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Welcome:  Farm Stays in Washington  |
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Friendly Haven
outthinking
4 Posts
Jacqueline
Venersborg
WA
USA
4 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 25 2008 : 12:36:49 AM
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I'm farmgal #200!
My husband and I have a biodynamic (organic times ten) farm in southwest Washington. We own ten acres and lease another seven from a neighbor. We bought our place seven years ago and are the second owners of this always-organic farm.
We are full time on the farm and run a school where we teach people all kinds of farm skills. Not that we're experts by any stretch. In fact, we're more proof that you can start learning whenever you're ready!
We had a feeling a bunch of people were like us, wanting to get back onto the land and wishing for a way to get their feet wet before jumping in.
Folks stay with us here on the farm and we show them how to bring the farm back home when they leave whether they live in the city or the country. We teach them how to keep backyard chickens and beehives, make raised bed gardens and worm bins and garden year round. We make cider, preserve food, make kitchen cosmetics, milk cows and study up on the uses of native plants. I LOVE doing this!
Come on over to my website and have a peek. I put up a bunch of photos of our cows We've got Miss Amelia, our milking Jersey; Possum, her calf who's part angus and looks just like his brindle daddy; Delilah, our pregnant Simmenthal-Angus; and her nephew calf Maurice, the gangster of love. We've also go 35 or so many-breed chickens, a dog and three cats.
If any MJ gals would like to come visit, oh, I'd be so pleased! We can have a slice of homemade strawberry-rhubarb pie and catch up on what we've been doing all our lives.
warmly,
Jacqueline
Friendly Haven Rise Farm
www.FriendlyHaven.com
Farm Stays -- www.FriendlyHaven.com/whatsnew.html
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Jun 25 2008 : 1:48:02 PM
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Sounds absolutely beauuuuutiful, Jacqueline! Your farm embodies so many of my aspirations. Hope you get a great turnout & come back to tell all...
Jen
Farmgirl Sisterhood Member #9
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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Elizaray
outspoken
680 Posts
Elizaray
680 Posts |
Posted - Jul 01 2008 : 8:35:48 PM
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Jacqueline-
Your place sounds amazing! I would love to hear more about your farming practices!
Elizaray |
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Friendly Haven
outthinking
4 Posts
Jacqueline
Venersborg
WA
USA
4 Posts |
Posted - Jul 02 2008 : 11:45:49 AM
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hI Elizaray,
Our farming practices are unusual. We treat the farm as a living breathing being so every time I do something, we "ask" the farm how that will fit.
For example, when I started beekeeping four years ago, I got a bunch of calls to get swarms of bees. My husband made a bunch of bee hives and I went and got the swarms, put them in the boxes and brought them back to our farm. But then I started wondering about bringing so many honeybees onto the farm. At that point I had about ten hives! Was I displacing the native bees (we have about 200+ different kinds of native bees in the northwest) and would they all have enough to eat or was I overpopulating?
So I gave some hives away and planted another acre of bee forage and we made windrows for more native bee homes and now we're in a better balance.
Balance is big here, figuring out how to best use our land and be respectful of nature at the same time as we grow our food and animals. It's challenging and incredibly rewarding. Asking the farm what it needs/wants is a good exercise for me to stay in touch with what effect any changes we make to our environment are working out, which in turn makes the land more peaceful and welcoming.
warmly,
Jacqueline
Friendly Haven Rise Farm
www.FriendlyHaven.com
Our biodynamic farm is in a lovely little village
in the Cascade Mountains foothills. Yes, you can come visit! Click here:
http://www.FriendlyHaven.com/whatsnew.html |
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Jul 02 2008 : 12:53:07 PM
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If only everyone shared this philosophy, Jacqueline!
Jen
Farmgirl Sisterhood Member #9
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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Welcome: Farm Stays in Washington |
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Farm Stays in Washington
