Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm
Soil-first farming, building health from the ground up!
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…
My farmers’ tan is a testament to the amount of time I’ve been spending in the market garden lately, working long hours in the sun and in drizzling rain to get crops in the ground. It’s an on-going process, and there’s also successive sowings to think about–and the fall crops to keep in mind. So…
We’re gearing up to get underway here at Runamuk, we’ve got animals lined up to come to the farm (you know–as soon as the snow melts so that we can build shelters for them!), we’ve arranged for a neighbor with a tractor to come till the new gardens, and the bees are flying! I’m so…
“Determination gives you the resolve to keep going in spite of the roadblocks that lay before you.” –Denis Waitley. Farmers are a ruggedly determined lot. The farmers whom I know personally, are full of vim and vigor, and while obstacles may sometimes get them down on occasion, typically these challenges do not hold them back…
Mother Nature brought us a whopping 12-14 inches of snow last week, forcing me to postpone the first class of bee-school, and while I’m sure we’ll get more snow between now and then, the first day of spring is just 6 weeks away now. Here at Runamuk, Keith and I are gearing up for the…
I’m really excited to announce that this year, Runamuk will be reinstating it’s CSA! Some of my followers might remember our CSA program from 2012–which I put on hold during 2013 in the face of our impending move. I learned a lot about farming and business that year, and we will carry those lessons with…
This is part 3 in our “Establishing a New Farm” series, you can view part 1 here, and part 2 by clicking here. Have you ever met a wealthy farmer? Ever seen a farmer driving a flashy new sports car? or any brand new vehicle for that matter? Not likely. People do not become farmers…
We’re finally moved in at the new homestead and the family is settling back into our familiar routines. With my kitchen unpacked, I am at long last able to get back to my typical Sunday baking habit–admittedly, homemaking (cooking, baking, cleaning, etc.) is not my most favorite of activities, but baking my own breads really…
On Wednesday the new mobile home was brought in to Runamuk. Here she is sitting in the driveway while the Ames crew does some last minute site-prep. This is what the mobile home company designed to be the back of the home, but I decided it will be the front of our home–mainly because it…
I haven’t written in a while, I know. It’s been a difficult summer for me, to say the least. And it’s been hard enough to admit to myself that we’re not moving, let alone admitting it to the world in writing here on the blog. We’ve attempted construction loans with 2 banks, and failed.