Autumn/Winter '22 at Edgewood Miller Farm

Hello everyone! It’s been an eventful autumn here at Edgewood Miller Farm and we are busy getting ready for winter and the holiday season.

Kat capturing content for marketing our produce

The crew spent the final few days of summer and beginning of fall harvesting a plethora of beautiful pumpkins, butternut squash, honeynut squash, delicata squash, candy roaster squash, and kabocha squash. Thankfully, none of our crop got eaten by deer this year due to the large fence now surrounding the crop field. We also planted garlic in our raised beds estimated to be ready next June as well as a variety of greens, including arugala, spinach, lettuce, and kale in the covered beds to munch on throughout the winter months. We’ve had the pleasure of selling our produce and eggs this year to ACAC, Early Mountain Vineyards and Barboursville Vineyards. We kindly thank them for supporting our growing business.

Moonshine and Summer

In animal news, Canadian Summer injured her back left hock and after an assessment from our Equine Vet, was sent to the Veterinary Rehabilitation Services of Virginia to heal. She received laser treatments three times a day and was mainly on stall rest. We welcomed her home in early December and she’s doing well as we maintain stall rest for a few more weeks. Although she’s apart from her field companions, Dr. Marty and LuLu, she has sweet Moonshine keeping her company. Jeanne, Kat, Kaylee, Kaleb, Jes and Barb have been doing an excellent job keeping her comfortable during her recovery.

Rusty, Lulu and Dr. Marty

Another horse has been added to our family, a sweet Appaloosa named Rusty. Rusty is originally from out west somewhere, most likely Texas.  He is 19 years old and a great trail horse.  He is very patient as for the last few years he spent his summers as a summer camp horse for kids and is used to novice riders.  He knows how to ride Western and English. He and Trooper are the riding horses on the farm.

Mini donkeys grazing on a frosty morning

In other animal news, we celebrated Ruby’s second birthday on Saturday November 12th! She has finally lost all her long, shaggy baby hair over the summer and she is officially full sized! Pluto, her half brother, still has an affinity for treats and TLC. He is always first to greet you with a hee-haw whenever you patrol through the small barn and paddocks. Trixie and Marley continue to graze the pasture together every day, side by side. One of the beautiful components of Edgewood Miller Farm is that some things never change and there are consistencies you can count on! Observing our peaceful animal family enjoying their meals and enjoying the simplicities life has to offer are one of many examples.

Blue Ball McGee

Sadly, the Chicken Palace has suffered a few losses due to a fledgling brown eagle and a couple hawks seeking a quick meal. To deter the raptors from attacking, we built a scare crow, named Blue Ball McGee, and our dear friend Greg Redfern came up with the genius idea of tying CDs and reflective objects to the branches of the tree in the palace yard. They have been a good deterrent. We are hopeful the rest of our flock can continue about their business of laying eggs in peace. To make up for our recent shortage of laying hens, we ordered twenty new chicks which we are raising over the winter. They are cute as a button and growing so quickly! By May of 2023, they will start laying along with the other girls in the flock and our egg count will bounce back to multiple dozens a week!

Jes pruning the viburnum hedges on Scuffletown Rd

Henry, our farm manager, has diligently worked the ground of our hay field by tilling, leveling it, and spreading compost courtesy of our animals. He then planted orchard grass, which will provide us with plenty of hay this coming year. One of the wonderful things about farming is how cyclical the process is! Just like nature has four seasons…farming goes through stages that require planning and hard work, while always keeping an eye on the weather.

Jes and Kaleb have been keeping up with the enormous task of pruning the various bushes and shrubs in the gardens as well as pruning all the fruit trees in our orchard and variety of native trees growing around the farm. Cutting off the dead twigs and limbs while removing “suckers” from bushes and trees allow for better air flow and optimal health for the plants during the next growing season.

Barbara’s Greenhouse Tomatoes

Barbara is growing tomato plants in the greenhouse over the winter. It is our first year experimenting with greenhouse vegetable growth and so far, so good!  Jes suggested we conduct an experiment using three different types of soil to see which produced the best fruit. The experiment has been a success and now we can see which soils are most efficient. Barbara had to hand pollinate each flower on each tomato plant with an electric tooth brush (due to the lack of bee pollination in the colder months) and thanks to her diligence we have fully grown ripe tomatoes just in time for Christmas!

Crescere Cattle Breeding

At our sister farm, Crescere, the crew has taken on the process of artificially inseminating our herd of cattle. This major task takes all hands-on deck led by Kaleb Tinder, our cattle manager, to successfully and safely complete over the span of a couple weeks. First a CIDR device is inserted into the heifer or cow, along with a shot of cystorelin in the neck muscle. A week later, the CIDR is removed and the heifer or cow is given a shot of Lutalyse as well as a heat patch placed on the lower back above the tail. Shortly after this process, the animal will come into heat and when the heat patch turns bright pink… she is ready for insemination! Melinda McCall arrived one chilly morning with her handy vet tech, Bekah, and started the AI process. For this fall calving season, we’ve bred our Belted Galloways and conventional cows with Waygu semen while our Texas Longhorns received Longhorn semen. In mid January, we will proceed with a pregnancy check to see how many mamas we will have in the upcoming year. It truly has been an interesting and intriguing process we are grateful to be a part of.

Holly Jolly Ollie

From all of us at Edgewood Miller Farm, we wish you a very happy holiday and joyous new year! Thank you for following our adventures and stay tuned for all that is to come as we prepare for spring. A friendly reminder that you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for fun farm footage, interesting facts and more! Again, we send all the best to you and yours during this cold, yet special and festive time of year.