Month: December 2017

Some people find that endings are sad.  Think about the words we use. “It’s done!  Finished!  No more!”

For some, these words give the feeling of a loss of something which will leave a gap; but the space left by an ending is usually filled with the excitement of a new beginning.

As we round out the year here, we have gone through many endings, such as the sale of our farm in Connecticut and Roy leaving his career that started before we were married.  The loss of our old life in Connecticut has made way for the wonder and thrill of beginning a new life in Pennsylvania.  And of course as Christians, we mark the end of the year with Christmas, celebrating the birth of the Christ, the ultimate new beginning!

Farming is filled with many opportunities to see this cycle of endings and beginnings.  The photograph below shows our wonderful neighbor Steve mowing our hilly pasture so that the grass can begin to grow again in the spring with fresh new growth.  Mowing the pasture produces decaying mulch that eventually adds new topsoil, and the rootlets dying back under the soil leave capillary spaces that will soak up the water in spring like a sponge, encouraging new growth to burst forth.

Soon we hope to be able to produce these results with sheep slowly grazing the pasture, rather than having to burn all that diesel to make way for the spring.  This cycle of endings making way for new beginnings, the loss of the old supporting a new beginning, is the way of nature, the way that God designed it.  And it IS good!

And speaking of new, we showed you the start of the new barn in the previous blog.  Things have advanced significantly in a very short time, assisted by new ways of doing things.  Below you can see the placement of preformed rafters creating a roof structure in about 3 hours!  With the crane mounted on the front of the trailer, this process takes a fraction of the time it used to take.

And here, the first pieces of siding are placed on the wall.  Bear in mind that it is currently about 16 degrees with a 15 mph wind, so we are in awe of the builders who are braving these inclement conditions to contiue erecting our barn.  It was tough enough to go outside and take these pictures, let alone spend a day working out there.  Their laconic understatement was only, “Things would probably go a bit quicker if it was a bit warmer!”

One thing that doesn’t change around here is the beauty of God’s creation.  The starkness of the winter landscape we know now will give way to the freshness of the burgeoning spring, and a magnificent sunset like this will lead to a wonderful new day.

The old adage “God is in His Heaven and it is good” is certainly true and is worthwhile meditating upon in this season where things look cold and stark and dead, because we know what is really happening.  And it really is good.

We at Morning Star Meadows Farm hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and wish you a happy and exciting New Year!

What is a farm without a barn?  It is a place with a very cluttered basement and garage, with machinery rusting in fields.  In addition to general storage, barns also provide for storage of fodder and temporary shelter for livestock in difficult conditions or when lambing/calving etc.  So although farmers generally try to minimize capital outlay, the purse strings will usually be loosened somewhat in order to put up a barn.  Since this property was not used as a farm in recent history, there is no barn (also no fences or other infrastructure either, but we’ve dealt with that in a previous blog or two), a situation that we are remedying.

Below is the eastward view from the bottom of the driveway, with the corner of the fence visible at the edge.

We engaged the services of Justin Matson, a very experienced contractor in the local area who is also a successful farmer and understands agricultural needs.  He recently put up a similar sized shed/barn on his own property as part of his construction business, which we went to see, which convinced us that he should do the same for us!  Justin doesn’t have a website, as he relies on word of mouth for his business.  So if anyone needs something built in southwestern Pennsylvania, from houses to sheds and barns, let us put you in contact with him!

He brought a bulldozer and track-steer the day before starting work, and we were wondering how he was going to negotiate the tight driveway turns.  But such considerations are never an issue for an experienced bulldozer operator.  He simply drove straight through a barrier of dense trees and briars without any impediment!

Here again is the eastward view after the attention of that bulldozer for a couple of hours.  Although the site for the barn is fairly flat, there is a substantial amount of earth that still needs to be moved to ensure it is all level, and appropriate drainage is in place, etc..

This is a view looking north from the top of the driveway near the house, a good 100 yards from the barn site.  This will be a path well trodden by us during lambing season as we go to and from the barn day and night!

It is always surprising how much land needs to be cleared when building something like this!

And finally, after the ground is cleared of topsoil, a firm, flat covering of shale is used to help form the foundation of the “apron” of the barn leading into one of the three garage doors (and one standard door) which will be used for access and egress.  A similar foundation is to be used for the barn flooring, and we understand that over 6 large dump trucks of the material will be needed in all.

As I type, a load of lumber is being delivered at the bottom of our driveway!  Building will commence soon!  God bless these guys for persevering today in 15 degree weather.  I don’t even want to think what the wind chill is!

Stay tuned for further photographic updates as we proceed with erection of what will become a major feature of Morning Star Meadows Farm in the future!

Towards the end of summer I was out with our little ride-on mower, mowing the perimeter of our property.  I also was taking it down a couple of hills, trying to cut some cross paths here and there for fun.  As I came across a hill, I was nearing our perimeter, and there was one of our neighbors on his much more powerful and solid, double rear wheeled tractor with a large pull-behind mower.  I smiled and we both shut down our vastly different mowers so that we could have a conversation.

He introduced himself and said that he felt badly that I was struggling to mow, and so he had started up his tractor to help us out and had already started mowing the perimeter to assist me while I was out there with my piddly mower that would have gotten stuck in the dense pasture if I had ventured out too far into it!

Steve had mowed our property for years before we arrived, so it was all familiar territory to him – with its dips and steep hills.  We talked for at least 30 minutes about everything from hunting to getting back to a time when our lives weren’t so connected and controlled by cell phones and social media…a time when neighbors were outside like we were right then – bumping into each other as they worked or recreated on their properties.  We knew we had a lot in common from that point of view.

That day he generously offered to mow the property any time we needed some help.  We had intended (and still do) to get a more substantial and safer walk-behind mower, but for the time being, mowing the pasture didn’t seem like a big priority, so I thanked him profusely and said that if he still wanted to help that day, I would greatly appreciate his mowing a couple of paths across the back of our property for the time being.  He graciously complied, and we followed up with an evening delivery of homemade cookies to his door later that day!

After our visit with the Dougherty’s in Ohio, we came to the conclusion that mowing the property might not be such a bad idea after all.  Allowing the pasture to go fallow for too long without animals would allow for some less desirable plants to try to take over.  We knew it would be a while before we would have enough livestock to graze all of this land.  Mowing would somewhat mimic the presence of animals to the best extent could at this stage – cutting the seed heads, putting down green manure, pressing the seeds into the soil by the weight of the tractor wheels.  PLUS it had the added benefit of allowing us to see what lay beneath that lush growth – the lay of the land, the steepness of some of the hills (!), and the location of springs and seeps that we hope to develop as we build up the farm.  We walked a bowl of homemade stew over to Steve one evening and told him we’d like to hire him, and he was over getting started before long!

Steve has been working hard, and Roy and I were excited to go out and explore the other day.

We found a great spring on the side of the hill below the house that can be developed to supply animals on the upper half of the back of the property, and another incredible spring near the grotto at the lower part of the property.  We’ve pretty much identified springs and seeps in all 4 corners of the lot.

Soon the property will all be mowed, and we will anxiously await the greening up of the pastures next spring.  And as an added plus, the kids are happy that they have almost endless hills for sledding this winter!

They say good neighbors are hard to come by, but we have been blessed by some true gems!

Just heard that the township has issued a permit for our barn construction!  Digging will commence as soon as the utility companies do their checking for underground wires!  So excited to be making this place our farm!  What an awesome Christmas present!