Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm
Soil-first farming, building health from the ground up!
With divorce comes countless life-changes–first and foremost is the need for an income. So I’ve taken a job working for Johnny. It’s been a long time since I’ve worked off the farm or outside the home. Eleven years this January, to be precise. It’s been difficult to reconcile myself to the concept of “workin for the man”…
It’s probably the most difficult decision I’ve ever had to make: stay in an unsatisfying marriage in order to follow my dream of farming and pollinator conservation–or walk away from it all and start over in pursuit of real happiness. After the struggle to move Runamuk to the old Burns farm and all of the support…
They say that dogs are “man’s best friend”. And people talk about the relationship between man and dog, but unless you’ve actually experienced that connection it’s really impossible to comprehend just what it means. I’ve been around dogs all my life–my family had a dog when I was growing up, and then when we embarked…
We woke to the first snow on the ground here on the farm! There’s nothing quite like the excitement of a first-snow. The kids popped out of bed, the dogs were eager to go out, and I could resist the urge to snap a few pictures as the sun came up over the Runamuk farm.
This old 1950s Farmall tractor was donated to our farm–it took us a while to find someone to help us move it to the farm, but last Sunday it finally arrived! The tractor came with a number of attachments–including a plow, which I am ecstatic to say will help us keep our 200-yard driveway clear…
Mulching is a key aspect of our organic gardening practices here at Runamuk. Mulch helps to keep the weeds at bay, maintain moisture within the soil, which reduces the need to water, and can contribute valuable organic matter and nutrients, too. Inspired by Maine farming legend Tom Roberts over at Snakeroot Farm in Pittsfield,…
Much of society dreads the coming of winter with its frigid temperatures, long dark nights and back-breaking shoveling—yet farmers and homesteaders alike breathe a sigh of relief that the frantic pace of the growing season is behind us. Sure–winter means shoveling walk-ways and thawing frozen water buckets for livestock—but it also means quiet time, and…
The last few days have been bee-days for me here at Runamuk. I’ve been more hands-off with the bees this year, which is odd for me, but good for the bees I think. However when I began to see bees crawling down the driveway with shriveled and deformed wings, I knew something was wrong in…
We could have bought a homestead better suited to farming, better set up–some New England style farmhouse with an attached barn, or a garage with an outbuilding we could convert into a shed for the livestock. Perhaps it would have had a sprawling pasture, an established garden however humble it may be, and a berry…
A week ago today I was in a frantic frenzy to get the Runamuk homestead de-cluttered, cleaned, and scoured in preparation for an inspection by Maine’s Division of Quality Assurance and Regulations. Marshall Piper, the Consumer Protection Inspector who manages inspection and licensing of home-processing and commercial kitchen licensing for our area was due to…