The Farm

Our Farm has grown since our first year. We maxed out at about 6,400 square feet on .93 of an acre before we moved to our new farm property. We have a John Deere 2320 4 wheel drive tractor with several attachments. A few years back we purchased a plastic mulch layer with drip irrigation. It works extremely well at keeping weeds down as well as water evaporation & consumption down.

We don’t believe in using chemicals. We feel there are other measures that can be taken to minimize risk of disease and infestation of insects while at the same time feed and promote healthy plants leading to a bountiful harvest. We have been spreading manure for couple years now as well as implementing wood chips and have found it to be a great combo for us; for adding organic material and nutrients to our soil. We also will apply liquid fish and seaweed fertilizer throughout the year as well as Neem cake and epsom salts.

Every season we are looking towards the following season with ideas, methods and varieties of vegetable to grow. We used to grow approximately 34 varieties of vegetables with several varieties within that family. For the 2020 growing season we will be scaled back on varieties. Our hands are quite full as we continue to renovate our Pre-Revolutionary War Center Chimney Colonial and our barn. But slowly we will scale up our growing operation year after year.

Teaser: 2020 We are going to plant Christmas trees, Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, Pumpkins and flowers as well as  Prepare for: Apples, Peaches, Pears, Nectarines, Apricots, Plums, . Remember I said slowly 😉

From cherished favorite varieties, we save our vegetable seed to re-use the following season.  In the basement of our old home; our mechanical room we had a setup an area for seed starting. We could set up 36 trays for any plants that need to be started indoors. We’ve been using T5 flourescent fixtures, a couple years back we purchased 2 different LED grow lamps to test out (the jury is still out). On the new property there is an area that used to be a milk processing room that is now demolished, however the concrete pad is still there and is around 16′ x 20′. We plan on setting up a greenhouse here for seed starting. Our hopes are to germinate all our plants in this new greenhouse using only the natural sunlight.

Looking towards the future, we’d like to bring back chickens and make the addition of pollinator bees.

Thank you.

Randy V. Augustitus -Founding Curator Our Farm Our Food®