Category Archives: Tell Us Your Story

Meet Lisa and Jason from Raven Mist Farm – This week’s “Tell us Your Story”

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We want to thank Marie and her husband from Millview Farms for our last “Tell Us Your Story” feature - sharing their story of their farm and homestead in Southern Ontario.  If you get a chance, check out Marie’s great work on her blog, Plowing in Pearls ( http://plowinginpearls.com).

We travel back to the States this week to Germantown, Ohio for the story of Lisa, Jason and Raven Mist Farm (http://ravenmistfarm.wordpress.com/).  Lisa and Jason are a great example of the hard work and inginuity that goes into living the dream of your own farmstead.  They grow a wide variety of crops,  have created a CSA, and raise chickens for eggs and meat – all on a tight budget.

To follow along each week with our Sunday feature “Tell Us Your Story”,  you can simply enter your email address on the right of our blog and click “follow”.  Better yet – if you know of a farm that would make a great feature story, click on our “Tell Us You Story” tab and let us know all about it!

So here, in their words, the story of Lisa, Jason and Raven Mist Farm:

Thanks much to Mary and Jim for using their blog for a forum for all of us to share our stories!  We are Lisa, Jason and Xena (our 3 year old German Shepherd), and we are living the dream on a very tight budget here at Raven Mist Farm in Germantown, Ohio.  I think our story starts a little differently than most, we kind of backed into the farming idea.  In February of 2011, we bought this place because it was close enough to my job – yet far enough out that we would have a little space.  And –  we could afford it!  The house is 100 years old and had been empty for the past 10 years.  Needless to say it needs LOTS of work.

Lisa, Jason, and one of their baby Wyandotte chicks

We moved here in March and spring fever prompted us to begin on the outside first.  We put in a small perennial bed and then as the weather warmed, we added an herb garden and a small vegetable garden.  (I work a second job at a local garden center in the spring, so most of the plants were free or discounted.)  I was afraid that the garden would not do very well that first year.  The fields all around us had been farmed for commercial corn and soybeans – and I assumed that the soil would not be very fertile, but that first little garden provided us with bumper crops of tomatoes, peppers, and okra, along with a few watermelons and pumpkins.

Zena, Protector of the farm - and the last of the 2011 garden produce!

That little garden sprouted more than produce for us, and thoughts of a better life began to emerge.  We watched Jason’s sister raise a couple of backyard chickens, so we began to do some research, and in September we ordered 50 Silver Laced Wyandotte chicks.  We now have 10 hens and 2 roosters; the hens just began laying their first eggs about 3 weeks ago.  We are able to sell our eggs before we even gather them!  Along the way, we lost a few of the babies to a falcon and one got out one day and just kind of flew into the mouth of Xena (our German Shepherd)!  The rest ended up in the freezer and fed us this winter when money was tight. We used frozen pumpkin through the holidays and provided our families with their Jack-o-lantern pumpkins.  We’ve had gumbo made with our own frozen okra – made in a slow simmering iron pot over an open fire outside.  We frequently add dehydrated and frozen hot peppers to stews and soups.  Most of the soup stock we use is made from the feet of the butchered chickens.

Zues, God of the Raven Mist chicken farmyard

As the months progressed, my job just kept cutting back hours and upping the work load.  We live 25 minutes from the nearest populated area.  Gas prices have continued to rise along with the cost of everything that is shipped, and our paychecks just were not covering what we needed.  We figured since we could not make more money, we simply needed to ‘need’ less of it.  Growing our own food and preserving it seemed a great idea.  I have gardened off and on most of my life and Jason spent part of his childhood living on a farm with animals.  One night I was playing around on the internet and ran across the idea of growing food on as little as ¼ of an acre and selling shares of the produce.  One idea led to another and so we now have a handful of CSA customers pre-paid for our produce for this season.  We also have an online version of a farmer’s market set up.  Customers will choose in advance from what we have available each week in the season and we deliver to a central drop off area.  We are planning on selling direct from the farm, since we live on a fairly busy road and have plenty of drive-by traffic.  We are also fortunate enough to have a couple of free farmer’s markets within 20 minutes of us.

