Farm – Page 145 – Dan Routh Photography

Pig Picking

It was pretty cold this past weekend, but not cold enough to stop neighbor Tommy Routh from continuing with his annual “pig picking” for friends and neighbors at Goat Lady Dairy in Grays Chapel. A 200 pound free range hog raised by his son-in-law Bobby, split in half and cooked slow for about 15 hours until the meat falls off the bones. This is the “whole hog”, with a choice of ham, shoulder, rib and tenderloin. I’m primarily a vegetarian these days, but I freely admit I did have to try some. Excellent.

Winter Farming

Agriculture, Farm, Portraits

When cold and messy weather comes, most of us can duck inside and get away from it. On a dairy farm, it means dealing with it head on. Cows have to be milked and fed twice a day whether it’s sunny and warm or frigid and nasty. Michael Williams of Williams Dairy south of Greensboro, North Carolina handles it every day.

Milking Cows

Agriculture, Farm, Portraits

Milking cows in the dairy parlor of Williams Dairy, a family farm south of Greensboro, North Carolina.

Tractor Shed

Farm

An old Farmall tractor sits in a tractor shed on our farm in Grays Chapel, North Carolina.

Feeding the Chickens

Animals, Chicken, Farm

A bird’s eye view at feeding time in our barnyard in Grays Chapel, North Carolina.

A Wild Horse Named Rienzi

Family, Farm, Horses

My wife’s wild horse Rienzi sprints from her corral to join the cows in the morning at our farm in Grays Chapel, North Carolina. Rienzi is a 28 year old wild Mustang mare my wife and I adopted from the BLM when she was a yearling. She came from near Lake Tahoe in California and is named for a famous horse ridden by Philip Sheridan during the Civil War (Sheridan had his Rienzi stuffed and placed on display at the Smithsonian Institute). Our Rienzi spends her days grazing with our cattle herd and her nights in her 100 year old stall originally built for mules (she comes in on her own every evening). She’s in excellent shape and very docile. She was trained to ride, but we don’t ride her anymore except for the occasional bareback jaunt by my son Devin. I think she really thinks she is a cow now; she is definitely a herd animal. Rienzi is lucky, but a lot of her cousins aren’t. Right now there are thousands of Mustangs in BLM holding pens, removed from government land. Some will be adopted, but it seems that many are to be sold for meat. Most of this removal is unnecessary and pushed by big western cattle interests. Several groups are pushing the government to stop these removals. Information on supporting wild horses and their preservation is available at http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/. Go there. Wild horses need your help.

Combining Corn

Agriculture, Farm, Randolph County

Yesterday, neighbor Earl York, Jr. was combining corn at Melancthon near Liberty, North Carolina. The York family runs a seed, fertilizer and farm supply business as well as growing corn, soybeans and small grains. This particular field of corn was yielding close to 130 bushels per acre, which is not anything close to a record, but really good for a year of partial drought. I’ve shot farmers and agriculture all over the country (one of my most favorite subjects) and although all farmers are busy and under all kinds of pressure to get things done, I have never met one that would not stop their machinery, get off and come over to shake your hand and talk briefly about their crop. Earl was no exception.

Rising Meadow Farm

Agriculture, Farm, Sheep

I went over to my neighbors’ farm Sunday for their annual open house. Ann and Ron Fay run Rising Meadow Farm near Liberty in Randolph County, North Carolina along with their daughter Beth and her husband Winfield. They raise sheep for wool and meat as well as a few goats, cows and the occasional llama. Sunday they had several people there displaying wool products and processes as well as another neighbor demonstrating his working border collie sheep dogs. For info on their farm, go to http://www.risingmeadow.com/index.html.

Cow, Up Close and Personal

Animals, Farm

My wife often picks up apples in the evenings. She feeds the rejects to the cows, and they certainly appreciate her efforts. In fact they appreciate them so much, they often get a little overly up close in their attempts to get to them.

Figs

Cat, Farm, Randolph County

The figs are starting to ripen on the south side of one of our barns. Succulent golden fruits that make wonderful preserves but are even better eaten fresh from the tree (or bush as it were). I picked a bowl for my wife the other day, and as as oft happens on our farm, I had help, this time from one of our farm cats, Tiger.

(Posted from Hanover, New Hampshire after a 20 hour train journey. More to come on that next week.)