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Posted on November 26th, 2011 Here we are, back to our Taproot blog, after a wonderful, muddy, and exhausting summer working on the straw-bale artist cottage. More on the cottage progress later but, first, let’s get reacquainted with the farm!
Join me one recent morning as the farm woke up:
 Mary Todd is looking for a handout Good Morning! The sound of Reveille is bleated by the sheep. As soon as the sun rises, they stare intently at the front door, looking for the first signs of life inside. I don’t dare turn on the lights in the studio when I go in for morning meditation- even the lighting of a candle can trip off a loud ‘MAAAA” “MAAAA” alarm from begging sheep. I laugh because if we forget, and open the front door too early to get something , it sounds like a car alarm- door opens and MAAA, MAAA! from the field. Happens everytime.
Okay, I’m coming. ..
Boots on, hot tea and egg basket in hand, the first stop, has to be the sheep barn (they insist!). The first ladies (Eleanor, Jackie and Mary Todd) greet you at the gate to escort you to the sweet feed can under lock and key. On the way we open up the brown coop full of our cackling Wellsummer and Golden Buff laying chickens.
 First chicken up and out So cute how they tumble out of the door, like a crowd in an elevator stopping on your floor. None of them run off right away- they hang around the food trough hoping the sheep will share their crumbs. We check the nesting boxes for morning eggs.
Sweet feed and hay are safely stored in a food closet Tim built on the little barn. Sheep would literally eat themselves to death if allowed free access to their high calorie grain. We only give 1/2 c. sweet feed to the flock twice a day. Like gifting children with M & M’s- a little goes a long way.
 Waiting in line for sweet feed. It is helpful to have trained the animals to be comfortable with hand feeding- they will follow us anywhere and morning treats are a time for us to look closely over the sheep- rubbing their bodies, looking in their eyes, and observing their behavior. We caught a nasty mastitis in Jackie’s inflamed teat during one of these morning “check-in” visits.
On to the second coop- a mobile “chicken tractor” that we can move anywhere the pasture might need a boost of nutrition. The older chickens wait, peering out their window for us to slide open the door.
 Good morning girls! They look like ladies on a tour bus, leaning close to each other, beaks pressed against the pane to get a good look at what’s going on. Chickens really have a lot of personality- they crack us up constantly!
We check the laying boxes here too, expecting much fewer eggs from these girls. This flock has diminished in size since a summer fox attack plus they are a year older, no longer in their prime laying stage (fyi- the first year is their egg laying peak, diminishing with each year. Summer is the prime laying season). When needed, we refill their grain feeder and refresh the water trough. Cooler weather means less water consumption but more grain feeding as the free-range insect and seed source disappears.
Next stop, the pig pen! (since this blog was written, the pigs were taken to the butcher, but I wanted to include their photos in the morning lineup because they were such important members of our farm).
 Yum! As soon as they hear footsteps on the driveway, the pigs begin their own reveille song of snorts and grunts. Pigs are very smart and supposedly have a wide repertoire of sounds meaning different things. I wonder if they are saying “Oh good morning, so happy to see you!” or “Holy cow, we’ve been waiting for hours for you to get your butt out of bed and feed us!” We’ll assume it’s the first.
As hogs grow, you increase the quantity of their mash. There is a tool you can buy that measures and predicts their weight from girth size, but we prefer a more low-tech method, which is to feed them an amount that they gobble up in no less than 10 minutes and no more than 30 minutes. That works for us since our walk with the dogs leads us back to the pigs in about 25 minutes and we can check their bowl. As predicted, it is licked clean every time! Throughout the day we supplement with goodies from the kitchen compost bin and any veggie leftovers from the garden. They are fat and seem very content in their playpen of slushy mud under the big, wide, West Virginia sky.
After feeding and watering the pigs, we rinse and drop the eggs off in our “Honesty Store” refrigerator where our egg customers can pick them up anytime and leave cash in the jar.
 "Time for a walk?!" Next stop is the dog “apartment” in Tim’s workshop. Banjo and Pick stay in bed until they hear us coming. Then they shoot out of the dog door, tails wagging, Pick doing Snoopy spiral leaps. They LOVE their morning walk! It tickles us that, although these dogs have the run of our 20 acres all day, they wait for us to say “Wanna go on a walk?!” to take off down the mowed path in to the other fields. Tim reminds them “you know you guys, you can take this walk anytime you want…” but they prefer to wait for us all to go as a family.
