Self-Sufficiency on the Farm
Acorn and Olive Make The Journey
Just now, the sky above the farmhouse and the mountains is that light blue of dawn. Jet streams crisscross the air, like pilot werecrafting a tic-tac-toe board for the residents of Lovingston. It’s a lovely day.
The sun has just peaked over the eastern mountains, and the light is that golden we only see a dawn and dusk. In the pasture, our two new goat kids – Acorn and Olive – are holding their own against their slightly bossy older sisters, and Boone and Bella have accepted their new charges with little fuss.
I could burst with joy at our little farmstead.
Lately, I’ve been reading Joel Salatin’s This Ain’t Normal, Folks, and I find myself thinking more and more about how to make this place dependent on itself and the local community for our livelihood. I’ve begun thinking about how to build a greenhouse up the hill just above the lean-to so we can grow more food and flowers for more of the year. I want it to be a glass structure – perhaps made from recycled windows if I can find a plan to do that effectively – and one that doesn’t require much electricity or heat.
And I’m thinking about how to compost more effectively, perhaps allowing the chickens to help with the work. And if anyone knows a way to put dog and goat poop to work, PLEASE let me know. Big puppies, you know. . . . 🙂
We already have rainbarrels that Philip built so we can gather the rain for watering the plants around the house, and my hope it to convert the whole bank below the farmhouse into a flower/tree garden so that we don’t have to mow there. In fact, I’d love to turn most of the yard into some sort of landscaping so we cut back on mowing and save fuel.
Our garden is certainly helping with our footprint, of course, giving us season full of lettuce and radishes so far, and with promises of lots of squash, cucumbers (oh the cucumbers!), tomatoes, beans, limas, and melons as the season continues. I’m making my list for fall planting, too. . . . and I’ll be looking for kale recipes for sure, so share if you have them.
We keep coming back to the idea of a windmill, too, since the breeze up from the pasture is so strong and steady most days.
All of this, of course, takes time and money, so we have to be wise and move forward with discretion, but we are moving forward. It’s SO EXCITING!
What “green living” things might you recommend we try? We’d love to hear suggestions.