Tag Archives: Farm

AND THE WINNER IS…….

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All the way from Oregon.  Beth Huntington from Chic Envelopements – Our Farm Crate Basket Winner

We were overwhelmed with the response to our first ever contest – The Old World Garden Farm Crate Basket Give Away.   We had a total of 690 entries between those following us via email, twitter or Facebook likes!

The lucky winner chosen from the hopper comes all the way from the great state of Oregon – it’s Beth Huntington, who follows us from her blog, Chickenvelopements (http://chicenvelopements.wordpress.com/).  Congratulation Beth!

We really want to send a special thanks to all who entered. We had so much fun finding out about all of the great blogs out there and the people who write them!   We hope to do another contest in the future – so stay tuned for details.  Thanks again for making the contest such a success!

Progress on the reclaimed brick patio continues – we’re on the homestretch now!

It’s been a busy week on the farm – we were able to lay the rest of the reclaimed brick for the barn pergola patio – and now are on the home stretch of installing the brick edging to lock it all in.  After that – the sand will go down and we can start to finalize the rest of the landscaping.

A view of the patio from inside the barn.

Now that the garden is in full swing – and mother nature continues to make us water ourselves – our project progress has slowed a little due to the work in the garden.  Nevertheless – we hope to keep plugging away at building our dream – one project at a time.  Have a great Sunday!

Jim and Mary

The Garden Pergola – overlooking the garden – The transplants are finally starting to take hold and grow!


Wave Petunia pot planted on to a stone outcropping on the back retaining wall

Cajun Belle Pepper – A great addition to your garden!

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The Cajun Beller Pepper – The award winning pepper is a great edition to any garden!

The garden is going in this weekend – which is always my favorite time of the year.  One plant that we have tripled up on from last year is the Cajun Belle Pepper.  It is by far my favorite “new  plant” of the last few years – and performed amazing in the garden last year.  We planted just 3 plants on a trial basis  - and after tasting them in mid summer – we both knew we should have planted more!

The Cajun Belle, which was a 2011 All-American Selections Winner  produces smaller 1 to 2 oz. peppers with a mildly sweet and also spicy taste just right for fresh eating, adding to salads or fresh salsa, or our favorite – stuffing them for appetizers!

They mature much earlier than other peppers – usually within about 60 to 65 days – and do great in the garden or for container gardening.

Our Cajun Belle Plants ready to be planted!

Each of our 3 plants last year produced a hundred or more of the small peppers – and they can be picked and eaten green – or as they turn from orange to a bright red.  We noticed that the longer they were on the vine – they became just a bit more spicy. They also freeze well – keeping their flavor and texture when thawed.

One of the great benefits of the pepper is the ease in preparing them for appetizers, salsa or any food dish.   The seed core is tight and easy to remove once the top of the pepper is sliced off – which makes them perfect to stuff or slice.

You can find a great recipe for stuffed Cajun Belle appetizers on one of our earlier posts :

http://oldworldgardenfarms.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/stuffed-cajun-belle-peppers-and-bloody-mary-mix-recipe-of-the-week/ )

So add a little spice and flavor to your garden this year with the Cajun Belle pepper!

Happy  Growing!

- Jim and Mary

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Cajun Belle Pepper pulled last fall – still tons of peppers on the vine!

Happy First Birthday Girls – The Chickens Turn 1

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Foghorn posing for an up close shot - Foghorn just enjoyed his first birthday on the farm

As Jim and I  took a small break last week between tasks at the ‘Farm’, we began to think of where we were last year at this time with our dream.  We sat up under the garden pergola and scanned the property and laughed about the day we spent hours researching how to raise day old chicks.  We had read about diseases, brooders, breeds, feed, etc….   until we felt comfortable that we could become suitable ‘parents’ to day old chickens.

Jazzy checking out the new chicks...

In fact, I am pretty sure we could have written the book ‘What To Expect When You Are Expecting…..Chicks”.