Cesar, He only thinks he is "God of the Chicken Yard"

We have started around 600 plants from seed.  Rather than spend money on seed kits, we spent cold, winter nights making newspaper pots while we watched television.  Most of our seeds are sprouting in these sitting in nursery trays I have saved over the years.  We are growing only heirloom varieties so that we can save our own seed and in turn, save that money in the coming years.

We had 2 extra roosters and plenty of meat in the freezer, and our local Tractor Supply was having a livestock buy, sell and trade in their parking lot.  We took our roosters, sold them and then used that money to buy 4 heritage Buckeye chicks that are now 3 weeks old.

So now, we have a dream for the farm.  We dream of a day when the farm will not only feed us, but bring in enough money to sustain us as well; while providing healthy food for our local community.

Baby Wayandotte chicks at Raven Mist Farm

We also have a master plan to give back to the land more than the land gives to us.  We are not planting our market garden in the usual way.  We are laying it out in a modified square foot garden pattern.  We are mixing vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers all together to feed the soil.  We have one compost pile ready to go and another begun for next year.  We are still surrounded by commercial farm fields, so we plan on planting a hedgerow to give us a little oasis for bees, birds and other beneficials.  There will be edibles mixed in there as well.  Because of the tight budget, we will be planting very small trees to begin with.  Time passes whether we plant anything or not, so we figured we should plant what we can afford rather than waiting!

We hope to add more laying hens this summer, and in the future we want a few geese.   We have also talked about raising a couple of pigs – one to sell, in order to pay for one to feed us for the winter.  We also hope that we will be able one day to save up enough to buy more of the land around us to expand our “farm” –  because right now – we’re not only doing this on a financial budget but on just an acre and a half!

Thanks so much to Lisa and Jason for sharing!!!  You you can check out their blog and farm at http://ravenmistfarm.wordpress.com/.    - Mary and Jim

Meet Millview Farms from Ontario, Canada – This week’s “Tell Us Your Story”

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We want to thank Celi and John from The Kitchens Garden ( http://thekitchensgarden.wordpress.com/ ) for sharing their story last week of their beautiful “farmy” on the Praries of Illinois. I think everyone enjoyed hearing about Mia, Ton-Ton, Daisy and all of the other wonderful animals – thanks so much Celi and John!

We travel to Canada this week and into Southern Ontario for the story of Marie and her husband, who own and run Milllview Farms.   Marie’s blog, Plowing in Pearls ( http://plowinginpearls.com) chronicles their life where in addition to growing cash crops, they raise meat and eggs in a natural and sustainable manner.

To follow along each week with our Sunday feature “Tell Us Your Story”,  you can simply enter your email address on the right of our blog and click “follow”.  Better yet – if you know of a farm that would make a great feature story, click on our “Tell Us You Story” tab and let us know all about it!

So here, in Marie’s words – the story of Millview Farms :

I want to thank Jim and Mary for putting this series together. It’s such a great opportunity to share, and get to know other like-minded people! My name is Marie, and I write a blog called Plowing in Pearls, which chronicles my “amazing life as a farmer’s wife.”

My husband,myself, our son, and our home.
My husband and I run a cash crop farm in Ontario, Canada. I’m a mother to a beautiful son, and am passionate about sustainability, homemaking, homesteading, and connecting with a way of life from years gone by. Although my husband has farmed his whole life, it’s completely new to me, and the learning curve has been a steep one. I like to think I’ve picked up pretty quickly though.

Here on our farm, we raise chickens, turkeys, and pigs for our own use as well as for sale to the public. I raise all my animals with respect, and in a way that allows them to exercise their natural tendencies. We use no hormones, preventative antibiotics (meaning they aren’t given antibiotics to prevent them from getting sick, like commercial producers, but I will medicate a sick animal if nothing else works) or growth hormones. Raising livestock in a respectful way is something that is very important to me, and this year we will be adding two rare breeds – the Large Black pig and Blue Slate turkey to our menagerie.

