Have you heard of Etsy? It is an online marketplace where vendors can sell handmade and/or vintage goods. Selling on Etsy has lots of benefits for us. It has a lot of name recognition and has been around long enough to be a publicly-traded company. Lots of lifestyle magazines feature  products found on the site. […]

We moved to the country in 2002 to start growing our own food organically. I also wanted to get “honest” exercise — rather than exercising in a gym or on a treadmill. And I wanted my children to grow up with a sense of purpose in life. We had no desire to sell anything. It’s […]

A young couple with a strong work ethic, a dream, a sensible business plan and a desire to get back to their agricultural roots recently produced a new dairy farm licensed to begin raw milk dairy products, and sell raw milk in New England. Even with an often-saturated milk market, Mavis and Chris Newton have discovered a […]

We plant rows of sunflowers every year here in the gardens at Pleasant Valley Farm. These beautiful flowers provide a surprising number of benefits! Our garden field is roadside, next to our farm stand. Each spring it’s exciting to see tidy rows of vegetable plants. But as the season progresses, it seems each year the […]

Here at Pleasant Valley Farm, we raise a number of heritage breeds and try to be active in helping to conserve them as well. We like Dexter cattle because they are great homestead cows, produce a nice beef carcass, calve easily and are great mothers, are hardy, easy keepers, give a nice amount of milk […]

Have you heard of livestock being called a heritage breed? Have you ever wondered what exactly that meant? Is it a buzzword, or something that matters? Most importantly, could they be a good fit for your homestead? Simply put, a heritage breed has been around for a long time and was generally developed in a […]

Agritoursim is a big word that sounds intimidating. It’s simply the idea of making your farm a destination, somewhere with something interesting to do or see beyond buying your products. Still, farm open houses, hayrides and the like can be overwhelming. Customers have suggested opening up a spare bedroom in our farmhouse as a bed […]

Although our hatching season has ended, this is the time of year we have money to invest in equipment and livestock for our farm’s future. With that in mind, I thought it would be a great time to follow up on our first post about hatching poultry and take an in-depth look at the kind […]

When I moved to our farm, I longed to put in more flowers. There were a few things that bloomed- irises, lily of the valley, daffodils- but not a lot. A farm is a busy place, so planting pretty things often falls way down the to-do list. But here are five great reasons why I’ve […]

This past weekend saw a big change in how we do business. For many years, our farm stand has been a cash-only business. We would also accept personal checks, but did not take credit or debit cards. However, sales were lost because of this. Local folks know to bring cash, as many small businesses in […]