Just like new parents do, we brought them home to their well-prepared brooder and sat and watched them.  Yes,  sat and watched them sleep, wake up for a few minutes to eat and drink, and sleep some more.   We then introduced the girls to our black lab dog, Jazzy.  Now Jazzy is a ‘single child’ and hasn’t had to share love, affection, or snacks with anyone else.   She was very interested in the new arrival and wanted to be a part of the ‘watching’.  Of course, as nature progressed – and the girls got bigger – Jazzy also wanted to see what it would be like to try to put one in her mouth – so at that point – the dog and chicken show ceased!

The coop - now painted brown and black to match the barn.

So the day finally came.  We had finished building their coop and hauled it out the farm as the first “building” on the property.  We secured it with a wire mesh bottom – a brick floor, and a coop run that included burying a portion of the fence in concrete to make sure the raccoons and other predators couldn’t get to them.  And we watched them grow – and grow – and grow.  And every day we would check those boxes  waiting and waiting for that first egg.  And then it came – week 16 – a single tiny egg in the box!  I’d be lying if i didn’t say we jumped up and down.

Ready to lay eggs in one of their favorite nesting boxes.

We had done it – We had raised our girls to be egg layers.  Within another week – they started coming daily – and the chickens were established as our first succesful farm project.

The chickens have been one of the most rewarding and fun projects so far in the short time since we began the “farm”.

Chickens in the brooder - all lined up at age 4 weeks learning to perch

They not only provide us with an incredible bounty of eggs – but do an incredible job of keeping ticks, mosquitos and bugs of all sorts and kinds at bay.  They help control our weeds and give us great “material” to use in our compost pile.

We love sharing what we have learned with others, and how easy it can be to have and care for chickens in your back yard.  It’s somewhat funny – but it always seems that two questions come up more than any others when asked about our chickens.

1) Where is your rooster? and, 2) How did you train them to lay their eggs in those boxes?

Well, as many of you know – you don’t need a rooster to have eggs – in fact – in many cases – such as ours – the hens are much more tame and comfortable not having “Big Daddy” around :)    It also makes it a lot easier when not having to worry about the fertility of your eggs.  It’s pretty simple – no rooster – no checking for chicks!

As for that training part about laying in their boxes…I must confess we have a little fun now and then making up a tale about the intensive training process to get them to lay in the boxes – i.e. – placing music in the box, or special treats – or my favorite – the special “chicken” shock collars we use to train them …. only to break into laughter and let the perplexed faces know that it’s simply nature taking place – and chickens prefer to lay their eggs in those little boxes nests all on their own.    And please, no worries – we treat the chickens like family.  So even if there is such a thing for chickens as shock collars – we don’t use them!

A bountiful harvest of eggs from the ladies

So far – the chicken experiment has gone better than we could have ever expected.  We have yet to lose a single chicken in spite of many raccoon and coyote visitors to the outside of the coop.  Then, of course, the hawk  who came awfully close to snatching one late last fall put a little scare into us all as well.   In the last 365 days – our nine little hens  have given us an average of 56  eggs a week since about the 17th week of their lives – that’s about 2000 eggs – or 175 dozen eggs!  Not bad production for the ladies at all!  We have had plenty of eggs for family, friends and our own hungry kids.  We now sell a few dozen eggs each week to friends who want those great tasting farm fresh eggs – which has turned out to be more than enough to cover our feed and fresh straw costs for the coop (which run about $20 per month on average).

So Happy First Birthday Girls!   Thank you for a great first year on the farm – and here’s to another great one this year!

9′ long and made from recycled barn flooring – our egg sign for the barn.

Building Our Farm One Pergola At A Time

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The very first pergola. Hand built in the driveway before transporting out to the farm.

It’s a bit funny how it all started.  I would love to tell you it was a grand business scheme complete with well thought out ideas, a marketing plan, and great advertising.  A grand plan to build a business that would allow our farm to earn an income, and create a more self-sufficient farm and life.

It was however, all by chance.  You see, after clearing the land for the first time and putting in the raised bed gardens – we sat in lawn chairs in the upper northwest corner of the “farm” and took in the view.   While sitting, Mary simply said…”wouldn’t it be nice to have a place to sit and enjoy the garden and look out at the barn and farm”.

