Introducing...

It is official: We are a farm! Or are in the process of (re)creating one. 180 years ago when this land was settled it was farmed by the family who traveled to it by ox cart, who built this house. It is exciting to be returning a portion of the original property to its roots.

Depending on how you look at it, this is either a few months or years in the making. We started seriously considering the option of starting a farm business last Fall and were able to participate in a class through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park's Countryside Conservancy in November that gave us a framework in which to explore the possibility further. But more fully, this is a progression from our years of growing interest in homesteading, sustainable, simple living, and being involved in the process of growing and raising our own food and more recently being able to share some of this food with others as well.

Our decision to take this step has several motivations, on both personal and societal levels.

At the most basic level, we enjoy this work. It is what we wish we had more time to do. It is what gives us a sense of satisfaction, of having done something of value. It feels real and good. Our hope is that in the future we will be successful enough for both Jim and I to be able to work full-time on the farm. To be able to integrate our work and family lives. For the time being it will be my project, with Jim's help as much as he is able on top of his current work.

As we've gotten satisfaction from growing and raising food for ourselves, so also we have felt satisfaction at being able to provide friends and family with some of our extras. Our current food system in this country is rapidly reaching the point (or, you could argue has already reached the point) of unsustainability. The need for more small farms using sustainable methods of production, producing food for local markets is growing rapidly. For us to start a small farm, then, is an opportunity to do our part in changing the food system for the better, to meet the need for good quality, sustainable and local food in our surrounding communities, and for us to put our skills and passions to better use.

As our farm - far from the 150 acres it was at one time - is just under 3 acres and about two thirds wooded, we face some unique challenges. By necessity we will have diverse products and within those we will have the opportunity to learn how to work intensively and efficiently. We are excited to learn as we go how to make our farm as closed a cycle as possible - using the land as efficiently as possible, using outputs from one enterprise as inputs in another, finding the ways that different systems work together and even enhance each other.

This year we are starting with some basic products that we have experience in: a market garden, chickens for eggs and meat, honey, maple syrup. We will be planting berries this year, and preparing for a small orchard as well. Several other possibilities are on the table for later in the year or next year as well, awaiting more research and getting the basics underway. We're also exploring options for the "off season" that might use some of our other skills.

It is an exciting time, and a time of held breath and crossed fingers. With Spring just around the corner we are gearing up quickly. Chicks have been ordered with plans for additional orders soon, seed catalogs have been poured over and soon there will be seedlings sprouting ...somewhere..., bees have been inspected once (one hive gone, the other now fortified with extra honey), the layers are laying and the sap is running.

We are working on a farm website which will include a blog if you'd like to follow us as we build this new venture. We hope to share it with you, as community is an essential part of this journey: what makes it all the richer and more full of life.