Month: July 2026

We’ve probably provided some neighborhood entertainment over the years with our many iterations of mobile chicken coops.  We started with a stationary coop, but were inspired learning about farms who raise their chickens on pasture in a way that coordinates with the whole farm operation.  Mobilizing a chicken coop allows flexibility to rotate areas of pasture and follow the best conditions with the changing seasons.  It also helps in severe weather or flooding to be able to quickly move them to higher ground. Or when there is too much predator pressure (raccoons!) we can move them to an area where we can keep a closer eye on them.  Using portable electric poultry netting for security, our chickens can have plenty of room to forage, dust bathe and live their best chicken life.  We now have multiple mobile coops that move about the farm, with new design modifications every few years. 

The chickens’ favorite time of year, I’m pretty sure, is raspberry season.  Damaged or overripe berries that don’t go to market, go to the chickens.  I keep forgetting to get a video of it, but the sight of the chickens sprinting over excitedly when I’m headed back from the raspberry field…you just can’t be in a bad mood watching sprinting chickens.  The chickens reward us with beautiful and delicious eggs, manure/litter to use as fertilizer, and keeping down weeds and insects in the areas we set them up. It’s great how each part of the farm can benefit another part.

If you stop for a moment to observe the fields at Terra Romance Farm during the growing season, you’ll notice they are always full of activity. The farm is home to a vast and diverse array of native bees, wasps, moths and butterfly species that are an important part of the natural ecosystem.  We intentionally manage the farmland to attract and support these incredible creatures by providing sources of food and habitat throughout the seasons.  In turn, they benefit the farm by improving our crop pollination (resulting in a higher quality of fruit), and in many cases they even provide a source of natural pest control.  Bee populations have been declining worldwide, and many large farms rent commercially-raised European honeybees (an invasive species which competes with native bees) to get enough crop pollination. Small farms like ours help protect and strengthen populations of native WV bees (and other pollinators) by providing optimal conditions for them to thrive, including pollinator-friendly crops, low/no-till soil preparation, avoiding chemical pesticides, and an abundance of nearby mature forest, meadows and water resources.  Supporting local small farms means supporting local ecosystems!

We have a new sign that will welcome visitors at the farm entrance- love how it turned out! 

Raspberries were the first crop we planted at the farm, and they’ve always been a favorite summer treat.   It’s amazing the difference in flavor between locally-grown, fresh-picked berries and those that are mass-produced and shipped from thousands of miles away. Our raspberries are a balance of sweet, tart, complex…a sophisticated and sentimental flavor profile that is the epitome of SUMMER. 

Our raspberry crop has two different harvest seasons.   In early summer, we harvest fruit from the woody raspberry canes (floricanes) that have over-wintered.  These early-season berries are packed with a delicious authentic raspberry flavor that’s hard to find in conventional store-bought berries.  These berries make INCREDIBLE syrups and sauces– we love using them on top of waffles and for flavoring summer drinks. 

In the late summer, our newly-grown canes (primocanes) also produce a crop of fruit, with extra large and deliciously sweet berries, especially great to use as locally-sourced dessert-toppers or for creating a gorgeous charcuterie board.  We’ll feature some of our favorite raspberry recipes and ideas in future blog and social posts, and we love hearing how people have used our farm products in their own culinary creations.