Solo farming
Here at BOTL Farm, we have one full-time farmer and one part-time farmer. We are good at vastly different things (e.g. obscure mathematical theories vs actually building/repairing things), so we make a good team. But, that means it’s challenging when one of us leaves. Mostly when Nick leaves.
Good news, Nick left for a week in December to attend a national grazing conference in Tucson, AZ which meant that Danielle became acting full-time farmer. Since Nick is a ‘real person’ who has a ‘life’ beyond farming, we’re glad to report that Nick is generally allowed to leave the farm a few times a year (but usually for time periods that are much less than a week and never really during the summer market season).
This month, while Nick was gone, we got a new batch of baby chicks who will grow up to be part of our laying flock of hens. Unfortunately, we also got a poorly-forecasted 10” of snow, extreme cold, a sick goat, and a power outage the day the chicks arrived. It was a mess. Thanks to all the professionals and volunteers who helped out with emergencies while he was gone! Nick is on probation and may never be allowed to leave the farm again. Oopsies.
Answering all your home-delivery questions
As you may recall, last month we announced that we’re starting home delivery routes once a month. Since then, we’ve had a number of questions about the particulars so we’re going to address a few now. Remember to order early and often using our online store.
Q: How much is the fee to get home delivery?
A: It’s $7.50 for the delivery plus the normal $1 platform fee for using our online store, so it’s (sort of) $8.50.
Q: I’m so pumped. Just tell me how to make this happen?
A: Go to our online store and place an order. After you put all the things you want in your cart and are checking out, you can pick a home delivery area. Once the home delivery area is chosen, the platform will ask you hard-pressed questions about your address and where the cooler you’re definitely not going to forget to put out will be located.
Q: I want to pay cash or check because I know you moan about credit card fees alllll the time. How does that work?
A: Select cash or check option during checkout and leave the cash or check in the cooler that you definitely haven’t forgotten to put out.
Q: What happens on the delivery day?
A: We pack your order into one of our excellent farm vehicles and head out. We’ll deliver to you between the hours of 9am and 7pm. You’ll definitely have left a cooler out for us, which we’ll put the order into.
Q: What are your current delivery areas?
A: We will be delivering in the following towns and surrounding towns/suburbs:
Sturbridge, MA area
New Haven, CT area
Hartford, CT area
Putnam, CT area (“east of us”)
Ashford, CT area (“around us”)
Middletown CT area
We will refine areas and adjust as we see how this goes. If you feel left out after reviewing the list and are interested in delivery or know someone who might be, let us know!
Q: There are a lot of areas. Is there any place I can see them all at once with more details about each?
A: Yep. Either see the bottom of this email or head over to the locations page on our online store and see a map.
We got a puppy!!!!!!!!!
We both love dogs. Like, love dogs. We rescued our faithful farm dog, Pup, about 8 years ago. She’s an amazing asset to our farm/life and we can’t imagine farming/living without a dog. We’re sure Pup is going to live forever, but we wanted to get another puppy for her to train before she gets too old and grumpy.
We downloaded a lot of pet-finding apps, made some lists, checked them thrice, looked to the star charts, applied to a few rescue agencies, did a few meet n greets with potential dogs, and matched with a dog named Ruffles McFlufferPuffins (Ruff for short). The magic is in the air, the crate is deployed, and we’re using our firm ‘no’s to set boundaries.
Pup is mostly over the moon with the new addition to her pack, except she also needs to set boundaries for this energetic, crazy high-energy, always-on puppy. They’re doing great together and Pup has already passed along some sage advice like “we poop over here” and “don’t bother me while I’m napping.” Come meet Ruffles McFlufflesDoogan (Ruff for short) at our next farm store!
Hemp bedding
We haven’t talked lately about how much we recommend hemp bedding. We sell it, sure, but we also use it in our mobile chicken coop and in our chick brooding RV. Hemp, besides being the less-popular cousin of some other common plants, is a delightfully useful industrial crop. Hemp bedding is made from ‘waste’ hemp after the majority of the plant is put to some other use, such as fiber production. We think hemp bedding is clearly superior to other bedding types: not only in function, but in cost too! A bale of hemp bedding absorbs more moisture, is less dusty, and has a significantly longer useful life. In our chick brooder, we use about 80% less bedding overall because hemp is such a powerhouse compared to, say, pine shavings. Hemp for the win.
Did we mention we have new sheep and goat hides back from the tannery?
Find us this month
On farm store: Tuesdays noon - 2pm, Saturdays 1 - 3pm. Pre-order
On farm self pickup: Everyday 8:30am - 8pm. Pre-order only
Middletown CT area home delivery: Sunday January 05. Delivery area is Middletown, Portland, Cromwell, Berlin CT and other small towns in that area. Pre-order only
Sturbridge Coffee Drop: Saturday January 11, 11am - 1:30pm. Pre-order only
Sturbridge MA area home delivery: Saturday January 11. Delivery area is Sturbridge, Southbridge, Charlton, Brimfield, Brookfield MA and other small towns in that area. Pre-order only
New Haven CT area home delivery: Sunday January 12. Delivery area is New Haven, North Haven, West Haven, Woodbridge CT and other small towns in that area. Pre-order only
Hartford CT area home delivery: Sunday January 12. Delivery area is Hartford, East Hartford, West Hartford, Manchester CT. You know the deal, let us know where you are and we’ll see if we can make it work. Pre-order only
“Around Ashford” CT area home delivery: Tuesday January 14. Delivery area is Ashford, Willington, Tolland, Eastford CT. Pre-order only
“East of us” CT area home delivery: Wednesday January 15. Delivery area is Woodstock, Pomfret, Putnam, Killingly, Dayville, Brooklyn CT. Pre-order only
It's too many numbers! Save me!
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