Chickens are my first love. I have many (many) breeds, from standard to heritage. All are free ranges, and we just love all the beautiful eggs they supply for us. Since my love borders on obsession, we have around 50 hens which provide us with more eggs than we could ever eat. The extra eggs go in to a fridge by our front door and we’ve developed quite a following of people looking for those golden yolks that can’t be found in the grocery store.

Although we raised our turkey’s on free-range last year, we learned that turkey’s “range” is quite a bit further than chickens. I spent a lot of time herding them off the road and out from underneath the cars of visitors. This year we will be implementing the “Turkey tractor” to keep them contained, while still allowing them the benefits of free-ranging.

We also keep a few “just for fun” animals, including our duckies (although they do lay eggs, so they kind of pull their own weight ;) )

I’m also taking on a new challenge in homesteading this year, and that’s milking my own goat. Maebelle hasn’t kidded yet, but I’ve been getting her used to the stanchion I built, and the routine of feeding. My biggest mistake with Maebelle however, was that she has never been milked before, and she wasn’t hand raised, so she is not a fan of being touched. Let’s just say it’s has been an adventure getting to this point, and I think the party is just getting started. I’m sure there will be lots of spilled milk and tears, but I’m determined to make it work.

Although I love all my animals very much, there is one in particular that holds a special place in my heart, and that’s Pearl, our beautiful donkey. Pearl is the most affectionate, and gentle creature I’ve met. I’ve spent a lot of time with Pearl, crying in frustration when it feels like the world is against me, or enjoying a beautiful sunset after a long day, it doesn’t matter what my mood is, Pearl is always the same – sweet, gentle, and loving.

My dreams for our farm include the on-farm market we will be opening this spring. At the moment we sell eggs out of a fridge by our front door, but my goal is to have a designated place to sell not only eggs, but pork, chicken, and turkey as well. My Mom and my sister will be joining in this venture by growing cut flowers (glads, zinnias, Salvia and sunflowers ect.) Although it’s been years since I worked in the retail/fashion world, I still maintain my eye for all things esthetically pleasing, and I love all things vintage, rustic and girly (which is part of the reason my blog is entitled Plowing in Pearls) so I really see this stand as being something that could have been pulled from a story book.

My husband and I are so blessed to have the opportunity to live on and care for this land, and it’s not a job we take lightly. We would love to see our son be the fourth generation to live and farm here, with his own little “zoo” of critters. For the time being though, we’ll enjoy raising him in the best environment I can imagine. There’s no better way to raise a child than out in the sunshine and dirt where they can burn energy, learn the value of hard work, and play with real toys (i.e. sticks and mud!) not Nintendos and iPhones. This simple life is perfect for us and we’re so glad to be able to share it with anyone who is interested.

If you’d like to see a bit more of our farm and our life, please feel free to stop by the blog at www.PlowinginPearls.com, or our farm website at www.MillviewFarms.com

Meet Celi and John from the prairies of Illinois (via New Zealand) This week’s “Tell Us Your Story”

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We want to thank Karen and Eric Thompson and the Lil Suburban Homestead blog ( http://lilsuburbanhomestead.wordpress.com/ ) for their outstanding feature story last week!  We had so many wonderful comments and emails from the readers impressed with what they are accomplishing on their North Carolina homestead!  Keep up the great work!!!

This week’s “Tell Us Your Story” comes from the prairies of the Midwest – via New Zealand. Celi’s blog, The Kitchens Garden ( http://thekitchensgarden.wordpress.com/ ), chronicles the stories of Celi and John and their farm in brilliant words and vivid pictures.  We are so excited to have them on board for this week’s feature farm!  To follow along each week with our Sunday feature “Tell Us Your Story”, you can simply enter your email address on the right of our blog and click “follow”.  Better yet – if you know of a farm that would make a great feature story, drop us a line and bend our ear – we love to hear of stories from all over.

