Archive for September, 2010

Last Friday we had about 20 gleaners from Richmond Elementary School (both students and their parents) out to the farm, organized by RES school chef, Karyl Kent.  They gleaned a total of 240 lbs of produce, including paste and slicing tomatoes, broccoli shoots, cabbages, kale and chard.  Karyl’s plans were to make “macaroni and trees” with the broccoli, sauce with the tomatoes and freeze the kale/chard for winter soups.  It was wonderful to see kids trying kale for the first time and others simply enjoying themselves on a rather warm fall day at the farm.  CSA member Wendy Gagliardi was out with her children who made a great big dent in the paste tomatoes.  A great big shout out to Karyl who is doing amazing work at the school, working tirelessly to get as much farm fresh produce to the students as possible given her limited budget.  Gleans such as these are creative ways that help her financially and get kids out on farms!  This week her crew of gleaners will be heading to Jericho Settlers Farm to glean potatoes…

This Working Summit is designed to share what we have learned and to learn from other exemplary programs including:  The Walden Project, Smokey House, YouthBuild, The Twilight Program, Kindle Farm, and The Moosalamoo Center.  The VYCC invites all Vermont educators working in and supportive of alternative education.

For more information please contact Harry Frank at 802.434.3969, ext. 146 or by e-mail at harry.frank@vycc.org. (more…)

The Farm Crew has been enjoying the cool Autumn weather as the heavy harvest season continues!  While the plants look as if they’re starting to go by, they are still putting out a steady bounty—especially those tomatoes!  The zukes, cukes, and summer squash seem to have quit after a seriously good run, those plants were heavy producers!  Still lots of exciting vegetables to come though(Roots! Brussel sprouts! Hearty greens! Winter squash!).

Delicata Squash

Since we’ve had such a fortunate growing season, we have had the opportunity to share our bounty with some of our area food shelves.  We’ve been bombarding the Richmond Food Shelf with as much fresh produce as they can handle, and taking boxes upon boxes to the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf in Burlington.  To date, the following produce has been donated:

• 1,046  lbs to Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf
• 50 lbs to Our Community Cares Camp
• 40 lbs to Richmond Friday Night Food Affair (community supper free and open to the public)
• 150 lbs to Richmond Food Shelf (on top of the 20 lbs of produce they buy weekly at a much reduced cost)

On top of that, now that school is back in session, we have been making weekly deliveries to schools in Richmond, Jericho, and Bolton.  For the Farm Crew, every delivery we make to a food shelf or school is an important act.  We were all drawn to this farm for the purpose of expanding access to fresh food—getting fresh food to Vermonters who are food insecure, and feeding the growing bodies and minds of our youth has been an excellent way to keep us motivated as the season starts to wind down.

Last week was the conclusion of the Monitor Barns Farm’s pastured poultry season. Since April, 900 chickens have passed though our hands and its a bittersweet feeling to see them go… The three hours dedicated daily to their chores and maintenance can now be focused elsewhere on our bountiful harvest of the coming autumn, but we all enjoyed the daily rhythms and interactions with our little avian friends.

Our main goal with the chickens was to allow them to live out their lives with as many natural instincts and inherent chicken traits as possible. In short, we want to raise happy, healthy chickens which in turn provide us with tasty, nutritious poultry. To keep our birds happy and clean, we kept them on pasture and moved their little homes (we call them tractors) twice a day and let them out of their tractors whenever weather permitted.

For anyone who doesn't believe Cornish Cross actually graze, take a look at this picture.

As with any system in its first season, this was definitely a learning process. Through the first two batches we refined our systems to become more efficient and profitable. In this final and last batch of 300 birds, we felt we had finally gotten all of our bumps out and ended up producing a great batch of birds (even with a small incident with a hungry raccoon). One of the crew leaders, Angie, was able to create a holistic budget for the birds that tracked every cent it took to produce them… results will follow. The interns here at MBF were able to learn every part of raising these birds- from raising the chicks in the brooder, to maintaining them on pasture, to processing the birds and finding a market for their sale.

We raised a breed called Cornish Cross or Cornish Rock. This is the generic white breed that commercial poultry producers use and has been hybridized and bred to put on weight quickly with an efficient conversion of grain and produces large breasts and legs. Generally, this is the breed that American consumers want. However, many people in the world of sustainable agriculture look down upon these super-hybrids as lazy and weak. And, while there is definitely more health issues with these birds than more-hardy, heritage breeds we saw excellent results. Our day old chicks were very active and healthy- we got them from Mt. Healthy Hatchery in Ohio. We kept a pretty low mortality rate and tried to get them out on pasture as early as possible (around 2 weeks). It was blatant to us that the earlier we got them out on pasture, the better they were at foraging and utilizing those chicken instincts we were hoping to foster.

We hope you’ll enjoy feeding these chickens to your friends and family knowing how well they were cared for!  Please inquire with Amanda Payne, VYCC Farm Coordinator if you are interested in buying a chicken.  802.434.3969 x145

Raised with care and dedication,

Ben, Angie, Kelly and Melissa (The Monitor Barns/VYCC Farm Crew)

On Thursday, September 9^th the Roxy movie theater in Burlington, Vermont will be hosting two showings of Absinthe Films’ latest snowboard movie NOW/HERE and proceeds from ticket sales benefit the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps. Join us for the show and support our work to employ youth in environmental conservation jobs and educational programs.

“Movement can give the illusion of progress. And they say that all the world is illusion. So what is the difference between exploring and being lost? In a winter that brought an exceptional amount of challenges to riders all over the world, Absinthe’s newest snowboard film reminds us how much our reality is affected by what we make of it. Whether you are lost … or exactly where you want to be … all depends on how you look at …it.”

NOW/HERE RIDERS: Dan Brisse, Jake Blauvelt, Gigi Rüf, Lucas Debari, Fredi Kalbermatten, Sylvain Bourbousson, Romain deMarchi, DCP, JP Solberg, Annie Boulanger, Marie-France Roy, Bjorn Leines, Taka Nakai, Tadashi Fuse, Jules Reymond, Cale Zima, Blair Habenicht, Terje Haakonsen, Bode Merrill, Wolfgang Nyvelt, Nicolas Müller

2 SHOWS!

Doors 6:30 pm/Showtime 7 pm
Doors 8:30 pm/Showtime 9 pm

Prizes + Autographs + MORE!

Rider appearances: Bode Merrill, Bjorn Leines and friends

Tickets $10 – available at Maven Boardshop, Darkside Stowe, Ridin High and at the door (if available)

Help the cause- walk, bike, skate, hop a train, carpool to the event.

Proceeds benefit Vermont Youth Conservation Corps + Protect Our Winters