Farm Girl

(A note on the following post: I wrote it a while ago. It took me too long to get the post written and it has taken me even longer to get it posted. I’ve been on the farm for over 9 weeks. So much for expediency.)

So, I’ve been on the farm for two weeks now and I haven’t had a lick of time to update anyone on anything. Farming is intense! I hadn’t been on the farm for more than five minutes before I was learning how to put the chickens to bed. And it kept coming.

But more on the crazy hours, grueling labor, and quirky coconspirators later.

First I want to describe the farm:

It is outside of Mineral Point, WI. And by outside, I mean WAY outside. Middle of nowheresville. The farm itself is huge. Word on the street is 800 acres huge. I haven’t seen most of it and there’s a good chance that much of the land will remain unexplored. From the road it’s a five minute drive down to the house. Very secluded. It’s the perfect setting for a horror movie or a naked hippie moon fest…or a horror movie about a naked hippie moon fest.

I feel a screenplay coming on…

It’s set in the rolling hills of southwestern Wisconsin. Day time. A farmhand walks down a gravel road towards a pig pen.

That’s right. They have two pigs. Who will soon be parents! They live in a large fenced in area and get treated like royalty. Yummy scraps every day. Then comes teepee village –where the teepee sits next to a living trailer and the bonfire spot. Further up the road is the packing shed (where all of the edibles get cleaned and packed for market) which is near the house. A few steps up the hill is a large fenced in area for the little birds –chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese. A rabbit and a llama also live there. And further still is another pen for the big chickens and ducks. This is where the egg collecting happens…mmm…farm fresh eggs. The big turkeys and geese get to roam freely along with the dogs. And the hill keeps going. Along the way are fields of growing edibles, a perennial forest (still new so it’s not yet very foresty), some sheds, greenhouses, and random farm implements. Surrounding the fields is a wooded area where the bees live and make their sweet honey and where shiitake mushrooms bloom. There are other fields and green and wooded spaces further out. I’ve also heard talk of a swimming pond. It is quite the homestead. And quite magical.

Oh, and everything the farm produces is certified organic.

Visitors are always welcome, so come check it out for yourself!