Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm
Soil-first farming, building health from the ground up!
Yesterday was moving day for the chicks! At 4 weeks of age, they’d outgrown the large brooder area we’d designated in the garage for them, and are big enough to be in the barn. So with a few minor adjustments to their prospective living quarters, we loaded the pullets very unceremoniously into a large cardboard…
It was a long struggle this summer searching for an indoor venue for the Madison Farmers’ Market to move to once the weather turned cold. This is my third year as manager of our budding market and I’m learning to allow plenty of time for planning and promoting events, so I started on the project…
An acquaintance of mine emailed me recently asking how I can afford a farm, and how can you know what to do to be profitable? Those are two totally separate and totally loaded questions, so I am going to answer the first here, and the second one in a separate post. Lots of people are…
There is a very real need for a feline predator on the farm. Anywhere grain is kept is a sure-fire attractant for rodents. And then there are the rodents who want to get into the farmhouse because: a) it’s a safe, warm place to take up residence, and b) the farmer keeps his food in…
If you’ve been following along with my story you’ve likely already heard about the situation with our local skunk. He─or she─took out a clutch of half a dozen chicks a couple of months ago, and since then he’s been terrorizing the beehives and digging up the lawn all around the farmhouse in search of grubs….
Yesterday marked the start of the fall session of my bee-school. I loaded my laptop, and a variety of beekeeping gear and equipment into the back of my Subaru Outback and drove to Skowhegan and to it’s high school where I was scheduled to teach more than 20 peoples about the basics of beekeeping here…
Next Saturday’s salve-making workshop has been moved to Saturday November 7th and has now become a soap/salve-making combo workshop. With the holiday season just around the corner, it’s a great time to learn these skills and still have time to make some fantastic gifts for family and friends. Participants will learn the art of soap-making…
After a number of mornings last week up at 4am to work on a new power-point presentation for soap-making, Saturday’s workshop went off without a hitch. I am relieved and ecstatic. 2 women came to the farm Saturday morning to learn a new skill. We began with a tour of the farm and apiary, I…
I excused myself from the farmers’ market yesterday to spend some quality time with the farm. Perhaps that sounds funny, but to this farmer there is a very real need to spend time outside in nature, working the land that I have devoted myself to. Having to work off the farm means that there are…
Imagine that you’ve finally settled down on the couch for the evening after a long day─I’ve been getting up at 4am to work on presentations for upcoming workshops before I head to the orchard. When I get home from work I usually try to spend another 2-3 hours working for Runamuk, so by 7pm I’m…