We are really excited to announce that Full Circus Farm is partnering with the Hudson Valley Seed Library to sell our fruit trees!  Our trees are available for sale right now on their website.  All of our trees are certified organic.  Apple varieties include Macintosh, Cortland, Empire, Jonagold, Gala, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Keepsake and more.  We’re also growing hard cider apple trees such as Ribston Pippin, Esopus Spitzenberg, Golden Russet, and Ellis Bitter.  Pear trees too!  You can check out all the varieties through this link.  Trees are for sale until the end of the month through the Hudson Valley Seed Library, so reserve your favorite variety before its sold out!  Any leftover trees will be sold here at the farm–date to be determined.

We do all the grafting here on the farm, and then grow the baby trees for two years until they are ready for their new home.  Love going apple picking in the fall?  Making apple pie?  You can grow a bounty of delicious fruit right in your own backyard!

Happy Tree Shopping!

June had her calf on Friday morning!  The calf is really healthy–she spends her time nursing, sleeping, or running around as fast as possible.  June seems relaxed and protective, lowing softly to the calf and keeping her within eyesight.

Momma and Baby relaxing in the sun

Nursing

Look at me, look at me, look at me go!

Ah-oh, Momma is blocking my lap lane!

The morning she was born!

Despite being outside the paddock, Sesame is their constant companion

5 Things You Wouldn’t Expect Our Cow To Love

(An Ode to Our Most Beloved Hoover)

1.  Full Circus Farm Garlic.  Raw, whole cloves.  June snarfs them right up!!  Great for when we are trying to give her immune system a boost.

2.  Seaweed.  It has lots of micronutrients!

3. Orange Peels.  We eat the inside, and save June the outside.

4. Sauerkraut Juice.  Probiotics for cows!  All the right bacteria for breaking down plant matter, in one salty slurp!

5. Thistles.  Normally cows aren’t so interested in this weed and it is thorny to boot.  But June doesn’t seem to mind munching on it and we’re happy to have at least some of them mowed down.  As beautiful as they are, they are no fun to pull out of your vegetable fields.

And that is why we’ve nicknamed her, affectionately, our hoover.

I hope no one was holding their breath in between this blog post and the last. As you probably guessed, Miriam and I have been busy growing vegetables. We had a bountiful crop and an amazing first year, and words cannot express how rewarding this work is! We are so lucky to have the opportunities that we’ve found here. Two peas in a pod over at Full Circus Farm.

I am very excited to report that you can now get your Full Circus Farm soup ingredients and root veggies over at the Millerton Winter Farmers Market (now at the Methodist Church) on Saturdays from 10am to 2pm. Our first farmers market! A big shout out to the Northeast Community Center, Sheila DePaola and Betsey McCall, without whom there would be no farmers market! The first few markets had great energy, amazing vendors, and the space is perfect! The market’s new location is right across the street from Irving Farm in the center of Millerton.

FYI, here’s what’s still growing or chilling in the root cellar. Braving it in the field: Rainbow Carrots, Potatoes, Parsnips, Leeks, Sage, Thyme, Kale, Spinach, Mustard Greens, Salad Turnips, Brussels Sprouts (note spelling—from Brussels!); In the greenhouse: salad greens and herbs; And in storage for the long winter coming: Garlic, Onions, Shallots, Squash, Seed Pumpkins, Beets, Rutabaga, Popcorn and jugs of Ray and Cindi’s delicious Maple Syrup.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mark and Miriam

Our CSA is starting this week!

Shares change every week, but tomorrow a half share will probably get:

• Head of Lettuce
• Radishes
• Garlic Scapes
• 1 cooking green (probably broccoli raab or kale)
• Arugula (probably 1/4 pound)
• 1 bunch of cilantro or parsley

• a second cooking green (probably pac choi)
• scallions
• peas
• extra arugula
• basil

YUM!  And, we still have a few shares left!  So if you want to eat delicious, fresh, local and organic produce from now until the fall, let us know.  We’d love to have you be part of our farm (and circus) community!

We have been plowing away with Sandy and Sunshine.  We are so proud of them!

Here is a photo of us plowing together:

And in this photo we are discing:

The other morning, as Mark and I were finishing milking and stepping outside of the milking shed, Mark stopped and pointed. For the next fifteen minutes or so, we watched a bobcat hunt (and catch) mice and voles in our fields. I was too busy watching to bother much with the camera, but I did snap a few terrible photos, including this one: I went to dinner a few days later at our neighbor’s, and we watched a black bear amble up, take down her bird feeder and head off up the hill.  I guess it wanted those seeds!  And while I haven’t personally seen the mountain lion that lives in the area, we’ve heard about sightings from friends.

As for tigers, we haven’t seen one of those yet! But Mark started talking about a Tiger Swing the other day. Perhaps one of those old tires up the hill will get a paint job…