Ours Is A Rich Farming Community

Unlike many rural areas, ours is full of businesses that support farming endeavors. Nearby we have  tractor dealers, repair garages and tire shops. Dewart Hay and Livestock Auction is in business  for weekly sales and Frailey's has an equipment auction twice a year. Butcher shops that handle poultry beef, pigs , goats and sheep (more difficult to find because of Scrapie regulations) are within a 40 minute ride. More than one mobile poultry processor, offering on-premises  butchering to comply with USDA poultry processing exemptions (P.L 90-492), are  nearby. Welding, fencing and hauling services are easy to locate. Future Farmers of America, 4H, and Penn State Cooperative Extension offices are active in our community especial and county fairs.

Yesterday's errand run demonstrates the agricultural richness of this area.  Our first stop was Norm's Farm store.Norm is from a Mennonite farming family; one of his brothers supplies some of the feed sold at the gas lit and heated store. Service at Norm's is excellent and customer appreciation days in March, with its discounts, seed company representatives seated at card tables,warm beverages and baked goods, signal the beginning of Spring. Yesterday I picked up two bales of wood shavings,read the ingredient list on a bag of F. M. Brown sheep feed and checked out the community bulletin board.

Next we picked up a load of pine boards at Ed Hoover's Sawmill. All Ed's  sawmill machinery is run by compressed air powered by deisel engines. In spite of the dusty work, the mill is very tidy.  Stacks of uncut logs, lumber and log stickered boules (A through-sawn log with the slices restacked in the order and orientation they originally had in the log) surround the mill buildings.

On our way to Paradise Valley Organic Farm we passed rolling hills and harvested fields, some with shocked corn and others with green winter cover crops blanketing the soil. Bucky Zeigler grows organic grains and sells certified organic feed. We loaded our bag of layer grains from the sheltered stacks at the back of the equipment shed. Bucky's expertise coupled with his local knowledge has protected me from making some greenhorn mistakes.Our last stop was at Clark's ag center for spray on polyeurethane.  Clark's recently underwent a renovation, making it look and stocking it to be more like an ordinary hardware store yet within its aisles there are tools and supplies aplenty to outfit any rural property. Clark's counter staff is quick to search out odd items and many of the employees have experience on their own rural properties so they have much expertise to share.The warehouse staff loads bags of feed, rolls of fencing and scoops of gravel and mulch into waiting vehicles.Beyond our Turbotville area businesses there a other well supported  farming communities within a 45 minute drive. I bought my round bale feeder at the Elimsport welding shop, visited harness shops in both Mifflinburg and Elimsport, attended my first livestock auction in Middleburg and participated in a cooperative extension pasture walk in Mainville. Eventhough long time valley residents say there are not as many businesses as in the past, thankfuly I have been able to address most of my farmstead needs locally.

Using the cistern through fall

With night temperatures in the high 20's and daytime temps in the 40-50's, I can still use the cistern that catches water from the roof of the barn. Because the land slopes away from the barnyard and cistern, I disconnect the hose to let it drain nightly. This mild autumn watering set up is a real time saver over the winter routine of unrolling the hose, connecting and filling troughs, buckets and waterfowl "ponds", draining the hose by lifting it over the fence, recoiling it and carrying it back into the barn. In the winter I could probably rely on the slope of the land to drain the hose but the memory of dragging a heavy frozen hose into the house to thaw has taught me to be overly thorough in draining all the water.

Tools in the barn

Over time I have accumulated an assortment of tools that work in my daily chore routine. The hand truck carries bags of feed, goose pens and Rubbermaid water troughs. The forks, hay-tines up and manure-tines down, move the hay from the round bales, to the feeders then eventually scrape the manure soaked leavings from the barn floor. After time spent cleaning stalls in a horse barn, I like the look of swept floors so the broom is put to daily use and the feed shovel scoops the sweepings for the chicken coop floor. The fish net transforms into a poultry net on the farmstead and is always handy when rearranging birds. The mask keeps my lungs clear of all the dust.The nine barn cats keep our outbuildings free of rodents in spite of an outward appearance of lethargy. In the fall the felines add weight to their sleek frames and  thick coats to protect against the winter weather.Once the weather chilled these lightweight Muck boots replaced my Dunlap rubber boots . When the temperature dips later this season, the heavy Mucks will be called into service.

