Chestnuts

It's been a while since I wrote about the farm, but only because we've been busy planting chestnut trees. We have planted about 25 acres in Dunstan chestnut trees.

Step one was plowing and tilling. The earth is so rocky and grassy that tilling is the only way to make the soil workable and give us a good soil consistency in which to plant. Step two was planting (yes, with a shovel). We did auger a few holes for trees on a steep part of the farm where the soil is not in good shape. This was done mainly to prevent the erosion during heavy downpours.

We started planing trees last week, March 30 and finished this morning. The next step will be tree tubes. The chestnut seedlings are 24-36 inches tall. We have ordered tree tubes that are 5 feet tall and prevent deer and other animals from destroying our crop. I'll blog about our crop from last year on another day - it's a little sad. I will say that the trees that survived all had deer scare tape on them. So a thank-you to the scare tape folks.

I'll post some photos after the tubes have been installed. It's hard to see the seedlings from a distance of more than 2 feet. And hopefully we'll see some budding and leafing in the next few weeks.

Green Farmers

I think that farmers must have been the first recyclers. Farmers tend to use their resources until they can no longer be used, and with very little waste.

I was thinking about this the other day as I was helping my husband clean out our new barn. It's not finished yet, but I wanted to separate out the extra pieces of wood that are not being used from the sawdust. My plan is to take the sawdust to the orchard and use it for mulch. I actually learned this from another grower who was looking for a sawdust source. And I realized that everything that I need is right here.

Other ideas for recycling include composting and water recycling for irrigation. I'll add more as I come to learn more about recycling on the farm.

Farming and Family

I have wanted to live on a farm for as long as I can remember. Even in 1st grade, I had a lunchbox in the shape of a red barn. My family used to visit friends of my parents in South Carolina, and I just fell in love with their farm.

Farming, for me now, is really a great family experience. My husband grew up on a farm, and I am always amazed at the knowledge he gained from his family about plants, animals, equipment, soil, etc. He has spent a lot of time passing this on to me and our children.

Raising children here is already proving to be a fulfilling experience. When we work on projects, from clearing land to cutting grass, we do it together. Since we have spent the majority of our time here clearning land, our children have learned much about equipment and have had experiences that I hope that they will remember for a long time. My oldest daughter learned how to drive a truck on the farm. My middle daughter is learning how to operate multiple types of driving lawn mowers. And our son has found that he will fall asleep almost at the sound of the equipment starting up.

Our best days are when we are working on a project. Don't misunderstand, the kids are not always excited about picking up sticks or rocks, but somehow, we usually end up having a good chuckle about something. My hope is that good memories will be made here that the children will, in their adult lives, look back on fondly.