Scrambling Rock Farm

07/11/2020

Loosestrifes: Yesterday, I came home to find our 12-year-old Great Pyrenees barking for attention down by our fire pond. She was muddy and unable to walk - she overdoes it sometimes. When my husband arrived, we commenced a rescue mission with the ATV.

While we were down near the pond, I discovered that we have invasive purple loosestrife. This is a meadow in which the llamas and alpacas lived previously, but nothing is grazing it this year.

It rained last night, so we pulled the loosestrife today and bagged it for the dump.

I do have two better-behaved loosestrife cultivars in my gardens. The yellow flowered one is called ‘circle flower’, and the purple foliage with yellow flowers is ‘firecracker’. Both are assertive and spreading, but not aggressive, in my Z5a mountain garden.

07/11/2020

I have this massive smooth hydrangea arborescens, ‘White Dome’, in my front garden. It’s about 10 years old and 6’ tall and wide. I have never pruned it because I did not know the type (you can see last year’s blooms there), so I spent some time last looking through old emails and got it identified.

I learned:
- it is very very close cultivar to our native hydrangea;
- it’s a pollinator magnet (I knew that)
- it grows 4’ tall and wide (hmmmm)
- smooth hydrangeas bloom on new wood, so should be pruned in late winter, like panicle hydrangeas

The front garden is anchored by these 3 big hydrangeas: white dome (smooth), quickfire (panicle) and limelight (panicle). And a mock orange that is due to be pruned right now, because it blooms on old wood.

So, in the spring, I plan to cut them all back, nearly to the ground, and it should lower the overall height of this garden bed.

07/11/2020

We took a look at a few of our ash trees today, as it has been 5 years since the emerald ash borer was found in our county. Clear evidence of damage and these old trees will need to come down soon. The one with the bare canopy is right next to the house.

07/11/2020

Scrambling Rock Farm update: as I revisit this page, I will be focusing more on gardening updates 🌱🌷🌺 . As a reminder, we are a small hobby farm in the Belknap Mountains of central New Hampshire, zone 5a.

Life has changed in the past 10 years, though our motivations, location, and values have not:

🦙 we no longer have llamas, alpacas, or laying hens;
🐴 we have two lovely horses, including a young ClydeX who we imported from Canada;
🐖 we do raise feeder pigs occasionally, but realized that two people who work full time cannot be pig breeders - there is too much chaos with pigs! We currently have a hog being raised at a friend’s farm;
🐖 local food options have increased substantially in our corner of NH, and we have a lot of choices for local meat and eggs within a ten mile radius;
🐓 we will be raising some pasture-raised meat birds in chicken tractors this summer - that was a pandemic decision!

09/11/2010

We will process our last TamXBerk sow in a couple of weeks, and have 1/4 available at $3/lb hanging weight, which we expect to be up to 75 # for the quarter. Contact us if interested.

09/11/2010

As fall approaches, we have decided to end our hog-raising adventures. As full-time professionals (and part-time hobby farmers), it's proving to be too much work for us! We're sticking with the animals we enjoy the most for our children - alpacas and ponies - and will likely raise feeder hogs in the future for meat only. Our Berkshire sow has been sold to Lasting Legacy Farm of Barrington!

04/11/2010

This morning, the boys are up scrambling about on the big rocks :-) with friends, and Andy is in Chichester watching the butcher do his thing. We processed 2 pigs yesterday, and the grand total (at cost) came out to $251 per half, approx $2.50/lb. This was slightly less than cost - we didn't charge for fuel or any capital expenses this first time around, and we also didn't do any smoking.

10/19/2009

Andy rigged up a pipe with a couple of watering ni***es to this 200-Gal watering tank we picked up on Craigslist. The pigs took to it immediately, but also quickly learned to work the friction fitting loose. As I observed them, they stopped in for a drink very frequently - seeming to appreciate the fresh water rather than drinking from a bucket. We are thinking now about how to deal with winter water ...

10/19/2009

Winter project: learn how to do AI on pigs. Anyone know of any local experts?

10/13/2009

This local foods diner is located in Quechee, VT - we ate here about a year ago and enjoyed it. The Farmers Diner has been featured in MANY different books and other types of media, so it's popular ... prepare for a wait on a "touristy" day. From their website: "Our goal is a national network of Farmers Diner restaurants, serving typical diner food sourced from local area farmers and producers." They recently opened their 2nd branch in Middlebury, VT. Make a point to stop when you are in VT!

The mission of The Farmers Diner is to increase the economic vitality of local agrarian communities. The Farmers Diner creates great traditional foods using ingredients from farmers and producers who are as local as possible.

10/13/2009

The Seacoast area locavores' group.

Cultivating a thriving local food system in the Seacoast region of NH and ME

10/13/2009

This is a fabulous book with a lot of relevant information, highly recommended! (and written by a Vermonter)

Web site for Living with Pigs: Everything You Need to Know to Raise Your Own Porkers by Chuck Wooster, with photographs by Geoff Hansen