A Detailed Mathematical Analysis of Chicken Grain Cost

Elizabeth Rennert - rgf Staff

For a while, Red Gate Farm has mixed our own chicken grain, after purchasing each of the components (corn, soy, barley, etc.) separately. Recently, however, we’ve switched our chickens over to premade Poulin Grain layer pellets.

My goal is to figure out which is more cost-effective, mixing our own grain or buying premade pellets. Since I already have the price per 50 pound bag of the layer pellets, I want to calculate the cost of 50 pounds of our mixed chicken grain.

To start off, I have to figure out how much of each component went into one batch of grain. When mixing, we have buckets marked with lines to fill up to. In order to convert these lines into volume, I used a known measurement of water and kept adding until the line was reached. After having the volume in cups, I converted these quantities to gallons.

Since the goal is to figure out cost, and we purchase the components by weight, I have to convert volume to weight. I did this by weighing out a known volume of each component and calculating the density. By multiplying the volume per batch by the density, I got a list with the weight of each component in one batch of grain.

Then, I found the price of each component, and what quantity (in pounds) we buy them in. This allows me to calculate the price per pound. And with price per pound and pounds per batch, I can multiply to find the cost per batch by components.

The total cost for one batch of mixed grain is $23.22 and the total weight of one batch is 67.3 pounds. I can use proportions to find the cost per 50 pounds of mixed grain.

Without further ado, here are the results!

50 pounds of our mixed grain costs $17.25. One 50lb bag of layer pellets costs $16.59 so there is a price difference of only $0.66 per 50 pounds!

A Completely Logical (and not at all biased) Ranking of Different Plant Pots

Elizabeth rennert - rgf staff

Winter at the farm means it’s almost seed-starting time! Before many of our wonderful veggies make their way into the garden ground, they first begin their journey as individual seeds in small pots nurtured to life in the greenhouse.

Each of the hundreds of pots needs to be washed out and sanitized to remove all remnants of last season’s plantings, before we put any new seeds in them. This helps prevent disease and fungus from running rampant through our baby seedlings. I undertook this project with eagerness, spending almost a day and a half at the sink–sorting, spraying down, and scrubbing all the plant pots to the best of my ability. As my shirt got soaking wet with water spray, and my fingers turned to raisins, I began to develop some very strong opinions about which plant pots were best and which were worst. Opinions based almost entirely on how easy it is to clean them.

Without further ado, here is that completely logical (and not at all biased) ranking:

The worst of all, at the very bottom of the ranking, are the circle green quart pots made out of thin plastic. 0/10

Absolute trash! Terrible plant pots. The flimsy plastic makes them impossible to scrub without cracking! The ridges on the sides are a magnet for the gross filmy dirt that doesn’t scrub off and the drainage holes in the bottom are just sharp plastic snaggy bits. The raw plastic edges scrap your fingers and shred the sponge to pieces. And who thought that putting a lip on the inside of a plant pot was a good idea?! The dirt just keeps rolling around forever with no corner to stop in!

Still bad, but a step above are the 72-count seed flats with the conical segments. 2/10

Just too long to fit in the sink, it takes a Tetris champion to get the whole tray wet. Each of the different sections is like the worst part of dishwashing–the surprise soaking when a spoon hits the water at the wrong angle! You need a natural 20 acrobatics roll to avoid all the water spray and end with dry clothes. But even the spray of the water isn’t enough to clean all the grime, so each one of the tiny sections needs to be scrubbed by hand! All 72 sections! (Plus the bottoms too)

The tray with small drainage holes for holding seed blocks are mid-tier at best. 5/10

These aren’t even real pots! They’re just plastic trays with lines across them! I swear that these trays were dipped with the dirt equivalent of glitter. Every time I thought I had gotten the last bit of dirt, another clump appeared from some other dimension! Where did all the dirt come from? Where?!

An acceptable choice is the classic quart yogurt container with holes punched in the bottom for drainage. 6/10

Bonus points for upcycling I suppose, but the white plastic held onto dirt so well that I thought for sure the pots were beyond saving! Although eventually I got the pots clean, I had to scrub with an intensity rivaling the blaze of a thousand suns. Was it worth it? The sponge was in pieces, my fingers sore, and all for a yogurt container.

My favorite, and objectively the best plant pot is the black, hard plastic, quart containers with eight drainage holes! 11/10

So sturdy that I could build a tower with no fear of collapse! Bonus drainage holes in the corners (something I’d never thought I would be excited about) allow the dirty water to drip right out! The smooth plastic sides, minimal texture, nice crisp corners, and beautiful square shape are a marriage between design and engineering, creating a beautiful and functional plant pot. All other pots should be banished to the ether, and replaced with these works of art! In fact, all containers should be replaced with these! Shopping baskets, laundry hampers, pencil cases! Backpacks, toolboxes, even waterbottles! (The waterbottles might be a bit messy, but I think it’s worth it) No better plant pot has ever, can ever, or will ever, exist!

Firewood Length Optimization

Elizabeth RennErt - RGF staff

Hello, I am Elizabeth! At Red Gate, I have been a summer camp counselor, a volunteer, a part-time teacher, and now an intern! I’m a student at Smith College, studying both engineering and education, with a special passion for the outdoors. I’m so excited to share my view of the farm with all of you!

