We are incredibly blessed that not only did Jonathan’s father inherit the family farm, but that Seth is willing to let us use the farm for some of our hairbrained schemes. Not only is he willing to let us use it, but he enthusiastically gets on board with some of our more sane plots.
This year we will be beginning a journey to bring the family farm back into production. Most of the tillable ground is rented out to one of our local farmers and is on a corn/soybean rotation. But we still have acres of ground that we are able to start working on. We have some thoughts on what we would like to start with down there.
Seth and I have been causing trouble already this winter. He has had bees down at the farm for several years now. This winter Seth brought me a giant bag full of books about raising bees so that I can help him continue to grow our little apiary. Honey is delicious and nutritious and I am excited to learn more about raising bees and collecting honey. Seth and I also attended a seminar through Ohio State extension about starting out in raising hops. While a lot of the “maximum yield” type practices they talked about are a little out of our reach for right now, we learned enough that we can start conducting some of our own experiments in raising some hops using more affordable and easier to manage methods.
Jonathan and I also really enjoy livestock, so eventually we will be adding some cattle, goats, pigs, etc. to our little funny farm. This one is a little ways off because we need to be able to be at the farm more frequently for this to become feasible.
This year Jonathan and I are also going to be putting in a large garden at the farm full of delicious fruits and vegetables. My parents always have an awesome garden and so do Jonathan’s. Seth is looking forward to trying some different things with extending the growing season using a low tunnel system this year as well! We all enjoy canning and making jams so we are hoping to produce enough food this year for all three families to have for the whole year! Eventually we would like to be able to take some to some of the local farmers markets and sell some!
We are certainly looking forward to finding what works well on the farm and what doesn’t! It will be a year of adventures for all of us
Angel Farms Homestead 