And now, here in their own words, are Celi and John’s story:

MEET CELI AND JOHN:

Good morning. Jim and Mary kindly asked me to tell you a little about the wee old fashioned farmy my husband and I run out here in the middle of the prairies in Illinois.  What a wonderful idea to have this as a regular page for small farmers.

Daisy on the farmy...

I first came to The United States as a young girl on a Foreign Exchange Program, straight from a New Zealand convent.  Twenty five years later, five years ago, I returned to stay, marrying the man I had met when we were both 17.   A lot had changed on this wee farm over the years so we decided to start changing it back. Living simply with less has been so liberating.

guineas about the farm

So we put new chickens in the old chicken coop.  Heaved all the rubbish out of the barn and started to rebuild it.  We put up fences and dug gardens. Then we brought  Daisy  as a five day old calf. And so began the slow journey  into the world of sustainable farming.  I say slow because each step needs to be consolidated before we go to the next one. We do not want more animals than the land can sustain.  Land needs to rest between crops.  And John works full time so I work alone, and I need a rest between crops too!!

Daisy is the dairy cow.  An Ayrshire.  A big cow now. She is taller than me.  In fact she has grown so tall that I have to stand on a box to brush her back and I am 5’7”.  Daisy is due to calve in May.  Then I will start to milk.    From some of the milk I will make cheese.  I make quite a good parmesan cheese. And am still practicing the cheddars.  (read chook food!)

Mia, one of two ewes under the care of Celi and John

We have two ewes,   Mia and Mama and the sweetest ram in the history of rams called Hairy MacLairy. He is good natured,  unless you make the mistake of closing a door on him in the barn, he does NOT like to be enclosed.  He will smash through the gate using his head as a Battering Ram.

(S’cuse the pun) Otherwise he tiptoes about the place and smiles his sheepish smile. I need to add that for your own safety you should never turn your back on a ram – sweet or not.

We have a Hereford calf -Queenie Wineti, who is being raised to be the Mother of my beef herd of two, can I call two cows a herd?  The Hereford looks like a midget next to Daisy and spends most of her day being teased by the barn cats.

Queenie posing as cow art

This spring I am going to introduce two heritage pigs. One to keep  and breed and one for the freezer. The one we are keeping will be called Sheila the Babe.  Sometimes I sound quite bonkers.   But I only name the animals I keep.

Hopefully my lambs and pigs are all due to arrive, one way or the other, in the same month as Daisy’s calf so Daisy’s milk will go to feeding them too.

TonTon in action...

Don’t sheep feed their own lambs, I hear you ask.? Well usually they do!  Unless they are Mama who has the unfortunate habit of throwing more than the usual twins.  Last spring she had four lambs, quads.  So Miss C had to do some bottle feeding.  Fresh raw cow’s milk works fine.  The idea of sustainable farming is that the farm feeds the farm. It is a cycle.  Nothing is wasted and nothing is perfect!

All our animals are on either green pasture or in the winter – dry pasture (hay).  The cows are corn free.  We don’t have a lot of land so we focus on growing very good high quality forage.   For grass fed beef and good creamy milk, the cows need to be eating lots of variety in their grasses and a high percentage of their fodder needs to be from legumes , like clovers and alfalfa, chicory and mustard greens.

The bees doing their part....

Plus some weeds, many weeds are good feed.  Every year one of the small meadows will be turned over on a five year rotation  and planted in a high nitrogen  Buckwheat cover crop to rest, then re-sown in fresh grasses and legumes the following spring.   And the bees have buckwheat flowers for the summer!

