With 2024 done and gone, we wanted to share about some of the highlights of our year at Cotton Patch Farms. It has been a busy year for us! We have really started to see some progress with our two main goals: bringing life back to the land and sharing it with the community.
First and foremost, we finished our first pasture fence!!!
Our first pasture fence has been a long time in coming. We’ve had the pasture mapped out since 2021, and we’ve been working on improving the land since early 2022. We’ve been talking about this fence project for years, but we didn’t want to add grazing animals before our fence was finished, and since the fence wasn’t finished, we weren’t quite ready to add grazing animals . . . it’s a predictable cycle. Anyway, it has taken some time, but our fence is finished and operational. Posts bought and cut, holes dug, posts in the ground, wire pulled, insulators installed, fence wires connected, connected to fencer, fencer installed, gates hung – whew! We haven’t added grazing animals yet, but we are officially ready.
In September, we started rotating most of our birds through the pasture. Each day, the birds moved to a fresh section of the pasture. They enjoyed the green plants and (better) the insects that lived there, and in return, the ducks fertilized the ground so that the plants could grow back bigger and better. Then the section would be left alone to regrow. Moving the netting and shelters was a fair bit of work, especially during a long dry spell, but we all got used to the daily moving routine. The ducks were laying better than previous years, too. But as winter approached, we knew that it was just a matter of time until we wouldn’t be able to use our hoses. Winter weather or sheer distance from the pump was bound to catch up with us.
The whole thing ended abruptly when we moved the netting under the edge of the woods, lost a bird to a raptor, and entered a cold snap. We’ll start over this year once the plants have regrown, but I think we’re going to avoid the woods.
As a side note, it is currently dog hunting season, and some hunting dogs have found out about our pasture fence the hard way. It’s easy to slip between the fence wires, but if it’s turned on, you are probably going to get shocked passing through, and you probably won’t care to touch it again. The first little guy that learned this lesson came right up to us when we opened the gate. That was all well and good, but I do wonder what we will do next fall. We can’t simply leave our pasture unoccupied and the fence turned off during dog hunting season.
Our pasture is improving!
We are way ahead of the bare patch of clay that we started with. We still have plenty of “weedy species” like dogfennel and broom sedge, but considering that those used to be the only plants that could survive, and that there were places that even they couldn’t grow, we’re doing pretty good. The whole pasture is now supporting weedy species, and over half of it has additional plants growing as well. We also have areas of the pasture with good drainage where the weedy species are thinning out as they get outcompeted by desirable grazing plants. It’s really encouraging to see, and we are thrilled. It’s taken years, but the results are finally happening: diversity of species.
As usual, we rented a no-till seed drill from the Peanut Soil and Water Conservation District and fall planted some seeds in the pasture. The 2024 seed lineup included Jesup MaxQ II novel endophyte fescue, oats, cereal rye, chicory, radishes, turnips, and poppies. A lot of our seed came from Farmers United in Surry, VA. We are very thankful for Farmers United! If we want a certain type of seed, they will find a source, and we can go and pick it up from them.
We also planted some native seeds for pollinators. Figwort, lespedeza, blazing star, wingstem, winged everlasting, brown-eyed susan, cup flower, cardinal flower, and whorled milkweed are planted in a lot of our fringe areas along woods and streams along with the main pasture. We expect to see more natives appear as time goes on, but we want to supply blooms and host plants in the meantime. These seeds should help jumpstart the process. Our main native seed source was Prairie Moon Nursery.
We are thrilled to report that the local wildlife seem to be thriving! We are very pleased with the activity we’ve seen.
We have been seeing tons more deer (in fact, Caleb says that one November morning he saw more deer in our woods than he’s ever seen on a hunt in Virginia before) and are starting to see some solid bucks. We have been working on deer habitat areas and are happy to report that the deer have used them frequently over the summer – we expect that they have used them over the fall, too, but we leave those areas alone during hunting season. There’s a lot of pressure on the local deer during hunting season. We don’t want to add to that.
The deer are to blame for why our fence has taken so long – as we improved the future pasture with rabbit fertilizer and new species of plants, the deer came along to exchange free meals for fertilizer. It’s hard to pass up free fertilizer! But as it happens, once the fence went up, it wasn’t long before the deer were in and out of it again. One doe in particular kept coming close to our yard, where the plants have had a lot of rabbit amendment. We even had a fawn that we’re pretty sure was born in the pasture, so its mother must have considered the pasture to be pretty safe.
Birds are super fun, because unlike most wild animals, we see and hear them pretty regularly. The downside is that no matter how close you are, it’s hard to get a good picture.
We have had a big influx of bobwhite quail. We had several bobwhite families in 2023, but in 2024 you couldn’t go a minute without hearing “bobwhite!” We see plenty of families, but they are pretty shy. Our local turkey families are bolder – they pass through regularly, and sometimes they’ll be in one side of the yard while we’re in the other.
