The whole reason for having a farm it to grow things, right? In the close to two years I’ve been here, we’ve harvested all kinds of stuff. Here’s what we have been harvesting lately.
- Hay – Growing hay has been one of our biggest projects here on the farm. It starts each year by hand-weeding our 15-acre hay field to remove weeds and invasive plant species, some of which are potentially toxic to farm animals. Once the hay is ready to be cut and baled, we need to act quickly before it rains because once it is cut, if hay gets wet, mold sets in and nutritional value is lost. Due to the logistics, currently hay harvest is the least human-scaled aspect of the farm.
- Hops – Planted in the 1920s, our Cluster hops are still going strong a century later. We recently harvested our first crop. Currently, we have a freezer full of dried and vacuum packed hops ready to be sold.
- Blue elderberries – These grow wild on our farm. Just like our hops, we have a nice supply of them in our freezer, vacuum packed and all ready to make into syrup, preserves, wine, or mead.
- Green beans – Our farm garden has blessed us with a bounty of both Blue Lake and Violet Podded beans, all organic.