I call Daisy the Mother Ship because not only does she supply enough manure to make a small mountain of compost for the gardens , but she will also supply the milk to feed all  the babies,  and the household,  plus the milk fed pigs.  The chickens supply the eggs for both the cows and the pigs and the humans.  Their manure also goes into the compost pile. Do you see how the cycle is beginning? The sheep supply the wool that I clean and stuff into burlap bags for the dog’s winter beds.  Hairy’s fleece is for spinning.  One day.  The barn cats keep the mice down and sleep cuddled up to the cows at night.

Flower garden providing a haven for the eyes and the bees

And I can anticipate your next question. Why?  Why did I decide that my poor husband should use his weekends cutting and planting old power poles for fence posts. Why did I talk a grain farmer into buying the old grain bin and taking it AWAY!. Why on earth do I want to milk a cow?  Why did I give up my job in London, with all that lovely champagne, to move out to the middle of absolutely nowhere and set up a wee farm right slap bang in the middle of a corn field. A nasty intensive industrially managed cornfield! Then proceed to grow and make all my own food.

Celi's bread

And live without central heating or air conditioning in deep prairie land in Illinois.  Because this is a lot of work.  When my gas cooker finally gives up the ghost I am going to replace it with a wood fired Aga and an outside solar, rainwater summer kitchen. (Don’t tell John, he does not know this yet!! I will wait until he has finished this summer’s Grey Water  irrigation programme and the Garden Room with a Solar Heated  Rainwater Bath.)

So why?  Well firstly I married a man who lived slap bang in the middle of a corn field -That was helpful!  And I do not have a cultural acceptance of fast fatty food as OK.  I dislike waste and wasteful behaviours.  We want to be able to depend on ourselves for our survival. We want to eat fresh good food.  We do not want to be dependent on these big industrial farmers, who are not really farmers, and their lobbies, making decisions about the quality of my food and where I should buy it and when and what chemicals I have to consume along with it.   I don’t eat processed foods.

Chickens roam about

So we grow our own meat, eggs, vegetables, I make my own cheese, butter and yoghurts and preserves.  We grow our own grapes for wine, (of rather dubious quality so far!)

We plant Pear and Apple trees.  I have over 500 asparagus plants maturing this year.  We have bees for honey and I have as much space in flowers as I have in vegetables and that is a lot of space.  We farm organically, though we will never be certified organic because I can’t be bothered, and I sing as I work.  Then take photographs and blog about it.

But there is another reason too. I want to prove that anyone can do it.  I grew up on a beach in New Zealand.  I am learning this as I go along, so you can too. It is powerful to grow your own food and sustain your lifestyle using your own hands.

John has another very important reason for supporting me and my daily blog The Kitchen’s Garden. He wants other people to begin to save the barns too. So many beautiful empty barns, falling into disrepair for want of a few animals and a simple earthy change in the way we view our food supply.   So many barns burnt to the ground when we could have gone in first and recovered the timbers.  So much beautiful work buried so the combine harvester does not have to turn a corner.  So much history gone without conscience.  John wants to encourage you to come back out to the country. Many of these old houses and their barns are for sale, and they are cheap.  It is not too late. And it is a good life. It is simple.

And the future holds no fear for us.  It is a wonderful challenge. No matter what happens we will always be able to feed ourselves, and warm ourselves and feed and warm those who come here. Have fun.

celi

Tell Us Your Story – Meet the Thompson Family from Coastal North Carolina

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Thanks again to the Soulsby Farm for an outstanding feature about their little farm last week!  This week’s “Tell Us Your Story” feature comes from the Thompson family from Coastal North Carolina.  Karen and Eric share with us how they are living a more sustainable life on a budget.  Their blog, Lil Suburban Homestead, ( http://lilsuburbanhomestead.wordpress.com/ ) focuses on their ability to grow, live and prosper as a family, as they follow their passion for homesteading.    To follow along each week with our stories from all over, you can simply enter your email address on the right of our blog and click “follow”.

