Farm Visit: Hurricane Farm

image from http://dsc.discovery.com/

This morning I headed up to visit a fellow young farmer at Hurricane Farm in Scotland, CT.  Erica owns a small homestead and leases larger parcels of land from neighbors to run her diversified farm - beef, pork, chicken, turkey, eggs, maple syrup, and a small amount of vegetables, fruits, and honey.  She sells at farmers' markets and also through a meat CSA.

I really enjoyed walking around Erica's homestead because it felt so manageable.  Her and her husband (and kids) take on only what they know they can manage and grow very slowly (their first year they started with 2 turkeys; several years later they have worked their way up to nearly 100).

The other thing that I appreciated was that Erica purchases male calves from a local dairy farm, which she bottle feeds and raises for beef.  Even though dairy cows grow more slowly and are generally used for veal, the calves are much more affordable and make better use of the local agricultural system.

It's so nice to visit other farms to see all of the unique growing practices and learn from their mistakes/successes.