Early spring…the farm pergola with the barn being constructed in the background. Its a great place to sit when you need a rest!

We both liked the look of a pergola over other choices of garden structures like a gazebo or canopy.  The rustic and beautiful lines of a pergola just fit the theme of what we wanted our Old World Garden Farm to be about. Over the course of the next few weeks we looked everywhere to buy our dream pergola.  The problem was, we couldn’t find one we liked. We seemed to have two choices –  flimsy metal canopies that came with a not so flimsy price –  or ultra expensive wood kits on the markets that required the equivalent of a house payment.  So we decided on a third option…design an old world pergola and build it.

This was the view Mary loved of the fence and garden from the first time we sat in the lawn chairs with just an open field.

With no power still at the farm, and much like our chicken coop – we built our farm pergola in the driveway of our suburban neighborhood.  We cut our own pattern for the edges from a piece of cardboard until we liked the curves – then proceeded to cut out the purlins with an old jigsaw.  Looking back now – I laugh thinking how long it took to cut those boards – having to stop every 15 minutes just so the ol’ jigsaw would stop smoking from overheating.  We cut every curve and notch by hand – even cleaning out the notches with a hand chisel to get “just the right look”.    At the end of a couple long days – there she stood –  our “old world” garden pergola – an all wood, all natural hand-built pergola erected in our driveway.  We celebrated by heading out to a local dining establishment for a celebratory beverage and meal.

It took FOREVER to cut these notches the first time with our old jigsaw!

And then it happened  - Mary’s phone rang, and our little business started.  The call was from  parents of our neighbors down the street.  They had just driven by our driveway while we were at dinner and the pergola caught their eye.  She innocently asked where we had purchased it , because like us – she had been looking for a “real wood” pergola.  We laughed and said we looked too, and finally had just built one.  Before we both knew it – we were building another for them.   We built that one in the driveway too – and during the process a note appeared on the half-built pergola asking if we would build another….and then another.  That year, in just a few months we built and sold 15 pergolas…and every single bit of the profits were poured back into our farm.  It was our way to start building the dream.

Our first “sold” pergola.

And so it continues, we built a small website to showcase some of what we build (www.owgarden.com). We added a few more sizes, and a new style of a pergola that celebrates our love of old barn structures that we call the Garden Structure.  We have one simple rule.  Keep it fun and keep it simple.  We still build them one at a time – and always will, although we did purchase a new saw and a few new tools that makes all that cutting a little easier!  We will never build more than 50 a year – so that we can continue to enjoy time with our family and continue to build our farm.  We practice responsible building by using only FSC certified wood.    Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a non-profit organization devoted to encouraging the responsible management of the world’s forests. FSC sets high standards that ensure forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible, socially beneficial, and economically viable way

One of our favorites! A pergola we built for a couple in Ohio.

One of our favorites! A pergola we built for a couple in Ohio.

So whether it’s a CSA,  selling canned or baked goods, raising livestock, growing cash crops, making your own wine or beer – or building pergolas – there is always an opportunity to do things you love and to make a good simple living at it.  We still both have our days jobs – with no immediate plans to stop.  But our ultimate goal, is to have a completely self-sufficient little farmstead.  A little vineyard, an orchard, a full garden, chickens, with hopes of more future livestock as well.  And ultimately – a little bed and breakfast to share it all with others.  For now, our little business is helping us build it that much quicker, one pergola at a time.

- Jim and Mary

“The Farm” – A perspective from a 12 year old.

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***This post is written by Nolan. He is the youngest in the family at 12, and surprised us this past week when he asked if he could write a post.  Here is his post in his own words:

The Chicken Coop – made in the driveway, but now at home.

I have learned that the farm is a place where work is being done and beauty is being made.  You go over the little hill at the top of the driveway and immediately you can see the beauty.  Looking at the farm makes me think of all the hard work and reliving moments over the past few years.  It might only be 3 acres, but it feels like that’s all we need.  In the distance you can see the barn, chicken coop, garden and pergola.

