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Hi! We're Melissa and Sean Bramble, and Hermit Thrush Hill is our small
homestead. Our goal is to approach self-sustainability while maintaining
breeding groups of as many appropriate heritage breeds of livestock as
possible. Through natural, chemical-free methods, such as pasture raising,
we intend to offer our animals a happy, healthy, and productive life.
We started Hermit Thrush Hill because we believe that the industrial agricultural practices in our country are environmentally unsustainable, disrespectful of the animals we rely on for our nourishment, and detrimental to the genetic diversity of agricultural plants and animals, which directly impacts human health.
We are happy to offer some of our animals, plants, and seed for sale, as well as other products we produce. Please feel free to explore our site to learn more about our homestead and heritage breeds in general.
We started Hermit Thrush Hill because we believe that the industrial agricultural practices in our country are environmentally unsustainable, disrespectful of the animals we rely on for our nourishment, and detrimental to the genetic diversity of agricultural plants and animals, which directly impacts human health.
We are happy to offer some of our animals, plants, and seed for sale, as well as other products we produce. Please feel free to explore our site to learn more about our homestead and heritage breeds in general.
Hermit Thrush Hill, 332 Yellowville Road, Fonda, NY 12068
518-853-1032 . . . . . . homestead@hermitthrushhill.com
518-853-1032 . . . . . . homestead@hermitthrushhill.com
Also of interest
when you come
to visit:
Wemple & Edick's
Country Store
Both great
places within
3 miles of our homestead!
3 miles of our homestead!
Years come in all shapes and sizes...
July 2012:
Some can tear at our souls, while others remind us why there is no other place in this world we want to be. Last year was hard. And it can be so easy to lose sight of the path as we walk through our routines. But sooner or later a shaft of light pierces through the canopy and snaps our focus back to where we are--why we're here.
This year was akin to stumbling into a lush, open glade after fighting our way through an immense, dense thicket. Not only have we started to focus our efforts into a more effective form, but they have really begun to reward us on a daily basis.
Lambing season was the most notable (since we brought on our new draft boys), and has been brightening our days every time we walk out to the barnyard. Twenty-four healthy lambs born over the course of three and a half weeks, some easily some required assistance, now running and jumping and playing in the pasture. Adult ewes thriving, pasture that we can actually walk through, hay storage filling steadily. These are things never fail to warm our hearts and bring gleeful grins to our faces.
Cooperative work with good friends that we know we can rely on. Honey bees laboring away through every ray of sunshine. A new team of Morgan horses in training to become our future local transportation. A pregnant cow dried off and at a healthy weight coming up on calving in August.
As we cursed Mother Nature last year for all of the rain, we thank Her for what She has given us this year. We should all treat Her better so She can treat us better in years to come...
Some can tear at our souls, while others remind us why there is no other place in this world we want to be. Last year was hard. And it can be so easy to lose sight of the path as we walk through our routines. But sooner or later a shaft of light pierces through the canopy and snaps our focus back to where we are--why we're here.
This year was akin to stumbling into a lush, open glade after fighting our way through an immense, dense thicket. Not only have we started to focus our efforts into a more effective form, but they have really begun to reward us on a daily basis.
Lambing season was the most notable (since we brought on our new draft boys), and has been brightening our days every time we walk out to the barnyard. Twenty-four healthy lambs born over the course of three and a half weeks, some easily some required assistance, now running and jumping and playing in the pasture. Adult ewes thriving, pasture that we can actually walk through, hay storage filling steadily. These are things never fail to warm our hearts and bring gleeful grins to our faces.
Cooperative work with good friends that we know we can rely on. Honey bees laboring away through every ray of sunshine. A new team of Morgan horses in training to become our future local transportation. A pregnant cow dried off and at a healthy weight coming up on calving in August.
As we cursed Mother Nature last year for all of the rain, we thank Her for what She has given us this year. We should all treat Her better so She can treat us better in years to come...
Dicentra was a very special lamb for us this season; our first
to be born with significant spotting! Plus she's tan!
Lambing season 2012 brought 23 Soay lambs and 1 Shetland lamb to Hermit Thrush
Hill! The gender split ended up at 12 Soay ewes, 1 Shetland ewe, and 11 Soay rams.
We had a solid number of twinnings at 5 with a perfect 50/50 gender split. Our
average weight was 4.77#, singles averaged 5.29#, and twins averaged 4.1#