And now, here in their own words, the Lil’ Suburban Homestead story:

MEET THE THOMPSONS 

The Thompson Family

Welcome to our Lil’ Suburban Homestead!  We are the Thompson family and we live in Coastal North Carolina, where we know all about having to amend our soil and using buckets and planters to grow our own food!

I am Karen Lynn and I am the blogger at our lil’ homestead as well as the Chicken Keeper, while my husband Eric is the Bee Keeper …..I call him the   “Viking” in my life –  an old nick name that was given at a former employer – and one that has stuck through the years!   We are passionate about living sustainably on this earth!

The Thompson chickens pose for a picture on their suburban homestead

I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2009.   It was a very scary couple of years and our family faced other health problems as well.  Finally, we faced the the stark reality that the food industry and the other powers that be were not interested in taking care of our health – and if we weren’t going to do it, no one else would.

We decided that while we had always been interested in frugality and leaving less of an environmental foot print – we had to take things to an entirely new level.  For us though we weren’t going to pick up stakes and move to the country to have our suburban homestead, we were going to bring the farm to us.

Busy bees making honey on the Thompson Farm

At the time my daughter was a Senior in high school and my son was in elementary school – we were determined to hold out until both of our children graduated before we moved again.  We may move eventually to a larger homestead as our hives and gardens expand.  We also want to get goats soon have our own milk!

My husband is the Visionary for our homestead.  I only wish that I had half of his imagination and creativity.  With him I believe that anything is possible!  There is nothing that I ask of him that he won’t consider for our homestead.  When I wanted a larger chicken coop he upgraded our old little coop to a larger one.  We are thinking of using the old little coop to either house new chicks or even quail in.

One of Eric's handy building projects - The Chicken Coop

We only live on 1/3 of an acre in suburbia, so we have to have things extremely contained.  Our chickens are in a run and our bees are semi-fenced off.  Luckily our neighbors are extremely understanding of our passions and yes, we do share some eggs.  Soon, we will be sharing honey as well.  We grow, cook and eat a lot of our own wholesome nutritious food.

One of the Thompson homemade remedies - Dried Candied Ginger

We also try to make our own homemade remedies that have been tried and true and have been around for centuries.

Eric's Award Winning Honey Pears!

We can our own food, and yes, we even enter our goods in our local county fair.  We want to encourage others to lead a more sustainable life!  Maybe our ribbons might inspire someone?  My husband made the honey pears in the middle that is his special recipe!

We both work full time.  My husband is a commercial HVAC sales person and mechanic, while I work supporting Technology and Web design at a local elementary school.  We also are full time parents to our 14 and 19 year olds, who keep our lives hopping and busy too! We love going to our son’s football games and our daughter’s local performances (she is a musician).  We also like to include both of our children in the planting and harvesting seasons as well.

Another of Eric's building projects - the greenhouse!

We are both involved in several Bee Keeping clubs and a local gardening club and on top of everything we love to go camping, boating, fishing, and collect mussels and oysters since we live so close to the beach!  We would love for all of you to come visit our Lil’ Suburban Homestead anytime….come on over, hang out,  and don’t forget to join our “Ole’ Saturday Homesteading Trading Post” blog hop every Saturday.  It’s a place to share what you are doing on your homestead!

I am so glad Jim and Mary asked us to share our story because I am also going to post it on our About Me page so it will be permanently linked to their site as well!

Tell Us Your Story – Meet the Soulsbys

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Last Sunday, with the help of Linde and Rich from the “lost art of simple living”, we began our weekly “Tell Us Your Story” feature.  Mary and I were overwhelmed by the response we received by people reading loving their story and wanting to hear more like it.    We have decided to make it a weekly Sunday release – and already have several  farms from all over globe lined up for the coming weeks!   To follow along, you can simply enter your email address on the right of our blog and click “follow” to be added.

