Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm
Soil-first farming, building health from the ground up!
It’s been 54 days today since I dropped off the bulk of my FSA farm loan application with the Somerset County branch of the USDA’s Farm Service Agency. Surprisingly enough, things continue to progress in the direction of ownership of the Swinging Bridge Farm for Runamuk. The Story So Far: Making an Offer Negotiations Hesitation…
Announcing Runamuk’s Winter Growing Challenge 2017! The further I travel along this road toward an increasingly sustainable lifestyle, the more I learn about food and good health. I want to provide my family with healthy fare so they can reach their full potential─that was the reason I started gardening in the first place. I’ve learned…
Brighten someone’s day with a gift basket from Runamuk Acres! With raw honey, beeswax soaps and wildcrafted herbal salves, our baskets are unique and useful even beyond the holiday season. Healthful and practical, all natural and bee-friendly, just about anyone would be happy to be blessed with such a gift. It’s a great way to…
There were 9.5 hours of daylight yesterday. Here in Maine the Persephone Period has begun. If Halloween festivities and the celebration of Samhain weren’t enough to indicate the turning of the Wheel of the Year, day light savings really drives the message home. Darkness descends upon the landscape right now at 4:30 in the afternoon,…
With the FSA’s monster loan application submitted for review, and the FarmRaiser party behind us, all focus has turned toward preparing for the winter looming ahead of us. The unseasonable warmth we’ve experienced so far this fall can be deceiving, but make no mistake─winter will come to Maine. When it does I intend to be…
If you are a beginning farmer, a homesteader looking to scale up, or even an avid gardener seeking to increase the efficiency of your labors─don’t miss Runamuk’s upcoming Jang Seeder Giveaway! Beginning on Monday, October 16th, 2017 and running through Monday, November 20th, 2017, dedicated followers and new readers alike can participate to win a…
Yesterday morning I had a meeting with Janice Ramirez at the Somerset County USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) regarding my loan application, their requirements, and the process involved in government financing of the Swinging Bridge Farm. I’ve visited them 2 or 3 times before, but the representatives there are always patient and kind; they seem…
I’d all but given up on the Swinging Bridge Farm, accepting it as being out of my reach and beyond my control. However, sometimes in life, good things come to us when we least expect it. I was in the process of letting it go─wrapping my head and my heart around the idea that it…
After 12 days of agonizing back and forth negotiations with the Seller of the Swinging Bridge Farm, I learned last night that they are hesitant to make a commitment with me at this time. When I received the news last night I was at Johnny’s after hours with a few devout supporters who joined me…
Having spent several years now pouring over real estate listings in search of my own forever farm, I have become painfully aware of the cost of farmland. Farmland prices are rising, and good land for farming is becoming increasingly scarce. This has serious implications for the future of the nation’s farm economy and farm system,…