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Busy Bees

Pictures say it all. There is a good chance this will be the most productive honey harvest we have ever had.

Planting Mulberry Trees and More Raspberries

We were gifted mulberry trees propogated from a local tree, so in the ground they went. The raspberries are sending up shoots to we dug some of them and planted them in between stands of comfrey.

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Peach Trees vs. Deer | Farm Tour This Weekend!

Farm Tour Day

Join Us and Tour Our Farm on June 21st, Once a Year Event

Sharing the story behind an adventure is a great way to share the experience and learnings. Starting the farm has definitely been an adventure. Let us take a hour or two and talk about what we’ve learned and experienced along the way. Much of what we’ve done on the farm can be applied applied in your garden or front yard. Maybe you want to have a few fruit trees. We’ll share how to get started in a practical way.

Every year we do a farm tour day. This is a great chance to meet the farmers and see the farm. in progress. We do tours once per year.

Tickets

Tickets for tours are available at 10AM and 1:00PM. The version of the tour for people wanting to start a homestead is at 3PM.

Click Here to purchase your tickets

Farm tour includes

– detailed tour (family friendly)
– 1/2 lb of honey from our remote mountain location of Troublesome Gap, NC

What to Bring

Just bring yourself and your family and comfortable shoes. We plan to walk on grassy fields and uneven ground.

We are Dirt Farmers and Pesticide / Insecticide Free

If we grow good dirt, then plants will grow and produce abundantly. We use a minimum of organic fertlizers. We avoid the use of synthetic fertilizers. We also don’t use any pesticides or insecticides. We do use natural amendments like woodchips, hay (pesticide / herbicide free) and feather meal.

Diversity of Plants and Trees on the Farm

Let us introduce you to some of the variety of plants, bushes and trees on the farm including

Row Crops
– garlic

Fruit Bearing Trees
– mulberry
– hazel
– black walnut
– figs
– persimmon
– pawpaw
– plumcot
– plum
– apricot
– peaches
– quince
– medlar
– pomegranate
– jujube

Fruit Bearing Bushes
– blueberry
– goji berry
– elderberry
– blackberry
– beautyberry
– goumi berry
– raspberry
– chokeberry / aronia

Specialty
– native cactus (edible / nopales)
– honey bees

Medicinal
– comfrey
– witch hazel
– elderberry

Peach Tree – Victim of Deer
The deer got this peach tree too

Sometimes the farmer fails. I put off adding new smelly stuff stuff to the scent caps on the anti-deer fence and the deer made it into the protected area. The scent caps encourage the deer to sniff the scent cap which is energized. When they smell the cap, they get a mild shock and it scares them and keeps them away from the anti-deer fence. The deer herd is watching and when one the herd gets shocked it discourages them from trying to get in the fenced in area. Changing scents every 90 days retrains the herd. Without that retraining they lose their fear of the anti-deer fence and get inside the protected area.

The deer really liked the tender leaves on the young peach trees. Without the leaves, the trees can’t support the peaches that were growing on the trees so I removed the immature peaches and buried them in the compost pile.


Join Us and Tour the Farm on Saturday, June 21st

Every year we do a farm tour day. This is a great chance to meet the farmers and see the farm. We’ll show you our work in progress and talk about how we do regenerative farming.

Tickets

Tickets for tours are available at 10AM and 1:00PM. The version of the tour for people wanting to start a homestead is at 3PM.

Click Here to purchase your tickets

Farm tour includes

– detailed tour (family friendly)
– 1/2 lb of honey from our remote mountain location of Troublesome Gap, NC

What to Bring

Just bring yourself and your family and comfortable shoes. We plan to walk on grassy fields and uneven ground.

We are Dirt Farmers and Pesticide / Insecticide Free

If we grow good dirt, then plants will grow and produce abundantly. We use a minimum of organic fertlizers. We avoid the use of synthetic fertilizers. We also don’t use any pesticides or insecticides. We do use natural amendments like woodchips, hay (pesticide / herbicide free) and feather meal.

