The West Oaks Report
This marks the founding of the West Oaks Report! The report will periodically update you as to the happenings on the farm! It will feature media and textual updates to keep you caught up on our story. Read on to learn about our doings and discover the new West Oaks Select!
So, What’s the Buzz About?
We welcomed some particularly noteworthy guests into our farm this week! As things continue to blossom and grow around us, it is important that we take steps to ensure the survival and proper maturing of our crops. This includes the pollination of each and every blossom in our apple orchards! As you might imagine, that’s quite a job! Which is exactly why we need some help. Our local, busy bee friends are too few in number to accomplish this enormous task, so we bring hives into our orchards to get things moving. Yep, we have bee hives in our orchards! They will live in the orchard until their job is done, and the apples you all love so dearly are brought to you at the market! When they are finished, the hives are taken out of the orchard, and the honey that the bees produced is harvested from them!
Two Beehives in one of our Orchards
Spring Cleaning
With the unpredictable weather, we have been limited on what work plans we can make. We have encountered severe thunderstorms, total washouts, t-shirt weather, wind storms, and snow all within the last week! With the ground having been so wet recently, we have been getting creative with our plans. We have been cleaning up our pastures by moving fallen trees, picking up wood debris from our cleared orchards, and pasture harrowing cattle pastures. With cleared, fertilized pastures, we can keep rotating our cattle through them to keep them fed and happy, and our pastures grazed and healthy! We have also been building and repairing fence in various locations around the farm.
Building a Fence in a Windstorm
Cattle Upkeep
Even though we are beginning to look at warmer days in our future, the livestock still requires consistent care. This is especially true for the cattle. In addition to keeping pastures in good shape for them, we keep them fed and healthy. We are ensuring that the young grow up strong and the fully-grown stay on top of their game. These babies eating here are residents of our feed barn, which provides an environment for us to easily monitor and maintain their healthy growth! Inside, they have bedding, water, and ample space to stay active and strong. This setup allows our family a personal approach in raising our cattle, one in which we are available and involved!
Young Calves Eating at the Feed Barn
West Oaks Select
The West Oaks Report is designed to document and report on the happenings of the farm, and I hope you will enjoy it as much as me! In addition to the WOR, I am launching the West Oaks Select. West Oaks Select will be a continuously growing gallery of fine art photography, all taken on the farm! New additions to the gallery will be announced in the West Oaks Report as they are released. The gallery is now live on my website under the “Brands” tab. Depending on interest and feedback, prints from the West Oaks Select may become available for purchase in the future. This will be the first photograph in the gallery, I hope all of you enjoy living out the stories in these images as much as I have. From all of us at West Oaks, have a wonderful Easter!
First Photograph in West Oaks Select