StarLight Farm Blog 2013 (the third year)

2012 was very busy as expected. An activity that was a little un-expected was our increasing involvement in the Local and Organic farm movement. As we studied and listened more and more to the testimonies and writings of Organic Farmers around the world who have been struggling with large corporate pesticide and herbicide producers, we have become more  concerned with the effects at our own farm. It seems to us that some degree of activism is necessary as the pressure mounts against the survival of small organic farm operations. We are working hard to revitalize and heal our property and I have to say we can see the results. An apparent example is the healthy and growing bird population on our farm. Many of the small sized inhabitants (ie: bee's and birds) are dramatically affected by the overuse of pesticides. The symbiotic relationship of all our farm inhabitants is becoming more tangible by the month. As a result of this, we felt should we expand our buffer zones and so we purchased 3 more acres of property.

Beyond that, we have had all the activity that we could handle. 2013 should be interesting as we start to see more of the direction where we want to go. Plans for this growing season include: Expanded Strawberry planting, 2nd year of Asparagus ( we will be able to harvest some this year), expanded potato planting, (very successful last season), more Sorghum, (we plan to make syrup on a larger scale), sheep and cattle, (we have been working on repairing fences and fixing up the barn, still not completed) and the addition of two more bee hives, (should arrive soon). There will be more as we go, but hopefully we are narrowing down our endeavors to the things we really enjoy. We will see!

Late Fall 2012, this is the Pecan harvest crew, the pecans were plentiful with 4 trees dropping nuts. The squirrels were great competition. (I look grumpy, but really wasn't)

New workers keep arriving, but they are so small! Here is our next grandson, Ernie, with a brush getting ready to clean out a chicken waterer.

Typical Late Fall~Winter Scene

This old tobacco wagon was given to me by my kids on Fathers Day. I have become attached to it. This is a load of organic chicken food and worm castings.

This plate is on the front of the wagon.

The farmhouse in Winter

We had an ice storm this winter and the overhead cover over the chicken run was drooping with ice.

As winter wears on, the advance of sun set is a welcome sign of spring approaching

During winter, alot more time is spent in kitchens talking about work, as opposed to doing it. (our middle son Gabriel in Toby's house)

Our oldest grandson Kingsley is the resident naturalist. He likes to spend time in the woods with Susan, making observations about the micro and macro forest environment.

We don't get but one or two snowstorms during the winter, but plenty of fog.

Here it is! Our one snow storm this year.

Yep.....

Winter blooming Camillias, caught by the snow. This is a very southern image.

Three days later!

Enough fooling around, Its February and time to plant Peas.

And potaoes....

The farms two most reliable farm hands working on planting potatoes

One thing about child labor, sometimes they get sidetracked

January 28, our newest arrival. Finally a Girl! Princess Leonie Maria, in the lap of her grandfather.

One of the hundreds of spectacular sunsets. Looking toward daughter Abigail and Pietros house and son Gabriel and Jessicas house.

 Spring-Mid Summer

I have to say, we haven't experienced such an ideal Spring for a long time. Beautiful fragrant sunny days, and cool nights. Planting season came on early with a gradual warming without and radical late frosts or freezes. We started our 3rd planting season with high hopes and a level of confidence that we had not had before.

When the asparagus starts pushing up through the warming earth, its a definite sign of spring.

Dogwoods in Bloom.

The Patio garden in Spring Bloom

We built some raised beds for growing herbs. These two have garlic growing in them..

What would spring be without Lilacs?

Our garden planting, we decided to use a paper covering (degrades in one season) with hole punched thru for the plants and for weed control. Will report back on that at end of summer.

The strawberries we planted in the fall, bore wonderful fruit in the spring. Strawberries are a total success on the farm and we will be expanding again next year.

The same can be said about sweet peas as said about strawberries. Very successful and expanding next year.

We managed to make jam for the winter.

Let go of my hatstring!

Digging potatoes is always fun. Like digging for buried treasure. Farm-hand Kingsley is helping.

Some nice new potatoes in the StarLight kitchen.

As we launched into our planting season, a series of events changed the course and nature of our summer.  The first event was that we attended the Christening of our daughter's daughter in Sicily. It was a wonderful trip (as it has been each time) and both families got together for the celebration of Leonies birth. There was a christening in a little church on the Island of Merritimo, Sicily. The event was charming and beautiful.

The Island of Merritimo is a place that takes you back in time...

Here she is: the object of much adoration

The Christening was held in a tiny island chapel with most of the population in attendance.