Diversity of Plants and Trees on the Farm

Let us introduce you to some of the variety of plants, bushes and trees on the farm including

Row Crops
– garlic

Fruit Bearing Trees
– mulberry
– hazel
– black walnut
– figs
– persimmon
– pawpaw
– plumcot
– plum
– apricot
– peaches
– quince
– medlar
– pomegranate
– jujube

Fruit Bearing Bushes
– blueberry
– goji berry
– elderberry
– blackberry
– beautyberry
– goumi berry
– raspberry
– chokeberry / aronia

Specialty
– native cactus (edible / nopales)
– honey bees

Medicinal
– comfrey
– witch hazel
– elderberry

Work on the Farm Continues

The work on the farm goes on and everything is growing quickly

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Farm Tours Coming on Saturday, June 21st

Join Us and Tour Our Farm

Sharing the story behind an adventure is a great way to share the experience and learnings. Starting the farm has definitely been an adventure. Let us take a hour or two and talk about what we’ve learned and experienced along the way. Much of what we’ve done on the farm can be applied applied in your garden or front yard. Maybe you want to have a few fruit trees. We’ll share how to get started in a practical way.

Every year we do a farm tour day. This is a great chance to meet the farmers and see the farm. in progress. We do tours once per year.

Tickets

Tickets for tours are available at 10AM and 1:00PM. The version of the tour for people wanting to start a homestead is at 3PM.

Click Here to purchase your tickets

Farm tour includes

– detailed tour (family friendly)
– 1/2 lb of honey from our remote mountain location of Troublesome Gap, NC

What to Bring

Just bring yourself and your family and comfortable shoes. We plan to walk on grassy fields and uneven ground.

We are Dirt Farmers and Pesticide / Insecticide Free

If we grow good dirt, then plants will grow and produce abundantly. We use a minimum of organic fertlizers. We avoid the use of synthetic fertilizers. We also don’t use any pesticides or insecticides. We do use natural amendments like woodchips, hay (pesticide / herbicide free) and feather meal.

Diversity of Plants and Trees on the Farm

Let us introduce you to some of the variety of plants, bushes and trees on the farm including

Row Crops
– garlic

Fruit Bearing Trees
– mulberry
– hazel
– black walnut
– figs
– persimmon
– pawpaw
– plumcot
– plum
– apricot
– peaches
– quince
– medlar
– pomegranate
– jujube

Fruit Bearing Bushes
– blueberry
– goji berry
– elderberry
– blackberry
– beautyberry
– goumi berry
– raspberry
– chokeberry / aronia

Specialty
– native cactus (edible / nopales)
– honey bees

Medicinal
– comfrey
– witch hazel
– elderberry

Harvesting Elderflower

This week we harvested more elderflower.

Elderflower

We also snacked on mulberries

Mulberries, a great snack

I hope you enjoy the pictures

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Power of the Pivot and Failing Fast

Engineers who develop new products often use a term called “fail fast”. The idea behind failing fast is that you develop a plan, build a prototype, and then test the prototype. Instead of trying to build the perfect product you build a prototype with the knowledge that you have available now. This approach especially works when the cost of building a prototype is fairly low and the cost of waiting to build a prototype is fairly high. Farming is a situation where the cost of a small scale test is fairly low but the cost of waiting is high (because of seasons and when you can plant different crops, trees and bushes).

One of the examples of our “fail fast” mentality on the farm is our approach to planting trees. Depending on the species, it can take 3-10 years to get a harvest from a tree that you plant. It only takes a few minutes to remove a tree if it is the wrong tree in the wrong place, but it takes years for it to grow. The cost of planting a tree is usually fairly low in labor, materials and the cost of the tree itself.

We have some very different situations on the farm when it comes to

  • soil
  • water
  • sun
  • wind
  • size of the area which determines the cost and effort of installing an anti-deer fence

The same trees, bushes and plants will thrive in one area but struggle in another. There is a value in learning your land. Things like how wet the soil consistently stays or how microclimates impact different plants.