Corncrib for a season

Our neighbor plants a field of corn annually. Thanks to this year's successful crop and his wilingness to share, I was able to buy half a wagon load, 1 ton, of ear corn. Once the deal was struck (I paid the local auction price for that week) we had to fabricate a storage bin.Ease of access, ventilation, distance from buildings and ground where rodents could find refuge and building materials from on farm stockpiles were  the corncrib design parameters. Locust posts, pallets and chicken wire frame the base which is elevated off the ground, welded wire fence forms the walls and a cable tied tarp tented by a center post hold the rain off.

Hopefully this structure will keep the corn dry for the geese and ducks to enjoy throughout the winter. With hay, fresh water and supplemental feed I hope to support prolific egg laying in the spring.

Visit to Polyface Farm

Last weekend we joined the Lunatic Tour at Polyface Farm. It was a quintessential autumn day with the Blue Ridge Mountains as our backdrop. Daniel Salatin led the tour, answering questions patiently and explaining animal and pasture management clearly within the context of Polyface's goals and environs. Poyface's open door policy displays its stacks of waterers, shelves of batteries, rolls of wire and piles of gravel to visiting eyes. Farming does not resemble soft edged photos in magazine spreads but at Polyface it is orderly and functional.

Because we have never intended the scale of Lilac Hill Farm to be as large as Polyface, I have not read Joel's how-to style of books as a business plan but a source of ideas. Like Polyface we are starting on rocky ground without much fertility and hoping to grow meat in a sustainable manner. We utilize eggmobiles, poultry tractors and rotational grazing. With the side yard so close to the fields the layers are behind netting,not free ranging after the beef. I have not raised pigs since I found out just how fast they can run and my beef mob is a mob of three. Unlike the home farm at Polface we breed our cow, ewes, doe, and poultry to provide replacement stock.Our  greatest detour from the  Salatin model is our focus on grassfed lamb instead of beef.  Fortunately , according to Daniel, sheep work well within the model with adjustments for fencing.

Refining our plans for Lilac Hill Farm was a natural way to pass the time as we returned from Virginia. Mapping out paddocks, with an eye towards facilitating daily rotations on our hard summer ground and integrating the poultry, sheep and beef to better manage pasture, pests and manure were the focus of our conversation. Now that we have started farmsteading, our discussions have more substance, framed by the constraints, chosen for and imposed by LHF. 

Japanese Beetle Grubs in the Hoophouse

Through this door is an oasis of sorts. When the side curtains are rolled down and secured against bleak autumn days I can enter the hoophouse, warmed by daylight and unbuffetted by the wind. The raised beds along the sides and back of the 12' x24' structure are the source of our winter greens. In this third fall with the hoophouse, I am still learning to manage plant varieties and planting dates. 

When preparing the beds for seed sowing this month I discovered Japanese beetle grubs peppered thorughout the beds. Honestly, they give me the heebie-jeebies. I hope that yesterday's applicaton of beneficial nematodes will decimate the grub population and multiply to keep the grub population at a tolerable level.

September planning

Suprisingly September is full of lists and planning. The more lazy August days of moving animals and harvesting vegetables seems suddenly to be looking forward through the winter months and into spring.

The butcher will be taking Penny on Wednesday so the Belties need to be positioned in the barn field, then the barnyard so we can use our loading chute. I would like to have all the grazing animals on the orchard for a few days to pick the dropped apples. The Belties will then be grazing across the road until Blair leaves for her visit to the bull, a frigid snap keeps the troughs from thawing during the day or snow makes tending them difficult. The soil and therefore the pasture on the far side of the orchard is very poor. In an effort to add organic matter to that piece of land I want to keep the ewes fenced there, eating hay and dropping manure, before breeding season wtih Burgess in the well fenced barn pasture. The potatoes must be harvested before I can plant a quick cover crop on the barn side of the pasture where the ducks and geese will be penned for winter nights and released for daytime exercise.

Fall sowing the the hoophouse is underway and buckwheat is growing in the garden beds in anticipation of an October planting of garlic. Once the Three Sisters plot is harvested (no beans, few pumpkins and corn raveged by winds and an exuberate Golden Doodle), I will add composted manure from the run in and plant a cover crop. The asparagus needs to be weeded and cut and a sowing of winter killed buckwheat might help with next year's weeding. The fruit terraces, the location of my canning tomato plants, can be turned over to the goats after protecting the rasberries, elderberries and comfrey.

Like spring, fall is a very hopeful season. I hope that I have stored enough hay for the winter, that breeding is successful, that birthing will not happen during unusually inclement weather, that the fall planted crops will feed us through the cold months and that this planning will keep the livestock healthy.