Banjo is the nose-to-ground hunter, picking up scents of tiny furry things like voles and mice. Pick, on the other hand, likes to keep his eye on the horizon and sky- bolting after deer or birds. They are a balanced team. Luckily their batting record is low, so most creatures great and small are safe at Taproot.
 Humming bee hives. The morning stroll gives us an opportunity to survey our property- checking on deer damage to trees, if the bee hives need more sugar water, effects of heavy rains, and signs of new life.
There is nothing like that view rounding the corner and heading back down the drive. Bear Garden Mountain and the tall grasses are washed with early morning color. It’s worth getting up just for that picture.
 fall colors Last stop, the garden. This time we pick lettuce for lunch, but each season offers up its own basket of goodies. The dogs take this as serious hunting time ever since they flushed out and caught a rabbit in the carrot patch.
 Our favorite fall-winter lettuce mix. They do have permission to catch any critters stealing the crops. I think the rabbits have started spreading the word, though, because Banjo and Pick have come up empty-handed recently.
Once we get to the house, our faithful farm dogs get breakfast on the front porch.
Sitting on the front steps, looking back over the farm, you can sense the wide-awake energy not present an hour ago. Bug-chasing chickens, grazing sheep , and playful, muddy pigs all now in motion!
 Daughter Jenny is far from the farm this year.motion. While we think about those family members ready to close their eyes for the night on the other side of the world, this farm is ready for a new day!
Here are more photos from the morning walk- enjoy! https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2644830127481.2144807.1457463116&type=1&l=329c9cfa70
Posted on May 10th, 2011 The farm is quiet now after a fun-filled, cob-stomping, very productive weekend at our Cob Oven workshop.
 Friends in Mud We never expected so many interesting, eager people to show up. There is no doubt we’ve just met some long-term friends. It seems that the kind of people willing to try their hand at natural building all care about many of the same things- health, caring for the earth, friends, family, and keeping that “kid inside” alive!
Since a picture says a thousand words, you can enjoy all the workshop photos here.
 Many hands make light work  Talking, drinking a cup of coffee and cob dancing- now that's a multi-tasker! All ages and abilities were right in there mixing, throwing cob balls up to the sculptors, digging sand, screening clay… It was nice to know there is no pressure to be a workhorse. Some liked to keep a steady pace going, others preferred the sprint and rest method. It was important to us that people listened to their bodies- some of us need to sit more often than lift (could it be the over 50 factor?).
 Taking a break and sharing stories. We all took notes or photos throughout, so we wouldn’t forget the fascinating science involved- how clay, water and straw become a concrete-strong building medium; how the fire in a clay oven heats the thermal mass and the insulating layer with straw holds the heat in; how the shape and size effect efficiency and durability, etc..
 Sigi explaining how to cut out the door Sigi was an amazing teacher. Participants said- “Wonderful teacher. Easy to understand”, “Total hands-on and every question answered”, and “I appreciated how very knowledgeable she was and her relaxed, easy-going style”. Sigi’s motto “no worries” was a keeper. Even as fissures appeared in the side of the wet oven, she smiled and said “No worries! It’s clay. We can fix it!’ We think we might need some “no worries” tee shirts next time- ha!
 Chefs Extraordinairre And, just when the cobbers were losing energy, Leenie and son Aren rang the dinner bell. What a treat! Everything homemade and local; artisan breads, Amish wedding soup, salsa, apple pies, Greek roasted chicken, Wild Herb Spanakopita, Venison barbeque, wild flower teas, homemade Chai tea…. and on and on it went. A feast for the mud gods! The magic in the kitchen was just as amazing as the creative sculpting going on outside.
 Pickin on the porch Tired, satisfied cobbers relaxed on the porch or by the river listening to the wonderful impromtu “pickin” session by Pete and Andy. Nothing finer after a day in the sun and mud.
 So what's the inside of a cob oven look like? We’ll spend the next few weeks getting back to the garden to put in warm weather veggies, build the pig pen, welcome son Allen home from college and set up for the next workshop- ADOBE FLOOR on June 4-5.
