Reclaiming the Land: Making the Most of Seven Acres

There’s more than corn in Indiana, you just have to look for it. The fertile soil lends itself to growing crops so most level ground has been cultivated and is planted with corn, soybeans and the occasional wheat field. Sometimes you’ll see something else growing but not often. Rarely do you see wide open pastures for grazing. In Indiana, pastures are generally relegated to land that is too steep and rocky for row crops.

This old house was once part of a large farm including hundreds of tillable acres, now though it lays claim to a mere seven, half of which are a wooded ravine with a winding creek and a small spring-fed pond. A century and a half ago when the original house was built it must have appeared to be the ideal location for a homestead with its water source and ample supply of wood for heating.

The pasture behind the house and just outside the barn had sat unused for generations allowing the undergrowth to take over. Last year’s drought made it abundantly clear that we need to have more space for forage. In order to renovate the pasture for grazing the first order of business is to remove some of the trees since not much can grown in dense shade.

Just like the pioneers, the stockpile of firewood will not go to waste. It will be used in the new woodstove the guys installed in the workshop over the holidays. No more excuses that it is too cold to get any work done.

Obviously we cannot bring in heavy equipment to till the ground back there so the only option for planting is overseeding. When rejuvenating a pasture by overseeding  it is easiest to let the animals overgraze the area first to clear it. Over the past year the goats cleared the bigger stuff and the alpacas came in and did a fantastic job as the finishing crew. I can assure you they’ve eaten every living thing out there and asked for more.

 

Soil testing is the next step to determine our fertilizer and lime needs. The local county extension service should be able to help with that in addition to providing information on which type of forage grows best in this area. Once we determine the results we will make the necessary amendments.

We have to factor in the nutritional needs of our animals before selecting which grass or legumes to plant. Llamas and alpacas have different needs than more traditional livestock such as cattle. Availability of the seed is also a consideration. I have determined that an orchard grass/white clover blend would be ideal for our needs and this area. Now I just need to figure out where to get it. As odd as it sounds February is the proper time to start planting. The frost/thaw cycle of late winter helps the seed make contact with the soil. With any luck we’ll start seeing some lush pasture by springtime, which reminds me that I should caution readers that if you try this at home, don’t forget that chickens are birds and birds eat seeds. If you’re not careful they will follow behind you snatching up your pasture seed as fast as it comes out of the seed spreader. Don’t ask me how I know this, just trust me.

Everyone Likes Snacking on Popcorn

Unfortunately Popcorn is her name…

and she’s a sheep not a snack.

“Chomp”

“Crunch, crunch”

“Belch”

She’s the only one I know who wears more of her meals on her clothing than I do.

So I Made These Mittens…

These super bright colorful mittens to use while I’m out shooting photos. I wanted them colorful to remind me to look for color and not just composition.

I used a pattern that included a small slit in the fabric right where the index finger on my right hand is to make using the camera easy. I thought I would model if for you and take a picture to show you how it works… anyone noticing a flaw in my thought process? Because I sure as heck didn’t until I actually put the mitten on and grabbed the camera. Yeah. Houston we have a problem. Uh, I can’t take a picture of the hand that is taking the picture. You’re just going to have to believe me that it is there.

Sometimes I even scare myself.

She’s Large and in Charge

“Awe Man, somebody ate all the good stuff,” said Frankie.

 

“I’ll bet it was that new girl, Minnie. She’s a pig. Have you ever seen a woman eat like that? I mean come on.”

(the room grows silent)

 

“She’s right behind me isn’t she?”

 

“Oh, heh, heh, hi Minnie. I didn’t see you there.”

 

“Yeah, I got that,” she said. “You’d best run, boy.”

Losing Touch With Our Farming Heritage: How Do We Stop It?

I have a dream.

At the beginning of the back-to-the-land movement of the 1970s a group of residents in the rural community of Parke County, Indiana, home to the famous Covered Bridge Festival, decided to come up with a way to capitalize on the small community’s tourism. Blessed with picturesque countryside, beautiful lakes and a bevy of state parks the county successfully brought in dollars with the many campgrounds and recreational activities available. However, this small group of people noticed how day-to-day “rural America” itself seemed a novelty to most visitors and thought they could do even more. They developed an interactive living history museum encompassing a turn-of-the-century village and farmstead called Billie Creek Village. While touring the historic buildings visitors could not only observe but participate in the day-to-day activities. The vision was for the visitor to feel as if they had stepped back in time. School was in session inside the schoolhouse, the blacksmith was busy making horseshoes, and depending on the time of year a person could participate in anything from maple sugaring to rail splitting.

As with so many things in society today, that wonderful vision became distorted, watered-down along the way. The Village has changed hands many times over the years and eventually started being used more as a public park hosting car shows and Halloween parties than teaching people about the way things used to be. It slowly became a victim of the changing economy; most families are now busy working two jobs so the pool of volunteers has been significantly reduced. This is where the vicious cycle began: if there is no revenue to pay employees to do the jobs then there is nothing for the visitor to see. If there is nothing for the visitor to see they won’t come back. If they don’t come back there is no revenue. The facility has fallen into disrepair and the current owners have decided not to reopen this season.

I had the pleasure of volunteering at Billie Creek Village for the past two years, first in the farmhouse as the quilting farm wife and secondly in the log cabin as the rug weaver. The joy of watching children learn to weave and seeing the seed of interest being planted made the long hours worthwhile. What struck me most though, was that despite the conditions of the facility and the current economy, people are still just as interested in rural American life now as they were back in the 1970s, only they are so far removed from that lifestyle they don’t even know where to begin to learn about it. I was disturbed by the number of children coming through the farmhouse who thought it was the rooster that was laying the eggs. This would have been common knowledge when I was a kid, if only because we heard our grandparents speak of it. Now though, it wasn’t only the children - some of their parents didn’t know either.

The one thing that I was asked most often was, “How do I learn how to do this?” It was asked in reference to everything from cast iron cooking to shearing sheep to spinning and weaving. People want more than a five minute demonstration. They want a class. They want someone to show them how to build a chicken coop for their backyard. They want someone to show them how to make their own soap. They want to learn how to spin yarn. And here is the kicker…they’re willing to pay for it! This is where we who live “out here” often miss the boat. We look at those visitors and shake our heads, wondering how a person could survive for 40 years without knowing where their food comes from. Then we walk away completely missing the opportunity to teach them. The opportunities for them to learn simply no longer exist.

“So what’s all this about a dream,” you ask? My dream is to teach them. To preserve the Billie Creek Village vision by converting the museum from a passive demonstration watching activity to a full-blown hands-on learning experience; a folk school akin to the John C. Campbell school of sorts, with weekend long immersion classes in everything from the lost crafts to sustainable farming practices. I think it is a brilliant idea. The only issue is that it would take a village to save the village and I’m just one person. It is a delightful, vivid dream but unless I hit the lottery soon I fear it, like so many other wonderful things about our past, will simply fade away. And as they do, a little part of us will fade with it.

HALT!

Who goes there?

I think Willa might need some doggy decaf.

The Black Sheep

There is one in every family. We call ours Squirrelly Shirley. She is, um, interesting. She would stand out in the crowd even on a normal day yet she always feels the need to accessorize her goth look to the extreme. Sometimes it is a limb piercing her wool making her look like she’s wearing a wide load sign across her behind.

This week it is dreadlocks. It wouldn’t be so bad if she weren’t crazy. She is the least touchable animal on the farm. Helping her remove her accessories proves challenging. She trusts no one.

If she ever got out for a night on the town she’d come home with a dragon tattoo, I just know it.