June is Dairy Month! A great time to learn more about how dairy impacts our economy, planet, diet, land use, and how dairy farming connects us with heritage in the Pioneer Valley. This annual series, usually involving farm tours and experts in the field of dairy, will take a different form this year in the … Read more
By NOAH BAUSTIN For the Gazette Published: 5/23/2020 Pasture Day is Denise Barstow’s favorite time on the farm. The event is an annual celebration of spring at Barstow’s Longview Farm in Hadley. In a normal year, hundreds of people gather on the farm to watch the heifers celebrate their first taste of fresh grass in … Read more
By SCOTT MERZBACH Daily Hampshire Gazette Published: 5/12/2020 HADLEY — Taking tentative and seemingly nervous steps, six heifers had a new experience awaiting them Tuesday morning as they jumped from a trailer into the pasture where they will be spending the next few months. Only moments after their hooves hit the grass, though, the young … Read more
Pasture Day is personally my favorite event of the year. It marks the start of spring and is a true community event in my neighborhood. Usually Pasture Day is the first Saturday in May. Visitors enjoy frolicking cows, live music, farm tours, loads of ice cream, and maybe a few grass stains from playing/rolling on … Read more
Today is Pasture Day! And like the spring this year, it’s coming a little late. Pasture Day, an annual community event typically the first Saturday in May, has been rescheduled and reworked to meet best practices for safe social distancing in the time of COVID19. Barstow’s Longview Farm will release several cows onto pasture in … Read more
By Jim Kinney | April 7, 2020 MassLive At the 100-acre Calabrese fruit and vegetable farm in Southwick, the sweet corn is planted. Normally not a remarkable occurrence on a farm in April. But with the coronavirus and efforts to stop its spread disrupting nearly every aspect of every life, it’s remarkable that this one … Read more
By Jim Kinney | April 5, 2020 The Republican Dairy cattle naturally produce more milk in April than at other times of the year, a phenomenon called the “spring flush” that harkens back to the natural reproductive cycle. “It’s life as usual on the farm,” said Denise Barstow, a seventh-generation farmer and education and marketing … Read more
Even before this global pandemic, health is a topic on the farm that we consider daily. Every dairy farmer knows that happy, healthy animals produce higher quality, higher volume milk, and are less expensive and easier to take care of. Animal health is as much about pure love and devotion to our herd as it … Read more
It’s been recommended that keeping routines during this global pandemic keeps us grounded. Barstow’s is currently offering drive thru service only, but in an effort to stick to our routines, we’ve still updated our monthly Outhouse Newsletter for the restroom. In case you wanted to post the April Outhouse in your own bathroom at home, … Read more
In response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, Barstow’s will remain open to provide prepared foods, local grocery items, and a small taste of normal life for our community. However, in an effort to best protect the health and safety of our team and customers, Barstow’s will be offering Drive Thru Service ONLY until further notice. … Read more