I have my list. I know what our farm projects will be for late Fall and Winter. Many might think that colder seasons are a slower time for farm work. Not so. It’s actually a busy time for planning, prepping, fixing and creating. Below is our farm’s goals for the next few months and it does not include daily farm chores, maintenance and animal husbandry tasks. We’ve already completed Fall mulching, garlic planting and garden cleanup, plus more.
- Install a deer fence around the front garden and orchard. This fence will be 8 feet tall and surround almost an acre of land. It’s sole purpose is to keep deer and other animals away from the fruit and vegetables they love to enjoy.
- Beautify the front fence row facing our home with landscaping. Actually, the planting will occur in Spring but in the meantime, we will create a design incorporating a variety of trees, bushes and grasses. All the plants and trees we select will be varieties that are low maintenance and will thrive in full sun. I want to avoid extra mulching and weeding. So with this extra research, my landscaper friend’s support is required.
- Redo the exterior of our older barn and replace the roof. We need to update our barn for the expected delivery of calves in February and March. Our barn will be the home for the mothers and their babies until early Spring. At this time, they will be able to graze our pastures.
- Trim fruit and berry trees. A task that occurs every year.
- Mushroom woods maintenance. This task includes thinning and trimming the wooded areas we reserve for our inoculated mushroom logs. Additionally, trees will be identified and tagged as potential trees for inoculating more logs with mushroom spawn. After identifying the right trees, they will need to be cut and prepped for our mushroom projects.
- I’ll be working with our apiarist (beekeeper) with creating the one hive that I’ll manage. In order to obtain the depth of knowledge for beekeeping, I decided to enroll in basic classes and start a single hive. My hive will be in addition to the many hives the beekeeper manages on our property.
- Tiny Tinker our pet cow will need prosthetics on two legs. She’s a special needs youth that melted our hearts a year ago. You can read more about her story at this link.
- In February and March, dependent on weather, we’ll be collecting maple sap for syrup. We will also have a new list of Spring projects.
- During free evenings, I will be focusing on food preservation. I have a freezer full of berries that were picked this past Summer. Most of the berries I harvest are frozen for Fall and Winter projects. They will be turned into jams, jellies, syrups and WINE.
- Make wine! My favorite task.
A small list but one that contains large projects. It takes a family to manage a farm.