Hope you’ll help us spread the word- we’ll need lots of feet and hands for that one.
Come meet new friends, enjoy the satisfaction of learning some sustainable-living skills, and have a bit of “inner child” fun!
Here’s the rest of the workshop schedule.
Posted on May 2nd, 2011  Tim watering down the center of a finished tater tower, dreaming of roasted potatoes. Well, we love potatoes! This year we wanted to grow lots more and to try some different varieties, but we just don’t have anymore space to devote (and potatoes need space!). Plus, as we try to practice companion planting, we find that not many other vegetables like to share their bed with potatoes. So a potato farmer really needs to segregate the spud in the rotation plan. Wow- what a real estate hog this veggie is!
 Kate filling the bin with compost This winter we stumbled upon a new concept in potato growing- Go Vertical. We thought this was a wonderful idea because it allows you to grow 50 lbs in just 9 sq. feet of space. AND harvesting doesn’t require back-breaking digging!
We are not sure it will work, but we are experimenting this spring with four “eye-rise” potato bins. (high-rise, get it? 
Here’s the basic set up from a great article by Fred Davis.
In our bins, Tim modified the design by adding a drain pipe in the middle- advice from a veteran gardener he met at the WV Small Farm conference this year. Since this vertical garden can dry out more quickly, we’ll put the hose into the drain pipe and let water seep to the roots- from the center out.
 Adding some straw lightens up the soil and prevents it from washing out the side holes. 1. Cut a 10′ length of hardware cloth. Use wire cutters to cut holes about 3″ x 4″. Lace together the ends of to create a cylinder 3′ diameter. (more details in Fred’s article).
2. Place a length of drain tube in the center so it peeks out the top.
3. Fill it with light compost and straw.
4. Wet it down to help soil settle.
5. Plant potato pieces- 1 each in the side holes.
6. Water through the center drain tube.
 Ready to plant the pieces of potatoes that have been dried out to prevent rotting- each with 1 or 2 "eyes" on them. In vertical gardens it is best to use late-season varieties like Russian Fingerlings, Yellow Finn and Beauregard Sweet Potatoes . Early (or short) season potatoes only set tiny tubers once. Late-season plants set tubers many times along the way from different sections of their growing stem. Our question is- if in this design the potatoes are planted into the side of the bin, are late season potatoes necessary since their stem will not be covered with soil and straw as in traditional potato planting? We’ll plant one bin with early-season potatoes as an experiment to compare results!
 Planting 1 potato piece in each side hole. Leaving the slightest bit exposed so it can find the light sideways. But since we do love potatoes, we are not willing to put all our “spuds in one basket”. As insurance in case this new method fails, we planted some early-season potatoes like Sangre, Red Gold and Yukon Gold in the ground using the traditional method.
 What we're hoping our bin will look like in a few weeks The great benefits with the tater towers are in harvesting- you just untie and let the potatoes fall out. (that’s the idea- stay tuned! )
Posted on April 7th, 2011 Today our team gathered around the building site of Querencia, our soon-to-be artist studio. After months and months of drawing, planning and dreaming… today we stood together and drove final stakes in the ground. Marking the front door, the curve of the sitting nook, the wall of south-facing windows… walking the perimeter, opening the imaginary door. Sure, the footprint may only be 500 “square feet”, but there has been a lot of thoughtful consideration to orientation, efficient use of space, and the “feel” of the building. Thankfully, as of today, all marks on that plan have a specific, physical address
***We hope to share building updates on this blog every week or two. While it may sound like Beth is writing it (using “I”), it is a compilation of all of our experiences- the construction, people-connection, and design perspectives of Tim, Kate and Beth. We hope you’ll join us in our natural building adventure – through this blog or, better yet, by digging in with your own two hands! (check out the building weekends on our website )
Our Team:
 Kate, Tim, Gary and Sigi- the brain trust. We are so lucky to have terrific people involved in this project.
Gary Blankenship of Lucourt Contracting will be in charge of the foundation, framing, and roof. He is willing to try his hand at some unconventional building shapes- spirals, curves, cones- instead of the typical 90-degree angle. Gary and team built our perfect yellow house two years ago- so we have complete faith in him! And Tim, with all his years of home repair and carpentry projects, will be on Gary’s team- problem-solving and offering a hand.