If you’ve been by Red Gate anytime in the past couple months, you’ve surely seen our wood stove chugging away. Our stove works hard to heat the program building, the roost, and the farmhouse. Heating all those spaces to a comfy temperature takes a lot of firewood! 

Throughout the year, we spend hours up at our wood processing site on Norman Road. There are many steps to turn big logs into firewood that can fit in our stove, and this is the story of that process (Plus a little math for extra fun!)

We get truckloads of logs delivered from local lumber suppliers, as well as collecting some of our own from trees that have been felled on the property. These logs are huge, and stacked in a big pile many feet high.

Our expert chainsaw users hop on the pile and buck up the wood. Bucking is the process of cutting a long log into many shorter rounds. This allows us to move the wood with significantly more ease. 

The rounds, however, are still much too big to move long distances and are rather unwieldy. Using a hydraulic wood splitter, we split the rounds into thinner pieces of firewood.

The hydraulic wood splitter uses a very slow-moving axe head and pushes against the log in the same direction of the grain. This takes advantage of the natural tendency of wood to split along the grain. 

We still have a little ways to go until the wood makes its way into the stove. Since all this firewood is still fairly fresh and moist, we need to stack it and allow it to dry out before we burn it. These stacks of firewood will sit, covered by metal roofing, at the wood processing site for about a year until they are fully seasoned. 

After they are seasoned, we will bring them down to our new “woodhouse”, a greenhouse structure that we store firewood inside of. This is right next to the stove and makes loading the stove very easy, which is great, since we have to load it three times a day! 

And that’s how wood gets from a tree to our stove.

…Now for some math!

This blog post was inspired by an optimization question posed to me. What is the ideal length of firewood for Red Gate Farm? We want it to be as long as possible, while still fitting in both the wood splitter and wood stove, as well as maximizing stackage in the woodhouse. 

In order to find the optimal length, I went out into the field and took some measurements. The wood splitter can split logs up to 25 inches in length, the wood stove has a depth of 34 inches, and the woodhouse cross-section can be modeled by a rough semicircle with a diameter of 16 ft. 

From here, it’s clear that the wood splitter is the limiting factor in the process. Additionally, we have to account for the fact that some rounds will be cut slightly longer than the measurement to minimize waste. I accounted for this by estimating that the maximum overage would be about 10%. This results in a maximum length of 22.72 inches. I rounded down to 22.5 inches for ease of calculation.

I still had to check that it would stack nicely in the woodhouse, ensuring that we were making the most of our space. In order to do this, I graphed a semicircle, then overlaid vertical lines spaced 22.5 inches (1.875 ft) apart. By finding when the lines intersected with the semicircle, I was able to mark out the maximum height of each stack. 

Since we need to be able to walk through the woodhouse, one column was removed, creating five stacks, a walkway, then another two stacks.

This gives a stacking cross-sectional area of 74.19 square feet. Since the total cross-sectional area is just of 100 square feet, this gives us a stacking efficiency of 74%! Using the length of the woodhouse as 48 feet, I was able to calculate that our woodhouse could hold 3561.12 cubic feet of wood, or 27.8 cords. That’s a lot of wood!

This means that when we’re bucking up the logs into rounds, we should aim for a length of 22.5 inches between cuts for the ideal pieces of firewood!

Winter Whispers Soft

Vic Gravel-RGF Staff

The collective breath is slowing here on the farm as we exhale toward winter. A surprise snow last week blanketed a garden half-asleep, dusting the coats of our ever-fluffing sheep and peppering the noses of Jack and Thor in a most delightful dapple. Our final fall bits are nearly complete-garlic has been planted, garden beds turned and tucked in to sleep, stray animal fencing has been retrieved from wilting pastures and the wood stove warms our frozen fingers and toes at the end of the day. As days turn cooler, nights frozen, I am on a mission to glean as many tactile skills as possible before donning gloves that make knot tying and carpentry a bit more challenging. In these days of deep autumn, swooning toward winter, I strive to emulate the garden beds we worked so hard to clear; I am absorbing skills, philosophies, and techniques, enriched by the compost of good company, great teachers, and meaningful work. These past few weeks have been defined by transition, something I often find myself struggling with. And yet, here on the farm, this thing so commonplace and so challenging feels a bit more gentle. Let’s talk about why. 

We start from a place of utter joy. Just a few Fridays ago we had a very special evening here on the farm: the moon hung luminous and eerie over the landscape, a warm evening breeze tousling wigs and rippling robes. Jack-O'l-anterns flickered all over, mottling pastures and walkways with creeping shadows. Kiddoes and their families arrived in droves to enjoy an evening of games, treats, and a properly spookified farm. Adorned with all the appropriate Ms. Frizzle trappings, -an emerald green dress specked with insects of varying varieties, bee-patterned socks, magic school bus earrings, and a curly whirly up-do secured by mushroom and butterfly-patterned hair pins-I was prepared for an evening of jolly good fun. It was time for farm Halloween! 

The night was as perfect as could be for our farm Halloween celebration: evening temperatures in the 60s, a moon one day from fullness, tables decorated with my hand-crafted “spooquets,” games galore and snacks abounding. Costumed kids and their families enjoyed a night chalk-full of delights-fresh cider pressed from the Clark’s local apples, hay rides, a campfire and marshmallows, donut-on-a-stick, arts and crafts and so, so much more! The night was magical, the most wonderful way to bid October a warm goodbye. And a few extra special shout-outs: to all the volunteers who came out that night, to the Clark’s for the apple press and all those delectable apples (especially after the dismal year we’ve had for fruit trees!), and to Pioneer Valley Grower’s Association for their donation of the pumpkins so central to creating our spookified farm ambiance- we truly could not have pulled it off without you. Thank you for everything, y’all. We continue to appreciate you beyond words.  