Managing the north pasture

Developing a plan for improving and utilizing a small pasture on this evolving farmstead does not fit into any manual's list of to do's.

Our north pasture borders the home yard and the orchard. It does not have a permanent fence so for any grazing I need to run polywire on pounded in posts. If I do not get the posts in the ground in the spring or after a soaking rain, the pounding is almost impossible. With easier grazing in the orchard and fenced fields, the pasture can get ahead of me as it did this year, so the hay was cut, baled and stored. Eventually I did get the pasture fenced and the cows and sheep rotated over the ground about 7 weeks after the cutting.

With only 2 cows, a heifer, a calf and and a donkey and obligations beyond the farmstead, my rotations do not look like those described by Greg Judy and the Managed Intensive Grazing crowd. Because the donkey is very protective of the cows, the bovine and ovine cannot graze together in tight quarters and with so few large creatures there is not the dramatic trampling of grasses. Buying enough posts for small paddock creation is costly since they would have to go in when the ground was soft in the spring and stay in the ground through the grazing season. Eventhough I do not move the herd daily, I have seen an improvement in the density and diversity of the pasture over the last couple years.

Next May my pasture will host a wedding so cow pies and rough growth needs to be managed.This event is not covered in the manuals so I formulated my own plan. After removing the fencing, I mowed the field in the hopes that the cut stubble will mulch and improve the soil. Depending on the earliness of the spring, the pasture may need to be mowed, perhaps to be used as green chop or left to mulch the pasture.

Taking this sheep farm to the next level

With my goal of 20 breeding ewes I need to build our flock  I need ewes with good conformation and strong constitutions.A high quality ram is the next step.  Tomorrow I will be picking up my first flock sire; he is coming from a nearby farm with beautiful Katahdins.

This fenced pasture is across the road from the farm proper where the boys will not have visual contact with the girls. I will bring the ram and his companion wether to the girls late this fall.

The woven wire fence eliminates the need to electrify which would be difficult to manage, having to cross the road with an electric service or managing a battery energizer.  I can run a hose in mild weather to the buckets and the hay can be carted over and through the 12'gate.  To preserve the quality of the hay a portable feeder with a roof and 2 walls is planned.

With the expenses of the fence and the breeding quality ram we have upped our committment to this farming endeavor.  It is exciting and unnerving at the same time.

August 11th, another day on the farmstead

Today is a beautiful day on our ridge; it is mostly sunny with a bit of breeze and tolerable humidity.  It is a day to be thankful for, especially since the rains have kept the pastures growing and the cistern full. After the regular feeding and watering chores, I pounded posts and moved the cows and sheep to a fresh paddock behind the boat barn.  The sheep had a slight detour before turning out on the fresh pasture.  I moved them to the stall in the bottom of the barn to check feet and worm, where necessary.  I was pleased that not all of the sheep needed wormer and hooves looked sound. 

The geese have remained in the orchard away from the house yard so they are still free to graze.  Tonight I will lock the chickens in their eggmobile in anticipation of moving them to a new area tomorrow. The Buckeye with five chicks is an attentive mother.  The two biddies sharing a nest have at leat two chicks hatched but have not left the nest, waiting for more chicks. The guineas are attempting to set another nest near the Roma tomato plot.  In spite of a squawking defense, I had to break up the nest.  We do not need more guineas on bug patrol, especially when the guineas add ripening tomatoes to their diet.

The garden yielded basil, hot peppers, Roma and slicing tomatoes and beans for drying today.  I planted buckwheat in the cleared bean bed. I also harvested calendula petals and seeds.  I used the rainwater from the cistern to water the hoophouse. Because there is sediment in the cistern, I need to manually water the hoophouse. Watering time is usually a good time to read.

After a couple days of rainy weather and peach canning, working outside was a pleasure.

What do I do with my summer days, and nights?

The middle of the summer does not have the urgency of lambing season or the cold edge of winter watering and feeding. With the rains of the last few weeks, I am not forced to create a sacrifice paddock and feed hay, while waiting for the pasture to recover. Since Penny did not calve I was able to combine the sheep flock and beef herd without incident. Murphy, our chocolate colored mini-donkey, seems to have settled into his role as guardian not bully. Rotating the animals though the pastures does not take too much time. Pounding fenceposts nearby gives me the opportunity to observe my stock.

Our land is perched on hard shale so pounding fence posts can be debilitating. To make rotating the animals easier, we have decided to purchase the extra posts and keep them in the ground for the whole season, moving the polywire when necessary. Having the temporary fences in place will help us decide where the permanent fencing will eventually be located.

