Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm
Soil-first farming, building health from the ground up!
Autumn 2018 has been a growing season for me on a deeply personal level. These darker days of the year are a time for self-reflection, and somehow, with the purchase of the farm now behind me, I finally found myself strong enough to deal with some healthy confrontation. I turned inward this fall, embracing the…
December is practically on our doorstep and with it comes the start of the 2018 Winter Growing Challenge! Woot woot! I’m looking forward to growing fresh greens inside my home again this winter: shoots and sprouts─maybe I’ll even try my hand at some microgreens this year. With 2 teenaged boys to feed, the additional source…
Page 82 of the 2019 Johnny’s Selected Seeds catalog is about recommended lettuce varieties for hydroponic growing─but you’ll also find my own smiling face there! That’s right!! Johnny’s has chosen to feature little ol’ me as a valued provider of knowledgeable service in their Call Center! When Amanda Terenzoni from the marketing team initially contacted…
I’ve decided to offer up the opportunity for farm and apiary apprenticeships beginning with the 2019 season. Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!!! Having other people on-farm is a big commitment for both Runamuk and my family, and not something to take lightly. Ultimately though, I know I’m going to need the help if I’m to grow my operation to…
It’s going on 3 years now, that I’ve been fermenting chicken feed in winter. Each morning I take a bucket of “porridge” to the coop for the Runamuk laying flock. The ladies absolutely love the sloppy feed, and I like knowing that they’re getting the best diet I can give them─producing superior eggs for my…
October is a tricky month for farmers. One day it’s mild and beautiful─you take pause to admire the spectacle of Maine’s glorious fall foliage; the next day the temperature plunges, the wind picks up, and the threat of snow looms in the forecast. For the last few weeks I’ve been walking this line between preparing…
It’s mid-October, the temperatures outside are dropping and the beekeeping season is winding down. Runamuk’s 2018 farm-season has certainly been one for the books, mainly because this was the year we finally made farm-ownership possible─but for honey production it wasn’t the greatest of years. Even still, I’m happy with the way the season went and…
My farm is a wondrous and enchanting place that has fast become my magical talisman. Like a romantic fantasy-land come to life, complete with bewitching fawna, otherworldly creatures and an energy running through it that both captivates and mesmerizes. She is beautiful, so vibrant and full of life. With every caress of wind on my…
Last week was all about cover-cropping the garden here at Runamuk. The chickens had completed their work and I had my new broadfork, along with some seed to put down; there’s something particularly intimate and romantic about working soil, so I was especially jacked up for the project. Aside from the continued focus on the…
Since closing on the Hive House nearly 2 months ago I’ve been jacked on farming. There’s so much to be done, and so many things I want to do! Farming is a drug I just can’t get enough of. Each morning I awaken eager for the day ahead, and for the chores and projects I…