A mere week after that unseasonably warm day a snow shower arrived, bespeckling the farm with crystals unanticipated and, for the most part, thoroughly enjoyed. After a week of planning, prepping, and going-going-going for farm Halloween, it is almost as if Mother Nature herself sensed we all needed a bit of a break…and a good snowball fight. Transition in good company, whether it is the changing of the seasons or the departure of those held dear, becomes the soft blanket you long for after an unexpected snow storm. Red Gate Farm is a constant reminder that we as humans are only as strong as the container that holds us, and the people we choose to surround ourselves with fortify that vessel. I am honored and proud to be enveloped by the warm blanket of the Red Gate Farm family, a group of strong, kind-hearted, passionate, endlessly caring, hilarious, authentic, extraordinary people. In this time of transition, I cannot think of a better group of humans to share space, smiles, and serendipitous snowball fights with.

Then came garlic fest 2023! On October 25, 2023, Red Gate Farm staff came together to collectively complete a feat so enormous your socks will be permanently knocked off…pretty inconvenient for winter, sorry about that. We, with smiles on our faces and fingers in the dirt, planted 600 CLOVES OF GARLIC!!!! 600!!!!!! Singing and laughing with every dibble, we plopped single cloves into their new winter caverns, sprinkling a little Red Gate magic in with every teeny garlic baby. Planting garlic humbled me-in the enchanting alchemy of the garden, one tiny clove becomes 8,10,12 cloves all wrapped up in a papery bulb; green flags wave in the warmth of summertime, beckoning our hands to unveil the magical transformation that has unfolded over the winter and spring. I see this transformation as a vital reminder that the seeds of kindness, love, compassion, and joy, once planted with care, increase exponentially, especially when experienced and shared in community with others. 

This week has seen us finishing bucking up our logs and organizing our firewood to keep us warm this winter, chipping our final pile of leaves and spreading them as mulch atop our sleepy garden beds, collecting garden signs and de-trellising tomatoes and beans, and breathing deeply as we watch the farm’s diaphragm slowly but surely contract. This month and the next we have/will also be saying goodbye to two of our incredible farmer-educators. With the new year approaching, the new season approaching, the new flow of the farm approaching, new educators on the horizon, I am once again firmly planted in a state of bittersweetness. This place, these people have become my family in so many ways. It is a strain on my heart to say goodbye to the people who have come to mean so much to me, who I admire so much, who have been mentors and friends alike. And, because I care about them so much, I am elated to see them embark upon new and exciting adventures. Red Gate Farm is also a place that has underscored the importance of holding two seemingly opposed things-emotions, facts, etc., at once in my mind and body. To be a fully embodied person is to hold space for these paradoxes, allow these emotions to flow through you, colliding and entwining to create a dynamic landscape of ‘aliveness.’ 

Transition is hard, yes, and it is always happening. Working at the farm, watching change unfold so constantly and being among such special souls makes holding these sticky feelings just a little less painful, a little less destabilizing. With some pretty massive transitions coming up in my life,-graduating undergrad chief among them-I am deeply grateful to the farm for strengthening my ‘getting through, and even appreciating, transitions’ muscle. I end today’s blog with a heart both aching and glowing. Seasons change, people come and go. Blanketed by the warmth of community and meaningful work, these facts feel a little more tender to my soul.

Falling Fast and Fleeting: Autumn at Red Gate Farm

Vic Gravel-RGF Staff

Days creep cooler, nights threaten that icy dew every farmer dreads. Somehow it is already mid October and leaves from vibrant orange mute, blanketing the garden and pastures in sun dappled showers. These past few weeks I have been thinking a lot about the impermanence of things-autumn school groups have come and gone. Fall is the long breath exhaling gently into the slumber of winter, everything lulling toward rest. This mid October I am thinking about the passing of time, how sweetly we savor it all when we recall that time is limited, and how life on the farm lends itself to all this reflecting. Let’s talk about it. 

In early September I reflected on the energy buzzing about the farm in anticipation of our first school group of the season. In so many ways kids are the vivifying force of this space. “The wind is blowing,” I wrote, “the asters and goldenrod frame the scene-the rams are grazing on fresh, lucious pasture grass. Moths and butterflies are flitting by, swallows and meadowlarks swooping side by side. The garden is lush, technicolor and bursting with life. The trees have lots to say today, anticipating the buzz of tiny humans back on the farm. Clovers quiver, aspens quake, Red Gate farm vibrates in wait for all the kiddoes to return.”

In September those kiddoes arrived, vans and buses packed to the brim with stuffed duffels and giggling tweens. We welcomed Brooklyn Heights Montessori School and Mary Walsh Elementary School followed by Wellan Montessori School just last week. Together kids and staff co-created spaces of compassion, kindness, hard work, and resilience utterly bursting with so, so much laughter, music, and smiles to melt your heart. We hauled wheelbarrow upon wheelbarrow of weeds from the garden to the compost, several tenacious students earning their spot on our renowned “Epic Wheelbarrow Journey of Epicness” leaderboard. We walked oxen and cracked bulbs and bulbs of garlic, enjoyed delectable meals featuring garden produce whipped up by farm cook Theo, listened to stories by firelight, and surveyed our towering sugar maples. 

