![We're heading down home... to your farms! Urban, suburban, or rural -- whatever you're growing and doing, we want to see it. Today you get to visit Caitlyn and her parents at their farm in New York. On 60 acres, they raise chickens, Devon cattle and a large garden and orchards. Come on in and say hi! [by Wardee Harmon]](https://traditionalcookingschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/down-home-farm-tour-580.png "Down Home Farm Tours featuring... your farms!")
Welcome back to another season of farm and homestead tours! I’m ready for more entries for 2014! Please read here for guidelines.
We’re heading down home… to your farms! Urban, suburban, or rural — whatever you’re growing and doing, we want to see it.
Welcome to the Down Home Farm Tours series. To see all the farms and homesteads featured in this series, click here. If you’d like to be featured, please read here for guidelines.
Welcome, Hillcrest Farm!
Today you get to visit Ted and Bonnie Kellogg, along with their daughter Caitlyn, of Bath, New York. They have 60 acres of open grassland for livestock grazing, which is only about 15 minutes from town. They raise chickens, Devon cattle, and have a huge garden. You can visit their blog here.
What is your name and the names of your family members?
Ted, Bonnie, and daughter Caitlyn Kellogg.
How long have you been farming/homesteading?
We’ve been at it for five years now.
Share a brief description of your farm/homestead.
We have 60 acres of open grassland, that we graze. 🙂 We’re situated in the country, about 15 minutes from town.
What are you raising, growing, and doing?
We started as a hobby farm in the North Country of NY, with just two grade cows. Within a couple of years we bought our first Devon cow and calf pair. When we moved a couple of years later, to where we are now, we expanded into chickens (broilers and layers), bought our first herding dog, expanded the garden, and started selling food! We believe in making the food you eat the best for you that we can. This is beyond organic — this is food that nourishes. We use products called Azomite and Sea Kelp, which we feed to our animals and plants to fill them with minerals and nutrients. We do not use GMO anything! We use heirloom plants in the garden, and feed organic feed to our chickens. We do not spray chemicals or pesticides.
How did you get into farming/homesteading?
My father, Ted, always had a dream of having a farm, especially with beef cattle. About 5 years ago, he had enough of just dreaming and bought two grade cows from a farmer nearby. From there our herd slowly expanded, as well as our knowledge base. And now we have about 30 head of cattle, plus chickens, a huge garden, and lots of plans for more!
Any future plans?
We really would love to have the farm standing on its own. And we really think this coming year, 2014, will do that! Our goals are to sell grass-fed (and finished) beef, pastured chicken, lots of garden produce, and to find our niche in the market. We’re also looking into selling registered Red Devon cattle.
Do you have any funny stories to share?
Back around 4 years ago, we had our first calf. She was a nice looking Hereford heifer. When she was about 6 months old, she got out of the fence. I, Caitlyn, got home from high school and our neighbor drove up telling me that one of our cows was eating his lawn. I thanked him and ran to get my boots on. I really didn’t want her to get into the road but didn’t know if I could get her back into the pasture by myself. She was just on the other side of our fence that ran parallel to the road. I ran down there to see where exactly she was, and if I could get her back. I got most of the way towards her but decided that I needed to saddle up my horse to get her back in. So I turned around and started to run back when I realized she was running, following me back into our yard. Wide eyed, I ran faster to get enough time to open the gate before she stopped. She followed right behind me all the way around the pasture and through the gate. I later told my parents, and they thought it was hilarious and started calling me the cow pied piper.
Let’s Tour Hillcrest Farm!
(Wardee: In the captions below, you’re hearing from the Caitlyn, as she tells you what is in each picture.)
One of our mixed breed cow’s first calf. This heifer was born about a minute before we took this picture.
![We're heading down home... to your farms! Urban, suburban, or rural -- whatever you're growing and doing, we want to see it. Today you get to visit Caitlyn and her parents at their farm in New York. On 60 acres, they raise chickens, Devon cattle and a large garden and orchards. Come on in and say hi! [by Wardee Harmon]](https://traditionalcookingschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/securedownload.jpg)
No nasty winter paddocks for us. We bale graze through the winter and the cows love it!
![We're heading down home... to your farms! Urban, suburban, or rural -- whatever you're growing and doing, we want to see it. Today you get to visit Caitlyn and her parents at their farm in New York. On 60 acres, they raise chickens, Devon cattle and a large garden and orchards. Come on in and say hi! [by Wardee Harmon]](https://traditionalcookingschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Cattle-in-snow.jpg)
Our herd enjoying the warm day.
![We're heading down home... to your farms! Urban, suburban, or rural -- whatever you're growing and doing, we want to see it. Today you get to visit Caitlyn and her parents at their farm in New York. On 60 acres, they raise chickens, Devon cattle and a large garden and orchards. Come on in and say hi! [by Wardee Harmon]](https://traditionalcookingschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/meadow.jpg)
Our pear harvest. This is only part of what we got, from just one tree.
![We're heading down home... to your farms! Urban, suburban, or rural -- whatever you're growing and doing, we want to see it. Today you get to visit Caitlyn and her parents at their farm in New York. On 60 acres, they raise chickens, Devon cattle and a large garden and orchards. Come on in and say hi! [by Wardee Harmon]](https://traditionalcookingschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/pears.jpg)
A foggy day over our apple orchard.
![We're heading down home... to your farms! Urban, suburban, or rural -- whatever you're growing and doing, we want to see it. Today you get to visit Caitlyn and her parents at their farm in New York. On 60 acres, they raise chickens, Devon cattle and a large garden and orchards. Come on in and say hi! [by Wardee Harmon]](https://traditionalcookingschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/fog.jpg)
Caitlyn, thank you for sharing with us! We hope you enjoy your free thank you video, our gift to you. Plus, feel free to display the following graphic on your site. (Right-click and save to your computer, then upload to your site and link to this farm tour post.)
Would you like to be featured?
Are you a homesteader or farmer at any level? You don’t have to live in the country, you don’t have to be doing everything.
Being on the journey is the only qualification. We want to see what you’re doing, no matter how big or small.
Click here for submission guidelines for the Down Home Farm Tours series. We’re excited to hear from you!
If you’re selected, we will share your farm/homestead pictures and stories in a dedicated blog post, plus you can add the featured graphic to your blog or website. And, we’ll give you a free thank you video of your choice!
Please give Ted, Bonnie, and Caitlyn a warm welcome in the comments! Be sure to visit their blog here.
...without giving up the foods you love or spending all day in the kitchen!
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