Aug 15 2009
What are you growing on your farm?
Since moving to the farm, I have been asked by many people, “What are you growing on your farm?”
Right now we are not growing anything, except for what was already here. And that consist of a small orchard of trees that are in bad need of pruning. As far as we can tell there are Mulberry, Apple, and Pear trees on the property. The purple Mulberry tree did well this summer, but not so for the white Mulberry. The gooseberries bushes did Okay, but not great.
At this time, the Apple and Pear trees look more like bushes and the apples and pears on the bushes are no bigger than the tip of my little pinky/finger.
Once fall comes, we will get into the orchard and prune the trees in hopes that we will have a good harvest next year.
Because we moved in June, many weeds around the barn were already over our heads, so we decided to wait until they burn brown and die back before we venture into the weed jungle to see what is on the ground there. We know there is some tin which had blown from the barn roof sometime in the past and the previous owner never bothered to have it picked up and replaced. Since we want to use the barn, we feel it is necessary to replace the tin on the roof.
With 65 acres of land, we have not yet walked every inch of it. We have had the native grass fields mowed for hay. And we know that about 20 acres are in Conservation Research Program/CRP grass. There are many downed trees on the property that will make great fire wood for the fireplace. Hubby thinks this is great because he can cut the wood where it lays and stack it nearby-not needing to bring it to stack in the nearly full wood shed. And if we start to get low in the wood shed, he can hop on his four wheeler with trailer in tow and go get the cut wood he has stacked in the field.
We are learning about the pond on the property. Recently the under water flipped and the green junk came floating to the top. Someday, the pond may see some fish, but we don’t think so at this time.
I personally would like to see our farm be somewhat self-sustainable. Next year I plan on having a garden and do some freezing and canning of the produce. A friend has offered to give me their three sheep-I think they are getting tired of having them-but I am not ready for sheep just yet.
I don’t want to rush this farm living. I want to take it slow and learn the lay of the land. And when snow is on the meadows, you just might find me sitting in front of a roaring fire looking through seed catalogs and saying prayers that I am not in the barn waiting for the birth of a baby lamb. Then again, one never knows what tomorrow will bring.
