Jennifer Burcke

by Jennifer Burcke Original birthday cakes are a tradition at 1840 Farm. I sometimes spend weeks preparing a cake’s blueprint and gathering the tools, both edible and not, to assemble the masterpiece in time for the big celebration. I’ve made three-dimensional poodles, polar bears, dinosaurs, and even a Flying Ford Anglia inspired by the Harry […]

by Jennifer Burcke Our hens have lived at 1840 Farm since last September. They made their long transition from day-old chicks to egg-laying hens over the course of their first five months living here. They endured an extremely harsh winter in New England and emerged relatively unscathed. Within minutes of emerging from their shipping box, […]

by Jennifer Burcke Chickens are a lot more like toddlers than I could have ever imagined. They like shiny objects and can be distracted by a meager peace offering of dry cereal. They like to play and sometimes even fight with each other. If left alone too long without something to keep them busy, they […]

by Jennifer Burcke It’s official. Spring has finally arrived here at 1840 Farm. It’s about time that the winter that wouldn’t end finally ended. We do live in New England, so I am always hesitant to audibly declare that we have made it through another winter. Believe me when I tell you that I’m certain […]

by Jennifer Burcke This Easter will be the very first at 1840 Farm to include eggs from our own hens. Somehow, coloring these eggs seems a little extra special and worthy of a celebration. This year, a grocery store egg dyeing kit just won’t do. Luckily, we’ve been making our own egg dye for a […]

by Jennifer Burcke Here’s a quick question for all of you chicken keepers. Do you know what your chickens were doing around midnight? I do and I have the pictures to prove it. No, I’m not spending my evenings in the coop trying to catch my birds in action. I’m leaving that job to the […]

by Jennifer Burcke Fried eggs, broiled eggs, scrambled eggs, poached eggs, boiled eggs, Eggs Benedict, omelet, deviled eggs, egg salad. I could go on, but I’m quite sure that I’ve had my moment. You know the one. The one where I become my own version of Bubba from the movie Forrest Gump. I can’t help […]

by Jennifer Burcke During the last few months, I have found myself in a chicken conundrum. After tending to the needs of our seven chicks all week, they force me to do the unthinkable. I shudder to tell you of my poultry-keeping horror. This terrible deed requires me to gather my inner strength and do […]

by Jennifer Burcke I’ve officially crossed over to crazy chicken lady status. How do I know? Easy. I found myself standing at the stove this morning chopping apples and cooking oatmeal for the seven chickens who live at 1840 Farm. What has become of me? It’s been dreadfully cold here in the past week. So […]

by Jennifer Burcke “Now is the winter of our discontent.” So begins Richard III by William Shakespeare. No, I won’t turn this into a post about iambic pentameter. However, I will tell you that here at 1840 Farm, the year 2011 began in much the same way as Shakespeare’s epic masterpiece. We are deep in […]