A family we would really like to see move in is the purple martin. We have had a few families drop by and visit, but so far none have claimed the house we leave up for them. It’s a pity. I’m pretty sure we have enough insects here to feed them.
We have a happy population of a lot of the usual songbirds – mockingbirds, bluebirds, sparrows, chickadees, cardinals, hummingbirds, goldfinches . . . some travel through, but many are residents, and we see them regularly. And boy were they happy when we took our fields out of cotton production. Without regular herbicide, there are more plants out there to feed birds and attract insects. And sometimes, there is ripe grain, which always attracts an audience.
Birds of prey represent a danger to our poultry, but since 99% of the time they busy themselves with mice, songbirds, wild rabbits, and other small animals, we figure that the best way to keep our poultry safe is to prioritize habitat for those small wild animals. Our crop fields have been largely untouched by equipment, which means plenty of cover for small animals. By fall, we were seeing multiple hawks per day hunting the fields. Sometimes we see pairs. I’m not sure how many species we’ve seen or heard (Virginia has 6 hawks and 4 main owls), but we will try to keep track of species better in 2025. For now, it’s really encouraging to see that our land is able to support a fair number of raptors. That must mean that there is a fair number of small wild animals being supported as well.
For the most part, the raptors seem to be content with their wild prey. We are very thankful to have only lost one domestic bird to them so far. And it was really our fault for parking our birds under the edge of the woods.
I’m no expert on insects, but we sure seem to have a lot of them here. Most of the interesting bugs fly or crawl off before I can get a good picture, but that doesn’t always stop me from trying. We had so many butterflies in 2024 that I had plenty of good opportunities.
One interesting thing is that we have not noticed many flies around the farm. Flies were all over the place in 2023, but they were not irritating in 2024. I assume this means that their predators are keeping them in check! Wouldn’t it be nice if the same thing happened with our mosquitoes?
We spent a day selling homegrown honey and flowers at Little Acre Farm LLC‘s 1st Annual Spring Market on the Farm. Little Acre Farm LLC is a small farm that runs a produce stand at 7981 Carr Lane in Suffolk, VA. We have really enjoyed the vegetables that we’ve purchased from them. It’s great to be able to support a local farm as we wait for our own garden’s plants to mature. Plus, their annual spring and fall markets support other local farms. It’s nice to be a part of that.
In April, we became a vendor at Miss Lilly’s Trading Post in Suffolk, VA. Miss Lilly’s is located in Holland at 6707 South Quay Road. Our honey is available on our shelf in the front of the store, and we have sold quite a bit! We’re very thankful for regular customers who love our raw, unfiltered honey. We are also happy to be a part of Miss Lilly’s. It’s definitely become a local gem with its variety of vendors and monthly events.
In addition to our honey, we sell dried flower arrangements. Most of the everlasting flowers we grow are pollinated before harvest time, so it’s fun to offer flowers that have already been a part of life on the farm.
We have also partnered with our sister-in-law’s small business, ArtSpinnings, to include handspun and handmade fiber products in our booth. Like our flowers and honey, her products are also a true product of farm life. Especially her angora yarn, which comes from our angora rabbits.
Another new endeavor in 2024 was trying out a batch of American Bresse meat chickens. A friend was kind enough to give us several dozen eggs. We did a pretty bad job of incubating (we had some wild temperature swings), but we ended up with an appropriate amount of chicks for our little moving pen. Unfortunately, incubation wasn’t the only hiccup. There were several mysterious broken bones during the first few weeks after hatch. The breed is very fine-boned, but incubation issues can also contribute to weak bones, so we figure that it was on us.
The chicks grew into meat birds, and at 12 weeks, they were processed and ready for the freezer. We weren’t impressed with the majority of carcass sizes (the average was 2.42 lbs). But the first bite of grilled chicken . . . boy, people aren’t kidding when they say this breed of chicken has the best meat! It’s actually buttery, and is super tender and extremely forgiving to cook.
For now, our decision is to stick with raising the standard Cornish Cross meat bird. But one day we may try again with the American Bresse. The meat is definitely superior.
Our crop fields have had zero chemicals in 2024. For the most part, they are singing the same song that our pasture was: clay, sand, poor drainage, erosion, and minimal plants that can tolerate those conditions. But there are big differences from when the fields grew cotton! The lack of chemicals has allowed a lot of native plants to emerge. This fall, the fields were covered in goldenrod and asters. In the future, we should have more volunteers out there. I hope so. The more life that our fields are able to support, the better they will be able to produce crops.
As we have said once or twice online: “Every farm has a story. Ours starts with a cotton patch in Suffolk, VA.” It’s really encouraging to see our farm’s story start to take off.
2024 has been a fun year to look back on. Here’s to 2025!
