Ahavah Farm - Local. Sustainable. Pure

These are the most important parts of living on a farm... Who doesn't love a good wheel barrel ride?

Twenty five cute little ducklings just arrived.

Since we live in such a small house (3 bedrooms with four kids!) and our ability to start seeds is so limited, we built this miniature greenhouse to start our seeds in.  We simply put the whole greenhouse outdoors everyday and even if it's only 20 degrees outside it will get very hot in the greenhouse and we are able to germinate the seeds and grow some plants. 

And yes, that's a kids play cart he is pulling!!! Whatever does the job, right?  Here is the oldest going around the property picking up wood for our camp fire...see below.

Hey, living on a farm is not all about the work...

Our poor chickens are not loving this freezing weather!  The heater's doing it's job though and keeping them nice and warm in their coop.  We are trying to get then outside as much as possible so they can eat some bugs and roam around.  They sure are reluctant though!

With so many beautiful days this winter, we have been able to get a lot done.  Our plot is ready to go:  New fence with rabbit guard, new gate, 100 yards of mulch spread throughout and our overhead irrigation system to mimic nature!  One of the keys to sustainable farming is trying to mimic nature as close as possible.  By spreading mulch with leaves and organic matter like it is found in nature we are able to reduce our need to water and we don't have to destroy the ground by tilling it up, thereby depleting the nutrients in the soil.  Therefore, since the mulch holds in all the moisture we are able to overhead water our plants and not have to worry about inefficiencies as traditional farmers do.  We also water much less often.  The overhead watering not only mimics nature, but it also strengthens the plants and helps protect them from damage caused by storms and wind.

Digging the root cellar!  It's important to us that we are as sustainable as possible.  You will notice that we do almost everything by hand.  Not only does doing things by hand save us money and make us stronger and more capable, but it saves the environment and our natural resources because we aren't using up fossil fuels and running big tractors. The root cellar will go down about six feet and will be built of cinder block.