4 Main Areas on the Farm

Aerial view of the farm including the Food Forest, Cushaw Patch and Field #2
Aerial view of the back field

We break down the 4 areas on the farm into

  • food forest
  • cushaw patch
  • field number #2
  • back field

The conditions in these fields are very different when it comes to soils, health of the soil, sun, water retention, etc. The back field has been the most challenging area for several reasons.

  • the soil is depleted from decades of growing and cutting hay from the field (approximately 50 years) without much effort to improve the soil
  • the low amount of organic matter (which determines how well the soil retains moisture) in the soil means that the conditions swing wildly back and forth between dry and standing water
  • full sun and it can be windy
  • lack of a thick layer of top soil means roots have to work hard to penetrate the hard soil

This means that some species of trees and bushes will thrive in the harsh conditions and some really struggle. Usually the conditions that different plants need is well known and best heeded when selecting and preparing sites.

The Approach

Adding mulch to fig tress in the back field

Generally we plant comfrey with any new tree plantings. We keep going back and forth on whether or not we want to put an anti deer fence around the entire back field or just part of it. The advantage of fencing in the entire back field is that we can plant companion plants (like comfrey). The downside is that we have to install the fence (time, money and effort) and maintain it (which is the much higher cost over time). Mowing around the fence and weed eating around fence post takes a surprising amount of time and effort.

While we were deciding about the fence, we put anti-deer tree cages around bushes bushes and trees that we planted in the back field. This accomplished several things

  • allowed us to provceed with test plantings of several different types of trees and bushes (native and non-native)
  • allowed us to plant comfrey around those trees and bushes (deer like usually like comfrey)

Considerations

We are working to establish a small grove of black walnut trees in the back field. Black walnut trees are native to NC and release chemcials at their roots that inhibit other plants from growing around them. We don’t know if comfrey will thrive at the base of a black walut tree. Once a black walnut tree gets beyond the seedling size, deer usually don’t browse on them. As the tree gets to sapling size deer may rub their antlers against the tree which can damage or even kill the tree. Older trees have tougher bark and less susceptible to damage by deer

We need to keep grass from growing in close proximity to the young trees (especially seedlings). Curretly we use wood chips around the base of the tree. If I have my act together that day. I put down cardboard first then wood chips. The cardboard is a biodegradeable weed barrier. The wood chips also help maintain a more consistent moisture level at the tree roots and eventually compost and add to the organic matter and nutrient levels in the soild.

Time to Pivot

We probably do not need an anti-deer fence around area with the walnut trees, especially if we can protect the tree from the weedeater and deer antlers (later as the tree reaches sapling size). Converting from tree cages to tree tubes shown below would make it much easier to trim around the trees.

Tree tube with stake and black walnut tree
Tree tube with stake and black walnut tree

So I’ve started converting the tree caged black walnut plantings to using a tree tubes. This will make it easier to mow around them and maintain them. We also plan to add wood chips around the trees as mulch with cardboard under the wood chips as a biodegradeable weed barrier. I’ve seen vidoes from other farms that have taken a similar approach. Since these are native trees, they should do well. Now time will tell.

Lessons from the Farm

Even on a small farm like ours the variety of situations, plants, and labor requirements prevents us from using a one size fits all approach. Our approach to finding solutions follows this path

  • develop preconceptions – example: how we think a plant might to in an area if planted in a certain way
  • build a prototype – plant a bush or tree in test location with a specific method – example: plant a tree and put it in an anti-deer cage or in a tree tube with wood chips around it
  • test the preconceptions by observing how the planting performs over a season
  • evaluate the results

I’ve said many times that “I can’t impose my will on the farm”. Following a design thinking approach where we dream, prototype, test, pivot helps us innovate and have happy, healthy plants that produce lots of fruits, berries and nuts.

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Rain is Good / Elderberry Season is Coming

We are happy to see the elderberries starting to flower. As you are driving across eastern NC and you see a clump of white flowers this year, it might be elderberry. They are super common in NC.

