*Featured photo: taken by Stephanie Zollshan- The Berkshire Eagle

 

2020 has started off full-speed ahead- only 8 days in and so much to share!

Our land purchase is tremendous news and will allow us to expand and build our small farm, but we still have work to do in order to purchase the family home. The house needs many costly repairs, including a septic replacement, roof, windows and doors, bathroom gut and building two porches. It sits on 2.5 acres, sandwiched inside our 28 acres and has been our home for the past 6 years. To secure financing we must first make the required repairs.

We are half-way there- with a lot of hard work, networking and fundraising ahead in 2020. Please continue to share our campaign and donate if you are able.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/home-repairs-for-financing

Donate through Paypal to: olsen.farmma@gmail.com

Check donations can be mailed to: Olsen Farm PO Box 619, Lanesborough, MA 01237

IMG_0394For the month of January donations of $50 or more receive a one of a kind, hand-made tote bag as a ‘thank you’ gift! 

 

The start of this new decade has brought incredible local news coverage of our work at Olsen Farm. We were interviewed by Berkshire Eagle, and made the front page January 6th with our continued work to re-build the farm.

https://www.berkshireeagle.com/stories/in-lanesborough-couple-grows-hope-on-the-family-farm,593958?fbclid=IwAR3THw5S2CvY028U_MWwkh51geVaDHGji3npBvuWR4OceAQh5gznvNpr-W8

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Kristen was interviewed about next steps for the farm and ended up on the 6 O’Clock News on Spectrum Channel 1 News on January 7th. Take a look at the interview here:

https://spectrumnews1.com/ma/worcester/news/2020/01/07/couple-saves-farm

 

We are so grateful for the amazing local news coverage and outpouring of support we’ve received so far. We have made it this far in re-building Olsen Farm- thanks to each of you. Please keep sending us your love & support so we can make it over the next hurdle and continue farming the family land in Lanesborough <3

‘We bought the farm’ is an old-timey way to indirectly say someone has died- often referring to death in a battle, or plane crash. While we did have our share of battles with debt collectors and nay-sayers (no plane crashes though), for us it holds a more literal meaning- after over two years of fundraising and negotiations with family we have finally purchased 28 acres of the family farm lands!

These 28 acres include Sachum Brook, running along the West side of the property. Forest trails through mixed hardwood forest, a vernal pool in Spring and magical hemlock groove, blueberry and apple orchards, our gardens, apiary and chicken coops as well as the original farm house (now condemned) built in the 1790’s.

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Forest path that leads across Sachum Brook to the vernal pool and hemlock groove

 

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Big bend in Sachum Brook, a favorite spot year round

 

The idea of owning land feels strange and disconnected- what does it even mean to ‘own’ land? It has always been our goal to prevent this acreage from being developed, to protect and re-build our four generation family farm and preserve habitats for wildlife, birds and native plants. Our owning the land on paper will allow us to do all this- and more, but we think of ourselves more as stewards than owners.

This land is home to the animals we raise- chickens, honeybees, an Australian Shepherd and three crazy cats. It is also home to incredible wildlife, birds, insects, amphibians and mammals. The old farm house has been a home to little brown bats for years, we have great blue herons fly over the yard regularly. Barred and great horned owls visit and call- bluebirds return to nest each year. This year we had dozens of monarch caterpillars and butterflies- and found a praying mantis in the garden.

We have seen bobcats, a fisher, coyotes, black bear, fox and a mountain lion (yes, it was a real mountain lion!) in the yard. The hemlock grove is home to some very large porcupines, and the vernal pool has had spotted salamander eggs two years in a row. Deer love to come snack on fallen apples, raccoons and skunks are regulars too.

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Bluebird houses on the meadow edge- we have had nesting pairs for the past three years

 

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Our apiary- all 19 colonies- nestled between old apple trees and our vegetable gardens

 

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Our three chicken coops, with a mix of bantams and standard birds stand on the other side of the old apple tree

 

While the work of a farmer is never done- this land purchase is a huge step in the future of Olsen Farm. THANK YOU to everyone who has supported us along the way- we truly could not have come this far without each of you.

