*The Farm*
 Learning Garden and Farm Rather than a large production farm we are asking the question, "how much can we grow ourselves on two acres with a combination of wooded, wet, and open land?" Using the principles of permacoulture we are adapting to the land rather than attempting to adapt it to us. Apiary We are getting bees and making honey! The intended goal, mead! Stephen has spent the past year or so learning to brew, ferment, and make all sorts of cultured goods. And this year, he will be getting better at it. By Spring 2012 we hope to have bees! Yurt Project What seemed to be somewhere off in the distant future (build a yurt to for workshops, healing and sacred space) may be closer than we ever thought possible! There is a yurt coming to our land! We are in negotiations for teaming up with a local Red Tent project which is well underway. We began work on the platform that the yurt will rest on. Construction of the yurt itself is almost complete. We intend to have the yurt raised by the end of Spring, 2012.
| Herb Farm Jade has been growing culinary and medicinal herbs for a number of years now. Her apothecary is a combination of local organic herbs she has grown and those she has wild-crafted. At this time our intention is to grow medicinal and culinary herbs on our farm. 2011 was our first year on the farm. We transplanted many herbs from Jade's gardens in Northampton. Chickens Spring of 2011 we got chicks from Amherst Farm Supply. We started with 10 chicks, focusing on dual-purpose heritage breeds, known for their prolific laying and cold-hardiness. One, Mildred, turned out to be our first rooster! He died tragically protecting his flock from a coyote. We got a new rooster named Alexander. Azure named him after that song, "Alabama, Arkansas, I sure love my Ma' and Pa'." Christmas even one of our hens "Fancy" decided to go with Santa back to the winter farm. She has not written. They are great layers! And we have successfully not had to buy eggs since early Fall of their first year! Bio-remediation Project We are currently cleaning up an old neighborhood dump-sight on our land. Don't worry, it's no where near the gardens. Work party 1 was a great success. We cleaned up about 1/4th of the junk. Work party 2 will be even better. Near the hen-house, under a pile of wood, we found another dump sight. This one, less toxic than the other. But still junk! We cleaned one up in a day! A third site was found, a burn site. We have began building a cob oven in its place. Some of the debris was bagged up and used for "bulk earth" to create the mass of the oven. The more nasty stuff went to the dump. |