I had the honor and pleasure of leading my first work block during Wellan’s visit, a time when kids and staff collaborate to complete various farm work tasks. It was pure magic-we caked our hands in soil harvesting carrots, beets, tomatoes, and scallions, the perfect chance to teach the kids a few of my favorite words: Amaranthaceae, Apiaceae, Amaryllidaceae, and Solanaceae. I’m a sucker for -aceaes. We chatted about beet thinning and debated the merits of tomatoes as fruits, eventually moving to garlic bulb cracking-a time to sit and gather, sharing stories and laughter and tenderness. These are the moments most precious to me-being together with the kids in moments of vulnerability uniquely brought out by our collective work and play and humility in this place. This is the magic of Red Gate Farm.   

Now it is October and our fall season is quickly coming to a close. We are weeding the garden and turning beds, prepping to plant garlic, nestling our animals into their winter enclosures, preparing for our annual Halloween shindig, and trying to get our last bits in before the frost arrives. All the while I have been acutely aware of just how quickly these weeks, our time with the kids, and this season are passing. While collecting hordes of massive dahlias and the last of the season’s marigolds, snapdragons, and zinnias with the kids, I had a moment of clarity about the gift of the impermanence of things. 

Part of what is both so challenging and so profoundly meaningful about this work is that we as educators only spend three(ish) full days with visiting student groups. You are attempting to create an experience for each child that will enrich their life far beyond the bounds of the farm, instilling values and experiences that shape them as a growing individual in vital ways. All of this is to be done in three days, -relationships cultivated, bonds formed, memories made- and yet, by another stroke of Red Gate magic, it happens. Kids leave changed, educators are moved and made better by every child that comes through this farm. We are constantly learning from one another, kids and adults, humans and animals and plants (though I suspect we are learning a lot more from the animals and plants than they are from us). I firmly believe it is the brevity of the school group visits that hones our intentionality as educators, that allows us to embody in a focused way the values and behavior and emergent moments so important to us. Passion and intention are infectious, and school groups give us the chance to lean into both of those things. Everything is impermanent, and so we make it all mean something. 

I watch as marigolds melt to brown, withered goop, as oaks and maples shed themselves bare, I watch as kids arrive at ten a.m. on a Monday and leave by noon on a Wednesday, as raspberries ripen and fall from the cane. I watch as the world never stops, only inhales and exhales, made all the sweeter by the impermanence of things. How short this fall season was, how short and how utterly magical. Here on the farm and as an educator I find myself so much less inclined to wish autumn just a little longer; I can sit with the bittersweetness, savor the moments as they pass. With this budding ability to let the fact of impermanence and ephemerality simply be, I leave you. This too cannot last forever.

Introducing...Vic's Fall Farmternship (and Other Farm Shenaniganry)

Vic Gravel-RGF Staff

Howdy, farm blog-iverse! My name is Victoria Gravel (she/they)-I often go by Vic- and I am so excited to be introducing myself as a farm intern here at Red Gate for fall 2023! I am currently a senior at UMass studying Sustainable Food and Farming as well as English, so you can imagine my excitement in taking over a FARM BLOG for nearly three months, especially this one.

I began working at Red Gate this past April as a part-time educator and quickly fell madly in love with this place. Funnily enough, I began work here at the farm the day after my birthday- I consider my continued ability to be present on the farm as the greatest birthday gift I have ever received…sorry, Mom. The electric purple roller blades were great, but bearing witness to the awe on a child’s face after unearthing their first potato? Can’t be beat.

As a student of farm and nature-based education, I am constantly mulling over what makes this work meaningful-for students, for educators, for society as a whole. As a student of language and literature, my core guides me toward metaphor, toward what feels poetic, toward what feels most true and precious and beautiful. My English degree has also instilled in me the importance of a strong thesis both as a concept in the art of the essay and, more broadly, as a lodestar shepherding one’s attention toward that which feels most alive for them. The guiding questions directing me this fall toward what feels most alive and true are, simply put, why agriculture and nature-based education at all? What are students taking away from their experience here on the farm, and how is Red Gate Farm intentionally designed to foreground those experiences, values, and ways of being? What stands to be gained from an agriculture-based education that is different from “traditional” compulsory schooling?

Together we will explore these questions in the form of photos, poems, reflective responses, and maybe even a few interviews! I’ve always wondered what Jack the ox thinks about all this, there seems to be such profound wisdom just emanating from those horns. I’ll keep you all updated on whether his schedule allows for an interview-he is quite the busy bovine these days.

I hope to post a new blog every other week on Fridays, but I ask for your forgiveness for any future delay: I have many gardens to tend to this fall, both literal and metaphorical. What, you thought I was going to end this blog without a single metaphor? Clearly you don’t know me very well, which leads me to my next point: who am I beyond the farm, anyway?

Both on and off the farm you will likely find me with my nose in a poetry anthology, scribbling in my little yellow notebook, and seemingly staring blankly into the distance when in reality I am searching for the soul of a flower petal by petal or tracking a honey bee from hive to forest and back. I love to practice yoga, lift heavy things up and down, travel, hike, write, dance, cook and enjoy meals with others, laugh with friends until my sides split, and hang out with animals any chance I get.

