Hedgerider Farm

Where to Begin?

Mon, 30 Dec 2024 05:00:00 GMT

2024 is almost over. 2025 is a drooling something lurking outside our doors, peeking at us through cracks in the blinds.

There is a lot going on at the Hedge right now.

Starting with the willows, we are mid-harvest. Several hundred pounds are in the barn with hundreds more to go. If you're interested in buying willow rods for basketry let us know using the form on our site. So many thanks to our friends and family that have helped us with the harvest!!!

<Image src="/imgs/haulin_willow.jpg" alt="Harvesting willow, truck loaded)

Harvesting, while a lot of work, is a reprieve from the past year's growing challenges: drought, insect pests and weed control. There's nothing uncertain about what needs to happen during the harvest: anything reaching for the sky gets cut down.

And with the geese, we've reached a turning point. We have too many geese with no options for slaughtering off-farm to sell (legally) as meat. We're in the process of exploring whether we can slaughter them on-farm. If on-farm slaughtering works out, which is a longshot, we'll start expanding the goose operation. Either way, we do plan to continue breeding the flock. This year we'll offer hatching eggs starting around the end of February. To express interest in goose eggs, please indicate through use of this other form on our site.

While we wait to find out about the goose plan, we are finishing up the flock-work for the season. We've taken 11 to the butcher and had an incredible Christmas feast. The remaining work involves separating the final chosen from the damned, taking the damned to the butcher, starting the chosen on a yearly deworming treatment, setting up the breeding pens and separating the couples and thrupples.

We also picked up a few chickens for eggs for the family. We don't miss our last flock of chickens, but we do miss having a regular supply of eggs. And more than that: chickens are toddler-leftover disposal machines. Z creates a steady stream of food waste, usually shredded or crumbled into the perfect consistency for chickens.

This Fall, Maren and I decided we wouldn't go another year without venison (if we could help it). I am happy to report I put two deer in the freezer. Apart from the food we got, it was a time for me to connect. In one of my last hunts, I was standing up in a tree. I looked at the sky and freezing rain melted on my face. Tears met the rain and shared the rest of their fall. I had already been mixing with the woods for a couple months, and can't say if the tree brought the rain, my tears or both. Either way, in that moment, my gratitude attached itself to the slowly swaying trunk at my back.

<Image src="/imgs/deer_in_duff.jpg" alt="Deer in final resting place.)

below is one of the many pumpkins we grew in the goose bedding.

The Cotton Patch Goose

Sun, 17 Dec 2023 05:00:00 GMT

Compared to chickens and ducks, there aren't many documented goose breeds. The different breeds are organized by size: light to heavy.

Of course, there are lots of differences between breeds, such as temperament, foraging ability, flying ability, and fertility.

The Cotton Patch Goose (CPG), is a light goose and was the goose of our area. Used for its instinct to forage, they kept cotton and corn fields free of weeds.

<Image src="/imgs/cpgs.jpg" alt="Our Cotton Patch breeding flock)

We picked the CPG for their local heritage status, heat tolerance and sexual dimorphism (male and females look different). This is helpful as the CPGs are our breeding flock.

To get the sex of most geese involves peeking into their “vent.” This process is complicated by violent unwillingness and a thick layer of feathers.

There are two traits that belong to our CPGs that I haven't encountered in my research. First, their use of water is less than half of our other goose breeds (American Buff, Embden, Toulouse, African and Chinese). Geese love water and water makes a mess.

Second, they don't behave like the other geese. They contradict the flock in almost everything they do. The CPGs seem confused by my role in their existence. They are indifferent to grain feed and treats. They are reluctant to use their shelter. For the most part they stand apart from the rest of the flock.

Except, in their latest contradiction, three have fallen for the Toulouse. The Toulouse are a day away from slaughter.

<Image src="/imgs/toulouse.jpg" alt="Toulouse geese making noise.)

We're calling for rain Tuesday.

Potter’s Aprons

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 05:00:00 GMT

Recently we got the opportunity to collaborate with Cone Zero Ceramics to make pottery aprons. All are hand-sewn with a combination of naturally dyed bull denim and vintage trim + fabric from Maren's personal collection.

The apron design is Maren's own. It is based on a traditional potters apron, which has two overlapping panels covering your legs when squatting at the wheel.

The pattern Maren developed is composed of panels to accomplish a sturdy garment with the right fit for the potter's work. The pockets open to the side preventing phones or other effects from falling out in the course of leaning.

Maren is making more in the coming weeks and they will be for sale in the Cone Zero shop.

Exceptional Tree

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 05:00:00 GMT

It's high summer and a tree in the prime of its life falls.

Up until now, the tree looked good. They were the image of beauty and vigor. Now, broken at the base, the tree is tethered to life by a few ancillary roots.

Not dead, but parallel to the ground they're starting to look more like a log. Months before winter, their leaves wither and die.

Winter comes and the tree shows no outward sign of life. Friends of the tree say goodbye.

Winter makes its mark. Cracks happen, branches break and the crown lies ambigous on the ground.

But, from a wound in the tree a shining bud pushes through.

By the middle of spring the tree is impaling adjacent space with long slender spikes of life. The new growth forming more buds, leaves and branches.

Forces of decay and growth shape the fallen tree together. The new form, exceptional.

Seasons turn over, and over again. The spikes are now trunks.

The fall ended the silent negotiation between death and life. The fall revealed what was always there.

Nothing changed, the tree is not the same.

Crossing Vultures

Thu, 19 Oct 2023 04:00:00 GMT

It took a minute to recall why, suddenly, there might be about a dozen vultures perched around, on and flying above the house.

Turns out, I invited them.

A few days earlier I decided to cast a spell to ensure a good woodland harvest by burrying a pigs skull at the north west corner of our willow coppice.

