Pesticides
can be life threatening to man and animals, as well as to insects, diseases and
weeds. All of the many hundreds of chemically complex pesticides are toxic and poisonous
to some living organisms---that is their very purpose---and it has been impossible to prove
them all safe for human exposure. Because we eat, drink and breathe right here, we have to
keep pesticides off the farm.
Our
animal manures
come from our own barn when we clean out the sheep pens and chicken coop.
These manures are composted with old Daylily leaves and roots, squash vines,
and all manner of weeds. After a year or so, this rich black material is all we need to get
luxuriant growth in the Daylily, Garlic and vegetable areas. And with its use, the soil
improves from year to year. We also till under several green manure crops such as winter
rye, oats, and buckwheat.
Our membership in the Northeast Organic Farming Association
(CT NOFA) keeps us in
touch with like-minded gardeners and farmers. We share new techniques and ideas about
low-input, sustainable farming practices at conferences, workshops, and farm tours.
We grow an important part of our own food in several vegetable gardens. The apples, raspberries
and blueberries produce a real abundance, and the young pear and plum trees yield well some
seasons. Native Americans lived on these very fields off and on during 40 to 50 centuries,
hunting and gathering at first, farming more recently.
We help to preserve the country's agricultural heritage by growing some of
our own seeds
----squash, bean, tomato, rutabaga, parsnip----believing that we should use locally
adapted seed strains rather than those of international commerce. These non-hybrid strains
come true in our home gardens year after year.
Early spring is when the
lambs
are born. Some white, some black, they chase each other
around the barnyard---what a sight! By cross-breeding Cotswold, Romney, and Finn, our
fleeces are now soft, fine, and lustrous, in lovely shades of near white, gray, and brown.
Diana spins, weaves and knits some of the wool and the rest is sold to handspinners.
The farm provides our livelihood and by treating the land lightly, with respect,
it will continue to provide for many generations to come.
And our participation in the Western Connecticut Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training
(CRAFT) gives us additional
opportunities in the field to help beginning farmers learn about some of the many challenges and rewards of
small-scale agriculture.