That’s all for now, folks. I hope you’ll get to know me and the farm even better with each new blog post. Welcome to The Chronicles of Vic’s Fall Farmternship and Other Farm Shenaniganry-enjoy the ride!

Ewe-lambs, Ram-Lambs, Ovines and Bovines! Animal Terms at Red Gate Farm

As you drive around the farmlands of western mass, you may see a field of cattle and you intuitively think: “A field of cows!”  But are they truly cows?  What’s the difference between cow and cattle or bull and ox for that matter?  Let’s look at animal terminology for our animals on our farm:

Bovine

Our oxen are Steers.

Bovine- a term used for cattle including domesticated cattle, bison, and buffalo. All Cows are cattle, but not all cattle are cows. Cattle is a term used for more than one bovine.  A Calf is a young bovine under 6-10 months of age. Heifers are young cattle not ready for breeding. Cows are mature female cattle. Bulls are male cattle for breeding, and steer are bulls that are neutered.

Ox- are cattle used for working on the farm. Oxen (plural for ox) like on our farm, are typically male steers because male cattle grow to be larger and more ideal for using to pull or move heavy items on the farm like wagons or logs. Cows can also be oxen and trained for work too.

Ovine

Our Ewe and her two lambs.

Ovine- a term used for sheep.  Lambkin is a newly born ovine.  Lamb is a young ovine under the age of 1 year old. Ewe-lamb are young female ovines.  Ewe- an adult female over the age of 1 year old. Ram-lamb are young male ovines. Ram are male ovines over 1 year old for breeding. Wether is a term for neutered ovine.

Caprine

Wallace and Gromit are wethers.

Caprine- is a term for goats. A Kid is a young caprine under the age of 1 year old. Doeling are female kids under the age of 1 year old. Doe is a female caprine. Buckling are male kids under the age of 1 year old. Buck is a male caprine for breeding. Wether is a term for neutered male caprine. 

Porcine

 Our Pigs (not yet mature swine).

Porcine- is a term relating to swine. Piglet is a porcine under the age of 14-21 days old and still nursing. Pig is a term for young swine not yet fully mature, and it also includes mature swine with an adult weight under 150 pounds.  A Hog is a term for mature swine with an adult weight over 150 pounds. Gilt are young adult female swine. Sow are adult swine for breeding. Boar is a term for adult male swine for breeding. Barrow is a term for young neutered male swine while male swine that were neutered after maturity are called stags.

Fowl

One of our Pullets.

Fowl is a term used for two biological orders of birds which are game/land fowl (Galliformes) and waterfowl (Anseriformes). Gamefowl or Landfowl is a term for domesticated chickens, turkey, pheasant, and quail. Waterfowl is a term used for domesticated ducks, geese, and swans. Poultry is a term relating to domesticated fowl which include all domesticated gamefowl, landfowl, and waterfowl raised for meat and eggs.

Chicken: A chick is a newly hatched or very young chicken before they develop feathers. Pullet is a term for young female chicken that has yet to lay eggs and is under 1 year old. Cockerel is a term for young male chicken under 1 year old. A Hen is an adult chicken 1 or more years old. Cock or Rooster is a term for adult male chicken 1 or more years old.

Duck: A duckling is a newly hatched or very young waterfowl before they develop feathers. Young Duck is a term for female waterfowl under 1 year old and Old Duck is a female 1 year or more old. Young Drake is a term for male waterfowl under 1 year of age and Old Drake is a male 1 year or more old. We have one Old Drake and One Old Hen at the farm.

Our two waterfowls: an Old Duck and Old Drake.

Just like scientists use specific terminology in their field of work, so do farmers and people who work with domesticated animals will use specific terms to describe the animals they work with. The more you work with domestic animals, the more these terms come into play of common use. Next time you see a field of cattle, hopefully you can see whether they are truly a field of cows or not!

Source: Livestock Conservancy. “Animal terms and their proper usage.” 2020, https://livestockconservancy.org/resources/animal-terms/. Accessed 8/17/2023.

Oh Hello Summer Garden

We’ve had a wet start to the summer… but with the first real rays of summer sun and temps up the 80s we’re ready to jump through sprinklers in swimsuits, lick dripping popsicles, and dunk our heads in the stream!

The garden is coming into its own this time of year, cranking out sweet summer berries, crisp carrots, and our first abundant bouquets of flowers. These first weeks of summer students help in the garden by planting seedlings, catching potato bugs and cabbage moths, and harvesting arm loads of garlic scapes.

We love to play in the garden too! Kids love using mortars and pestles to squish flowers and leaves into garden “ink”. We’ve seen some truly stunning creations this year made from not much more than pansies!

Spring School Programs 2023

Can you believe it, the school year is already over! We were delighted to have so many hardworking, fun loving students on the farm this Spring. We worked on bog bridges, mucked so much manure, watched lambs be born, and planted out the garden. Thank you to all our wonderful school partners!

Spring at Red Gate

By Elizabeth Rennert

CROCUSES BLOOM IN A MUDDY SPRING GARDEN

Spring has sprung on the farm, and new life is bursting forth in all directions. The winter snow is melting away, revealing the green grass and brown soil below. Colorful buds are shooting up, indicating the abundant growth beneath the ground. A walk through the garden reveals snow drops, and crocuses, and the first daffodil buds as well as empty-looking beds soon to be filled with vegetables, flowers, and herbs.