I didn't bury it deep enough which inspired a creature of the night to exhume the skull and strip it down. Once the sun rose and the creature of the night went home, the vultures were quick to pick up the morning strip shift.

In a blatant disregard for the magic energy that had been released during the exhuming and stripping, I chased away the vultures and reburied the skull. This time with a cinder block on top.

Incidentally, when I put the cinder block on top of the new grave, I wondered could that have been the original purpose of a grave stone? To keep creatures of the night from digging up what's buried.

Anyway, the lingering vultures left and I went back to my desk. Less than an hour later -- dozens of vultures were back.

Free from their usual occupation of stripping carcasses they busied themselves with harrassing the geese and projecting a super dark vibe over the farm.

They're gone now and I'm not worried at all.

Brown Bath

Sat, 07 Oct 2023 04:00:00 GMT

A quick look outside almost any time of year in the Southeast US you'll see colorful things growing everywhere. Spring flowers, autumn foliage, summer berries and stems in winter.

The more you look the more you see. From the top of trees to the mushrooms fruiting in the dirt. Despite the endless parade of color circling the calendar most attempts to translate that vibrance to fiber will result in brown.

There are scientific reasons for the overwhelming preponderance of brown dye baths. But those reasons are as unsatisfying as they are hard to find.

Take a look at the cover of "The Craft of the Dyer," not exactly a promise of vibrant results.

<Image src="/imgs/craft-of-the-dyer.jpg" alt="The Craft of the Dyer Book Cover)

On top of the underwhelming performance and general lack of consensus on natural dye processes, it's easy to think of reasons not to even attempt capturing wild color. There are hundreds of more effective, more accurate, less expensive, and no less toxic dyes available on the market.

Yet working with natural dye made from the land we occupy is more fun. There is more joy reflected in our wild browns than any store bought hue.

And while there are hundreds of alternatives, there are more browns. Each brown their own protagonist, we look forward to meeting them all.

Look-alike

Sat, 02 Sep 2023 04:00:00 GMT

My brother Charlie and I look alike. To geese, I think, we look a lot alike. To be fair, I think the geese look a lot alike.

So I was happy to hear that when I left Charlie in charge of the farm during a trip away, the geese had no idea I left.

The times I left and Charlie was unavailable, the geese knew and were distressed.

If Charlie didn't look like me, he wouldn't be my first choice substitute. But it would take an extreme lack of competence to overcome the benefit of likeness and make me want to choose someone else.

To the geese there are two possible scenarios: Joe and no-Joe. Lucky for me I have another Joe whose name is Charlie.

I'm looking forward to testing my likeness on other livestock species.

Ticks Go Up

Mon, 07 Aug 2023 04:00:00 GMT

Ticks want your blood. The moment you step into the woods, thousands of tiny creatures begin plotting how best to extract your vital essence.

It's the cost of spending time in woods. To me it's worth it. But I'm often asked about how I deal with this fact. In short, I tuck my pants into my socks and my shirt into my pants.

Here's why I believe it works:

I need to state up front: the strategy works well, but occassionally a tick finds its way into my person. When they latch on, I don't do anything fancy. I try my best to remove the tick with tweezers and follow the CDC guidelines for seeking treatment.

I've noticed a few things about ticks. First, they seem to spend most their time near the ground. I would guess that 80-90% of all ticks make contact with me below my waist.

Also, ticks are slow. Their ability to make contact is all the more impressive considering their slow walking speed. They seem more slow in the colder months (I could be imagining that).

Finally, ticks generally travel upwards. For whatever reason, they tend to climb higher once they've made contact with a human host.

With these observations in mind, my approach is to buy myself time to find the tick while it is crawling around (usually up) on my body looking for skin. With the socks over pants and pants over shirt method, I usually have a good amount of time to see their shiny black bodies crawling on my clothes before they get to my neck or wrists.

Speaking of clothes, it's hard to see ticks on dark clothes -- opt for colors that will contrast with shiny black dots. I bought a pair of white jeans and, may be imagining, I find less ticks on them. Maybe ticks have a keen sense of their own exposure and white jeans make them feel more of than for the meal.

Obviously my approach involves active observation. I've developed a sense of when to look based on where I am, what plants I'm around, and general habit. That said, I still do a thorough tick check once I'm out of the woods.

After all that I still find a tick embedded once in a while.

Why Willow?

Sat, 18 Mar 2023 04:00:00 GMT

We fell in love with Willow as we searched for the first crop for our marginal farmland. There are over 350 species of Willow in the world, extending much further beyond the eponymous Weeper. The Willow is a miraculous plant. Certain varieties can grow up to 8 feet in one growing season. Cut off a branch, stick it in the ground, and it will sprout. Super fast growing trees like Willow consume more carbon than they produce (even when burnt for fuel). Around the world, scientists are experimenting with using living Willow trees as “bio-refineries” to help clean up toxic waste.

There are 37 different types of Willow growing at Hedgerider farm. Live plants are raised for use in landscaping and living structures. We are also cultivating Willow for harvest , with an eye towards furniture, basketry, wattle fencing, artist’s charcoal, and floral arrangements. We hope to refine our collection as we identify the varieties that flourish in our ecosystem.

Our Willow coppice is the first step in establishing a broad scale Agroforestry plan for Hedgerider Farm’s 32 acres. We hope to add copses of other trees, including short term rotation species (5-10 year) for craft and furniture, and longer term rotations  (10-30 year) for lumber and fuel.

Like most of North America’s forests, our land has suffered much in the past 200 years and is still under threat from irresponsible development and agricultural practices. If we are to hold on to our natural forested landscapes we must work with the land to identify crops that can be grown in harmony with, and reap the benefit of, the forest’s wildness.