trusty combine

Deluge or Drought

Our rye cover crop starting off strong, it will protect the ground from erosion and sequester carbon while adding vital nutrients to the soil. Deluge or drought (and we’ve had both this year), there is a rhythm to the farm year. We are nearing the end of harvest, with the non-gmo crops and the organic…

Mt Folly Farm Irrigation

Things Dry Out Fast!

Boy, did things dry out fast! For the past month, we have been irrigating the hemp crop and our vegetables for the farm-to-table restaurant at the distillery, opening this fall. The last of the hay is getting cut and rolled, and we wait impatiently for a part of the silage chopper, which broke after we’d…

Hemp Transplants

Behind On Planting

Christian, Laura, and Ben admire the hemp transplants. It is June 1, wet, and I don’t recall being this far behind on planting, though I know my memory can trick me.​ Our Austrian Winter Peas, which we plant before organic corn to fix Nitrogen and then plow under, have made a crop! Yesterday, walking the…

Baby Goat

We Made It Through Winter

We made it through the winter without any big disasters, and are gearing up for another season. Calving and kidding started March 1, so the farm is happy with young calves and young goats. We haven’t had problems in either herd. Most of the spring seed is ordered, some is delivered, the fields are limed,…

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May – High Summer, 2018

We finally have some dry weather, and harvest is on. We’ve got our Cobbler variety of CBD in the barn, and finished our organic corn today. Our organic yellow corn goes in the grain bin, for sale in 2019. Our organic Bloody Butcher is cleaned and sacked, ready for the granary, which we’ll fire up…

Mt Folly Farm Plants

We Need To Get Planting

March and April 2018 It has been a cold, wet spring, and we need to get planting. We’ve weaned the fall calves, fixed everything that needed fixing, and spent two months slogging through mud, and more mud. Right now, the guys are testing the flame weeder, our weapon against weeds in our organic fields. March…

Laura Freeman

We Finished Our Granary

January 2018 The big news for January is that we finished our granary, and started grinding heritage cornmeal and grits for local sale. We’ve sold some Bloody Butcher to a Ky. Distillery, and tried some for Wildcat Willy’s, perfecting the grain blend for our new distillery in our hometown of Winchester. Our goal is system…

Our 2017 Farm Year

November – The month started out with rain, which came to a sliding stop, and as I write this (December 3) it is pretty droughty and unseasonably warm. We’ve only had a trace of moisture in the last 30 days. This has stunted the cover crops, but allowed us to finish harvest in good time.…