Shade Stone Farm
  • Home
  • Maple Syrup
  • Blog
  • Flock Share Program
  • Pictures
  • Contact Us

Chicken Reset

4/28/2017

0 Comments

 
Normally Shade Stone Farm's chicken flock free ranges over the grounds with no restrictions.  However, the last few days we have been doing some Spring cleaning.  With the large animals out on pasture we took the opportunity to clean out the barn, Pig Palace, and Chicken Castle. 

​It seems this Spring clean-up confused out birds as they started laying eggs in various places other than the nest boxes.  While we enjoy a good Easter Egg hunt, looking for their new hiding spots each day is not optimum.   

​So, for the next few days our hens are confined to the Chicken Castle until the afternoon (after they have all laid their eggs).  Hopefully this will "reset" them and get them to lay in the nest boxes which are safely contained in the Chicken Castle.
Picture
The Chicken Castle is on the left side of this outbuilding.  The Pig Palace is on the right side.  If you look closely you can see Piggy Smalls looking out of his covered door.
Picture
This is the inside of the Chicken Castle.  Normally the automatic door at the back opens and closes based on the amount of light outside, but today the sensor is covered and the girls are staying indoors. 
Picture
Two of the ladies (they are all Red Sex Link hens) are deciding which next box they would like to use.  You can see their evening roost and watering device in this photo as well.
Picture
We can access the nest boxes from the "people side" of the outbuilding.  This allows us to gather the eggs while we are feeding the rabbits, cats and pigs and without entering the Chicken Castle.
Picture
Our ladies have multiple body guards.  Our Redbone Coonhound, Maggie, patrols outside the fenced area and does a good job of keeping raccoons at bay.  Inside the fence Piggy Smalls and Clyde, our potbellied pigs, may intimidate some predators, but as you can tell by the smile, they are really friendly guys.
0 Comments

Pastures are open!

4/21/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
After spending the winter months dining on chemical free hay, our Katahdin sheep and Jersey cattle were thrilled to graze fresh spring pasture.
0 Comments

Hopping Up

4/21/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Shade Stone Farm's hops are off to a good start. You can see the bines beginning their journey up the ropes. 
Picture
0 Comments

Orchard in the making

4/21/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Early morning mist blankets Shade Mountain in the background.  You can see the light green blooms of our maple trees coming down from the mountain toward the house.  On the left side of the photo you can see the white and pink blooms of our newest trees--the orchard! 
Picture
Here's a closer view of the newly planted orchard.  It consists of two types of apple trees, two types of cherry trees, two types of pear trees and one type of peach trees.  The narrow straw lined bed is our asparagus.
Picture
0 Comments

Happy Easter!

4/16/2017

0 Comments

 
Shade Stone Farm's herb garden received its first plants yesterday.  Let's hope Spring's promise of new life will encourage our herbs to flourish.
Picture

Rosebud update

Rosebud is doing great fitting in on the farm.  She is making friends with the other animals and has captured the hearts of our children completely. 
She's very huggable!
Picture
Picture
Our daughter didn't want to be away from Rosebud, so she elected to sleep in the barn with her!  She didn't spend the whole night there as the cows made too much noise, but she did learn how sheep and cows sleep.
0 Comments

Rosebud

4/15/2017

0 Comments

 
Meet Rosebud, our Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dog-in-training. She arrived on the farm last night and went right to bed in the barn.
Picture
This morning, she met the other animals, did some exploring, and walked the fenceline.
Picture
0 Comments

Herb Garden takes shape

4/8/2017

0 Comments

 
Construction has begun on Shade Stone Farm's new herb garden.  If all goes well we will have various herbs available soon!
Picture
Herbs waiting for their new home which is visible just below the deck railing.
Picture
The herb garden will have different micro-climates to simulate the conditions that different herbs prefer.  The mountain stone will help retain heat and provide some shade.  There will also be a small trellis system for cold-hard Kiwi vines.
Picture
The Herb Shnecke was something we saw while visiting an old castle in Germany.  Shnecke means snail in German and the spiral design allows the grower to have moist, shady soil on the north side, moist sunny soil on the lower south side and hot dry soil at the top.  We thought it was a great idea and decided to try it here at Shade Stone Farm. 
0 Comments

    Archives

    December 2019
    February 2019
    September 2018
    August 2018
    February 2018
    September 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Picture
We are proud members of the Farmer Veteran Coalition and have been approved to use the Homegrown by Heroes  and PA Preferred logos on our products. Please visit www.farmvetco.org/homegrown-by-heroes/ or www.papreferred.com for more information.

Picture