We’re Making Moves and Starting Over! We made the very hard, unexpected, and quick decision to move from our little dream farm in Bellingham, WA and start over somewhere new. It seems like we were just breaking ground on our farm in Washington yesterday. So, why are we making moves and starting over? That’s a tough question the main reason is to be closer to our families. We had other personal reasons as well, but they shall remain private. But here we are, just as things were starting to really get rolling in Washington, starting all over again.
It was around Christmas 2024 we decided we needed to be closer to family and that the time just felt right to make a change. So, we put our little farm on the market…and well by the end of February our farm was sold, and we were on the road moving cross country to south Mississippi. I would love to say it was all rainbows and sunshine, but that would be a horrible lie. After numerous problems, Shifting our move from Ohio to Mississippi, lots of fights, some shady movers, some family drama, the loss of a family member and our sanity. We finally found, purchased, and arrived at our new home in the beautiful little town of Summit, MS. It’s not all bad though, we learned a lot of lessons that hopefully will carry over to our new farm and we love our new little community!
The New Farm
So, our new farm! We at a moment of near mental breakdown, happened upon a property we had considered at the very beginning of this journey. The universe seemed to be talking to us and telling us this is where we belonged. Our new little farm is 37 acres dotted with lots of hard wood, pecan, and black walnut trees. The soil (Dirt) is a sandy loam, but its depleted and almost white! So, we have some work to do brining life back to it. I’ll talk little bit more about our plan for soil improvement in a minute. I found the perfect little five-acre corner of our property to bring our farm back to life. We are definitely going bigger this time!
Some new tools/toys
Because we now have seven times the property, we had to invest in some necessary tools and equipment to make things manageable. The property had been vacant and uncared for, for over a year. The fields were so thick with brush (some over 6 feet tall) you couldn’t even walk the property. Much less grow anything on it. Our first investment was a new Kubota tractor with a rotary cutter, tiller, and mulcher. It took three days and two cuttings to get the field above to get to this stage. It’s also helped to speed along many other cleanup and building projects. The mulcher has been used some, but it’s work is coming in the months and years ahead.
The size of the property and the distance of the new farm site from the house and shop meant forgetting something required long walk. It also meant a lot of lost work time. So, we also invested in a used Yamaha Rhino. The older I get the more absent minded I swear I’ve become. Which has made the Rhino worth its weight in gold! But 4 or 5 miles of forgetfulness everyday adds a lot to the workload. And well, it’s not so bad at the end of the day taking a ride around the property with a cold beverage or two.
Looking to the future
Unfortunately, the universe led us to our new home a little too late for spring planting. Plus, with all the clearing and clean up we were well into July before we could even think about getting the farm ready for production. But by August I had the first planed beds tilled and ready to go for the future. As I said early our soil is more dirt than soil. The fields were thick with invasive angry weeds! Kudzu, American Sycle Pod, poison ivy, pasture grasses, and lots of other thick angry and persistent weeds! Two rounds with the bushhog was an ok start, but the soil was rock hard and still matted with weeds.
So, out came the tiller. We are working our way back to no till, but we will need some tilling in the fall and again in the spring to get our base started. So, over several days and several rounds we busted up the dirt and tilled in the weeds. We racked as much of the roots and trash out as possible (not to worry they didn’t go to waste). We found lots of downed trees and rotten wood during our clearing, so we pilled that up and started our hügelkultur mound. Those roots and weeds we tilled up created a layer in the construction of our mound.
Building the foundation
We then racked up two of our beds into mounded rows. We did that with the expectation that what was to be planted in those areas wouldn’t mind the poor soil too much. That left us with three more beds that would remain flat. Those beds would be cover cropped for the fall/winter. We planted a mix or winter rye, daikon radish, crimson clover, and white mustard.
We also had one partially shaded bed near the tree line that would be the home of our future fertilizer patch. Yes, we are growing our fertilizer in its own bed. We have comfrey, borage, and nettle planted there which will be the basis of our fertilizer.
We have one bed south of the Huggle mound that I had planned for elderberries, but we found six discarded tractor tires in our clean up and decided not to send them to a landfill. Those will become decorative planters with wildflowers and the like to attract pollinators and possibly a water feature. Who knows? It’s a work in progress; it’s just not going to a landfill.
Fighting the good fight
The 80-degree weather here in November has insured our tenacious weeds have not disappeared. No. They have fought back with vengeance. Stunting the cover crops and taking over most of our rows. So, with a lot of weed-eating, countless hours of hand pulling, and “one” day of 27-degree temperatures we have the weeds on the defensive. nature has given us a small hand with lots of fall leaves and grass that is still growing. We set about putting the beds to their winter rest by covering them in shredded leaves and grass clippings. Our hope is that this will also boost the soil a bit and help with water retention as it breaks down this winter.
Our final winter preparation was the creation of our new composter. She’s not pretty, but she was free and made from downed cedar trees and old 2×4’s and T-post found on the property. The picture below was during construction. It has since been “completed”, and we have already started building next year’s compost from the leaves and grass clippings we are collecting. We are hoping that we can get enough viable compost by the spring to not have to purchase any.
Wrapping things up for 2025
Still in the works and hopefully in future posts. We are planning on taking a run at making biochar to enhance our soils health. We are also looking into using some of the Korean Natural Farming (KNF) methods. Especially the fermented weed tea or Fermented Plant Juice (FPJ). We will of course continue our experimentation with the Ruth Stout method, Back to Eden, and other permaculture and all natural options. There are also plans to building a water catchment system, and a few other exciting secrets. We still want to be good Stuarts of our land and work with, not against nature. We hope to have a lot more to share as we take this new adventure