First Blog! Farm History - Present

My first blog post! Here it goes........

This blog will be about my life here on our family farm raising my children, animals, and food in rural Rolette, North Dakota.  I am a nurturer, and also love to create things.  I'm a twenty-five year old business owner of Feral Farm, my brand of hand-made soap, lotion, lip balm and other goodies. Today is the day I officially resigned at my job and start working solely for myself.  This is a bold move.  One that both frightens and excites me. I feel lucky to be where I'm at, at such a young age and hope to accomplish a lot in my lifetime.  In this blog I will be posting a lot about farm life, gardening, my love of good food, animals, values, child rearing, wildlife, sustainability, my business venture, creative ideas, and other ramblings. I'll also include a lot of pictures (one of my hobbies)! 

A bit about this farm's history

My children are the 5th generation of Lunde's to inhabit this farm.  The entire farm is around 186ish acres.  My husband and I own seven where the farmstead has always been, and his parents own the remainder of the farm.  A large portion of the land has turned into a lake.  Curt's dad recalls when he was a child growing up here, the lake was just a stock pond.  The first year we moved here there was a lake shore full of all kinds of neat treasures, like antique bottles. There's even the front end of a rusty old pick-up truck that the lake has since swallowed.  See pics below. The lake has swallowed it's shore completely and is eating away at new land now.  

When my husband's dad grew up here, his father raised sheep.  His mother never worked off of the farm and spent A LOT of her time gardening.  Some of her flowers are still alive and remind me of her every time I see them.  I never got the chance to meet her and only briefly met him before he passed away at the age of 90. I often wonder if they are looking down on us now and shaking their heads at what this farm is becoming, or smiling.  :)  

A bit about this farm now

My husband, Curt, and I have lived here for three years.  The original farmhouse was too far gone to live in, so we tore it down.  That was a sad day. We bought a stick built house from Deneschuck (sp?) homes in Minot and moved it here. 

We grow a lot of our own food and I'm constantly striving to grow more.  Currently, we have around 7,000 square feet of garden.  In the next couple of months we'll have a total of around 9,000 square feet of garden, 2,160 of which will be covered by a high tunnel greenhouse.  A high tunnel is a large hoop house structure that is covered in thick clear plastic.  The plants are grown in the ground.  With a high tunnel, we'll be able to extend our growing season by about two-four months per year.  This is a HUGE deal, since our growing season for vegetables is typically 90-120 days long. We're a zone 3 here, the harshest growing zone in the US, so we are very limited in what will grow well here.  The high tunnel will allow us to cheat a bit!  My in-laws are building one as well on their part of the farm and have even more garden space than we do.  Wow! We preserve a lot and eat a lot of our produce fresh, but also sell at the Rolette Farmers' Market in town during the summer. The Rolette Fermers' Market Facebook page is www.facebook.com/rolettefarmersmarket

We have three milk goats, their kids, and one nasty billy goat.  I am going to start milking them now that I am a work-from-home mom and will, hopefully, have time to do this.  I am hoping to make some delicious cheese and other dairy products.  We tried the whole milk cow thing, but I prefer an animal that I can MAKE do something and that cannot hurt me or my kids. Goats are much smaller and more manageable.  Our two year old daughter, Willow, loves the goats. So, for now, dairy goats it is!  We butcher our extra bucklings in the fall ourselves.  Last year was our first year doing this, and we were a little uneasy about the taste and killing large animals that we've raised.  My husband does the killing part while they're busy happily munching grain, so the don;t know what's coming.  It really is the best way for them to go, and not stressful at all.  I do the eviscerating and most of the processing. Once we tried the meat, our worries were set aside.  Turns out that goat meat is delicious!  We also butchered a lamb and can detect no difference in flavor.  It's a MAJOR improvement over venison! I also raised four pigs last year.  Not sure if that's something we'll do again, as pigs are a huge pain in the ass! I enjoy them much more in my freezer!  :)

We also raise our own hens for eggs and meat chickens (broilers) each year.  We have not bought chicken or eggs from a store in almost three years.  It's so much better for you and better tasting.  The yolks are bright yellow and are actually lower in bad cholesterol and higher in healthy omega-3 fats since our chickens free range the farm. The meat is a bit firmer though, not mushy like store bought.  Keeping them out of my gardens and flower beds is a challenge at times.  That's the only downside of free-ranging for me. 

More on all of these, and more topics later. I don't want to bore you to death and think that;s enough for now!  :)