I enjoy growing and harvesting elderberries. They make such a distinctive syrup and jelly. This year we have started harvesting a limited number of elderflowers. The picture you see below shows the elderflowers that we freezed dried for use in salve and infused honey.

Right now I’m infusing coconut oil with comfrey, elderflower and beewax to make a salve. This is my first time making a comfrey salve. It will be interesting how the salve turns out.

Sometimes I worry that pictures will get repetitive when I show similar scenes. The trees, bushes, fruit and berries are definitely growing and hopefully that comes through in the pictures. Some of the flower blooms are amazing right now.

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Watching the Fruit Grow

As the springs days progress, the trees and bushes are growing like crazy. I keep thinking I shouldn’t show similar pictures, but I realized those pictures show the progression of the fruit and berries growing and ripening

Activities included weedeating around the honey locust saplings and the trees in the back field. Also adding mulch to trees on the farm. We added a trickle charger to the golf cart. That wil make keeping it charged so much easier.

It is nice seeing our first Medlar tree blooms. It would be nice to have a few medlar fruit to try this fall.

The mulberry trees have sooooo many fruit on them. It will be nice to enjoy the mulberries.

This year we plan to harvest a few of the elderberries and freeze dry them. I’ve ordered an infuser from Levo so we can make elderflower infused honey. Using an infuser will also be a great way to make comfrey salve.

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Creating a Robust Orchard

Guiding the shape of the trees is important from the very beginning. The best fruit trees that have branches that are robust and don’t shade other parts of the tree. A properly managed tree produces lots of high quality fruit. Getting a tree limb to follow the desired shape may require gentle pressure or pulling the limbs in the desired direction when they are younger and more flexible.

Helping create a shape that is sustainable and healthy for the tree
Biodegradeable stick (ha ha) used to help spread out the branches of the young tree for a better shape

We recently received a quantity of 10 of english walnut seedlings. They went into pots where they can grow this summer and get ready for planting in the fall

English walnut seedlings in pots ready to grow this summer

Cannas and comfrey growing near the tractor shed. I’m really surprised the deer haven’t eaten the comfrey since this area isn’t protected by an anti-deer fence

Canna and comfrey growing together
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Scenes from the Farm

Sometimes the pictures are better than the words

Lady bug!
Lady bug running away
Bug having a bad day

It is amazing how fast the young fruit trees are growing

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Berry Bonanza

The berries are growing. There is no doubt about that. This year we have even more varieties of berries growing.

Aronia berries (chokeberry) have even more anti oxidents than blueberries especially the black chokeberries. We have our first aronia berries on the farm and they are growing nicely. Can’t wait to try some later in the summer.

Black Chokeberries (aronia) forming

Our blueberries are still young but they are growing quickly. Hopefully we’ll have enough to enjoy and share

The raspberry bushes have really surpised us with how quickly they are growing.

The blackberries are loving the warm weather and really growing quickly. We have reduced the amount of blackberries on the farm due to how often they need to be picked. It is so nice to have off-the-vine blackberries when we are working on the farm in the summer, so we have kept a few bushes.

The mulberry trees are really getting tall. It is nice seeing young berries on them. Mulberries are very different than all other berries in how they taste, how we pick them and how the berries form on the limb of the trees

Mulberries are coming
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Showing the Blueberries Some Love

This is a busy time of year on the farm. One of the tasks is getting the blueberries ready for summer. We use pine straw as a mulch. Using pine straw as a mulch is a good example of function stacking. The pine straw helps to lower the soil ph (blueberries like low ph soil), regulate moisture in the soil, supresses the growth of weeds and amends the soil as it breaks down adding nutrients and organic matter. The pine straw settles during the next few months, so we pile it deep.

The iris, comfrey, clover and wildflowers are blooming. This year we created a natural area. This was a previously cultivated area that is now fallow. The wildflowers that came up are great.

The last couple of days have been spent mowing grass (grows amazingly quick this time of year), trimming under fences and around plants. We’ve also been watering new plantings and fertilizing. Sometimes new trees and plants don’t thrive but that is vastly offset by the wonderful growth on the farm right now.