This past week – Mary and I had the opportunity to seat down with a local feature article reporter for a story about the growth of our footling farm and web site , and our end of a more simple-minded aliveness .
I have to admit – it was fun to check and take a little meter to talk about it all – and cogitate how the farm has go from an overgrown field just a few geezerhood back – to provide most of our food and a healthy modus vivendi .
The web log meanwhile , for reasons we still are not certain of , has taken on a aliveness of its own . Going from a few following – to a few hundred – and now suddenly , as we pass the second year day of remembrance of the website , our 47,000 follower and 3.3 one-millionth visitor .
As we thought about it though – peradventure it ’s because our story is something that more and more masses around the globe seem to be interested in doing every day – and that is slow down , being dedicated toliving a more simple lifestyle , and becoming creditworthy for the food that is on their family ’s tabular array .
The Simple Life
We bulge out the dream of our farm with just four dewy-eyed guideline – and they still carry true today and into the futurity :
1 . Build a sustainable farm , garden and homestead with zero debt.2 . Be creditworthy for the majority of the food we eat through growing , canning and preserving.3 . Use salvaged and recycled materials wherever and whenever in our building and projection on the farm.4 . More than anything else – have FUN doing it .
So we thought for today ’s Sunday Farm Update – we would take a spirit back and share three of the major highlights of the journeying thus far :
The Barn Project
likely the most difficult in term of labor and opinion was the barn project . The raw farm needed a b – the struggle was how to do it on a tight … well , fine … non - existent budget . Oh yes – and we wanted it to have character!(See : The Barn Project )
The answer was looking to the past – have down two old barn to build ours . prepare it even more exceptional – one of the barns was that of my dad ’s – who had shoot down down the very same barn 40 years prior to build his on a budget . The other was a barn we found free for the taking if we were willing to take down .
It was n’t easy . It was hard , strong-arm work . But we did it – and we had sport doing it . We built the b for a little less than $ 500.00 – using one-time roofing for the bottom railroad siding , and re - planing boards for the board and batting side . There was more than one time we were totally lost in the summons – but somehow – that barn place upright proud today – and is emphatically the centrepiece of our farm .
Since that initial construction – we have been able to lend our patio and out-of-door kitchen – again using reclaimed brick and more odd - over wood . We also habituate the barn ’s roof to collect water into our rain assembling system – which supplies every single bead of water we habituate the farm – for free . ( See : Our Rainwater Collection System )
The Chickens And The Coop(s )
The chickens have become the stars of the farm – and one of our favorite speculation .
Since the commencement – they have provided fellowship and friend with an interminable supply of nut – and of track , our garden with some of the best compost around . They are always a favorite of any visitor – be it a tiddler or grownup !
Our very first coop was built almost for free from pallet and shipping crates – a topic that we have used time and metre again to build whatever we need at the farm on a budget.(See : build Our Farm With Pallets )
When we outgrew that chicken coop for a gravid flock – we create our 2nd and lasting coop from recycle baseball bat and materials as well – while our original coop found another life a few nautical mile away on another start - up farm .
I have to hold – maybe the craziest we ever feel was trying to raise the new chicks at our house before they were sure-enough enough to take to the farm . We construct a small brooder from pallets ( Shocking , is n’t it ? ) – and keep them in the garage of our suburban house – getting more than our share of foreign looks from mass pass by seeing poulet in the neck of the woods . 🙂
The Garden
The garden is the staple that provides most of our intellectual nourishment – and where we love to be ! We opted for all raised seam rows – a system that is not only cheap to make – but passing efficient and productive.(See : How To make A Raised Row Garden )
Most receive it hard to believe that we do n’t own a rototiller – and that we expend no more than 15 minutes a day keeping it up . But it ’s truthful . The garden provides us not only with refreshful food for thought in the spring , summertime and fall – but is the basis for all of our canning too .
base made salsa , alimentary paste , blistering pepper mustard , picante , tomato ketchup , pizza sauce , and rows of corn , green beans , diced tomatoes and tomato succus fill our canning cabinet each year – and allow for great taste food the yr round for our folk .
That alone is enough to make the garden our front-runner !
set goal And Finding Time :
There is always one dubiousness that comes up during any audience about the farm – How do you find the sentence ?
And our answer is the same every time . It ’s never strong to make time for what you love – and we roll in the hay the farm and everything it represents to us . From the get - go , two things have keep us concentrate – our annual goal setting lean – and a 15 minute a day approach shot .
As each year winds down in December – Mary and I take some metre to contrive out 24 goals to execute the next year . Putting it down on newspaper has really served well to keep us on track.(See : 2014 Goals List )
As for the 15 minute of arc approach – we endeavor to spend at least 15 second at something for the farm every day . It keep things manageable , keeps them moving , and quite honestly – works for us ! you may always wedge in 15 transactions of your Clarence Day to do something you have it off .
Sure , there are times when we are prosperous enough to get in long twenty-four hour period process at our dream … but the substantial headstone is to always do a little something every sidereal day – as with almost anything – perseverance trumps all .
The Future
So – with that said – we still have a recollective way to go … and honestly , I go for we always do . Some mass look at us in mental rejection when we say it – but it really is the journeying that makes it fun . As for that immediate future – we still have a mint of dream to finish off . The grapes are head into their 3rd yr now – and hopefully we can be making our first home - made nursing bottle of wine-colored shortly ! The ego - sufficient cabin will go up this summer(See : The Cabin Project ) – and hopefully , if everything goes to plan – someday , we will finally work up our theatre at the farm .
Thanks to everyone who has comply along on the journey – we truly savour share the integral OWG Farm experience – and desire we have many article and projects to share in the coming yr !
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Happy horticulture !
Jim and Mary – Old World Garden Farms