Our first project was the chicken coop. At first I was a little embarrassed.  When we first started to build the coop, it was in our driveway in the city.  Even our high school football coach made a comment on the structure we were building, telling my brother he liked our new ‘dog house’.  The embarrassment came when we told him it was a chicken coop. but now I am getting used to it.

This has been one of our favorite family stories to tell.  Moving that chicken coop out of our driveway and to the farm wasn’t easy.  But with the help of some friends we accomplished it.  I even help get the eggs, and have learned to corral the girls to go back into the coop when it is time.  Don’t tell anyone, but I even asked to go buy more chicks last week.

This is our garden after we planted it in the spring

This is our garden after we planted it in the spring

Then spring came and it was time to start the garden.  This was one of my favorite projects, surprisingly.  There is a variety of food that we grow, but I like the banana peppers the best.  That is what we use to make our Hot Pepper Mustard that I love. I do not like to eat a lot of the things we plant, but they are still fun to help manage.  We got so many vegetables from the garden this year.

In fact, one day we were picking the garden, putting all the vegetables in a wood crate.

End of the season picking day – this is the crate that we filled at least once a day with produce. The one I couldn’t carry – and one Jim had a hard time carrying because it was so full.

I told Jim I would carry the full crate to the car, but when I went to down to pick it up, it was so full and heavy, that I couldn’t.  Then Jim comes over and he could barely pick it up.  Now Jim is a tall and bulky man, so you can tell how much stuff we had picked that day.  This was probably the best project we did.  The whole family was involved, especially the chickens.  They helped clear the bugs and weeds out of the garden, and Mom tells me they ‘fertilize’ the garden too.  After all the dirt and sweat that we put into the garden, it was finally finished.

Almost right after that we made our first pergola.  At first I had no idea what a pergola was, but I did learn quick.  I had to, because the next week I started helping making them make one for our farm.

My favorite pergola

The Barn we built from two old barns

The Barn we built from two old barns

One of the my favorite pergolas that we built was one for my friend’s grandparents. After building it, Mom and Jim were sore and ready to relax.  Well that’s what I thought.

After about two months, they started to focus on our farm.  They said it was missing something.  I guess that something was the barn.  I thought they were insane.  I did not think they could do it, but I knew that they were at least going to try.  They tore down two barns to make this new “recycled” barn.  I thought this barn was going to be just a new barn made with old things.

But I figured out that it was not.  Instead they made an amazing,  old fashioned barn.  After all the hard and painful work, they got it done.

One of my favorite things to do is take pictures around the farm.  In fact, a lot of the pictures they use on the website are mine, which is pretty neat.  Now we look at the farm and take pictures, we realize that this farm is truly paradise.

- Nolan

 

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

Countdown to Wine and Jam

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Dreaming for now...

Ok,  so we may be jumping the gun a little with the title above.   In reality, we only have 6 grape vines in the ground, and those were planted just last year.   But this is the year that we will start to transform the hillside into our little dream “vineyard”.   Arriving in just a few weeks will be our much-anticipated grape vines that were ordered over the winter.  A large majority of our property includes a sloping hill which leads down to the barn, garden, and chicken coop area.  Our long-term plan is to site our future house at the top of the hill, overlooking the property.  From the day we first cleared the land, we began to imagine ourselves sitting on our back porch overlooking a small “vineyard” while gazing down at our barn and watching the chickens roam.  It’s hard to believe that the time is here to begin to make that dream a reality.

Last year, as an experiment, we planted a portion of our first row of grapes – which will be our table and jam grapes.

Looking up from the barn... The hill was covered with snow this past weekend - but soon enough grape vines will be planted, and someday at the top....a house.

These consisted of a few vines each from the Concord, Reliance, and Mars varieties. We planted them in early part of the summer, which wasn’t the most ideal time to plant grapes – but we got them on a clearance sale, and thought we’d give it a try.  We planted 12 in all – with six of the cuttings actually surviving. (we kept hoping for the best with the other six –  looking for growth each week – but we are now convinced they have been converted to compost!).

