View from the Farm: October 2025

The leaves are all dropping and that means it’s time to turn our attention to winter’s fast approaching arrival. There’s always a lot to do in these weeks to get ready for the cold weather and holidays, and this year there’s even less time than normal.

Betsy poses with the trusty Wood-Mizer as work on the sugarhouse gets underway.

Classic Meatloaf

From: Betsy Miller

A true classic; enjoyed even by those who don’t like tomato or onions. If you have any leftover it makes a great sandwich the next day.

Ingredients

1lb ground beef

1 large egg

1 can/10.75oz condensed tomato soup

1 cup old fashioned (not quick) oats

1 half an onion, diced small

Salt and pepper

Instructions

In a large bowl, mix together ground beef, egg, onion, and soup. Sprinkle salt and pepper over mixture. After it’s decently mixed add the oats. You can try to do this with a wooden spoon, but it’s best done with your hands. You want your final mixture to be evenly distributed with no dry meat or clumps of oats or onions. 

Spread the meatloaf mix out evenly in a loaf pan. Smaller size loaf pans work better, since they yield a thicker meatloaf. You can line your pan with parchment paper first for easier cleanup. 

Bake at 350 F for about an hour, or until the meat reaches 160 F internally. Serve in 1in or thicker slices. 

Time for a Beef Restock?

Grab 10lbs of Hill Place ground beef for $65! 

Beef packaged in individual bags roughly 1lb each.

A Personal Record in Poultry Raising

As we finish up raising one last batch of laying hens, these ones are mix of Starlight Eggers and New Hampshire Reds, we’ve come to the realization that this year we raised more poultry then we’ve ever done before. This year was also the hardest we’ve ever seen to source baby chicks, as hatcheries switched to only fulfilling store orders. Even so, we raised a couple new batches of laying hens and some meat chickens. 

Our goal for next year? Add some turkeys! 

Horse Work

Please join us in hoping for a non-icy winter so that we can continue to make progress on harness breaking Holly and Tilly. There’s not so much field work to do, but winter can be a great time for hauling logs (and eventually pulling sleighs!) We’re very happy with both of them so far, and you can follow along on the journey on our YouTube channel.

Hill Place Merch in the Wild: Betsy was spotted picking up some of our favorite ice cream during sale week at the Stewart’s Shop in Manchester, VT

Improved Farm Stand 

Getting a more permanent farm stand to the end of the driveway is right at the top of our goals for this fall. Not only will this give us a more sheltered place for our eggs, but it might even give us a space to offer some new products for our customers.

Happy October from Daisy and all the Hill Place cattle.