Our daughter Kate is the project manager. Traveling all the way from San Diego, she brings a basket full of skills: construction experience from rebuilding in New Orleans with Americorps; managing events and guests as hostess on a shark-diving boat; organization skills from being a personal assistant.
And I’ll be choreographing the process (and pitching in everywhere I’m needed) Definitely a generalist, not a specialist !
Sigi Koko, natural building guru, drew up the design of our little cottage after a year of asking great questions and listening deeply to my vision of a tiny artist oasis. She will now lead each of our building workshops- teaching workers the skills they need to help us complete each phase of construction.
Orientation:
 Eagle Scout Tim finding true South with the compass Our tiny building is going to be big on passive solar design.
The south-facing wall will be full of windows- letting the sun shine in to be absorbed into clay walls and floor. Large roof overhangs will block the too-hot summer sun, while allowing warming rays in from the winter sun lower in the sky. On the west side, a few small windows will allow in light but prevent the extreme late afternoon heat from spiking the interior temperature.
On the north side there will be almost no windows- just a few key “zen” views that allow a peek at the river and ventilation when needed. Uninsulated glass is the mostly likely place for precious warm/cool air to escape.Lastly, the east side will include a moon window (to enjoy the early night moon “rise”), morning-light window over the sink and two high windows over the sculpted sitting nook. Both east and west sun can provide nice light (especially east) but are too unpredictable to use in a big way for heating and cooling. South is king in passive solar design.
 a bucket of taproot clay Our Materials:
While Gary was on the phone renting equipment, we looked over our “shopping list” of supplies from our own property. This winter I began hauling field stone from the hedgerows to use for the base of the cob oven and the studio. Tim located a good spot for a pond and will dig up the soil from there. Hopefully we can also find a fallen tree with a curved limb to serve as the entryway arch. Straw bales will arrive from a local farmer.
Soil Assessment:
Sigi showed us how to assess the soil on our site for its cob suitability. Cob will be the clay mixture we use to mortar stone, sculpt walls and then thinned for clay plaster to seal the strawbale walls. Tim dug up a bucket of soil (excluding any organic matter in the topsoil) from the pond spot. After seeing how reddish-tan it was, we were optimistic it was full of clay.
Then we took a blob of soil and rolled it into a ball. It quickly formed a little cannon ball that did not crumble when dropped. Only clay can do that! Yep, we have clay. And looks like we won’t need a liner for that future pond- it’ll be more like a clay fish bowl!
Lastly Sigi set up a shake test in a canning jar. (see more about cob to learn about cob and soil testing).
 Cob shake test... from Sigi's website. Shake Test
A simple shake test determines relative percentages of clay and sand contained in the soil. It works because clay remains suspended in water, whereas sand and silt sink in water.
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1. Fill approximately ¼ of a cylindrical-shaped glass jar with crumbled soil (free of visible stones).
2. Fill to the top with water, close the lid, and shake well, until all of the clay is dispersed.
 Our shake test to determine proportions of clay and sand in our soil 3. Set the jar down on a level surface and watch for 10 seconds. All of the sandy solids will settle to the bottom. Draw a line on the jar at the top of the sand. The water remains cloudy with clay.
4. When the water becomes completely clear, draw another line at the top of the settled clay. The ratio between the height of the sand and the height of the clay represents the ratio of sand to clay in the soil. Note: it is difficult to differentiate silt in this test, as silt is similar to sand, only smaller and spherical.
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Seems we have a 3:1 ratio of clay to sand… and we want a 1:4 ratio. So I’ll be ordering a truckload of sand.
Therefore our final cob mixture will be made up of approximately 1 part Taproot soil, 1 part sand, and lots of straw. Straw will provide the tensile strength since stalks of straw resemble little trees- strong and stretch resistant.
As you can see, we are truly building our little studio from the ground up!
Next Steps:
Digging the rubble trench foundation next week; framing/roof in late April and May; and setting up the May- Sept. building workshops to train our workers.
Posted on March 9th, 2011 Today is the second anniversary of Taproot Farm. We spent it making final preparations for all the new arrivals expected in late April and early May.
