Category Archives: farm

kids watching kids.

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where are those kids going and what are they up to?

today we went back to the farm

to see how it has changed since our fall visit

there were no leaves

there were no pumpkins

there were lots of new babies

there was not a lot of green

but the animals were as sweet as ever

and that never changes.

‘to teach children that animals have certain rights

creates in their minds a respect and regard for life.’

*-caroline earle white

*Caroline Earle White founded the first animal shelter in the United States in 1869. Born on September 28, 1833 in Philadelphia, Penn., White became an influential figure not only in animal welfare, but also fought for women’s suffrage and equality. White and a group of 30 women activists created the Women’s Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (WPSPCA), America’s first official animal shelter. Later known as the Women’s Humane Society, the organization pioneered programs that helped save homeless animals and employed animal cruelty officers to prevent and punish animal abuse. The organization still operates today as the Women’s Animal Center.

for peanut.

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peanut on the farm – rip, old girl and world champion

Peanut, the world’s oldest chicken, dead at twenty-one: The Chelsea, Michigan  clucker, certified as the oldest living chicken by Guinness last January at age twenty, died of natural causes on Christmas morning, according to its owner, Marsi Parker Darwin of the no-kill farm Darwin’s Eden. In an article last year, Darwin credited her neighbor, Todd Gillihan, with bringing global attention to the hen she rescued from a cold, abandoned egg. He “pestered me,” she said, to go for the world record, resulting in coverage in publications as far flung and prestigious as the Smithsonian Magazine’s website, Washington Post, and the Times of London. A retired librarian, Darwin authored a picture book, “My Girl Peanut & Me,” which is available for on the Darwin’s Eden site.

“if i hadn’t started painting, i would have raised chickens.”

-grandma moses

 

 

source credits: ann arbor news, smithsonian.com, ann arbor observer

on the farm.

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the kinder visited the farm today

met farmers megan and amy

said hello to the animals

had a tractor ride

saw the community garden

walked into the pumpkin patch

said thank you to the land and the plants

for making and sharing the pumpkins with us

they’ll give back

by planting the seeds from a pumpkin

to make new pumpkins at school

 said thank you to the farmers

who taught us so much

who day in and day out

make all of the magic happen.

 

“we have neglected the truth that a good farmer is a craftsman of the highest order, a kind of artist.”

-wendell berry

apples to even more apples.

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opening day – tis the season! 

“if you never tasted a bad apple, you would not appreciate a good apple.

you have to experience life to understand life.”

-leon brown

 

 

 

image credit: mlive

from the earth.

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white lotus farms, ann arbor, mi

it’s national farmer’s market week – shop from your local farms

Dubbed “the farmers’ market effect” by the New York Times, a recent study shows that vouchers that permit low-income women to shop at a local farmers’ market increase fruit and vegetable consumption in their families. “It’s not clear why mothers visiting a farmers’ market wound up buying more vegetables than grocery store shoppers, but some women told the researchers that the produce sold at markets seemed to be fresher and of higher quality than supermarket offerings. Many shoppers also said they enjoyed the pleasant community experience and the chance to interact directly with growers.”

“raw ingredients trump recipes every time;

farmers and ranchers who coax the best from the earth

can make any of us appear to be a great cook.”

-judy rodgers, the zuni cafe cookbook

cow.

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biggest cow I ever met.

 

“this was more than just a cow – this was an entire career I was looking at.”

*gary larson – the far side

*(word has it that gary may be considering bringing back my favorite comic of all time)

 

 

 

 

 

 

nixon farm, dexter, mi, usa – October 2019

old farmers.

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October 12 is Old Farmers Day,

a day devoted to old farmers and their farming techniques.

how will you celebrate?

“let us not forget that the cultivation of the earth

is the most important labor of man.

when tillage begins, other arts will follow.

the farmers, therefore, are the founders of civilization.”      

-daniel webster

 

 

 

 

image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/irman