The Good Neighbors: Happy Hens

PROSPECT FARM

We are not your average farmers - if you could even call us that yet.

For some time it has been our goal to live sustainably off the land and now we are going for it! Our intention is to move towards having a household of production, not consumption through starting a multi-generation family farm providing organic vegetables, rustic breads and goat dairy for the local community. Our hope is to someday have our Vermont farm not only be a place to find quality local whole foods, but a community meeting ground to serve as an outlet for wellness, education and leisure for our neighbors.

Although we met in college, we both coincidentally grew up in the same New Hampshire area. Our studies originally focused on art and literature, which today are still huge influences to us, but we were looking for a change. Together we travelled throughout the country and have lived on both coasts, including a big city and an island in Maine. Through our experiences, we learned that we work the best as a partnership day in and day out and that our college studies are not what define us. What is most important to us is the way good “slow” food unites the ones we love.

Through this blog we hope to not only keep a log for ourselves, but also be able to share our stories and thoughts as we embark on this wild journey!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Happy Hens

We have finished building our first hoop house. It is the happy home of our free ranging layers. Every morning when they are let out it is nice and warm inside and the hens are spread out through the house "dusting." It was good practice for the next poly-tunnel project that will be twice the size for vegetables.

We had some minor complications with the sizing of the PVC but quickly found a fix to make the arches accurate before adding the plastic.