where cars drive by each day. Now the family
owns more than 200 acres. “That was always
Kevin’s dream, to own as much land in
Smithfield as he could,” Ann Marie says.
Ann Marie is always working. She keeps
an eye on the cows and pigs at all hours —
especially the pregnant ones. “You have to
care. If you don’t put your heart into this,
you really can’t do it,” she says. “I make an
effort every day, twice a day, three times, to
check on the cows. If one is in the calving
pen, I am out there all the time.” She also
makes sales calls and delivers meat orders
directly to restaurants, including Castle Hill
in Newport, Salted Slate, Nicks on Broadway,
Oberlin, Gracie’s and Ellie’s. Meanwhile, in
the truck, she gets a phone call from her
daughter-in-law, Sarah, who is contemplating
what time to get her nails done before she
heads to work at their Moo Moo Ice Cream
Trailer, the ice cream shop next to the farm
stand. That’s modern farm life.
A cow in a separate barn area looks like
she’s ready to “calve out” any minute, which
means she’s almost ready to give birth. “We
keep things nice and comfy cozy for the
mothers,” Ann Marie says, nodding at the
cow, which is standing and pacing with a
bulging belly. “I do play classical music when
they’re in labor.”
Blackbird Farm calves out eighty to ninety
cows per year, year-round. “Every animal is
bred, born and raised here,” says Ann Marie.
“We feed all grass (and hay in winter), then
finish on non-GMO corn. We feed animals
in the morning at 7 a.m., then we feed them
again at 7 at night, so they are not feeding
continuously. They have access to grass
twenty-four/seven.”
The farm’s Black Angus cattle
are humanely raised and pasture-fed.
The Bouthillettes grow all of their own
hay. “The thing I learned from growing up
on a small homestead farm is you are what
you eat, and you really want to know what
these animals are eating,” Ann Marie says,
adding that she was raised on a small homestead
in Glocester. “What we’ve done is breed
very consistent animals, including the pigs.
We are not using hormones or antibiotics,
but we are using corn to finish to make the
product even sweeter.” >>
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