Life, Truth, and Cackleberries: A New Chapter In Our Farm Journey

Hello all! Man how time flies! We cannot believe it is November and we are nearing the end of 2013. We finished our apprenticeship at J&L Green Farm on November 15th.

Our friends and fellow workers from
J&L

It was hard to say goodbye to the dear friends we made while we were there, but we look forward to being able to continue our friendships with them while living in different states. It has been a great year of learning and hard work with highs and lows of all kinds. We definitely feel very confident to start and run our own farm. As a matter of fact...we did! But before we get into that...let us fill you in on how our Freedom Ranger chickens did :) We processed our birds at 10 weeks old. We ended up with 25 birds...exactly how many we ordered! We had such a fun time raising them and seeing them grow up. They were such beautiful birds with the softest feathers. All 25 of them were extremely healthy with no leg problems, no pneumonia, and they didn't peck at each other causing them to loose feathers and look ugly. We tried our best to spend as much time as we could with them and as a result they were some of the happiest and friendliest chickens! They would always follow us around when we went to them and occasionally would just stand there and let us pet them. They loved when we brought them treats like blemished fruits and veggies, apple cores, leftover pumpkins from carving (pumpkin actually acts as a de-wormer for chickens) and any other leftovers we had. And....not only were they a

Freedom Rangers about a week before
processing

pleasure to be around...they were also extremely tasty! When we processed them we saved the feet, gizzards, hearts and livers (we like to use every part of the animal that we can...no waste!). The day we processed them we cooked up two birds for dinner and fried up some gizzards in lard. They. Were. Delicious! Everyone who has tasted them has been amazed. The fat is amazingly tasty, and the skin is even better! Even people who don't usually eat chicken skin couldn't get enough of it. All that being said, we were very impressed with the Freedom Ranger breed and will definitely be raising more.

Back to our farm...On October 7th, our farm, Restoration Acres Farm, became official! We are renting land from/partnering with Josh and Lena Deel's farm, Barefoot Farms and Permaculture. They purchased this beautiful land in New Castle, VA in August and invited us to come join them. Our farm will be working side by side with theirs to not only restore the land, but to produce wholesome, healthy food, to create a place for people to find rest and rejuvenation, to educate others on how to live sustainably, to bring back the family farm, and so much more! We could not be more excited and ready to continue on in this adventure alongside Josh and Lena. They have a passion so similar to ours and we hope and pray that God blesses all of us in our efforts to restore the land, the community, and whatever else we decide to do!

Matt and Josh scoping out the land

Signing our partnership papers!

More specifically, Restoration Acres will be raising a few hundred Freedom Rangers this Spring, as well as hopefully investing in a few stocker calves, and possibly a dairy cow for ourselves and a few families interested in doing a raw dairy share. We want to start small and test out the market before we get too big. The worst thing you can do as a start-up farm is invest in too much without knowing your market and knowing if you can even sell your products. We already have 1, possibly 2 restaurants who are interested in our chicken. And several families as well. For now, we are helping Barefoot Farms get some trees in the ground (we just finished planting around 4,300 total of chestnuts, hazelnuts, black cherries, persimmons, elderberries, mulberries, black locusts, and yellow poplars). The first and most important thing to do when you purchase a piece of land is to dig swales and ponds, and get trees in the ground. As Josh always says, the best time to plant trees is 20 years ago (aka get them in the ground ASAP because it will take several years for them to start producing)!

Planting a chestnut into the berm of a swale

We planted most of them into the berms of the swales and then planted the locusts and yellow poplars along ridges for wind breaks and poplars in the woods to be later harvested for wood and to provoke mushroom growth (particularly the much desired morel mushroom that is attracted to poplars). In the spring time we will be planting fruit trees on the south side of the farm so if you are interested in planting trees and didn't get to make it this time around, no worries! We will have many more opportunities in the near future :) Plans are also underway for a living space/store front for the property. We are hoping to break ground on December 1st and the contractor says he can have the building up by January 1st. Of course, we all know how construction jobs can go but they are putting up a very simple pole barn structure and these type of buildings can easily be put up in a matter of weeks. We are hoping the main structure and walls will be up by then and for the rest of the winter and into spring we can finish the inside while living in it. Basically, it will have an apartment on each side for each family, with a shared kitchen in the middle/back of the building which will eventually be a certified kitchen, and the store will be in the middle/front. We are looking forward to having a lot of events and classes on the farm and in this building to teach people all kinds of things about sustainability, homesteading, and permaculture practices.

As stated before, we cannot be more excited! We will be spending some time with our family this winter before we head back to New Castle in late January/early February to start our business. Family is extremely important to us and since we have been at J&L Green Farm for the past 8 months we thought we should spend some time with family before kicking into high gear with our farm. We will also be doing lots of business planning and reading while we have the extra time :).

As always, thanks again for all the love and support from our family and friends. Ya, at times starting a business can be stressful...but we have been taking it one step at a time and enjoying every moment of it together. Life is short and we both realize that and try to make the most of our time here on this earth. But we will say, when doing something that you absolutely LOVE and have a passion for, and doing it along someone you love who feels the same way......the hard and stressful times are few and far between! God has really blessed us and we hope we can pass on the blessings through our new business and our relationships with all of you! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! Also, if you haven't already, like Restoration Acres Farm on Facebook to stay the most up to date with all the goings on!

Predator hunting once again

Round 2...successful!

Biggest raccoon yet!

Beautiful Freedom Ranger

Pecking at Rachel's boots

Our birdies

Big bird!

Chicken gizzards fried up in lard

Some farm fresh squirrel! Good eatin'

Our visit to the Shenandoah River

Our favorite pig...Big Red!

Celebrating our once-again Virginia Residency

Rachel taking a ride on the tractor forks

Chopping firewood

Who needs straps when you have Andrew?

Going to miss these two!

Matt's last time filling the feed bag

Our humble abode at J&L...all clean and tidy

We had to put our kitten PooPoo down because she was a carrier of Feline Leukemia. Very sad
we will miss her so much but glad she was a part of our lives even for a little while...best cat ever!