our first year farming- successes and failures- intro

I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at the things we did the year around the farm, and make some notes about what worked well, what didn't, what we need to do more, etc. It's been a big adventure this year. Sometimes I feel like we are standing still, but making this list has really helped me see how much we have accomplished. I can't wait to see where next year takes us.

A few general success failures to start us off:

Success - We only missed one farmers market all season, we sold nearly all of our inventory as soon as we had things to offer, and we were welcomed by the other farmers so openly. It was a great experience working with neighbors we never knew we had.

Failure - We need to make LOTS more mushroom logs. We sold out in August at the Celebrate Catawba festival, where we sold all 6 we brought in the first hour and a half! Over winter we need to make a good stock pile for selling, as well as a stock to keep for ourselves.

Success - We are living a pretty frugal lifestyle, Jonathan and I. We are lucky to have so much help from our families, but we have truly learned to live without much. We realize how much more valuable our time is here than time spent working for a corporation.

Success - For our first garden, I think it went pretty well. Lots of good notes for next year though.

There will be several more detailed posts to come in the next few weeks.

Live simply,

Angela and Jonathan

Comments

a tribute to Zaphod

It has been nearly a month since the untimely death of our dearest kitty. It is late tonight, I cannot sleep and my mind is filled with grief and sorrow still. I have heard it said that loving animals is only setting oneself up for pain in the end. I may have believed it, but until now I have never felt it. Not to say that I have not lost a pet in the past, in fact several, but fortunately they had all lived long and happy lives before old age and illness took them away. This cannot be said for Zaphod. His life only lasted two short years, and it is the knowing he was meant to spend another decade with us that pains me the most. We adopted Zaphod when he was only five weeks old, a tiny grey fuzz ball too small to eat. He refused a bottle or wet food, and we honestly worried he was not going to survive those first few days. After several trips to the vet for IV fluids and two weeks of force feeding, he accept a bowl of dry food for his first real meal, despite my

a new chapter

Things are changing around here. I haven't even finished my cob series, but life just keeps getting in the way. Jonathan and I are currently looking for a new place to call home. Sometimes you have to accept that things aren't working, and do something different. Unfortunately we are going to have to quit our farmers market. We are looking for homes for our animals, and selling off what we can. We will miss everyone so much, but his is a new chapter in our lives. We are excited about finding a place closer to our friends and family, where we can visit and hang out more often. We can't wait to have a house to call our own again, or an apartment, or whatever it may end up being. We haven't had a place all our own since we lived in the studio apartment just after getting back together. I think that was in 2010, whew! It hurts to have to start over, but we are trying not to be discouraged. We have confidence in ourselves and each other, and we're gonna be just fine

the point is

DISCLAIMER: This post contains material that may be considered graphic or inappropriate to some individuals. Continue at your own risk. You have been warned. Ok.Thanks.Carry on. My aunt, my dad's sister, came to stay last night. She has never stayed the night before, in fact we haven't ever seen her too much, holidays and whatnot. Several times a year. She is a nice lady, but she has some issues, we'll leave it at that. My problem is this: as soon as we arrived home last night, around 9:30 at night, after being gone since 9 that morning, the moment we see each other, the first words out of her mouth are, "you're poor bunny rabbits are freezing to death out there!" Imagine my long exasperated sigh here. Having farm animals isn't the same as having pets. I think Jon Katz said it best in a post last week, "I can give them shelter, warm water, good hay, I cannot make them comfortable or keep them warm, they accept their lives." We raise rabbits

luna acres

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