Growing seasons are not just for vegetables -- our animals have natural reproductive schedules that we follow, so not all of the products listed below are available year-round. This page has a brief description of everything we grow and doesn't necessarily reflect what we have available at any time. For more detail on our products see our humorous blog or for a deep dive into growing practices see the Operations, Management, and Health Plan document.
Pork
Like the rest of our livestock here at BOTL Farm, our pigs are heritage breed (Mangalitsa/Berkshire/Large Black and sometimes Red Wattle). They are Animal Welfare Approved by A Greener World, raised on pasture and in forest (eat the forest, pigs!), and supplemented with corn-free, soy-free, non-GMO, organic feed. Mangalitsas are a delightful breed that is prized for fat quality and the hairy, furry coats they grow. Grown year round for 6-9 months for a finishing weight of 200-300 lbs,
Our cuts are typically bone-in with ¼-½ inch fat cap (for things like pork chops and roasts) and we have both loose sausage (chorizo, hot Italian) and linked sausage (maple breakfast, kielbasa). We have a deep commitment to making bacon, so we have regular (belly) bacon, Canadian bacon, pork roll/cottage bacon, and bacon ends. Hams come in assorted sizes, from relatively small (1 inch thick) center-slice ham roasts to 3 - 4 lb ham rumps to 8 - 10 lb holiday hams. Besides the other typical cuts (spareribs, babyback ribs, tenderloin, kabob, ground, etc.) we also sell “everything but the oink”. This includes heart, tongue, head, feet/trotters, back fat, bones, organs, etc. Finally, we sell pork bone broth, bacon bone broth, rendered lard, pizzle jerky, and testicle jerky. Yum!
More details available on our blog.
Our cuts are typically bone-in with ¼-½ inch fat cap (for things like pork chops and roasts) and we have both loose sausage (chorizo, hot Italian) and linked sausage (maple breakfast, kielbasa). We have a deep commitment to making bacon, so we have regular (belly) bacon, Canadian bacon, pork roll/cottage bacon, and bacon ends. Hams come in assorted sizes, from relatively small (1 inch thick) center-slice ham roasts to 3 - 4 lb ham rumps to 8 - 10 lb holiday hams. Besides the other typical cuts (spareribs, babyback ribs, tenderloin, kabob, ground, etc.) we also sell “everything but the oink”. This includes heart, tongue, head, feet/trotters, back fat, bones, organs, etc. Finally, we sell pork bone broth, bacon bone broth, rendered lard, pizzle jerky, and testicle jerky. Yum!
More details available on our blog.
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Because of our farm's humane standards, we do not ever sell live animals, therefore we do not sell piglets
Lamb
BOTL Farm is raising a herd of Icelandic sheep which has been Animal Welfare Approved and certified Grass Fed by A Greener World. This shaggy and majestic heritage breed has pronounced horns and is very comfortable during our cold New England winters. Every spring the ewes give birth and raise their lambs on pasture. They are all-grass fed, never supplemented with grain.
Every fall, lambs will be available (November to December) and are sold as a whole animal. Take-home is 40 to 45 lbs meat. We also have cuts available each fall until they run out: the usual suspects (“lamb lollipops” chops, ground, small roasts, racks of ribs) plus the odd stuff (liver, heart, kidney, bones, head) as well as the really unique (lamb bone broth, lamb testicle jerky).
Every fall, lambs will be available (November to December) and are sold as a whole animal. Take-home is 40 to 45 lbs meat. We also have cuts available each fall until they run out: the usual suspects (“lamb lollipops” chops, ground, small roasts, racks of ribs) plus the odd stuff (liver, heart, kidney, bones, head) as well as the really unique (lamb bone broth, lamb testicle jerky).
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Because of our farm's humane standards, we do not ever sell live animals, therefore we do not sell animals for on-farm slaughter or ritual sacrifice.
Goat
Lots of farmers think that raising goats is a terrible idea, and here at BOTL Farm we were interested to find out exactly why that is. Turns out, goats are the noisiest, nosiest, most curious creatures we have... but they love to eat poison ivy and the bushy, thorny things in the forest that the other grazers avoid. Their dedication to hard forage makes our passive, animal-driven forest clearing possible!
