Small Farms

I’m just giving myself a little pat on the back for actually completing 100 blog posts on small farming (and they said it couldn’t be done).  In honor of this momentous occasion (cue the drum roll), I wanted to share some pictures and information about my experience with farming.

I live in upstate New York with my hubby, two kids and a wide assortment of animals.  My husband loves raising chickens and the kids do too - as long as the roosters aren’t in the picture- they seem to love pecking the kids legs, which isn’t much fun.

I’ve raised many animals including pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, cows and horses.  I can’t say I have any personal favorites, though there were a few very personable goats and one horse in particular who had Houdini-like qualities.  As a teen I won numerous county awards in 4-H and FFA and still ponder why I didn’t become a Cooperative Extension Agent.

We have several hundred acres, of which about 75 percent is forested.  The other 25 percent is used for crops, mainly hay, oats and corn.  That is about all that will grow here.  Our soil consists of a thin layer of topsoil, soil, clay and lots of bedrock, which is about one to two feet below the surface.  For that reason, not much else will grow here since it is difficult to establish a good root system for most plants.  Even if the plants can survive the rocks, temps dip to 15-30 below zero during most winters.

That is about the scope of things here.  Wish it was more exciting, but we do have a lot of fun and personally, I’m glad I don’t live in the city anymore.  I missed having large animals and that just isn’t possible when you live in a townhouse!

Henny Penny

Chick Hicks

Clover - my favorite crop

Some views of our farm during the fall:

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