Red Fern Farm

05/21/2026

Today we did the Great Lamb Roundup at Red Fern Farm. James caught the lambs, I held them and Tom managed the gate.

05/03/2026

More lambs at Red Fern Farm. Can you spot all 4 new ones in this photo? One is very hidden. We are not sure how many we have in total right now.

05/01/2026

Tom and I have been impressed with the track record of the Savanna Institute. It is a great organization promoting agroforestry. I hope they get this prize. - Kathy

We are honored and humbled to be included among the four finalists for this year’s Food Planet Prize. Here on farms in the central US, we are working towards a vision for perennial agriculture that has been shaped by those who came before us and shared by many across the world. Savanna Institute’s selection as a finalist is a testament to this vision as both a source of hope and as a viable means of addressing some of our planet’s most serious challenges.

This year’s Food Planet Prize will consist of a 1.5 million USD award to the winner, with the other three finalists each receiving 150,000 USD. “The Food Planet Prize Secretariat considers all shortlisted initiatives as worthy winners, and we believe that supporting every initiative that makes it to this stage is how the Prize money can have the biggest possible impact,” the organizers stated. The winner will be announced at an award ceremony in Båstad, Sweden on June 2nd.

Savanna Institute’s prize money will be used to accelerate its work across three key areas: providing agroforestry technical assistance directly to farmers and landowners, scaling up the network of demonstration and partner farms that serve as tangible examples of agroforestry enterprises, and accelerating the development of improved tree crop varieties that can financially outperform annual crops.

You can read our full announcement at https://www.savannainstitute.org/savanna-institute-selected-as-food-planet-prize-finalist/

04/24/2026

The 1st lambs of the spring have arrived at Red Fern Farm! The twins are doing well. The standing lamb arrived 2nd and had to be gently pulled into the world by Tom. The sleeping one arrived 1st.

04/22/2026

The pawpaws had been blooming like crazy. Then it got down to 29 degrees on the morning of Monday, April 20th. Fortunately, most of the pawpaw blossoms survived. Circled in red are destroyed flowers.

04/07/2026

Spring is has mostly arrived at Red Fern Farm. We are still waiting for lambs and there are many chores to finish.

03/27/2026

We moved our ewes to the chestnut groves this week. They were eager to get out if the winter pasture. These ladies are 4 months pregnant but kept up a fast pace for most of the 1/2 mile trot to their new pasture. We had to drive relatively fast just to stay even with the fastest ones.

03/24/2026

Spring is slowly arriving at Red Fern Farm. The Cornelian cherries have been blooming for a few days. The Nanking cherries should open soon. The pawpaws are still closed up tight.