One of the most exciting signs of spring on the farm is the arrival of new lambs. The barn is a flurry of activity as the ewes give birth to their adorable, fuzzy little babies. The lambs are born wobbly and unsteady on their feet, but they quickly gain their footing and begin nursing. The barn is filled with the sounds of bleating lambs, exploring their new world, and getting to know each other.

oNE OF THE FIRST LAMBS BORN IN 2023

The arrival of school programs brings a certain liveliness to the farm as kids explore the new program building, and experience the first overnight winter programming. Students snowshoe out to check on the maple tree taps, shovel paths through the remaining snow, and watch with hushed anticipation as a ewe gives birth.

sTUDENTS HELP REPAIR AND SORT GARDEN SIGNS

Spring on the farm is a time of growth, when the world is filled with new beginnings and endless possibilities. The arrival of new life, from the lambs in the barn to the crocuses in the field, fills us with admiration for the joys of nature and the beauty of the world around us.

students plant carrot seeds in the garden

Being a Counselor at Red Gate Farm

We are delighted to share an interview with Elizabeth Rennert, one of our amazing counselors from summer 2022!

1. What made you want to be a counselor at Red Gate Farm? 

I’ve always loved working with children and being outside, and this seemed like a perfect way to combine them. I had some farm experience prior to this summer, but I was excited to learn more!

2. What's a favorite memory you have from this summer?

One of my favorite memories came during the “Cone Hunt” portion of Farm Olympics. Each team was tasked with finding as many small soccer cones as possible, hidden all across the farm. When the hunt was first announced, my team huddled up, consulted our very detailed map, and made an elaborate plan to cover the whole farm. We split up into pairs and sent one pair into the woods, another into the garden, and the third up to the sheep and chicken pastures. As soon as the hunt began, the teams ran off in search of the coveted cones. I headed to the garden with two campers and we searched high and low, peering behind plants and poking into the garden shed. We went up and down each row, shouting “I got a five!” and “I found a 15!” as we discovered the cones. We were sure we had gotten all of them in the garden, and were ready to move onto the cabin circle, when Jake walked by and laughed, saying “There’s at least one more!” After about another five minutes of meticulous searching, turning over individual leaves, we finally took a step back and found the last cone, balanced perfectly on top of the scarecrow’s head! 

Another favorite memory came during the very first day of day camp. My campers and I were exploring the stream, and playing around in the mud. One camper stepped into a shallow-looking puddle that unbeknownst to us was actually quick-mud (a combination of quicksand and mud)! He quickly stepped out, however, both his shoes stayed stuck! I quickly started digging around, but it seemed as though the shoes had found another dimension. The rest of my campers grabbed sticks and started trying to scoop out mud, while I continued to feel around, hoping to brush against rubber, rather than just rocks. After about ten minutes of searching the shoes were recovered, and my camper went home with the same shoes he came to the farm with!

3. What is it like doing farmwork with kids? 

It takes a bit longer, but also is much more rewarding and often more exciting. I was helping two five-year-old campers complete an “Epic Wheelbarrow Journey” by moving five wheelbarrows full of hay from the Big Red Barn to the garden. These campers were determined to complete the journey and were not daunted by the difficulty of the task. As we began our journey, the first trip there and back went by relatively easily, with one camper steering and the other guiding. However, when you’re pushing loads of hay that weigh as much as you do, your body can tire out pretty quickly, and we hit that hurdle at the beginning of round two. To combat this, I created a mental map of sorts that plotted out our course. But rather than just calling our obstacles by their traditional names, we came up with fun names, like “The Compost Pile of Stinkiness” and “The Picnic Tables of Doom”! My campers even dubbed the duck pen, “The Ducks of *Panting Noises*” and acted out Elvis and Daughter each time we passed by. This added some much-needed energy to our journeys, however by the third round, my campers were beginning to tire again. That’s when we added a speed stretching break, where between trips we would each take turns leading a 10-second “stretch”. Stretch is a loose term since they ranged from touching your toes, to spinning in a circle, to lying flat on the ground and making a funny face. These stretches, and the names of our obstacles, added quite a bit of energy to what could have been a monotonous, or even frustrating, task. Working with kids allowed me to experience farm work through new eyes and appreciate the innate joy of everyday tasks. 

4. What did you learn or discover this summer? 

This discovery might have occurred in the fall, but it was definitely due to my summer at Red Gate. Prior to this summer, I was confident in my plan for the future; I would be a high school math teacher. This has been my dream for years, and I’m even studying education in college. During the summer, I had the opportunity to spend all day outside, doing work, eating meals, exploring the forest, and even relaxing under a shady tree. I’ve always enjoyed spending time in nature but going back to school in the fall, and sitting in lecture halls for hours each day, I realized how much I truly love being outside. While education is still a huge passion of mine, I’m now exploring outdoor education since this summer helped me realize how important being outdoors is to me. 

5. What are you looking forward to most next summer?

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again and meeting all the new campers! 

