We start a farm.

Have you ever read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver? Well neither have I, to be honest. My husband and I listened to it on cd on our way up to New Hampshire over New Years weekend and needless to say - we were inspired! Raising your own chickens for eggs and poultry? Growing your own crops to live sustainably off the land? This sounded like a interesting idea...so, we decided that for our 2012 New Years resolution we would attempt to be a bit more planet-friendly and follow in the footsteps of Mrs. Kingsolver - and start our own (albeit small) sustainable farm.

So what to do first?

Plant a garden:
Well, I started by researching seed companies - primarily ones not owned by Monsanto. (if you need to know why Monsanto is the devil - check out this article: http://www.newfrontier.com/asheville/bad_seed.htm) I found a company from Maine, FEDCO, that provided untreated seeds.
So how hard could it be to buy seeds? Holy cow. I had NO IDEA how many varieties, types, brands of seeds there are - so I picked things that I would actually want to eat: tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, spinach, herbs...
I plan on building an indoor shelf (in our southern-most facing window) to grow these plants in the winter, until they can be planted outside in our soon-to-be-garden in the spring.

Consulting Col. Sanders:
While there is a lot to consider when it comes to raising chickens (building a coop and run, feeding, heating/cooling, location, types of bedding, health concerns, breed temperament) I am actually very excited for this portion of the planning.
I hope that building a coop with my husband will be a fun, productive project...
More to come on this!

Composting:
Considering how much food scraps this 3-person family disposes of, and the known benefits of composting - we are going to build and implement our own composter for daily use. Do I know how to build one? Do I know if it can be used in the winter months? Will it smell? I have no idea! But you and I will find out together!

I am very excited about this journey to start our own sustainable farm - thanks for checking in!