This year we are on target for a proper early spring planting for the rest of the table grapes and our wine grapes.  Our plans call for a total of four long rows consisting of 10 vines each, spaced 8-10 feet apart, and trellised on poles and lines.

What we HOPE our rows will look like in a few years!

Planting on the hillside slope allows for adequate drainage and for full sun, which is important for the production of quality grapes in the future.  We spent a lot of time researching which varieties of grapes that we wanted to plant, knowing that making our own wine and jam was in our “5 year plan”.   We selected the Concord variety for the jam.  Concord is the most common grape in the United States and is known as a heavy producer and THE grape to have when you plan to make jelly, juices, and jams. The Reliance and Mars grapes will provide us with an adequate amount of table grapes to eat.

The choice for our wine grape - The University of Minnesota's Marquette variety

Our wine grapes will make up the final three of the four long rows of our little vineyard. I guess it’s easy to see that wine may be more of a future demand for us than jelly and juice! :)   We just figure that the teenagers will soon be adults – so our demand for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches will be dropping in 5 years, and they will all be in college – so we will need the wine to get us through!

We considered using the Catawba, an Ohio staple wine grape variety.  However, due to it’s susceptibility to disease, we continued to research other varieties which would work well in our planting zone.  We finally decided on the Marquette grape.  This is a relatively new, cold hardy grape variety developed by the University of Minnesota. It has a great wine heritage being a cousin of Frontenac and a grandson of Pinot Noir.  It’s a high sugar, moderately acidic grape that produces a wine with hints of cherry and blackberry in a vibrant ruby color.  At least that is what it supposed to do – we will see how it actually turns out when we make it!

Although thoughts of sipping our own wine while we sit on that yet to be built back porch is our dream, we realize that it will be at least 3 years before we can harvest enough of the fruit to even make our first test batch of wine.  So for now, we have to concentrate on the task of planting the vines and setting the poles to provide support for them to begin to climb.  Those vines are due to arrive in just a few weeks from the nursery – and yes Jim, that means we need to dig 35 more holes!

- Mary

Our “New” Old Barn – Carrying on Dad’s Tradition

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The Barn - Completed!

The Barn – Completed!

 

Me, our dog Barney, and my Dad’s barn in the early 70′s

Over the past year, one of the most rewarding and yet physically challenging projects for us has been the ever so slow process of building our “new” barn on the farm. The barn is our first “real” building on the property.  (The chickens might argue that their coop was up first – but in spite of their protests – we shall call this the first real one!)

Our barn is the marriage of two old barns into one.  One, a barn we found through an on-line posting that needed to be removed to make room for a driveway.  The other, a sentimental piece of my own life –  a barn that my father built that became a fixture in my parents yard for the last 40 years.

Our original drawing of what we wanted our barn to look like – we were pretty close except for the cupola

Both barns were getting older and in need of some repair – but both had beautiful wood and features worth preserving.  It was a slow process, but with help of family and friends, we worked to preserve them as part of a new barn to serve a new generation once again.

Like many barns of the past – it will hold our garden and farm equipment (in a little lean-to built onto the back).  However, the main portion of the barn is being built to house and share our way of life with friends and family.  The inside will hold a big summer table, a loft and plenty of space for events – such as canning, wine making or holiday parties.  The attached pergola and patio is for an outdoor kitchen where we can enjoy our garden’s harvest and hopefully make dinners in the open summer air.

We began the process at the end of June – trekking our way to Cardington, Ohio to take down a mid-sized barn that we found on craigslist for free.   Looking back – it was probably more than Mary and I could handle – but we stuck with it.  We had our moments – like straddling a half-torn down roof with a saws-all – only to have bats fly out under my legs.  A bit unnerving, but none the less, it gave Mary a great pause to laugh at me as she looked up and waited for me to stop screaming.

Dads barn getting down to the bones.  Note the 36 Chevy paneled truck – my Dad’s prize possession and now being restored by my brother Bob back to its original glory.