Family is the cornerstone of Sicilian culture. Here I am with the Leonie's great grand father.... (a renowned fisherman in his day)

So when we returned from Sicily, we were "chompin at the bit" to get back to planting and finish up. NOT to be..... when we arrived in Greenville, we discovered that our original house in located in town, that had been up for sale for a couple of months, had a buyer and wanted us out of there in less than 30 days. We had to scramble! 15 years of accumulated stuff all had to be sorted through, and moved out of there. What a nightmare! By the time we finished we had lost half of our planting season between the Christening and the selling of our house.

But one thing is sure on a farm, there is plenty to do....... We decided to move along to other things that needed attention. Like getting bees and cows and repairing fences, enlarging the barn.........

Susan bought and assembled new hives.

We bought a new design hive. Susan is the bee keeper of the farm.

Then a swarm of wild bees arrived in the orchard

Susan capturing the swarm

We also own some woods that the naturalists of the family like to explore. We made a primitive road with the tractor for going on walks.

Our middle son Gabriel is a natural natruralist.

Here he is with two apprentices

                  On our big field, we planted a cover crop of rye to overwinter. We got a good stand and in late spring we mowed it down for the next crop.

Cutting down the rye with the bush hog.

This field is almost too big for our tractor. Just have to allow a little time to work it.

                                The first part of Spring was close to ideal, coolish nights, sunny days, with intermittent rains to supplement the sun.

"Fast approaching rain storm" The weather then changed to rain everyday for three weeks. No problems for us because we are high and have fast draining soil, but for other farms, not so great.

Here you see the condition of our road for almost a month.

                                                    That's it for the SPRING REPORT,  next, the summer gets HOT and we get cows!

One of the big non-farm events was the selling of our in-town house and dealing with 13 years of accumulation. This beautiful Citroen came to join us but now spends most of its time idle. I'm afraid we will have to sell it.

A new load of trees for the orchard arrived and sits there awaiting alot of sweat and shoveling.

Once in a while one just has to sit down and take it all in.......

The Bee Project continues to be difficult with failures and deaths of hives. It has been hard for Susan, but she doesn't give up easily.

We are still covercropping our big field, bringing it up to organic standards. Here we are cutting down the winter's rye crop, before we disc it into the soil.

Even though the garden was small this year, there is always something to take into the restaurant.

COWS ARRIVE !   The farm enters a new phase.  We purchased two Dexter cows. Dexters are an old breed originating in Ireland. They are small, slightly smaller than a Jersey.  Their attributes include: sturdy, able to feed on pasture that other cows will not eat, economical to raise, give birth with no assistance, friendly to humans, can be raised as beef or  for their nutritious and high quality milk. They are perfect for a small farm.

Trailer arrives with the cows.

We had to refurbish the barn to get it ready for the new arrivals.

As soon as the pair left the trailer, they started graizing on the lush pasture that we have so much of in the Summer. The cows were a mother and son purchase, we named them Bella and Nero.

A happy pair with as much green grass as they can eat. Our Heritage breed herd will be Grass fed, organic, and non-Gmo.

One of the first things we had to do was to castrate Nero. He will be our first beef cow so he is now a steer. Since he does not have perfect genetics, we did not want him to be our bull on the farm. We had Andy Burlingham, our local farm extension agent come and show us how to do it. It was quick and relatively painless.

We had to remove one of the older broken down fences and replace it with new. Part of the new chores that go with keeping cattle.

"Ranch Hand" Gabriel Albanese helping with the new fence. Alot of whats been done on the farm is due to his assistance.

In this part of North Carolina, harvest comes early, as the intense summer heat tires out the plants by August. A friend brought apples to us for cider making.

Pears from our orchard getting ready for cider.

Working the shredder.

Pear harvest occurs in August here, very, very hot time of year. Farmhand Kingsley couldn't resist sticking his head into the cool water that the pears were soaking in.

FALL ARRIVES

We discovered a wild Persimmon tree near our woods. They are delicious, but you better not eat them until ripe. Talk about puckering!!

We plant our strawberries in the fall..... they overwinter and take off in February...

Farmworker Kingsley with his custom rake

transplanting of the baby strawberries

Susan and Kingsley made this collage of Autumn leaves and flowers

Our Pecan harvest this year was outstanding, partly due to the attention we paid to harvesting daily.

Pecans for pie on Thanksgiving

We picked up 5 of these 5 gallon buckets from one tree.

This Pecan cracker was a good purchase, cracks and shells the nuts in short order.

My snowbird brother and his wife arrive around this time of year in the flight south from upstate N.Y. As retired ranch owners, they always pitch in on some heavy work like filling up our wood pile.

As fall concludes and early winter begins, the work
winds down and its time to enjoy the warmth around the house.
Christmas comes and we can meditate on the good
fortune we have had and the enjoyment of living
a rural outdoor lifestyle.

Kingsley cuts our Christmas Tree (he's growing up)

our "wild" Christmas tree...... marks the end of 2013. A good year!