View from the Farm: September 2025

Leaves are dropping, so that must mean we've crested the hill of summer. There isn't any time to slow down now, though! We have fall crops to harvest and sell, pastures to get one last hurrah out of, and construction projects to launch into.

It's time for pumpkins

Viking Honey Chicken

From: Amber Clark Langford

Nothing is better for fall than a roasted chicken, and in our opinion no roasted chicken beats out this version our daughter adapted from a "Viking" cookbook. When you make it, don't forget to save some of those juices and make a stock from the carcass, as it also makes a phenomenal soup base.

Ingredients

1 whole roasting chicken

1 cup butter

Honey

1lb carrots

2lbs potatoes

1 large onion (yellow works, sweet is best)

Rosemary

Salt and Pepper

Optional-- winter squash, sweet potatoes, or root veggies

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 F. Pat thawed chicken dry and place it into a baking dish about twice as large as the bird. Melt 1/4 cup of butter with 2 tablespoons of honey. The butter honey mixture will get pretty hot if you use a microwave, but that's fine. Once it's all melted together, add 1 teaspoon of rosemary and a dash of salt and pepper to the butter mix. Give it a little stir. Pour over the chicken.

Chop half of onion (doesn't need to be finely diced) and add it to the chicken dish. Cover chicken with tin foil and put it in oven.

When chicken is about half done, prep veggies. Peel and chop carrots and potatoes, whatever other veggies you might want to use (butternut squash is very good in this), and the other half of the onion. Put the vegetable assortment in a large bowl. Melt 1/2 cup of butter with another 3 tablespoons of honey. Add rosemary, salt and butter. Pour over the vegetables and toss to cover them with the honey butter mix. 

Pull the chicken out of the oven. Set tin foil aside. Add the vegetables to the baking dish, filling out the space around the bird. Melt another 1/4cup butter and 2 tablespoons of honey. Pour over the chicken. Replace tin foil and return to oven. Cook until meat hits 160 F and juice runs clear.

No Chicken in Your Freezer?

Stop in and ask for one of our Hill Place whole chickens. No added water or salt like the grocery store; just quality chicken that was raised right here on our farm. Available whenever someone is around.

Chickens are frozen and vary in size. $4/lb

New Driveway, New Farm Stand

Since we got our new driveway opened up to the road, we've changed how we're putting some of our goods out for sale. A more permanent stand is coming, but for now you'll find our eggs and pumpkins set up in the trailer by the road. If you're looking for us, our new driveway is on Hill Road, about a 1/10 of a mile closer to the Acworth post office.

Looking for beef or chicken and not just eggs? Try out that new driveway and come up to the farm!

Winter is Coming.

Our preparations for this winter are made a little more complicated this year by some expected travel for Betsy, but we're starting in on that never ending checklist. Firewood, Christmas greenery production, and enough winter animal lodgings are on our radar now that we're past summer.

Sugarhouse Underway!

We are officially in the process of milling and assembling the lumber we need to construct our sugarhouse. Once everything is together, we can get the building put up and get our custom-built arch installed. Hopefully all of this before March...

Hill Place Merch in the Wild

Here's our son-in-law, Noah, at the Schuyler Farms corn maze in Schuylerville, NY with 5 out of seven of our grandkids and his Hill Place swag. 

Happy Fall from Buster and Hill Place gang