Stoneham Meadows is a small farm located on 78 acres in Brookfield, New
Hampshire. It is owned and operated by the Collins family. We run a farm
stand at the farm on Stoneham Road where we sell fresh free-range eggs.
We also sell through local retailers such as Butternuts
in Wolfeboro. Seasonal products include jam and pumpkins.
You can find Catherine's tongue-in-cheek take on the farm (among
other things) at her blog, The
Angry Knitter.
Livestock
Our livestock currently consist of:
- Bluefaced Leicester Sheep
- The Bluefaced Leicester (aka BFL) is a large British breed that has
undergone a significant revival in the past 20 years here in the U.S.
through the dedication of a small group of breeders and the
introduction of U.K. bloodlines via artificial insemination. The BFL is
a large sheep with long, fine, lusterous fleece that is coveted by the
hand spinners. The traditional use for the BFL is in the three-tier breeding
system in which specific breeds are crossed to ultimately produce
large numbers of fast-growing market lambs that can be finished on
pasture.
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- We currently have two rams, seven breeding ewes and a lamb ewe. All
are purebred and registered Bluefaced Leicesters. In the future, we
will be selling fleeces (and fiber products), breeding stock and lambs
for meat.
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- You can find more information about our sheep operation here. You might
also want to check out the BFL
breeder's association site.
- Chickens (layers)
- We currently have about 50 layers. We have a combination of Pearl
While Leghorns, Black Stars (aka Black Sex-Linked), Araucana and New
Hampshire Reds and Rhode Island Reds. The Leghorns
are great layers of white eggs. The Araucana
lay colored eggs - generally a blueish green color. The Black
Stars lay brown eggs. The New
Hampshire Reds and Rhode
Island Redsare also brown layers. We have a dozen Araucana and a
dozen Buff
Orpingtons that are just beginning to lay now (January). You can
find more information about our chicken operation here.
- Cattle (dual-purpose)
- In Fall 2009, Catherine acquired a small pregnant three year old
Dexter X Jersey. The cow and her heifer are doing well and Catherine is
selling the excess raw milk to a select group of locals.
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