First Snow

The days before the first snow at the farm are full of activity. The staff scrambles around the farm tucking away tools, winterizing machinery, and stacking firewood. The animals need to be moved to their winter homes, old barn windows need to be sealed, the last leaves need raking, and every last hose needs to be located and drained and wound up and put away and we rush to get it all finished before dark! And then everything is done. The first flakes of the season fell last night. They were welcomed by a farm ready for a winter’s rest.

I arrived early this morning to a peaceful, snowy farm. Jack and Thor the oxen are in their winter quarters. They don’t seem to mind the snow. They are much more interested in who will bring them breakfast and just how soon it will arrive. The sheep are in the next barn over. They have all spent the night inside and their fleecy bodies have made the barn toasty. The majority of our ewes are pregnant and the barn will be full of bouncing baaing lambs come March. But for now, the sheep barn is still and quiet.

The Garden seems quiet too, but beneath this first sprinkling of snow a few crops still think it is summer. When I peak under a plastic tunnel, I find lettuce still lush and ready for harvest.  If I wanted to, I could dig down in the soil and find carrots sweetened by the cold (I do not want to, it is too early in the morning to eat carrots). These and other hardy vegetables I expected to find still thriving in the garden. But I am surprised and delighted to also discover some cheerful pansy faces in new winter caps, undaunted by the cold.

The promise of new growth is hidden everywhere in the garden right now: buds have already formed on blueberry branches, garlic bulbs beneath a layer of straw are sending tiny roots down into the soil, and sturdy, smooth raspberry canes promise heavy yields in the coming year.

The path to the pond tells a story in footprints of animals exploring in the night. One of the farm cats took a stroll across our new bridge to the pond. A bird took off from the ground here, someone was digging with little paws there. The pond is a beautiful mirror of the gray sky and leafless branches. The stream that runs from the pond into the forest is low, exposing rich green mossy rocks.

I could follow the path into the forest, up the hill and down the road, all the way around to our sugar bush. The sugar maples there have feasted all summer long on  sunlight and now they are fat with sugar. They are waiting for the bright and chilly days of February and March to send that sugar running up to their crowns. I am waiting too, sugaring season is one of my very favorite times of year.

As I make my way back towards the farm, I look up and find our new program buildings framed by the opening in the trees. They are nearly complete, the last details coming together just in time for this first snow.

For now, these buildings are empty. Unscuffed, flawless and bare but full of awesome potential. In the spring, they will be filled with children. Bunkbeds with blankets thrown back, boots and jackets dripping in the mudroom, a kitchen bursting with dishes and snacks and joy! We have never had heated sleeping facilities before at the farm, our programs had to end when the warm weather did. Next year, for the first time in Red Gate’s history, school groups will be here to help lambs be born, to tap maple trees and boil syrup, to witness the blueberry buds burst into flower and the first green shoots erupt from the soil.

It is a quiet, snowy day at the farm. But I feel and see nascent potential all around. The animals, the garden, the forest, and the new program building and dormitory are all whispering about the year to come. A year full of growth, and discovery, and hard work, and fun.

It's a Spooky Farm!

Something strange is happening on the farm…The sheep are glowing with a strange green light. The chickens are going somewhat translucent in the light of a too bright moon. The ducks have dawned high collared capes and grown inch-long incisors! It can only mean one thing! It’s Halloween on the Farm!

We hope you made it out to the farm on this spookiest of nights! We had games for all ages, a blazing campfire, and a several brawny volunteers churning away at an old-fashioned cider press all evening long. We were delighted by the parade of fabulous costumes that made its way through the farm. Some of my favorite moments include watching a knight in shinning armor go bowling, discussing with the grim reaper whether or not his scythe might make a good hockey stick, and taking a picture with more or less the entire cast of Harry Potter! There was also a young sheep so convincing Farmer Ben felt compelled to double check our flock was fully accounted for.

Thank you to the awesome volunteers who came out to help! Thank you to Clark Brothers Orchards for the use of the cider press and the apples. Thank you to Atherton Farm for helping us out with the pumpkins!

Happy Halloween!!

Getting Ready for the Fall

Fall is here and with it is the cooler air! At Red Gate Farm wood is the sole source of heat which means we have lots and lots of wood to chop. We use wood for two important sources: to heat the farmhouse and program buildings; and for maple sugaring! We use chunky, split logs of firewood in our furnace. For maple sugaring, we need thin, flat pieces of slab wood to feed into our evaporator. All summer we have splitting and stacking wood to prepare for winter. In total we need over 60 pallets of firewood and about 30 pallets of slab wood to get us through the cold season - that’s a lot of wood!

Split firewood ready to be stacked and dried. We’ll use this wood in our furnace to heat the farmhouse and program building.

Pallets of stacked slab wood we’ll use this Spring in our evaporator to make maple syrup. The relatively small, thin pieces help us keep the fire at an even temperature and the sap boiling steadily.

We’ve already stacked quite a few pallets of slab wood for our sugaring season.

A small sea of slab wood is all that’s left to stack and should get us what we need for the sugaring season!

That’s a Wrap! 2022 Summer Season Comes to End

Over the past 7-weeks the farm welcomed over 115 kids to the farm. It was a fantastic summer and we are so proud of the hard work these children accomplished.

Together we took care of the sheep, weighing the lambs weekly, and herding the flock a countless number of times. Each time took a bit of problem solving, teamwork, and communication. We also took our oxen, Jack and Thor for walks daily, keeping them on a steady training routine. And who could forget our goats, Wallace and Gromit! They too enjoyed many walks this summer, albeit they need more training than the oxen. The most popular animals this summer, however, were the chickens. At almost every hour of the day you could see a camper in the chicken coop, holding one of our feathery friends.