So, against the advice of generations of farmers before us, we're still making more goats! We have a herd of purebred Kiko goats which has been Animal Welfare Certified Approved and certified Grass Fed by A Greener World. The breed is originally from New Zealand, and is basically the super-heroes of goats: famous for hardiness, low susceptibility to worms and disease, ability to birth and successfully raise triplets, and the males have truly epic horns (up to 4'!). Similar to sheep, the goats give birth in the spring and cuts/wholes are available in November/December each year. Not to be repetitive, but the cuts are similar to those for lamb: the usual suspects (chops, ground, bone-in stew, racks of ribs) plus the odd stuff (liver, heart, kidney, bones, head) as well as the really unique (goat bone broth).
So, against the advice of generations of farmers before us, we're still making more goats! We have a herd of purebred Kiko goats which has been Animal Welfare Certified Approved and certified Grass Fed by A Greener World. The breed is originally from New Zealand, and is basically the super-heroes of goats: famous for hardiness, low susceptibility to worms and disease, ability to birth and successfully raise triplets, and the males have truly epic horns (up to 4'!). Similar to sheep, the goats give birth in the spring and cuts/wholes are available in November/December each year. Not to be repetitive, but the cuts are similar to those for lamb: the usual suspects (chops, ground, bone-in stew, racks of ribs) plus the odd stuff (liver, heart, kidney, bones, head) as well as the really unique (goat bone broth).
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Because of our farm's humane standards, we do not ever sell live animals, therefore we do not sell animals for on-farm slaughter or ritual sacrifice.
Chicken Eggs
Our flock of laying hens is Animal Welfare Approved by A Greener World and comprises of primarily Rhode Island Reds, with a few Ameracuanas (green egg layers), and other brown layers for variety. They live on pasture and like all our other animals are rotationally grazed. Their nesting boxes, roosts, and supplemental feed (not to mention weather protection) are in a sweet-looking 1990's mobile home that we drag around with our tractor to take the chickens to new areas. Much like the rabbits they are free to go in and out of their mobile home as they please and they spend most of their time doing what we affectionately call "chicken stuff," which means walking in circles, scratching, and pecking at the ground looking for tasty bugs and things. The chickens are supplemented with corn-free, soy-free, non-GMO, and organic feed, plus plenty of granite grit and oyster shell (they like that sort of thing).
To reduce the amount of packaging in the world (and save money), we offer our eggs as “loosies” for customers who bring their own egg cartons or containers (buckets, pockets, bowls). We also offer eggs packaged in our cartons by the dozen.
To reduce the amount of packaging in the world (and save money), we offer our eggs as “loosies” for customers who bring their own egg cartons or containers (buckets, pockets, bowls). We also offer eggs packaged in our cartons by the dozen.
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Whole Pasture Raised Chicken
Although we don't raise chickens strictly for meat, we keep laying chickens for eggs along with a few roosters. Sometimes we end up with too many roosters, so we sell excess juvenile roosters for meat.
Pasture-raised and always foraging, these are happy and healthy birds. Because we don't normally do meat birds we sometimes hand-pluck, so they will have some stray feathers and miscellaneous "feeler" hairs on their skin.
Raised with our laying hens, these birds had a great 21 weeks of life and enjoyed the same extremely high quality feed.
We also sell older stew hens once they have lived out their egg producing life, which is typically around 3 years old as we retire our old flock and start a new flock.
Birds are sold "field-dressed," vacuum sealed, and frozen (much like whole chickens at the grocery store are packaged). We also offer chicken feet, chicken heads/necks, packages of mixed organs (lung, spleen, kidney, lung, testicle), packages of liver, and gizzards.
Pasture-raised and always foraging, these are happy and healthy birds. Because we don't normally do meat birds we sometimes hand-pluck, so they will have some stray feathers and miscellaneous "feeler" hairs on their skin.
Raised with our laying hens, these birds had a great 21 weeks of life and enjoyed the same extremely high quality feed.
We also sell older stew hens once they have lived out their egg producing life, which is typically around 3 years old as we retire our old flock and start a new flock.
Birds are sold "field-dressed," vacuum sealed, and frozen (much like whole chickens at the grocery store are packaged). We also offer chicken feet, chicken heads/necks, packages of mixed organs (lung, spleen, kidney, lung, testicle), packages of liver, and gizzards.
Animal Feed Resale
We are proud to be local resellers for the ultra-premium feed company we use on our farm: New Country Organics (NCO). We routinely stock two of their chicken feeds in 50 lb bags: Classic Layer (soy-free, contains corn) and Corn-free Layer (soy-free and corn-free). We get deliveries every few weeks from NCO and with advance notice, we can order anything sold by NCO for you (minerals, salt, kelp, poultry starter/grower/scratch, turkey/duck feed, Chaffhaye/Alfahay, hemp bedding, rabbit feed, pig feed, alfalfa/lespedeza pellets, grain, etc).
