Pork chops, ground pork, country ribs and fresh roasts are all available on the farm. Here’s more info and our price lists. You can also place your order online, email us, or give the farm a call 802-426-2052.

Our Fall shares of Pasture-Raised Meat Chickens are now available to order online!

Shares will be ready for pickup on the farm,
or at the Groton and Barre Farmer’s Markets starting October 7.

Click here to order your share online
(and get a free jar of pickled eggs!)

We sold out of our Summer shares early, so order yours today while you still can!

It’s summer in Vermont, and the 2012 Farmer’s Markets are in full swing!
Find us at:

The Groton Farmer’s Market

in front of the Groton Community Building
Rt 302, Groton, VT
Every Saturday 10am-1pm

The Plainfield Farmer’s Market

on the Green, Plainfield, VT
Every Friday 4-7pm

The Barre Farmer’s Market

on the Green, at intersection of rt 302 and 14, Barre, VT
Every Wednesday 3-6pm

To order and schedule a pickup,
email us your order or call 426-2052.
Pickup is available on the farm most days except Sun-Mon.

Our first batch of pastured meat chickens grew up fast this spring ranging around our green fields, and are now ready to take home to your dinner table. We really enjoyed raising this breed of “Freedom Ranger” chicken, and we know you’ll enjoy the incredible flavor and texture that comes with a free-roaming, pasture raised bird.

Our chickens spent May through July on pasture, their paddocks being moved to fresh grass daily, where they ate a mix of wild insects, seeds, grasses and free-choice grain feed. During the last two weeks of July, we proceed our birds in small batches by hand on the farm, thus avoiding the stress of transport on the animals and ensuring the cleanest carcass possible. Each bird was cleaned in cold-running spring water, bagged and immediately frozen at 0 degrees. The average weight of the cleaned birds is 5lbs.

“Good news on the chicken!  I made the Coq Au Vin with it yesterday, and it was a stunning success, probably the best we’ve had so far.  The birds you guys have are ideally suited to it.” -Adam, Somerville, MA

After having cooked up a few of our birds here at the farm, let us assure you, they taste fantastic. Grilled, roasted, fried, braised, any way you slice it, these chickens knock the pants off any store-bought bird. One of our first customers, Adam in Somerville, MA writes “Good news on the chicken!  I made the Coq Au Vin with it yesterday, and it was a stunning success, probably the best we’ve had so far.  The birds you guys have are ideally suited to it.” Our favorite thing to do with them on the farm is to eat them three times! First, you cook our chicken for dinner whichever way you like. Then for lunch the next day, use the leftovers to make chicken salad or sandwiches. Finally, take all the bones and whatever else is left over, throw it into a pot, cover it with water and boil it for the best chicken stock you’ve ever tasted.

Right now we’re having a special during the month of December for on-farm poultry shares. This is for on-farm pickup only.

Whole birds $4/lb, order 5 get 1 free!

To order your pasture-raised chicken shares and schedule a pickup, please email hookermountainfarm@gmail.com with your order, or call 802-426-2052.

Bo, our Jersey bull calf, munching on a spring dandelion head.

Hooker Mountain Farm welcomed the first member of our grassfed beef herd this weekend. Bo, a 2 week-old Jersey bull calf, arrived here on Sunday, May 22, from the dairy farm where he was born on the other side of Cabot, Vermont. Since he’s still nursing from a bottle, Bo is spending most of his time resting in his calf pen, while we finish fencing our pasture.

While Jersey cattle are more famous for their wonderful milk, than their meat, we decided to start our herd with a Jersey for several reasons. First is their wonderful temperament. Jerseys are notoriously docile and gentle, and Bo is no exception. Within 2 days of his arrival, I already had him wearing a halter and following me like a large dog. Secondly, Jerseys are on the smaller end of the cattle size scale and perform well on lower quality pasture. Since our fields haven’t been worked in decades, and the meat chickens can only fertilize the pasture so fast, we thought that a Jersey would be a safer start than a high-test beef breed. Jerseys are also very popular on the local small dairy farms, so bull calves are cheap and easy to come by. And lastly, just look at those eyes. No breed has eyes like a Jersey, and since the chicks have all grown up, we needed to re-up on our cuteness factor.

