Snohomish, WA, also known as the “Antique Capital of the Northwest”, is a great city to visit any time of year. Only a 30 - 45-minute drive from downtown Seattle, 20 minutes from the Puget Sound, and one hour from the Cascade Mountains, Snohomish’s geographical location is one of the best in the Northwest, or anywhere for that matter.
Hagen Family Farms in Snohomish, WA believes that the best meats are the grass-fed kind, raised locally in a humane, caring environment. Grass-fed meats are the reward for treating animals with respect over the course of their lifetime, resulting in an end-product that’s nutritious and delicious.
There are numerous benefits to choosing grass-fed meats, covering categories such as health, taste, and ethical concerns. Let’s take a look at some: Choosing the perfect place to stay when you are on vacation or even a business trip is a difficult decision. You want a location that is convenient, affordable and has excellent amenities. You may be in the habit of checking out one of the major travel discount sites to pick out a hotel room for your stay. While that can be an OKAY decision sometimes, there are other options too--such as renting a house, cabin or condo from a website like VRBO (vacation rental by owner). If you haven’t given house rentals a serious thought, we’d like to show you a few reasons why it might be a suitable choice for you.
So, you’ve looked at all the hotel and vacation rental options Snohomish has to offer and decided that Hagen Family Farms is the destination for you and your family. What’s the next step? Packing, of course! When you’re preparing for a trip as diverse and exciting as a stay at our farm, you might find deciding what to bring a challenge. We’ve put together a few suggestions to make sure you and your family are prepared:
When you book a vacation rental, you want to make sure there is plenty to do nearby. After all, no matter how great your room, you want to get out and enjoy the area. If you are planning a trip to Hagen Family Farm or the Snohomish, WA area, you may want to have a few ideas lined up for things to see and do. While there are enough things nearby to fill a month or more, we’ve gathered four ideas that you may want to put at the top of your list.
When we’re children and think about farms, the “family farm” is probably what we imagined. We think about a working garden, open spaces, and a few animals that may provide food as well as companionship. However, in today’s world, the “factory farm” is more likely to be the reality. Farming is big business and keeping a farm running is an expense as well as a lot of work. Discover a few reasons why farming is becoming a lost art in the new generation.
Have you dreamed of finding a place where you can get away from it all and experience rural relaxation while still remaining a close drive away from Seattle and the surrounding suburbs? Hagen Family Farm may just be the place you have hoped to find. We are a farm house VRBO nestled in historic and beautiful Snohomish, Washington. Our rentals are close enough for convenience, but far enough to help you feel like you are getting away. The farm and surrounding region is a great place to unplug and disconnect from social media and mobile intrusions—if you so desire.
Butcher day on the farm happens about once a month for us. I usually pick out and separate the animals that are to be harvested on butcher day, either the night before, or the morning of butcher. We get a lot of questions, when people inquire about buying our farm raised meats, about the process. So, I thought this would be a great opportunity to share how it works on our farm.
With the end of every year, and start to the new year, lambing season is upon us! Any 2017 farm plans we are making, got interrupted on Valentine's Day this year, with our first lambs born. In the last two weeks, it has been a flurry of lamb "nursery pens" being extended, late night, middle of the night, early morning births, feedings, constant checking and water. We have had about 31 baby lamb born since February 14, 2017 and we are not done quite yet. One born just this morning, as I went down to feed. Bo, the Ram was a busy baby daddy! We "borrowed" him and now he has gone back to his farm. Bo was quite a handsome Ram, having won some ribbons at our local Evergreen State Fair! Lambing season is a fun, if not tiring time on the farm. But the cuteness of all the lambs, makes it well worth the odd and long hours. They discovered the open field today and we running and jumping and having fun. The long lamb pen (previous calf pen area), is along the road, as is the field, so it's a fun time for people driving by, especially the kids, who's parents often slow down and sometimes stop to watch these beyond cute lambs discover the bigger world outside of their "nursing pen" bonding with their mama's and then later in the population of the older lambs just born, under the very watchful eye of their mama's! It never get's old watching the lamb jump from mama to mama in the open area of the lamb pen before you reach the "nursery pens", we call them. We let the newborn's and their mother's have their own space, food, water, fresh straw for as many days as we can, before turning them out to the regular population. You don't have to do this, of course, but we have the room, and it's cozy, dry and very comfortable, so why not? You don't need an alarm clock on this farm! Our bedroom window is at the front of our farm house, looking down at the lamb shed. It's either a baby crying, as it's looking for it's mama, while she is feeding, or the ewe's bellering, letting us know it's time to get up and feed! We mostly raise Suffolk lamb and sheep, but have a few Cheviot's, with one having given birth so far, a few days ago. They are really cute when little. We prefer the temperament of the Suffolk, a good wool/meat lamb. Last year, we were given the gift of having some of our lamb wool shipped off for processing and received back 12 lbs. of processed wool, all into yarn scanes and ready for something to be made with it. We will be having a bed throw made with the beautiful yarn! I've decided to kick off my farm boots, wash my very beat up hands, and join the world of blogging. With the renewed interest in farming, farm to table, self sustained way of living, etc...I thought it would be of interest to write about what I do, as a farmer,now and again. Whether you are just interested in what this farmer's daily routine/life is, or are interested in getting into farming, it might be useful, but hopefully fun reading. Having been born into a dairy family in 1958, I learned at my father's knee, everything I know about dairy farming and farming in general, but still continue to learn every day. Our family sadly got out of the dairy business, for good, in the year 2000. I still reside on the same family farm, and look back with fond memories of our dairy days, and my good fortune to have grown up on a farm. I hope you enjoy my posts! Our 220 acre farm sat pretty much still from year 2000 to 2008. We did lease some of our fields to a organic potato farmer for some years during that time. We now lease about 160 acres to a neighboring farm. They grow silage and corn silage to put up for the winter. We keep the other acreage for our use. We rotate our calves around different fields on our property, where eventually they live out the duration of their lives in the 10 acre field in front of our main house. In 2008, my partner Barbara and I decided to start "bringing back the farm" so to speak. My heart was and always will be in farming. All of the existing barns (two massive Gothic style barns), and various animal shelters, pens, loafing sheds, still remained, although in need of some repair, in some instances. We decided, over dinner one night, to start raising a few cows. Oddly enough, where Barbara and I were, when she proposed the idea to me, was at a local restaurant. The owner's brother is affectionately known as "the cow mechanic"at our house....and now at his office, as when I call and need something, this is who I ask for...much to their amusement. I never realized what this one conversation would turn into! In addition to being the President of the School Board, in the very district I attended school from K-12 and graduated from, I also sit on the board of the food bank, and I'm the current board President as well. I enjoy contributing to my community. I can't believe it's already been 19 years, serving on the school board. I consider these two volunteer positions "my other jobs". I hope you find a glimpse into my daily routine,chores,and sometimes shenanigans, to be useful,helpful and sometimes entertaining. Shown here...someone opened one of our gates on our 20 acre parcel behind our house, and the calves got out, all six. Unfortunately, they were out all night, and after I got a phone call, early Wednesday morning, I am rounding them up, as they were roaming around the neighborhood that is directly behind our property on our hill side! They were all fine, if not a little wore out. |
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