Building our farm has brought many unexpected challenges. It's been dirty, difficult, dangerous and expensive. It's easy to idealize the quaint little old fashioned farm - chickens roaming, bees humming, apples drooping - but there's another side to that story: For the last five years we've had an ongoing battle with 3 monsters. Poison ivy, … Continue reading How we Keep Deer Flies and Horse flies from biting – NO Chemicals
Restoring our native prairie has been one of the most exhausting and frustrating experiences. Read on to see what's happened in the past 3 years and where we are headed next. We chose to restore the 12 acres of tilled field to native prairie in order to restore the land. Our farm has been cropped … Continue reading Native Prairie Restoration Years 1-3
Native hardy shrub for difficult soils and terrains. Great for pollinators and birds.
This is the story of how we went from owning 1 cat to 7 in just three months. Sometimes, the most exciting things are surprises.... We'll start at the very beginning - 8 years ago we adopted our first cat. She is a silver/gray siberian forest cat. Big and hairy. Our children were young and … Continue reading Is there such thing as too many cats?
Staghorn Sumac and smooth sumac are hiding in plain sight! They are amazing plants for pollinators and overlooked by almost everyone! Smooth Sumac and Staghorn Sumac are common "roadside" plants in North America. They are pioneer plants and quickly spread by rhizomes to colonize erosion prone areas. They are unique looking shrubs, grow without maintenance, … Continue reading Staghorn Sumac – A blessing to bees and humans