In two years, Bo, who will by then be a steer, will produce 400-500 pounds of beautiful, local grass-fed beef. As we continue to build our beef herd here at Hooker Mountain Farm, we remain committed to raising our beef on 100% local grass and hay, with no grain ever, and no antibiotics, hormones or medications. Our cattle are a crucial piece of the farm’s land management system, and are raised in a rotational grazing system. This way we actually build topsoil, increase soil carbon sequestration and improve our pasture quality all while producing fantastic and healthy beef. After all, that’s what we’re all about; benefiting the environment, animals and people through the production of humane and healthy food, right here in Vermont.

These are 6 week old Hereford (left) and Tamworth (right) crosses that are loving the spring mud.

Our Rainbow Ranger meat chicks hit the pasture at 3 weeks old and are getting used to their new found freedom.

]]> http://www.hookermountainfarm.com/?feed=rss2&p=78 0 http://www.hookermountainfarm.com/?p=47&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=maple-syrup-at-its-finest-slow-cooked-in-small-batches-over-a-wood-fire http://www.hookermountainfarm.com/?p=47#comments Fri, 25 Mar 2011 22:26:34 +0000 admin http://hookermountainfarm.com/?p=47

Every year we’re still amazed this stuff just comes out of trees. Hooker Mountain’s spring bounty of sweet Vermont ambrosia is now for sale. Since it’s still early in the season here, we’re offering 1/2 pint and pint containers of fancy grade clear syrup, with darker varieties coming in the next few weeks.

Early April Update: The spring run is still flowing like mad up here on the mountain! With sunny daytime highs well above freezing and cold nights all week and forecasted to last into the weekend, this is quite a sweet year indeed. We’re now into the darker varieties of the season, with a batch this past week of a more intense maple and caramel flavor, a darker shade of Grade A Medium Amber. The conditions the next day were so perfect, however, that the following batch came out a much lighter shade and flavor. And that difference is what makes small batch processing great; every day the trees put out something just a little different, making each 3-5 gallon batch of syrup unique.

Glass mason jars of Hooker Mountain Farm’s finest, clear, 2011 maple syrup:
Fancy grade/early run
1/2 pint:   $10
Full pint:  $15

Grade A medium-dark
1/2 pint:   $10
Full pint:  $15
Quart: $25

Super dark Grade B to come…

Please drop us an email to purchase syrup.
We can easily process credit card purchases using google checkout and handle any shipping requests you might have.

Olde Sap Time Photo Gallery of this spring’s sugaring:

A chick's eye view.

Spring is here for sure. A crate full of day-old chicks arrived first-thing Wednesday morning. After getting a call from the postmaster at 7:30am, I walked into the local Post Office to a chorus of peeps ringing out from behind the counter. He gladly handed over two singing boxes of chicks, one small box with our 8 New Hampshire Red and Americauna rooster chicks, and the other containing 96 mixed brown egg laying female chicks.

After quickly getting them home, they’ve all been placed into the warm brooder, where they will remain for the next few weeks as the weather in Vermont improves. Once the grass begins to green, these birds will be reared on range as part of our mixed livestock pasture management program. And by fall, these bundles of fluff will be full grown layers producing 50+ eggs/day.

5 minuted in the brooder and they're at home.

Our six Berkshire pigs, now roughly 13 weeks old, moved into their new home on the range this weekend. Their movable range house is made from locally sawn fir and salvaged materials. Pallets, by the way, make wonderful movable fencing as long as all the rouge nails are removed. The hutch, filled with loose hay, provides a warm and safe den for the pigs while on range. As you can see, these pigs love the sunshine and fresh air, despite the cold temperatures. This tolerance of cold weather is one reason we chose the Berkshire, an English heritage breed, for winter raising. Come May, the four barrows will have reached slaughtering weight, while the two sows will remain on the range and give birth to next winter’s piglets.