Farm Tour

Well the day dawned wet and windy but the tour was still a go.  Luckily I did have an umbrella and my coat was rain resistant so off we went on our bus.  There were about 20 of us braving the day.  There was one mention of "I hope the Newport Bridge stays open" as we left but we ignored that.

We drove to Connecticut to Footsteps Farm first.  Farmer Craig was ready to go and the animals live outside so we set off in our strudy shoes, umbrellas, garbage bags, hats, etc.  Craig did tell us that when we got to the bull there would be no umbrellas allowed.  Apparently he hates umbrellas and the week before there was an incident with a photographer, the bull and an umbrella. 

There is still some color in the trees and this tree was pretty on the farm. 

We saw the momma pigs and piglets first.  The piglets stay with the moms until they are about 40 days old and then they are weaned.  These little guys are just at 40 days old and ready to go from mom.

Once they leave mom, they go to the woods and can live in the pig houses you can see in the picture above.  They roam free and can root and dig and forage like pigs are supposed to do.  They live very happy lives until the day they need to be harvested and that is done humanely by Craig.  He is very proud of being certified as humane and loves his animals.  He names all of them.

He works very hard on the farm with little help and is very passionate about his heritage breeds and the taste of his food.  He also has turkeys, cattle, chickens and ducks although he says he has a hard time killing the ducks because they look at him.  He says his wife has noticed that the duck population is growing.

We loaded back onto the warm, dry bus and were on to the next stop.  I'll have to stop for now and get ready for the day.  Breakfast is at 7:30, then general session: Why Local Food...and How?, and my classes: Service Starved, Heaven in the Glass and on the Plate, with snacks, lunch and networking in between.

I'll try and be back later, but I know I'll have a lot of eating, talking and learning to do today.