This week, our feature story is another Ohio “farm” started and run by Dan and Mindy Soulsby.  Here, in their words is “The Soulsby Farm, a very small farm” (http://soulsbyfarm.wordpress.com/ )   

Dan, Mindy and Zoe and Jake

I am Dan Soulsby.  I was born and raised in Northeast Ohio and graduated from Kent State in 1999.  I headed for the bright lights and moved to Los Angeles and a job at Disney Studios where I cast animated movies and TV series.  Everyone  always asked about working for Disney and I’d say on my worst day, I’m still watching cartoons.

Among the high rise buildings and Hollywood parties I dreamed of something much less glamorous, a small farm where I could start a family and grow.  Most people dream the other way around I think. While in LA, I read every book on growing and farming I could find and kept container gardens on my balcony.

In 2007, Disney got rid of thousands of jobs and I was one of them. I sold my condo in Burbank and bought an old farm in Hudson, Ohio from auction.  All that was left was to find a wife which I did and married Mindy in 2008. The family came in 2011 when we had a daughter and named her Zoey.

The farm was a wreck in 2007 and it took a lot of work to get it into working condition but with the help of friends and family it got up and growing.

The Soulsby Farm started the way most small farms do…. a dream to get back to the country and grow vegetables and herbs and raise chickens the way nature intended; through a partnership with the earth and a deep respect for animals.   We believe in sustainable farming.  Everything on the farm is grown through organic means; the farm doesn’t believe in GMO’s (genetically modified organisms) and grows only from heirloom seeds and plants. No chemicals (fertilizers, pest control, etc..) are ever used on the farm.

Jake the Farm Chihuahua

Along with Zoey, we have our little dog Jake. He’s a Chihuahua who protects the garden from deer and rabbits. We have some nice hens that lay eggs every day –and let them free range around the garden (and sometimes the neighbor’s yard) .  We grow and can our own vegetables and herbs.  I am the planter and Mindy is the harvester and it’s a great team. Together we make sauce and pickles and can and freeze everything we can to make it through the long Ohio winters.

We grow:  • Celery  • Cabbage  • Carrots  • Peppers  • Tomatoes  • Onions • Zucchini  • Soybeans  • Watermelons  • Cucumbers   • Basil  • Dill  • Parsley  • Broccoli  • Oregano            • Garlic  • Pumpkins  • Corn  • Squash

Last year we started a non-profit organization called Project Garden Share

Project Garden Share is a non-profit organization established to help feed and educate individuals in need of one of the most precious resources on earth; food. In 2010, 48.8 million Americans lived in food insecure households. We wanted to do something about that.

Our program works in a few different ways to suit anyone who would like to be part of it.

1)   Share your Harvest – Plant a couple extra rows of vegetables to give to local food banks. We can supply you with a list of food banks that accept fresh produce. We’ll supply you with plants or seeds.

2)   Share your Land – We’ll come out and till up an area and plant a garden on your land which you would tend during the season and give the rewards to the local food bank. It doesn’t have to be enormous, even a 4’x8’ garden is a great help.

3)   Share your Time – Volunteer when you have time to help tend gardens in the area that are part of the program. We currently have about an acre out back we donate to the Organization that always needs tending.

4)   Share you Knowledge – If you’re a gardener who can help educate others we need you! Our goal is to educate individuals in need to learn how to grow their own garden and become more self-sufficient.

5)   Share your Land, Knowledge and Time – The tri-fecta! Offer your land to individuals in need (several families have lost their homes due to foreclosure and currently reside in apartments, condos, ect.. with no land). Help these people with your know how on how to plant, grow, harvest and can a harvest.

My brother always thought it was funny when I told him my plans and followed through, I guess most people don’t actually do what they say.

Dan in his Disney Day's with CSI's George Eads, Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson, Dakota Fanning and "Ponch" Eric Estrada

We want to thank Dan and Mindy for sharing their story.  For more on Dan, you can check out his credits at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1816592/ , and be sure to check out their blog and their non-profit Project Garden Share, at http://soulsbyfarm.wordpress.com/.

If you would like to share your “farm” story – drop us an email at info@owgarden.com , and as always, we welcome your comments.

