2-week old Maremma female puppy at Old Crowe Farm
A new litter of Maremma Sheepdog puppies was born here at the farm on February 15 — 3 males and 2 females. Maremmas are an amazing livestock guardian dog that we have working on the farm. They protect our goats, chickens, pigs, and cows. For more information about this amazing dog or to purchase a puppy, email us at info@oldcrowefarm.com or call us at 434-735-0139.
Mary Fahringer, Old Crowe Farm’s First Intern
We are thrilled to announce that Jesse Marshall Crowe’s great niece, Mary Fahringer, will be joining the Old Crowe Farm as our very first Intern! To have a Crowe family member work on this historic farm makes this milestone all the more special for us. We are sooooo excited! Mary will be working all aspects of the farm, from handling newborn piglets to helping plan and work the USDA certified organic areas of the farm.
Mary is married with two beautiful children and all are moving back to the area in the coming weeks.
Our new farm sign went up today with the help of Justin Eubank of Signs & Designs (in Clarksville) just in time for our open house next weekend.
After years of dreaming about what to do with the 32-acres, buildings, and house we call home, our dream is one step closer to coming true. Old Crowe Farm has grown to a 52-acre organic farm and Farmstay Bed & Breakfast. Come see us next weekend (Aug 22 at 1pm) and celebrate!
High Grass Band from Virginia.
The High Grass Band will perform at the Old Crowe Farm Grand Opening on August 22 starting at 12:30 p.m. They are a traditional bluegrass band that has been performing for years around the southern Virginia region. Come out to the Old Crowe Farm and hear their music, take a farm tour, snack on some refreshments, and cross your fingers to win a door prize!
Band members include Freida Penzer from Chase City VA. on dobro & vocals, Ida Driggs from Skipwith VA. on guitar & vocals, Doug Moore from Chase City VA. on bass & vocals, Allan Reid from Warrenton NC. on banjo, Caleb Knox (not pictured) from Bunn, NC on mandolin & vocals.
In collaboration with Virginia Association for Biological Farming and Virginia State University, buckwheat field trials are now underway on four farms. A field tour at Old Crowe Farm in Red Oak is planned for August 22 at 4 p.m. In addition to the buckwheat cover crop plots, farmers can see all the elements of a certified organic diverse self-sustaining small farm homestead featuring livestock, annual and perennial crops.
Come meet Jim and Jacqueline Moyer and other biological farmers. Food will be served. Earlier that same day Old Crowe is celebrating the grand opening of its B&B and food preservation courses. More info about the farm at oldcrowefarm.com.
We are happy to announce our Grand Opening and ribbon cutting ceremony has been scheduled for Saturday, August 22 at 1PM.
Come check out the farm, our rare heritage livestock, and enjoy live music and refreshments under the canopy of our USDA certified organic pecan orchard. We will also have a drawing for door prizes. See you there!
Extra large blackberries… plump and sweet.
Thanks to years of ZERO synthetic fertilizer, lots of mulch, and an abundance of rain this year we have a bumper crop of blackberries. We have already picked over 25 pounds of these plump gems in just 4 days. We planted an additional 50-foot row of plants this year and will do the same next year. We expect to produce approximately 100 pounds next year.
This year’s blackberries are being used in our farm preserves and are being sold to our farm customers fresh.
After years of preparing the soil we finally broke ground on our new blueberry orchard. We purchased 48 blueberry plants, selecting four varieties based on the recommendation from our local extension agent, Bob Jones. We are planting in four rows that are 5 feet wide and 80 feet long.
Breaking Ground on Blueberry Orchard
Each plant will produce approximately 20 pounds a year .. almost a 1,000 pounds in total. These blueberries will be sold to our farm customers fresh, in farm-made preserves, and in our fresh baked products.
Our Gloucestershire Old Spot sow (“Spot”) farrowed 10 piglets yesterday morning. At sundown she was peacefully nursing her piglets. This morning we arose at 5:30am to find that she had died in the night from a prolapsed uterus. We are heartbroken as we really loved Spot and have raised her since she was a month old.
Orphaned Piglets
Now our days will be spent hand-raising her orphaned piglets. Many thanks to Barb and Ward Halligan from The CornerStone Farm for supplying us with much needed goats colostrum and milk. We will be posting regular updates as these piglets begin their new lives without their sweet mom, Spot.
On March 17, 2015 after the evening feeding, Old Crowe Farm’s PEONY gave birth to 10 very healthy and robust piglets… 8 females and 2 males. Within minutes following birth a piglet will begin what is called “teat sampling” where they move from teat to teat. This video shows the two piglets on the right battling over a teat during the sampling phase. During the first 4-6 hours of life, the piglets battle over teats until they pick their preferred teat and establish a “teat order.” After 3 to 7 days, 90% of the time a piglet with go to the same teat to nurse. Occasionally they will suckle two teats (usually adjacent teats). To buy or reserve, call us or go to the AGH Buy page.
