Withywindle Farm

10/03/2025

It's baby day! Any last minute guesses on gender?

09/26/2025

This girl is due in just 8 days! Anyone want to guess when her calf will be born/gender of the calf?

She's bred to a registered Dexter bull, for a registered Belfair (new breed that's a cross between a Jersey and a Dexter) calf. Last year we had 3 calves born from this bull to our other two cows, and all three were bull calves (yes, one cow had twin bull calves). If she has a bull calf, the plan will be more freezer beef. If a heifer, the calf will probably be up for sale as a homestead cow.

Both cows bred to this bull delivered early. Bo-Peep here has never had a calf before, so we have no idea when she'll calve, but some people say that heifers do tend to go early.

So...any guesses? Btw, the rear end/udder photos will increase until she calves. They can give a lot of clues as to how soon!

04/18/2025

This is the first year we've grown garlic! I must admit, that as I planted the bulbs last fall, in the cold, I rather haphazardly set them in the dirt, with the help of my kids, and then covered them with an uneven amount of manure and rotten hay. I hoped all of them got placed right side up. And looks like all is well! I'm certainly looking forward to garlic scape pesto later this spring 😋

04/15/2025

Here's a little 'intro' post for those who may not know us!

We're the Fentiman Family: Travis, Anne-Marie, and kids. Our homestead journey started less than 3 years ago, when we purchased a home on 8 acres, in the Upper Valley of VT.

It was June when we moved in, and the grass was already 5 feet tall in places. So, what would any rational person do? Well, buy a cow, of course, to eat the grass! And then it was a calf. We bought a calf to keep the cow company. And then, there were ticks, so we got a broody chicken to hatch guinea eggs for us, so the guineas could eat the ticks. Basically the farmer version of 'There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly'.

Our long term goals are to provide our own meat, eggs, and dairy, and regenerate the land in the process. As we develop skills in these areas, our plan is to provide corn/soy free pork, and other products, to the public.

04/07/2025

Why 'Regenerative' farming practices?

We're losing our soil. At astronomically high rates. Without this precious soil, without *healthy* soil, food becomes increasingly more difficult to grow. Regenerative practices focus on restoration of the topsoil.

https://www.umass.edu/news/article/midwestern-us-has-lost-576-billion-metric-tons-soil-due-agricultural-practices?fbclid=IwY2xjawJhKONleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHpf6ylbDgDCkyzbLm5LI1qgmBvXwgMcOA_AjrkRDH8zMiLrh55Z-Qc75xUhf_aem_Cm-ZETTySmQ6HJ8GIKCvlw #:~:text=Put%20another%20way%2C%20the%20authors,Dust%20Bowl%20in%20the%201930s

A study in the journal Earth’s Future led by UMass Amherst shows that agricultural fields in the midwestern U.S. have lost, on average, two millimeters of soil per year.

03/31/2025

Lots has been happening on the homestead! We're in the middle of kidding season with the goats, and expectantly waiting for 'real' spring. This is Evie's doe, Willow, who she hopes will be part of her program for starting to breed registered Kinder goats.

05/14/2024

All the girls are out to pasture together, thanks to electronetting! Waiting on our buck apron to arrive soon (to keep Bucky from bothering girls he's not supposed to), and then the boys can join them too! Last year I kept the goats and cows separated, and that was a lot of work. I'm looking forward to smaller paddocks, more frequent rotations, and hopefully more healthy pastures in the long run!