Thank You,

Jim and Mary

“Tell Us Your Story” – Meet Linde and Rich

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Linde and Rich's Canned Pickles

Every few weeks, we hope to share the unique stories of the people, farms and gardens that are dedicated to leading a more self-sufficient and responsible life.  As we know ourselves, it doesn’t take 1000 acres or a 5 acre garden to have a story.   Sometimes we all get caught up with the latest technology, the newest, biggest, or greatest next thing – to wake up and realize no matter how much we have, we’re not happy.  Mary and I are more convinced every day that it will be our commitment to simplify our life that will bring us true happiness.

Our first story comes from Linde and Rich in Northeastern, Ohio – and shares a lot of similarities with our “farm”.  A 3 acre plot, gardening, canning, chickens and eggs – and their commitment to a live simpler life.   If you like their story like we did, feel free to read more about Linde and Rich and follow their story at their blog called the “lost art of simple living”   http://lostartofsimpleliving.wordpress.com/

With that said…here is the story of their “farm” in their words…

I’m Linde (the blogger) and my husband is Rich. We live in a suburb in Northeast Ohio, on a plot of land a little less than 3 acres. We live here with our 2 dogs, and 3 chickens. In our area, 3 acres is a lot of land, which we’ve come to appreciate and nurture. In return, our land gives us food, entertainment, and the ability to live a self-sustained life. We fondly refer to our place as “The Farm.”

I’ve always gardened. I learned it from my grandmother, as a child, living in the mountains of Pennsylvania. When I moved to the city, having somewhere to garden, even in containers, was a must.  When my husband and I decided to buy a home of our own, we lucked into our tiny house with the leaky roof, and a yard big enough to fulfill even my grandest gardening plans. And so it has evolved.

This past summer our garden was about 800 square feet. We had nearly everything, from sweet corn to potatoes, zucchini to beans.  In addition to our annual plantings we have rhubarb, horseradish, red raspberries and blueberries. We usually have so much success that we give a lot away to family, friends and co-workers. This year, people started offering to buy it.

Corn in the Garden

We also use home canning as a way to preserve much of our produce. We make applesauce, apple butter, tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, pickles… You name it, we can it.  The goal is to have enough to get us into the next growing season without buying canned goods from the store. Having a pantry full of canned goods definitely saves us money. We don’t eat out as much; we save on the grocery bills, and eat healthier overall.  No chemicals or artificial preservatives. We know exactly what we’re eating, and that’s a reassuring feeling.  We find that even though canning is a foreign concept to a lot of people, everyone seems to appreciate the improved taste and quality, and lack of chemicals, so we give canned goods away as gifts and favors during the holidays. This year, people started offering to buy some.

The new residents...

We’re currently building cold frames, lighted seed trays and learning about season extension. Most people don’t know it, but you can have fresh greens grown in your own garden at Christmas, even in Ohio! This year, we’re increasing our garden to about 5,000 sq ft. (4 times bigger than our house!) I plan on growing things I’ve never grown before like leeks, and brussel sprouts. We’d eventually like to add a mini orchard with a few apple and pear trees, and maybe some concord grapes.  We built a small portable pen for our newly inherited chickens, and hope to add a few goats to the mix to help clear out our wooded areas of the overgrowth of poison ivy.

My love of gardening, our mutual appreciation for good food grown without pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, and other’s interest in purchasing our produce has strengthened our passion to live off the land. The goal is to start a CSA (community supported agriculture) business, but we plan on getting our feet wet this spring by taking some produce to local farmers markets.

and their fresh eggs

Although we both have professional careers outside the farm, we find more fulfillment and gratification in working our small plot of land, or tending to the animals. One day we hope that the farm will bring enough profit to replace one, or both, of our jobs. Until then, we’re satisfied with a pantry full of homegrown goodness, a fridge full of farm fresh eggs, and sharing our passion for the simple, sustainable life with others.

-  Linde and Rich