When not gardening and preserving, I scrub buckets and troughs, check for parasites and trim sheep feet, put fertile eggs under broodies and move pens and paddocks.

Last night I woke to the bellows of the cows in the orchard. Grabbing the lantern I walked out and discovered that Harper had escaped to the first paddock, beyond the reach of the cows in the second paddock. A short walk to the bottom of the barn to turn off the electric fence, walk to the orchard to remove the paddock line, and then the dance of trying to herd Harper to her waiting herd. Fortunately the older cows came to my call at the paddock opening to draw Harper to them. Once the Murphy and the fence line were back in place, I turned on the electric and headed back to bed. A benefit of these occasionaly late night field visits is a chance to see how beautiful the night sky is.

Why a scythe?

Choosing to buy a scythe is a rather radical choice in this land of Stihl and Deere yet it may be an appropriate choice for this small property. Beyond the reach of our farmer's haymaking equipment and electric fencing lines, pasture grass grows too tall for the lawn mower and string trimmer. We have avoided purchasing a brush hog because the benefit does not balance the cost, especially since we do not have a tractor to pull a heavy mower. Until now I have donned safety glasses, ear plugs, boots and gloves to run the weed trimmer along the bottom of the fence lines.  I have also gratefully borrowed a friend's heavy trimmer with harness and blade to attack the weediest lines. This hand numbing, ear ringing task is one of my least favorite jobs on the farm and I often avoid it until the electricity is being sapped from the  fence enegizer. In order to keep our aged string trimmer running well I need to learn small engine repair but I do not know if that is how I want to spend my limited farm time. Purchasing and using a scythe postpones small engine repair lessons and lessens my dread of fencerow clearing. 

My mornings of clearing the fencelines have been quiet with no strident motor to compete with farm sounds. Yes, the scythe has worked different muscles but the light blade does not strain my back and periodic honing of the blade gives me a chance to stretch and reposition. Removed from the mad dash to get as far along the fence perimeter as possible before the gas or string runs out, I have been able to check the hi tensile line, watching for areas that need tightening, and observe the sheep and cows in the field.

I have not attempted to clear a swath of grass on a bit of field, the fencerow clearing has been more pressing. Hopefully at some point I will mow with a rhythmic motion and the blade will whisper.

Mowing

There was never a sound beside the wood but one,

And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground.

What was it it whispered? I knew not well myself;

Perhaps it was something about the heat of the sun,

Something, perhaps, about the lack of sound—

And that was why it whispered and did not speak.

It was no dream of the gift of idle hours,

Or easy gold at the hand of fay or elf:

Anything more than the truth would have seemed too weak

To the earnest love that laid the swale in rows,

Not without feeble-pointed spikes of flowers

(Pale orchises), and scared a bright green snake.

The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows.

My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make.

Robert Frost

A return to the farm of my teens

While travelling last week I was able to visit that farm which so influenced my younger years. The parents of my friend are still there , growing vegetables on 125 acres in western NY. The 1 1/2 hour visit on the porch was a treat. There are more tractors, each with its own implement to limit the necessity of changing attachments too often which can be dangerous.The farmyard is still a beehive of activity, evidence of sowing, transplanting and cultivating abound. With trips to the market over and children grown and pursuing their own dreams, the farm stand is self serve and my childhood assistance is no longer needed. When I look at the farm through an adult's eyes, with my own limited rural experience , it is still a place of wonder.  My wonder is further enhanced now that I know that each of those machines require upkeep, planting schedules are vexed by weather, harvest is tormented by pests and a fair price is not guaranteed.The resilience and grit of this couple, balanced with their sense of peace and joy after so many years inspires me to live up to their example and to be thankful for my time on their farm.

Learning to run a farmstead

I did not grow up on a rural property, although some of my childhood homes were in rural areas. My parents were city raised and I was suburbia raised.  My mother liked to garden, canned and froze delicious foods for us and kept the usual assortment of dogs, cats, birds and rodents.My closest friend from 6th grade through graduation lived on a family farm.  I am sure my endless facination with cows in the barn, milk in jugs in the back 'frig, crops in the field, market runs in the evening and customers at the farmstand was odd to that farm family. I loved being there and my memories are wonderful.

