Hand-crafted Homestead

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Our woodstove is in the basement, where the heat rises naturally to warm the main floor. A small room in the basement holds our canned goods, and another insulated, closed-off area makes a dandy root cellar. The lower level also provides space for our wringer washer and washtubs, a clothesline for wintertime laundry drying, and a few more modern touches, including a freezer and our recycling bins.

Grass-based Farming

Mother Nature conspired with us to create an agricultural acreage that is a little different than the traditional farms in our area. We own and rent about 400 acres, which are home to many kinds of wildlife, and that forced us to make a choice. We could grow grain crops and prepare to fight off the deer, turkeys, geese, raccoons and other wild creatures that would compete with us for the harvest, or we could change our way of looking at the life of a farm. We chose the latter and decided to switch to grass-based agriculture.

We have a sheep flock of about 250 ewes, which swells to between 600 and 700 sheep during the summer when our lambs are also on pasture. By spending our resources on fencing instead of chemicals and plowing, we have improved our grazing land immensely and still produce most of our own livestock feed in a mixture of grass and hay. We have found that the sheep are healthier on a diet of diversified grasses, legumes and shrubs and that the environment benefits from this total retreat from monoculture.

We spend our springs and summers moving sheep from one paddock to another, allowing the plants recovery time before they are grazed again. We use a combination of electric fencing and personal vigilance to protect our livestock from the coyotes and bears, which we believe have an equal right to live on this land. For added protection against predators, we have a llama, Carlos, who stands watch over the sheep.

Local and Home Foods

Growing our own food supply for year-round consumption has always been a goal, and each year we take a step or two toward accomplishing this. For years, we have grown all the food we need, and we are gradually increasing the production of foods that fill our wants.

Each spring, when we plant our garden, we put in seeds or plants for a few new crops. Recently, Joan Dye Gussow’s book, This Organic Life, gave us the impetus to try sweet potatoes for a second time. We had planted a few slips many years ago with no results, but Gussow’s reliance on this staple food crop in New York’s Hudson River area convinced us that we could find a variety that would prosper in our similarly cold climate. Last year, we planted ‘Georgia Jet,’ and we had a magnificent supply of long, orange-rose tubers.

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