Great news! We are please to issue the premier edition of Farmer Nevin's monthly newsletter, EggsPress. We will look forward in coming months to keeping you abreast of the fun and learning that is always occuring at Flamig Farm.
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| Welcome and Intro
Howdy folks and welcome to our first newsletter of 2015! Something in me feels the need to start with the beginning of the year. Quite a fantastically cold and long winter it was. But it was also a wonderful blessing in that it tested one's character. Every now and then I got kind of upset at the 10 day forecast which, as far as I remember, never seemed to get above freezing and was often below zero. February made me pledge not to complain about the heat this summer, and now, during a mini heat wave, I'm doing my best to keep that pledge. Almost every Monday in February, Julie and I had a lot of quality time together plowing our snow plow route for residential customers as well as paths around the farm.
We started the last heating season with not enough dry firewood. ("That will not happen again!" was my second February-induced pledge.) We heat our farm buildings and house with nothing but wood and sunshine, and by early February we were running out of wood and there was none to be bought. I am thankful and grateful for my health, my darling wife, my boys Pete and Chadam, my friend Mark (the Mountain Man) Perry, chainsaws, and our 75 horsepower, 4 wheel John Deere tractor, all of whom or which contributed to our being able to get through 3 feet of snow to harvest a couple of cords of standing dead wood from the edge of our woods. Thanks for the interesting, memorable time, February!
Spring did come, and we got busy cleaning and fixing and getting ready for what turned out to be yet another spectacular Earth Day Celebration. I want to send my appreciation to all the folks (too many to mention) who helped us clean fix, prepare for and put on the celebration. Thank you to all!
We have a great team of people working at the Farm this season, and camp is in full swing. Flamig Farm has never run as smoothly as it has this year. Please come and visit us. The animals and staff always want to greet our guests.
Farmer Nevin
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MEET KATIE and KATHY
Flamig Farm is pleased to introduce our two newest Farm residents, our mules, Katie and Kathy. First, what is a mule? A mule is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). A horse has 64 chromosomes, and a donkey has 62. The mule ends up with 63. Mules can be either male or female, but, because of the odd number of chromosomes, they can’t reproduce. Except for the long ears, mules look very similar to horses, but their muscle composition is different. Mules have bigger, smoother muscles than horses. Think of a football player’s muscle build compared to that of a ballerina’s. Both are very strong, but the mule has greater physical strength for its size, and more endurance. A mule gets its athletic ability from the horse and its intelligence from the donkey. Donkeys and mules have been labeled “stubborn” for centuries, but it is really only an abundance of common sense and a strong desire for self-preservation that might make them inclined to resist. Mules and donkeys actually have a natural attraction to humans. When treated with patience, kindness and understanding, they learn to trust and obey. If they are treated with force and abuse, they are not likely to comply with your wishes. If only a mule could talk, most people would be surprised at how smart they really are! Katie and Kathy are a well trained "driving team" which means they work happily together, pulling wagons and carts. Stop by soon to meet them. They would love to take you for a wagon ride! |
| Camp News
Apprentice is a word we see much more rarely than we did a century ago. An apprentice would work with a master of a trade to learn the skills necessary to do the work of that particular profession, whether it be plumbing,carpenter, printer, blacksmith or whatever.
This summer, Flamig Farm offered three weeks of our Apprentice Program, and we have completed two of them. In week #1, the "Apprenti" (we pretend that is plural for apprentices)put up a 1,200 foot long electric fence to give our newly purchased mules a nice big place in which to graze. Next we rebuilt our hay wagon. This involved tearing out rotten floor boards, then cutting and fitting new boards in the wagon bed so we would no longer fall through its floor. By the end of the week, the mule harnesses we ordered had arrived so we fit them to the mules, hooked the mules to the wagon an went for a lovely mule-drawn hayride through the beautiful woods.
Week #2 we built a 10' by 12' run-in shed using native rough sawn lumber. Apprenti learned skills such as how to dig a hole in the ground to put in pressure treated posts, how to measure to square a building, cut, nail and screw framing lumber and siding and roof boards. Lots of sweating and learning went on, and the group turned into a well tuned building team that created a wonderful shelter for our alpacas.
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| | Looking Ahead
HALLOWEEN HAY RIDES
Although we will have much more news about our October Halloween Hay Rides in coming editions of EggsPress, we would like to announce the dates for this year's thrilling Halloween rides. The dates are: As you know, spaces sell out completely every year, and we want you, a special Flamig Farm friend, to be part of the fun. So please sign up early; more on that soon.
FUTURE EDITIONS
In coming editions will will introduce two regular sections: Employee of the Month and Animal Profile of the Month. We think you'll be interested in the ways our intrepid staff make our guests' visits special and in 'hearing' from our friendly animal residents. MULE SCHOOL Flamig Farm will be introducing a program to teach interested farmers how to harness and drive our mule team. If you are interested in learning about this or becoming proficient enough to drive mule-led hayrides occasionally on the weekends (as a paid staffer), watch for more information in future newsletters.
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| | | | Flamig Farm 7 Shingle Mill Road, West Simsbury, CT 06092 | 860.658.5070
"New England's Premier Agritainment destination, Flamig Farm is an environmentally-minded educational resource Farm in the picturesque Farmington Valley, founded in 1907." |
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