Our forest crews did some much needed trail work in the woods, making our paths easier to use. This included new signs along the trail, and lots and lots of brush clearing, and bridge construction too!

The true star of the summer was the garden. Jam packed with color and delicious treats, there was always something to do or eat in the garden. Campers helped plant, harvest, and process produce for meals, construct trellises and make repairs to the garden shed, and identify and collect invasive insects. Campers also made creative snack platters of cucumber, carrots, and berries. We used herbs and flowers to make prints, dye napkins, and useful salves and balms. Students also helped harvest and clean over 100 pounds of fresh produce to donate to our local food pantry!

Summer on the farm is not just about farmwork. We work hard, and we play hard too! Scavenger hunts, fort making in the woods, volleyball catches in the yard, werewolf at night, capture the flag, board games at the picnic tables. The list goes on! There’s so much that happens during a Summer at Red Gate. We can’t wait to do it all again.

Summer 2022: Day Camp Fun!

Day camp 2022 was just fabulous. Our awesome campers did excellent work all over the farm. They helped the animals by walking the goats, training the oxen, and mucking out stalls. In the garden, campers earned their wheelbarrow licenses by hauling barrels of compost into the garden, harvested produce for meals, and hunted for invasive cabbage moths. The forest crews helped us manage our sugar bush and cleared out invasive multiflora rose! After all that hard work we played in sprinklers, built wooden robots, and dyed cloth with garden flowers! We love our farm families so much, we already can’t wait for next year. Here’s a round up of some of our favorite photos from our day camp!

Growing up on the Farm

We recently sat down with Manfred and Christina Gabriel and their son Allen to talk about the farm’s past and future. The Gabriels were one of the first families to attend Red Gate Farm’s programs twenty years ago.

What made you sign up Allen and his brother, Theo, for the farm programs, when they were kids?

Christina: I didn’t really know what kind of experience our sons were going to have when I brought them to the activities at the farm. But Ben and his staff always created such a feeling of openness, with constant invitations and offerings growing each year as the boys were growing: walks in the woods at night to see owls and spotted salamanders, celebrations of spring with frogs’ eggs and baby chicks, Halloween fun, sledding, and a big bonfire in winter. There were also Film Camp and Youth Corps, homeschooling days and the annual harvest suppers and picnics… All with the spirit of: have fun, work hard, explore, learn, repeat.

Manfred: Christina and Ben created some of the first farm programs, together. Christina would take the boys over to the farm and Ben would be like, “Okay, let’s go feed the chickens!” Allen can tell more about what it was actually like, but it was wonderful for us. And then we were homeschooling for a while, for a few years, and Chrstina and Ben together thought they could do a one-day-a-week homeschooling program on the farm. And that went on for several years, and it was wonderful. And the boys just came to regard the farm as an extension of their home. They felt just as home on the farm as they did on our land.

Allen, what are your earliest memories of being on the farm?

Allen: I remember being with my brother lugging the chicken water to the chicken coop from the spigot—which is not a long distance—but I remember putting in a lot of effort to just cross that little distance. I remember it being really hard, but feeling proud. I have a lot more memories of my homeschool days. That’s where I formed and strengthened some life-long relationships, and that was the time when I really fell in love with exploring nature and the outdoors. I learned so many things that I still actually apply—and now as a camp counselor, we go hiking in the same woods that I did as a kid.

For the complete interview click here

Dahlia Giveaway

Last weekend we hauled our hoard of Dahlia tubers up out of the basement to wash and inspect. They are looking good! We have more than enough tubers for our front and main gardens. In fact, we have so many we need to find happy homes for our extras. Below are images of most of our Dahlia varieties. Varieties we have an abundance of are labeled giveaway. We don’t necessarily have extras of our other varieties—but you never know, we might be up for a trade! If you’re interested, send an email to sydney@redgatefarm.org. Unfortunately, we can’t mail any tubers.

"Spiky Pink"

"Creamsicle" Giveaway!

Purple Giveaway!

Red Giveaway!

"Hamilton Lillian"

Single Red and Yellow Giveaway!

Single Magenta

Single Spiky Pink

Single Pale Pink Giveaway!

Single Peachy Pink

Single Red Giveaway!

Single Rose Pink

"Golden Treasure"

"Center Court"

This Week on the Farm 4/8/2022

Things are starting to get busy on the farm! This week we took down all the sap lines from the sugaring season, moved and stacked hay, got a goat’s head unstuck from a bucket, started seeds and stepped up seedlings into larger containers, prepared to put up a greenhouse in the garden, and weeded our asparagus and rhubarb beds (and this isn’t even an exhaustive list). Go team!

Taking down sap lines

Moving and stacking hay

Silly goats...

Stepping up eggplant seedlings into larger pots

Getting ready to build the greenhouse

Morning Chores

Farm Manager Aiden takes care of the animals every morning! He makes sure they have clean water, plenty of food, and anything else they need (for example, the lambs have to be told how cute they are). Follow along as he drives the tractor, scoops grain, and visits each animal on this lovely Spring day!

Music: https://scottholmesmusic.com/ Scott Holmes Music Sensual Folk