Meat Boxes
Here at BOTL Farm, we put meat in all sorts of places (mostly freezers). Our latest idea is to put meat into boxes (the meat will be frozen). For people who don’t have room for a whole hog, or when we’re in between batches of whole hogs, we can put together a meat box for you!
Due to variations in package sizes and availability, we may swap out some items for others as necessary, but each box will meet the minimum box weight and remain true to spirit (i.e. Grill Boxes will only have grill-friendly items).
We offer several meat box options to choose from, or let us know if you have an idea of another type of box!
Due to variations in package sizes and availability, we may swap out some items for others as necessary, but each box will meet the minimum box weight and remain true to spirit (i.e. Grill Boxes will only have grill-friendly items).
We offer several meat box options to choose from, or let us know if you have an idea of another type of box!
CSA
We offer meat and egg CSA options. Because we have eggs (and hopefully meat, if we don’t run out again) year round, we have more flexibility in offering our CSAs year round as well. For more details see our CSA page.
Wool and Sheep Skin
Our Icelandic sheep need to be shorn twice a year, which means we have lots of wool. We sell this in multiple forms.
Raw wool - Roughly sorted by color and minimally skirted sold in 1 lb bags for all your spinning or felting needs
Socks - We take our wool to a local fiber mill who process it to yarn on boutique fiber machines by people being paid a living wage. This is turned into crew length socks in medium and large size. When you buy socks, we will hopefully remember to tell you not to put them in the dryer. If we don’t, read the label. If you don’t read the label, it doesn’t matter. Just don’t, under any circumstances, put the socks in the dryer.
Felted dryer balls - Made by hand by us during the cold winter months. Throw a couple in your dryer to help fluff and freshen your clothes.
Sheep skins - As part of our commitment to use the entire animal we have our sheep skins tanned by professional tanneries. These vary in size, color, and wool length. Great as a blanket, a throw rug, or a wall decoration.
Raw wool - Roughly sorted by color and minimally skirted sold in 1 lb bags for all your spinning or felting needs
Socks - We take our wool to a local fiber mill who process it to yarn on boutique fiber machines by people being paid a living wage. This is turned into crew length socks in medium and large size. When you buy socks, we will hopefully remember to tell you not to put them in the dryer. If we don’t, read the label. If you don’t read the label, it doesn’t matter. Just don’t, under any circumstances, put the socks in the dryer.
Felted dryer balls - Made by hand by us during the cold winter months. Throw a couple in your dryer to help fluff and freshen your clothes.
Sheep skins - As part of our commitment to use the entire animal we have our sheep skins tanned by professional tanneries. These vary in size, color, and wool length. Great as a blanket, a throw rug, or a wall decoration.
Rough Cut Lumber and Wood Products
With our sawmill and nearly infinite supply of trees, we saw and sell rough cut lumber. Most of what we saw is pine, ash, maple, and oak. Thicknesses from ¾” to 3” actual and widths available from 4" to 20". Boards are between 5' and 10' long. We have some dimensional and some slabs, including a few live edge boards/slabs (those are totally cool right now). All air dried with planing available. Make an appointment to see what we have cut, check out our Craigslist posts, or send us a message with a specific order you're looking for and we’ll consider it!
Occasionally we have meat/cheese boards, cutting boards, coasters and other small wood items made from trees which grew on our farm and were processed on our sawmill!
Occasionally we have meat/cheese boards, cutting boards, coasters and other small wood items made from trees which grew on our farm and were processed on our sawmill!
Raw Honey
Did we forget to mention that we keep bees? We’ve actually been keeping bees since 2013, as there is a declining population of honey bees worldwide (and bees are wonderful). Having honey bees on our farm provides our own (and surrounding!) farms with pollination services.
Our apiary efforts are small-scale, so we often are sold out of honey. However, our honey is as natural as can be and is a mix of the entire season's harvest (often called “wildflower honey”). The honey is sold in a variety of recycled glass jars which are capped with quickly-renewable cork closures or metal screw-top lids. All labels are 100% post-consumer recycled paper and not dyed. It doesn't get much more hippy than that.