Moving to central PA opened the proverbial Pandora's Box to all sorts of rural activities. Visiting small farms, going to county fairs and reading books and magazines like Countryside and Organic Gardening began the search for the kind of farming I would like to do. Since machinery maintenence and repair is not my strong suit I knew that noisy tractors were not part of my future. Our thin soil rests on a shale ridge and our well is not productive enough to irrigate row crops so vegetable production would not be our main focus. Hi-tensile fence, electrified netting and polywire,and rotational grazing of animals all fit well into my growing skill set and tempermant.

Books and magazines, online resources, and the advice of a very active rural community are my teachers. I am so fortunate that we are in a region that has maintained, although not at its former level, farm stores, feed mills, butcher shops, equipment dealers and maintenence garages, and  farm vetrinarians. FFA (Future Farmers of America) is active  in our schools, 4H projects fill our county fairs , Lancaster Farmer reports weekly agricultural news, and PASA ( PennsylvaniaAssociation for Sustainable Agriculture) offers guidance for smaller farmsteads not necessarily researched by Penn State. Amish, Mennonite, small and large farms and people who raise a few chickens, sheep , cows or beef all are part of this rural community.  Many of those with experience are generous with their helpful advise, even in the face of our small farmstead start.

Shelter

Over the years we have accumulated an assortment of animal shelters to accomodate different animals in our different pasture areas. The goat pen, built into the hill, outside the big field accomodates goat brousing the encroaching vegetation.

The poultry pens accomodate for small flocks, laying birds and winter protection.

Moveable pens are pulled into new locations with the help of our Subaru or golfcart.

The run in is situated in the lee of the hill, protected fom the winter winds.

General update

Lilac Hill is a very loud place with the occcasional warning calls of the Guineas, the contented quacking of the penned meat ducks, and the chatter of the bachelor drakes.  

The geese often split in to two groups, each with their own set of goslings.  When the geese wander too far from eachother the gander honks frantically until both groups respond and reunite into one gaggle. All five goslings are avid grazers.

The palsied lamb died last week, leaving her brother Vinnie and the orphan lambs in the care of her mother Maude. The flock of sheep are fenced in the orchard.  The oldest sheep, Maude and Queen Mab are shedding their thick coats and look very disheveled.

One  Saxony became lame last week so she went to the burcher with 2 other ducks.  I have experienced with one drake and I have read that leg injuries in a duck are very hard to heal so before she lost condition  we made the trip.

The Buckeyes are tending 2 chicks in the pasture.  Naturally hatching in the eggmobile, with the brood has been an experiment.  I would like to try this again when we have a broody hen but will probably move the setting hen to a shelter on the ground near the mobile coop. Nesting separately from the regular egg boxes might limit nest sharing too.

Harper dances around the field with her mother, staying away from Murphy and the geese. She has the narrower more dished head of her mother. 

Gretel the goat is the lone animal on the farm.  Murphy has the cows to guard and each species  belongs to his or her own flock, gaggle, brood, brace,confusion or herd. Whenthey are weaned, we will buy another goat or two so Gretel will have her own tribe to brouse at the field edges.

JD Skid Steer

How can a woman who grinds her coffee beans by hand, toasts her bread on the stovetop and prefers a stainless steel percolator, love moving earth with a loud, powerful machine?

Beautiful morning

Chores were a pleasure this morning -- sun is up, light breeze blowing,and pastures are lush. While I was bottle feeding Vanna the February lambs and their ewe, Queen Mab, ambled up to sniff the process. The Saxonies also came up to investigate, most likely wondering when their water and grain would be refilled. Under the last setting goose I can hear the chirps of goslings. Hopefully she has a few to add to the gaggle.

The four steadfast Buckeyes remain on their nests. If they successfully hatch chicks I hope to use the best chicks as replacement hens, to sell if I can find buyers for this heritage breed and to butcher for tender fryers.

Planted fruit and roses, waiting for rain

The fenced hill field beyond the barn is steep. Last year I terraced the hill with the skidsteer and planted rye in anticipation of planting fruit on the south facing slope. Over the course of the last two days we planted 26 rasberries, 2 elderberries, 1 persimmon, 2 Paw Paws, 7 plums, 2 pecans and 2 roses. This is a noteworthy task due to the nature of our soil, as defined by the National Resources Conservation Service as having at  0 to 11 ": channery silt loam and 11 to 24": very channery silt loam.  In case you were wondering, channery is defined as an accumulation of sandstone, limestone or schist with diameters up to 6 inches: used in Scotland and Ireland for gravel. The planting holes were gouged out with a shovel and digging bar, refilled with rich loam from the barnyard and mulched with sheep bedding from the barn.

Tonight we are hoping for the forecasted rain showers.