A month or so later – we began to take down my Dad’s old barn.  A rustic red barn with a past of its own. You see, it was this very barn that my Dad had deconstructed and moved from a relatives property almost 40 years prior in the fall of 1973.  My father took apart each board – and rebuilt it, where it stood at my parents house until Mary and I took it down to give it a new life once again.  My father passed away when I was just 12 – so it was incredible for me to see Dad’s handwriting on some of the beams and walls where he had painstakingly marked each board to put it back together.

diggin the holes – a long way to go!

Day 1 of the build…setting the poles!

So with both barns down, and piles of wood to work with - the day finally came to start our barn.  We had decided to utilize all new posts and  a metal roof for structural purposes – but to re-use everything else possible from the two old barns from there on out.  With our own design in hand that we developed from our inventory of  ”found” barn wood  - we broke ground for the holes.  We set our first pole in late August – and hoped, at the very least to have a roof in place by winter.

We worked when we could.  After work – weekends – vacation days – a little bit of time here and there to keep at it – and by fall – with the help of some great family and friends…we had the walls and roof up.

We recycled and reused everything we could.  We took my Dad’s old metal roof, flipped it around – and made it into our new lower sides.  We milled down the barn siding boards and made them into our battens for the new one.  The brick floor will be put back down with other reclaimed bricks to make the new floor for the inside, outdoor patio and kitchen.  The list goes on and on…but for us, it’s keeping history alive.

We used Dad’s corrugated roofing to become the “new” lower walls of our barn. We loved the look, and the bonus was that the patina of the painted side really gives the inside a neat appearance

From the Cardington barn we made our two sets of barn doors from the wall and floor boards.- the pergola and outdoor kitchen that will attach to the left side of the barn will be made from its post and beam skeleton.

Our “Farm Fresh Eggs” Sign. We couldn’t wait to put it up after we made it – so it went on before the roof!

Even the nine foot “farm fresh eggs” sign was made entirely from the floor boards.   We have also milled down additional floor boards and beams to create a big summer kitchen table to put in the middle of the barn.  One that we hope will host some big family style “barn” dinners on.

Cutting the big old beams to make legs for the big kitchen table – the beams are almost a 100 years old – but look a the beauty of the wood when cut.

Our barn will be used as a gathering place for family and friends – hopefully for the next 40 years.  We want it to be the centerpiece of our little slice of heaven.

Without the help of friends and family, we would never been able to get so much done! Here my brother-in law Brian helps put the finishing touches on the ridge vent.

This week, we are finishing up the loft and a few inside details, while getting ready to put on the pergola over the outdoor patio space.  Every time we work on it, I know that we both imagine it filled with our friends and families laughter.  We can’t wait till it’s all finished – but we cherish every moment we’ve had building it.

I wonder a lot what my father thought when he took it apart forty years ago.  I wondered if he struggled like we did with removing nails and beams, and in fact – the whole rebuilding process.  In fact – I can’t pass any barn nowadays without thinking about who built it, and what they went through to make it what it is today.  I have so much admiration for the builders and craftsman of our past who built our country’s barns and farms.

I love what building this barn has taught Mary and I.  We have worked side by side every step of the way during the building process – and that is a memory no one can ever take from us.   I’m sure barns of the past that were built by family members had the same type of connection – and it makes me proud to know we are carrying some of the past into our future.

My father, brother-in-law, and uncle working on re-assembling the barn in September of 1973. My brother-in-law Carlton got to perform double duty, as he and his son-in-law helped us tear it back down again this past fall.

I love our new “old” barn.  Every single time I drive into the farm and see it,  I smile.  I remember working through those hot days with Mary tearing down the old ones to make it. I remember all of the scrapes and cuts and bruises building it.  I remember Mary about to kill me as I asked to lay out the squaring lines “just one more time to make sure we got it right”.   And through all of the hard work – I remember the great friends and family who helped us tear down and re-build it into “our” barn.  I remember all of the laughter and all of the fun that went into it.

It was a lot of hard work and yes, all of that work saved us a lot of money…But more than anything – I get to remember by father every time I look at it – and that is priceless.

Our recycled barn as it looks today.

Our recycled barn as it looks today.

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!