Our apiary efforts are small-scale, so we often are sold out of honey. However, our honey is as natural as can be and is a mix of the entire season's harvest (often called “wildflower honey”). The honey is sold in a variety of recycled glass jars which are capped with quickly-renewable cork closures or metal screw-top lids. All labels are 100% post-consumer recycled paper and not dyed. It doesn't get much more hippy than that.
Pure Beeswax Candles
The beeswax used for these candles is a byproduct of our honey. There are no additives in these candles - just our wax and the wicks. The wicks are 100% cotton with a metal safety tab.
The candles are approximately 2 inches tall and 1.75 inches wide. During testing they burned eight to ten hours.
Because there is limited wax during processing we only have a small supply of candles. We expected them to sell out quickly, but they didn't.
Actually, nobody but my mom has bought any. Thanks, Mom!
Update: people besides my mom have bought and enjoyed these candles!
The candles are approximately 2 inches tall and 1.75 inches wide. During testing they burned eight to ten hours.
Because there is limited wax during processing we only have a small supply of candles. We expected them to sell out quickly, but they didn't.
Actually, nobody but my mom has bought any. Thanks, Mom!
Update: people besides my mom have bought and enjoyed these candles!
Soap
We've been making our own soap for many years. We finally made enough that now we're going to share it with the world at large! The soap is made by hand in small batches from lard, and a bit of coconut oil. We rendered the lard from thoughtfully-raised animals we know. Honestly, we bought the coconut oil on Amazon, but it adds a delightful foaminess to the bars. They're finished with a hint of tea tree and lemon essential oils to keep them (and you) smelling pretty and fresh.
Vegetables, Fruits and Nuts
Although we only have the vaguest notions of how to grow plants, we do sometimes produce large quantities of vegetables (walking onions, asparagus), nuts (chestnuts), and fruits (raspberries, strawberries, apples) that we may offer for sale. We grow these on our farm for our personal or animal use, but occasionally will have excess that we’ll offer for sale.
Pasture-Raised Rabbits
Note: As of winter 2020 we are no longer raising rabbits. This gives us much-needed time to focus on growing the rest of the farm. Hopefully we will come back to them in a few years.
Our rabbits are 100% pasture raised and cage free. They are on a rotational grazing system that gets them to new pasture every few days. Our system allows the rabbits to freely choose what they eat and when they eat it. They are allowed 24/7 access to the mix of grasses, legumes, weeds, herbs, flowers, and plants that are in their pasture. They are supplemented with an open feeding of soy-free, corn-free, non-GMO, and organic feed. Further, they always have fresh alfalfa/timothy hay at their disposal. Their mobile hutch provides them shelter, but they honestly prefer to hide and shelter in the tall grasses that encompass the pasture.
Rabbits for sale weigh between 1 and 5 lbs. Please contact us for pre-orders. The rabbits come "field-dressed," vacuum sealed, and frozen (much like whole chickens are packaged). If you have specific requests about how your rabbit is delivered to you, for example without ears because you think eating things with ears is creepy, we will be glad to assess your requests [Please note that our rabbits normally come without ears.]
P.S. - rabbit ears are available upon request along with paws, heads, and rawhide skin pieces (all great for pets).
Our rabbits are 100% pasture raised and cage free. They are on a rotational grazing system that gets them to new pasture every few days. Our system allows the rabbits to freely choose what they eat and when they eat it. They are allowed 24/7 access to the mix of grasses, legumes, weeds, herbs, flowers, and plants that are in their pasture. They are supplemented with an open feeding of soy-free, corn-free, non-GMO, and organic feed. Further, they always have fresh alfalfa/timothy hay at their disposal. Their mobile hutch provides them shelter, but they honestly prefer to hide and shelter in the tall grasses that encompass the pasture.
Rabbits for sale weigh between 1 and 5 lbs. Please contact us for pre-orders. The rabbits come "field-dressed," vacuum sealed, and frozen (much like whole chickens are packaged). If you have specific requests about how your rabbit is delivered to you, for example without ears because you think eating things with ears is creepy, we will be glad to assess your requests [Please note that our rabbits normally come without ears.]
P.S. - rabbit ears are available upon request along with paws, heads, and rawhide skin pieces (all great for pets).
pasture-raised soy-free, corn-free, non-GMO pork --- pastured-raised soy-free, corn-free, non-GMO eggs
certified Grass Fed lamb and goat
certified Grass Fed lamb and goat
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Westford Village, Ashford CT