Farming updates for the week include:

• Updates AI - no more updates needed, Due dates on calendar
• Chick Wagon
• Hay/straw delivery
• CSA full

A new segment called "From the ground up" where we discuss the basics for any given project or enterprise on the farm and what we would do to do it again.  THis week we talk about how we would go about starting a CSA

• Pictures posted of the shares
• Surveys 
• Reviews 
• How to get people to invest that much
• Make it a community with recipes, posts each week
• Host events at the farm- potluck, etc. 
• What to expect and communicate a lot

Questions, Conversations and Ruminations this week (and for a few weeks) are a in depth review and discussion around the farm finances.

• Income
• Expenses

Updates from around the farm:

• AI update - no heat for Katniss
• Checking Herm this week
• Snow storm - closed off extended pasture; ran extra line
• Round bales - more $ and hard to get
• Farm census
• Taxes and a financial look back at past year- upcoming discussions
• A simple soil block question

This week we have a Farm U discussion around TRACTORS!

• How much horsepower for diffrnt jobs
• What is the right type of transmission
• Confusion Solution for hydraulics

This week's coopcast has a weather update about a big windstom that caused some damage but spends most of it's time talking about the artifical insemination process we followed with our gilt Katiniss and what worked / dindn't as well as what we learned about doing AI on the farm.

Part 3 of the Farm Meeting discusses the general palns around infrastructure this year and why we made some decisions we did about growtih or processes in 2013.

The updates in farming this week include:

• A Big thaw
• Planning for artificial insemination with the pigs
• Finally raised egg prices to $4 / dozen
• Kelli shares a listener requested update on her Bogs Boots
• Freezer inventory fun

This is part 2 of the Annual Farm Meeting:

• A pending plan for turkeys
• The chicken succession plan
• Purchase and project in support of the Chicken Plan
• Breeds that we will be replacing the flock with and why

Updates around the snowy and cold farm:

• Snow and drifting on the farm and the implications to portable fencing
• Pigs on the loose
• Electric netting - upright again
• Chickens in the wind
• Greenhouse - salad for new years eve, peas, Swiss chard and a warm refuge

The Annual Farm Meeting Farm Meeting for 2013 - Part 1

• We discussed if we will be doing a CSA this year and the size,
• The Pig plan and AI,
• Laying chickens (more on this one next week)
• The plan for broiler chickens this summer
• General "farming burnout" that we are trying to avoid

Our Post-Christmas, pre New Year 52nd, one year celebration episode.

This week's updates include:

• Christmas on the farm - yum
• Let it snow, we say, with over 2 feet and counting...
• Preparing for the snow - round bales to the rescue
• Dealing with the fence lines in snow
• Placement of winter paddock fencing - room for improvement
• Chickens and snow

In the Coopcast Community:

• Listener Bill shares his bad experience with CSA's and trying again
• One of our first listener Jeph talks about getting to eat an egg from Nugget!
• Frank want's to know about any automation on the farm

Updates this week include:

• #elfonafarm - visit our Facebook Page to follow the adventures of one of Santa's Helpers on a farm.
• Weather - is this December?
• Haven't moved pigs to want area yet - fencing ready to go
• Rats in barn
• And a listener update from Adam about those VT college oxen

This week in the news we share some thoughts about the horrific tragedy in CT and try to provide some facts about the gun control debate

• Guns - banning guns and they types of firearms
• Gun control in New York State
• Guns on a farm

This episodes Farm U talks about feed storage

• Why rodents are bad
• Best practices for small farm feed storage
• What to do if a rodent gets into your feed

Updates from around the farm:

• Chickens - they love the round bales in their area for winter
• Lower egg production - no heat lamp
• Pigs- not in winter paddock yet- no real snowfall
• Cat in a hoop house
• Snow fence is up- why do we hate doing that so much?

In the CoopCast Community

• Gaertagang Farm- Bogs boots
• Maple View Farm- Overalls
• Nicole- favorite podcasts and online tools
• Homemade gift idea- seeds or help starting a garden

This week's Farmers Choice is a discussion on different egg layer breeds

• What we like and don't about: Barred Rock, Speckled Sussex, Buff Rock, California, Golden Comet, Rhode Island Red, and Tetra Tint

In this episode we share several of our favorite things from our farm.  From pasture to plate we talk about big and small farming items that we like and that make farming easier for us to manage things.

This episode is a departure from the typical farm updates and other discussions and we hope you enjoy it!

This "longer than usual" CoopCast includes...

Updates from around the farm:

• Heritage Turkey for Thanksgiving - yum!!!!
• Losing a chicken and a farmers "instincts"
• Prepping for winter by moving chicken fencing (poultry netting) and pig fencing

A trip to the cold Veggie Patch to discuss some HOT tomato choices:

• Review of our top 2012 tomato varieties
• A brief lesson on determinate and indeterminate tomato plants as well as heirloom and hybrid.

In the CoopCast Community

• Josie asked about worming pigs?
• Lots of people have been asking "when is sign up for X, Y or Z"?