The Newfarm Forums

[Kayjulia]

Hi;
Just found this site, and thought I would introduce myself.

I just bought an old Amish/Kentucky farm in south central KY.

I have been here since the beginning of January; survived the winter with wood stoves, oil lamps and an out house. I have been busy repairing the house and getting utilities put in such as the telephone and electricity (one room). I am still working on getting a septic system. There is county water to the kitchen sink.

I started the garden with potatoes, cabbage, lettuce and rubarb. I hope to have the peas in this week also. I have planted seven fruit trees and have strawberry plants to put in when the ground dries as well.

I went to the Amish auction and bought twelve pullets and they are laying eggs already. I also got two geese, they are not happy about the move.

I have so much work to do on this place it seems never ending. I need to repair replace fence lines, finish siding the house; I just sided the back of the house almost completely by myself. I have climbed onto the roof and plugged some holes with caulk and need to do it again. I wired a light in over the kitchen sink now I need to wire the rest of the house.

Somehow I have to get the pastures mowed; I have some horse drawn equipment; haymower, cultivator, hay wagon, hay rake, and one horse lawn mower. I hope to get someone from the Amish community to mow with the mower and their horses. If I get brave enough I may get my own team of drafts to work the place.

Most of January and Febuary I spent spliting wood and tending the stove to stay warm. I am making improvements to the house so next year the wind won't blow through the door and window frames so bad.

I haven't decided what I will produce on this place yet. If I have enough of an income to pay the taxes and the utilities I would feel successful. I will be doing almost everything myself with occasional help from my sister when she is here.

I must say some days I am exhausted from climbing ladders, hammering nails, splitting wood, lifting and carring building supplies.... well you know how it is... there isn't enough time in the day to do every thing that needs to be done.



Kay
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my blog http://oakspringfarm.bogspot.com

[Ohiorganicrganic]

Wow, are you doing all this yourself?

My husband and I bought a small farm last fall after renting a farm for 12 years. Now we are in the midst of doing a lot of planting. Have asparagus and day neutral strawberries in the ground and are waiting for grapes, raspberris, black berries and a couple of apple trees to be delivered sometime next week.

We also have 2 hoophouses up but nothing in them yet There are cukes and zukes almost ready to be transplanted into one but the weather is NOT co-operating. And tomatoes are about 3 weeks away from being ready to go into the other.

We also have some lettuce in the ground along with arugula, cilantro, 3 kinds of garlic, peas (snap and snow), radishes, spinach, parsnips, perennial herbs (savory, chives, garlic chives, tarragon, oregano and lovage)

We got lucky in that the house and barns on our place did not need much work to be functional and also that we moved only 12 miles for the rental farm so we do not have to rebuild a customer base. the best part is we have a building that was made to be a storefront and we live in a busy highway so we will be opening a farm stand by Mid May as well as doing a couple of farmers' market in a nearby town plus a CSA.

BTW the URL to your blog is not working
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Lucy Goodman
Boulder Belt Farm
Eaton, OH
Checked out the blog lately?
http://boulderbelt.blogspot.com