 11, 2012
2 min

Spring is in the Air

Spring is in the air here at the Flying T. Our resident Boer Goats, Jessie and Gracie, are off at another farm for a month or so in the hopes that they make very close friends with the buck there. That would bring us kids in September. In their place, we welcomed two more 4-month-old full-blood Boer does, Ruby and Samy (Samantha). The Muscovy ducks started laying a few weeks ago, but weren’t sitting, so we ended up collecting a lot of them. They’re not bad eating and very

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Starting Seeds Indoors

Mar 28, 2012
2 min

Starting Seeds Indoors

We can tell Spring is here because both the jobs that keep the bills paid and the jobs around the farm have really gotten busy! Almost a month since my last post tells that story. One of the things that we’ve been working on is getting our garden ready. Though the weather has been unseasonably warm the past few weeks, we still have some frost in the forecast and we even woke up to a light dusting of snow this morning. Last year, we got hit with a snowstorm on April Fools da

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Farmcycling Project – Chicken Water Heater

Nov 30, 2011
1 min

Farmcycling Project – Chicken Water Heater

Though the winter is setting in reluctantly, we have had a few cold nights where the chicken’s water iced up. A quick check at the feed store, Tractor Supply, and Amazon found chicken waterers like this: Unfortunately, the cost of one of these babies is between $40 and $50. That’s a lot of chicken feed! So, to the farm cycling pile I went for inspiration. Materials I discovered were already on hand: Old cookie tin, incandescent lightbulb, silicone sealer, electrical tape.

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Another Rock in the Wall

Nov 18, 2011
2 min

Another Rock in the Wall

With the unseasonably warm days we had in the beginning of November, we put some of our other work (including some of the kids’ studies) aside and got to work improving our rear pasture. The rear pasture is about 1.25 acres and “rough” to say the least. Based on the size of the poisonous pin cherries throughout the pasture, we figure the pasture has been let go for a good 5-10 years. We’d previously cleared about a quarter to third of it, and then broadcast spread winter ry

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Occupy Movement Hits the Flying T

Oct 25, 2011
3 min

Occupy Movement Hits the Flying T

I walked to the equipment shed a couple days ago and found that the Occupy movement had hit our farm. "Occupy Shed" Protest They weren’t as persistent as protesters in other parts of the country. By the time I’d come back from occupying my tractor seat and evicting some more Pin Cherry trees from the pastures with my chainsaw, they’d moved on. Even though it was nice and dry inside the shed, they knew I wasn’t going to feed them there and so they went on their way to forage

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Poison in the Pasture – Pin Cherry

Oct 18, 2011
2 min

Poison in the Pasture – Pin Cherry

Wild Black Cherry (photo: Ohio Extension) Both Wild Black Cherry and Pin Cherry trees are members of the rose family commonly found in Southern New Hampshire. Pin Cherry is a common first-generation species after logging or forest fires create an opening (thus its alternate name, Fire Cherry) and is one of my chief concerns on our property. We’ve cut several trees down from the margins of our primary pasture, but the back pasture that we’re restoring is positively full of t

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Can Handshakes and the Internet Make Better Food?

Oct 16, 2011
4 min

Can Handshakes and the Internet Make Better Food?

Earlier, I explained that while I believe Organic certification has benefits for certain consumers and producers, it also has some inherent flaws and weaknesses. I believe there is a better solution for many of us. Like many of the practices we’re finding to help us make healthy and ethical choices in the ways we produce, market, acquire, and consume food, this solution is an old one with a bit of assistance from newer technologies. The old part of the solution is the hands

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Organic?

Oct 11, 2011
6 min

Organic?

