Born and raised rural VT'er that grew up with hunting dogs on the farm so not a purple haired freak out of stater here. My 68 year old life-long hunter dad is very much against what hunting with dogs has become in this state. Unfortunately a few bad apples does ruin the bunch. My parents still farm in the NEK and have had to deal with rude, disrespectful "hunters" and poorly trained dogs that harass livestock, traipse through the yard right next to the house, and lazy ass hunters that drive through fields to follow dogs because walking I guess is too difficult these days. And for the deer hunters, the innards left right near grazing fields that attract coyotes when fall lambs are still young. Hunting "culture" has changed and although you can argue its just a few, it's enough that people just don't want to deal with it anymore. After 200+ years of the family farm being open, my parents started posting 10 or so years ago. It sucks, but they're getting too old and tired to deal with the crap and the picking up garbage. And before mentioning out of staters, I'm pretty sure that most of this is local folks as they are pretty off the beaten path.

We always just called them finches. No idea if that is correct though.

I'm a farmer with ewes due to lamb, it will be life as normal with a few extra layers.

You don't have to remove anything from bags, including electronics at TF Green anymore either. I think it is new scanners or something that are rolling out at all airports.

This is the kind of flatlander that VT needs more of. Welcome!

Highlands are beef cattle so will stay on mom until she decides to wean. If you're gonna try to troll at least educate yourself first.

NEK born and raised but now in ME with my Mainer H. The day my parents are unable to continue to farm may also be the day we divorce so that I can make my way back LOL. I may be only partially kidding 😀

My parents could have written this post word for word. Unfortunately, within the past 15 years they've had to post the land. The farm has been in my dad's family for 200+ years. Gates opened, fences cut and squashed, a hay field used for off-roading, unsafe hunters, you name it. It's really sad. Long-time neighbors know they're always welcome (and always ask), but unfortunately use of open land is becoming more and more abused.

We're pretty well prepared, but my husband is a life-long rural Mainer and I grew up on a farm in the NEK in VT so not our first go around. Wood is our primary fuel source so we always have heat and generator to run the well pump. As long as I have heat and running water I don't worry too much about anything else. We have an old wood cooking stove in the kitchen that we fire up a few times a year as well.

Beyond that, we grow and store/freeze most of our own fruits and vegetables and raise all of our own meat. We have a small root cellar for winter term storage (perks of a 200+ year old home.)

Other than prepping for heat, water, and food we live a pretty simple life and don't find that power outages impact us too much. It's a good time to put the plow on the tractor, grab a few shovels and go see if your neighbors need anything.

I was thinking this is kind of too big to ask the neighbors. They're probably dealing with their own homes plus the holidays. The joys of owning a home and all that.

Sorry! The weekend got away from me. I was going to suggest Heartstone, but see that someone below beat me to it. The quality is great - you get what you pay for with meat.

If you've never bought by the half or whole before, ask him to guide you through it so that you know just what you can expect.

Where are you located?

We're north of Augusta and sold out of shares, but may be able to refer you to someone.

Laying them out under the roosting bars also makes winter poop cleanup easy.

If anyone has a chicken coop with an attached run, signs are great for winterizing. We nail a bunch on the side of our run where the snow drifts in. Keeps the ladies dry, draft-free, and happy.

As a farmer and livestock owner (with LGDs), thank you! For the most part, we welcome hunters on our land, but since we are still out working stock, cutting next year's wood, etc. we like to know who's out there and where they're at and to let them know where we/our animals are.