If you are local to the Berkshires- please join us Saturday, November 9th from 4-6 PM at Dottie’s Coffee Lounge 444 North street in Pittsfield to celebrate!

Chicken trouble: bare backs

Spring is for the birds and the bees- and this means our rooster is working overtime. Sometimes he can get a little carried away with his ‘rooster duties’ and end up pulling feathers from the girl’s backs. Once the other hens see bare skin on their sister’s back they can’t resist pecking and pulling out more feathers.

When a rooster mates a hen he climbs on her back, standing on her wings and holding her neck and back feathers in his beak to get in position for transfer of sperm. Sometimes he pulls out a few feathers during the process. Over mating, or aggressive mating, can lead to hens with bare backs and at risk of further wounds and infection if not cared for. 

We tried using Blu-Kote Antiseptic spray, which we have had success with in the past when chickens had skin exposed,  on our girl’s backs but it did not seem work. What else could we do to protect our chicken’s backs?

The answer- chicken saddles! I searched around and found this article: here  from Mother Earth News including a sewing pattern and instructions and decided to try it out.

What you will need:

A basic understanding of sewing is necessary for this project, I used my sewing machine but saddles could easily be hand sewn as well.

  • machine washable, breathable fabric
  • 1/2 inch elastic
  • sew-on velcro
  • scissors
  • straight pins
  • needle and thread or sewing machine
  • saddle pattern (can be printed from Mother Earth article)

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I chose fabrics that would match the feather patterns of my flock in order to maintain their camouflage while out foraging the yard. While it is cute to have brightly colored and patterned vests for your chickens their feathers are their first line of protection from predators and their safety is a greater priority than their cuteness (although they do look pretty adorable in their feather-tone vests as well!)

Step by step

  1. Print out your saddle pattern from the Mother Earth articleIMG_3069

2. Cut out the paper pattern and pin it to your fabric, fabric should be folded double so you end up with two saddle shapes after cutting.

3. After cutting, unpin the paper pattern and re pin fabric layers with patterned side facing inIMG_2981

4. Cut two strips of 1/2 inch elastic at 7 inches IMG_2979

5. Pin elastic strips to neckline, so that long end of elastic is hidden between pinned layers of the saddle, as shown in photos belowIMG_3001IMG_3011IMG_3023

6. Stitch 1/4 inch seam around the edge of your saddle, leaving a hole (seen on right hand side) unstitched on one sideIMG_3024

7. Using hole left unstitched, turn saddle right side out, like a pillowIMG_3025

8. Sew 1/4 inch seam around outer edge, closing up hole used to turn right side outIMG_3026

9. Cut two pieces of both male and female velcro at 1.5 inches and pin female side to body of saddle and male side to the ends of elasticIMG_3028

10. Stitch elastic in place, fasten velcro and be proud of your beautiful and functional new chicken saddle!IMG_3029

Now it is time to try your saddles on the chickens! Saddles sit with the squared edge against the neck and elastic straps go under each wing to secure at the hen’s armpit.

Here is our Jelly Doughnut modeling her off-white saddle on the grass runway:IMG_3049IMG_3050IMG_3051

Chicken saddles are easy to make and can truly make a difference in the health of your flock. We have had our girls wearing saddles for almost a week now and are already seeing new feather growth returning on their backs.

                           

Hello all, Chris and Kristen from Olsen Farm in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, here (along with some of our fine feathered friends).

At Olsen Farm we currently raise chickens and guinea fowl, as well as bees. We are working to reclaim old orchards and both graft and plant new apple, pear, peach and nut trees. We also grow fruits, herbs and veggies in our garden using sustainable and biodynamic gardening techniques and NO pesticides.

We are looking forward to sharing updates, farm tips and news from our farm with you in weeks and months to come!