When we first started dreaming about our farm, “organic” was high in our priorities. This flows out of our family mission, to glorify God in all ways, and to live that out on our farm by raising, managing, and using His creation in a healthy, sustainable, humane, and respectful manner. Since we planned to produce food for others, organic certification seemed like the way to pursue this mission. Rhode Island Red Free-Ranging at the Flying T However, as we started researching

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Orchardgrass

Oct 4, 2011
2 min

Orchardgrass

Though the most common grass used for hay in New England might be Timothy, another very common component of baled forage around here is Orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata). Orchardgrass (photo by Missouri Extension) Unlike Timothy, which takes a bit of care to get established, Orchardgrass often finds its own way into pastures and hayfields. Propogating both by seeds and by tillers that spread from its dense, clumped bases, Orchardgrass competes well with other grasses and wee

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Tri-Dye Jam

Oct 1, 2011
1 min

Tri-Dye Jam

Tri-Dye Jam God blessed us with some amazing fruit this year, both on our trees and in the bushes around the Flying T. We picked berries through the summer. Wild strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries were superb on the farm and in the neighborhood. Our blueberries were a bust, but two friend’s blueberry groves were absolutely amazing. We also did a couple trips to pick-your-own places to fill up on strawberries. As berry season was coming to a close, our peaches arr

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Adventures in Long Distance Horse Trailering, Part 1

Sep 29, 2011
5 min

Adventures in Long Distance Horse Trailering, Part 1

In the last post on trailering, I explained that though our Quarterhorse (Zip) was very compliant with getting into the trailer, we had some… ahem… “challenges” loading and trailering our Haflinger cross (Jasper). Under the tutelage of our faithful trainer, Rachel, we put together a plan to teach him to load well. Rachel (our trainer and mentor) working Jasper on the longe line It was a very good plan, in part because the schedule included a two-month stint where I would lea

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Forages: Timothy Grass

Sep 26, 2011
3 min

Forages: Timothy Grass

This is the first installment in the Forage Managment section of our blog. For more information on why I’m doing this, click here. Timothy grass (Phleum pratense, or Herd’s Grass) is most likely the base of hay you buy in New England – it’s the predominant species for most well-cared-for and cultivated hayfields around here. This is precisely why there isn’t much of it here at the Flying T, though since I have found a few specimens here and there around the property, I susp

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Legumes and Grasses and Weeds, Oh My!

Sep 26, 2011
3 min

Legumes and Grasses and Weeds, Oh My!

One of the fringe benefits of my new job is the ability to take courses at UNH. At first, I considered working towards another Masters, or even a PhD. I started looking through the catalog at the course titles, but “Fun with Complex and Imaginary Numbers,” “Astrophysics For English Majors,” and “Advanced Intermediate Navel-Gazing” just didn’t inspire me. Then I happened upon the Thompson School of Agriculture courses. Now we were talking. I considered “AGRI101: Using Farm

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First Day of Fall

Sep 23, 2011
1 min

First Day of Fall

A few pics from our first day of Fall here at the Flying T Ranch. First Day of Fall at the Flying T - Leaves are Just Starting to Turn Only a little longer before the hammock gets packed up for the season The colors are just starting to show The path to the back pasture is still green But the ferns in our back pasture are starting to yellow We've got our wood stacked and drying, though I've got a few more windfalls from Irene left to cut and split The York Rake will get a lot

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Battling the Varmint Cong

Sep 20, 2011
4 min

Battling the Varmint Cong

(Warning/spoiler – the last pic in this post has a dead animal in it) It was mid-summer. With all the moving, unpacking, and other projects, we’d gotten the garden in entirely too late. To boot, I’d mixed too much compost into the soil, so the plants were on a nitrogen high, shoots and leaves out of control. This was great for the lettuce and spinach, but not for the fruits and veggies. In the presence of so much nitrogen, the plant will use it for growing vegetation, not

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Double or Nothing

Mar 22, 2021
2 min

Double or Nothing

Two years ago, Chili birthed her first set of quads, four gorgeous red bucklings I like to refer to affectionately as The Spice Boys....

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Mar 23, 2020
1 min

We've Moved!

With all this free time we've found during the shutdown, we at the Flying T at last had the chance to update our website and blog! Rather...

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