Tag Archives: pasture management

When the Weather is Gorgeous…the Daily Farm Adventures {90}

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After a steamy week in the 100s, the summer has cooled off again and this past weekend was gorgeous! Beautiful! Sunny, high 80s, Virginia hot but not humid! At least not that we noticed, we have a higher tolerance than some folks. {smile} So naturally we got a lot of outside work done. We weeded and mulched all the flower beds. (And noticed a few spots that need a little more TLC.) We scrubbed and filled water buckets for everyone. (And enjoyed a few minutes just admiring the cows.) We … Continue Reading…

Chicken Hoop House Maintenance…the Daily Farm Adventures {88}

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For the 4th of July we went camping (and got rained out) and then spend the whole day Sunday on some farm upkeep (and catch up!). The WHOLE day. Meaning, I walked the dogs at 5:30 am, then went straight in to cook breakfast, we got dressed, and headed out. It was sopping wet, but we managed to get a lot done, before the clouds rolled in at 5:30 pm. (If you’re thinking about homesteading, might I recommend Muck Boots. There’s pretty much no other way to survive, trust me!) … Continue Reading…

In the Green Grass…the Daily Farm Adventures {87}

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This will be a busy week here at The Lowe Farm. We have Vacation Bible School at church and the kiddos will be in class while Mr. Fix-It and I will be teaching another class. So this weekend we prepped a week of meals, did a lot of laundry, and did a lot of camo painting to get ready. Have you been following us on Facebook or Instagram to see all the #vbsprep pictures? What we didn’t get done, was any mowing! It’s acceptable right now, but by the end of the … Continue Reading…

Figuring Out Food and Water…the Dollars and Cents of Starting a Small Farm

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By far the biggest line item (other than a mortgage) that you’re going to run into with a small farm is the food bill. Poor Mr. Fix-It goes to sleep at night muttering about “more mouths to feed.” Food and water are the bottom line in your small farm enterprise. If you don’t have them, everything else needs to go! Sometimes I feel like we’ve tried everything at one time or another! {smile} Here’s some of our experiences, which might help you evaluate your own options moving forward. Here’s a few feeding basics … Continue Reading…

10 Thoughts on Finding Land…The Dollars and Cents of Starting a Small Farm

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So, in the back of our minds, I think all of us small-farm-minded folks have some kind of Old MacDonald, little patch o’heaven, green pastures and babbling brooks daydream going on when we first envision our place. Or maybe it’s wide open prairies with clear blue skies and rugged, snow-capped peaks in the background. Either way, it’s beautiful. It’s perfect. And when push comes to shove, it’s really expensive. Farming begins and ends with land, and these days land is hard to come by. Even if someone was to walk … Continue Reading…

The Dollars and Cents of Starting a Small Farm

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My post a few weeks ago, when I said that raising your own meat is not really “frugal”, got an interesting response. A lot of folks agreed, and said farming is not cheap. Some readers disagreed and said that “frugal” and “cheap” are not the same thing and that the long-term, intangible benefits make it a frugal choice regardless of the up-front costs. The idea of quality vs quantity. {shrug} I think both are right. It’s expensive, but it has priceless long-term benefits–they’re just not monetary. And obviously we agree … Continue Reading…

Is Raising Your Own Meat Really Frugal?

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I read an article recently about how much it costs to run a small farm, and I have to admit, it hit me all wrong. I love homesteading and our small farm and would never want to discourage anyone from trying it–but I also think that it doesn’t help people to be successful by making it all sound easy-peasy, no big deal, throw some animals in your backyard and suddenly you have organic food for a quarter of the price of the grocery store. Because the ugly side of that is … Continue Reading…

The Grass is Late…the Daily Farm Adventures {41}

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I haven’t written much for farm updates lately. Winter is still hanging on around here. We got a couple hours of snow and freezing rain earlier this week. Yes, that’s right–it’s almost April, in Virginia, and we just got snow! I can’t explain it, and I’m pretty over it. {sigh} What does a long, hard winter mean for the farm?  Well, first off, it means there’s still no grass. Normally our pastures are all covered in new green-up by this point in the year–right now they are just starting to … Continue Reading…

Green Grass and Gate Latches…the Daily Farm Adventures {40}

Walking in High Cotton Posted on by 3

Well, it happens every Spring…the grass in our backyard greens up first and the sheep just can’t get enough of it. Of course, them being in the backyard also involves eating our entire garden and stripping all our baby fruit trees as well, so we usually try to avoid it! {smile} The end of last week was spent with my little one fighting the stomach bug, so I was home on Friday at 2:30 when the sheep all started hollering. That’s kinda odd unless they think they are going to … Continue Reading…

Fixing Fences…and Other Daily Adventures

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Beautiful Fall weather is upon us–which means we have lots of homestead chores and farm maintenance just waiting for a little attention. It’s so much nicer to take on some of these outdoor projects when the sun is shining but it’s not 27,000 degrees plus 1400% humidity outside! And lamb harvest and having customers coming around on a regular basis again is also great motivation to do a little much-needed sprucing up! {smile} Saturday it was actually pretty warm around here for October. I even managed to get a little sunburned! … Continue Reading…

Spreading Seed…and Other Daily Adventures

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There’s two basic families of grass in the world. Warm Season (which means they grown when it’s HOT–June, July, August.) and Cool Season (which means they grown when it’s warm, but not hot–spring and fall.) Most lawn grass (like Fescue) is cool season, which is why you have to water it and baby it so much through the summer. Grasses like Bermuda and it’s close cousin crab-grass are warm season–they like it hot and dry. Which is why you have to fight them to the death every summer while nursing … Continue Reading…

I Spy Something…

Walking in High Cotton Posted on by 3

I’ve been a little under the weather lately. Probably because the weather’s been a little crazy lately. One day it barely gets up to 30 degrees all day and we’re having snow flurries at night, and two days later it’s 55 degrees.  I’ve been desperately fighting off a cold. (Or suffering from a cold that I won’t admit to–I’m not sure where you draw the line on that.) And now it’s raining. Not the pouring, stay-inside-and-sip-tea kinda rain. Oh no. It’s the gray, gloomy, misty, everything-just-stays-damp kinda rain. The smell … Continue Reading…

Rotating Animals

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Saturday afternoon we had to move animals. We actual do this every day or so but it’s nice on Saturday to be able to sort of take our time with it and get distracted chasing black crickets if we want to. The idea of rotational grazing is that you move the animals around the big field in small pieces to keep them from over grazing one area. A few years ago our field was a cotton field and we started the grass from scratch. That’s not an easy thing to do–especially … Continue Reading…

How to Build a Shade Shelter…Again

Walking in High Cotton Posted on by 2

I posted before about how our portable shade shelter blew apart in a recent storm and left us without shade, or shelter. Ok, that might be a little dramatic.  We have other shelter options, of course.  But this contraption represents a major part of our rotational infrastructure.  Field livestock are hardy (especially our heritage breeds) but they still need some basic protection from the elements. Mr. Fix-It’s design fits that bill for 3 of our 4 seasons, so having it up and running is a priority. However, there are some … Continue Reading…

In the Trenches

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Well, be careful what you pray for… We asked for rain, and God sent rain.  On Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Thursday, and Friday…we got a break on Saturday… …Then it rained on Sunday, and Monday…And we’re not just talking a sprinkle.  It rained. But the work goes on. Actually, it weather like this is quadruples. We’ve got muck, and mud, and crabby animals everywhere. Even moving the chicken tractor twice a day didn’t keep the chickens from being wet and soggy and just not happy at all! Our … Continue Reading…