Spring Arrives

Seeding beets

After a long and deeply cold winter, we finally see spring on the horizon.  The ground has thawed, the chickens picked up production, and my Texan of a wife has worn a t-shirt outside.  It must be Spring.

Today marked the first bloom of one of our crocuses, almost a full month later than it bloomed last year.  Things seem a little slow to wake up this year, but it's happening: the daffodils poke through the leaves and mulch in search of light, our silver maple has already bloomed, and the bluebirds are searching out their spring homes.

The start of spring here at Threefold Farm meant today was spent getting the garden in order and sowing the early crops: kale, lettuce, onions (sets), carrots, beets, and maybe some potatoes later this week.  To give everything an extra boost, we've transformed several of our raised beds into little cold frames.  These cold frames helped us overwinter some delicious spinach (it survived -5F!) that's beginning to grow again after a long hiatus. It will help us speed up germination and growth of the seeds we've just planted.  Even these small cold frames will add a few weeks to the beginning and end of our growing season.

Do you use raised beds or cold frames? Got any tips to share? Let us know in the comments!

New cold frames without their covers 

The completed coldframe, ready to go over a bed

Meet the Girls

As a child, I grew up going to my grandparent’s farm every weekend and summer. While my grandfather was no longer farming, we still enjoyed every inch of dirt and water at that place. We caught turtles, crawfish, lizards, frogs, fish, you name it. Anything that could be caught, was - including armadillos caught by hand (we lived in Texas) and a litter of skunks (not caught by hand). This could be the reason my parents decided to let us keep some domestic farm animals, as I’m sure an infection of rabies was in our near future. This was when I was introduced to chickens.

After following many homesteading blogs, I have heard that chickens are the gateway drug to the farming lifestyle. Having had chickens as a child, and now having them as an adult, I have to say, we are hooked. If you can get past the neediness of chicks, you reap an awesome reward from your grown hens. With all of this, let me introduce you to the ladies.

Because my family and I have a love of music, we decided to name our girls after popular songs about women. Seeing them keeps a song on my lips frequently, which helps pass the time doing farm chores.

• Black Betty & Billie Jean - Barred Rocks
• Peggy Sue & Susie Q - Buff Orpingtons
• Proud Mary & Ruby Tuesday - Rhode Island Reds
• Sweet Caroline - Silver Laced Wyandotte

We got eight chicks, two each from four different breeds. One unfortunately turned out to be a rooster, so now we have seven. We chose many different breeds to determine which we like best as far as laying frequency, egg size, and personality (which is more about aggression than winning a popularity contest). We have followed the same process with ten new chicks that we are raising right now. More on raising baby chicks in another post.

So these are the girls! We get between 4-6 eggs a day from them. Some lay every day and some lay every other. We will be conducting laying tests to make sure everyone is laying. Unfortunately, on a farm, if you’re not putting food on the table in one way, you will be in another - no free loaders around here!

From left to right: Silver Laced Wyandotte, Buff Orpington, Rhode Island Red, Barred Rock

Feed us!!!

Why 'Threefold Farm'?

Since we first posted about our farm, we’ve had several people politely ask: “So uh….why the name?”  

“‘Cuz it sounds cool” wasn’t quite cutting it anymore, so I’m glad you asked!

Three is a number of meaning to us:

• We’ve lived in three different states since we’ve been married: New York, Texas, and now Pennsylvania
• Consequently, we currently live in the third house we’ve owned
• We serve a triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit
• Our house has three bedrooms?
• ...and I’m sure I could think of more but I won’t belabor the point

Threefold Farm comes from our three ultimate desires and purposes for the farm’s existence.  Katherine and I are Christians, and ultimately, we hope this farm tells a story about Jesus and the gracious God we serve. Therefore our goals are threefold (aha! there’s the name):

Grow Deeply

We care about the food we grow, harvest, and feed to our families. Therefore we aim to produce our food as naturally as possible, with few (if any) synthetic pesticides and fungicides, as well as techniques that build the soil to promote healthy plants and therefore a healthy harvest!

Serve Joyfully

We want to serve the community in which we’re planted initially as a u-pick orchard and expand from there. Our hope is to run Threefold as an eventual non-profit (thus the .org) with a portion of the harvest given to local food banks and missions. We have some thoughts brewing there, so stay tuned!

Teach with Humility

We hope to take what we learn, as we learn it, and teach it back to the community. We’d love to see every back yard in our community shift from a mostly “grass farm” status to growing their own fruits and veggies. We realize our lack of knowledge and how much we still need to learn. Look for blog entries detailing our steps (and missteps) along the way.

Our goals (like us) are still a work in progress, so check back here to see how they shape up.