Chickens:
 Golden Buff Tim has been busy working on an addition to the lamb barn- a second coop for the last of our layers. We are trying two new chicken breeds from Meyer Hatchery. Half of them will be Welsummers, a beautiful brownish-red hen that’s known for its chocolate brown eggs often adorned with speckles. We expect them to continue laying well in the cold months, a good thing since our current “girls” tend to go on strike in the winter.
We also ordered Golden Buffs which is a hybrid strain that is very productive and lays a large, light brown egg.
 The coop addition in process... Demand for Taproot eggs from friends is outstripping our supply so we are doing our part to “employ” more workers. If you can lay an egg- you’re hired!
Pigs:
 Mama and baby Large Black hogs
We were referred to a wonderful source for feeder pigs. Bob Harrod in nearby Paw Paw, WV raises “Large Black” hogs. After a fascinating question/answer session on the phone, Bob tagged two piglets for us- a gilt (female that has yet to bear young) and a barrow (castrated male). Their mother is a 50/50 Berkshire/Hampshire mix and the father boar is 100% pedigreed Large Black. We are really excited about this breed, because we’ve heard it is the tastiest and tenderest pork. Why? Because the fat is marbelized, not just layered in each cut.
Bees:
After talking with WVU’s apiarist specialist, Paul Poling, we’ve determined that mites did-in last year’s hives. Bees can tolerate some infestation, but too many can overwhelm the hive. We expect Varrola mites were our problem- attaching to the bees and also feeding on pupa. They say that if a honey bee was the size of a person- it would be like carrying around a parasitic watermelon on your back.
So, this year we’ll start with a clean slate of four hives! And we’ve planned to treat the hives to control mites periodically through the summer. Tim and Brandon (our niece’s fiance) have been building bee boxes in preparation for the 40,000 bees arriving on April 28. Things will be buzzing here!
 Playtime! One of the lambs in the center is soon to be ours.
Lambs:
We can’t wait to have another baby lamb around! In June, the new Katahdins at Churchview Farm will be weaned and we’ll get to bring one of the little girls home. Eleanor and Jackie will love having another “first lady” in their club since, sadly, our original third lamb died from an accident last fall. Lambs are very curious and not always the sharpest. She got her head tangled in a rope hay feeder and strangled before I found her early in the morning. Our experienced farmer friends comforted us with their own sad stories and the wisdom gained from such experiences.
This fall our plan is to breed Eleanor and Jackie. Lambing will be an amazing experience- we should have 3 or 4 Taproot lambs next February!
The Orchard:
Yesterday the UPS truck delivered 24, 8′ trees- the foundation of our new nuttery and apple orchard.
 Osage Pecan tree When you are farmers over 50 like us, you don’t waste precious time with 3′ whips. These grafted trees should bear nuts in 10+ years and apples in 3-5 years.
We chose Northern Pecan and English Walnut varieties from Willis Orchards. We are interested in growing nuts as a healthy protein source and cash crop. A 3-acre field on east side of the stream will be dedicated to this edible forest- delicious, profitable and serving as a carbon sink by storing carbon dioxide in it’s fiber. Also, as the U.S. Dollar drops in value, we think investing in Walnut “futures” is not such a nutty idea.
As the nightly news gets worse and worse, we also thought that having a little hard cider in the pantry might help. Six Orleans apple trees and six Cox’s Pippin apple trees will pollinate each other nicely. The Orleans is a classic yellow English apple that ripens mid to late September. The Cox’s is a medium reddish-purple apple developed in Geneva, New York, so it is well suited for our cold winters. Apple cider is one of our favorite drinks whether on ice, in a hot mug or fermented for a festive Saturday night!
Kate:
The most anticipated new arrival at Taproot is our delicious daughter, Kate. Kate has been working for the past 2 years on a charter dive boat off the coast of Mexico. She’s decided she’d like to trade in her fins (temporarily) for muck boots and we need the help! She’s a hard worker with an upbeat attitude and has a million ways to crack us up. Kate will be part of the staff through September.
All these new arrivals will bring fresh, spring energy to the farm. We’ve had a good rest- now we’re ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work!
Posted on February 22nd, 2011 Tuesday is a big day at Taproot Farm- Trash Day. People laugh that we get excited about it, but we’ve made a game of trying to reduce our waste down to a single trash bag a week. Here in the country, the trash truck picks up at the main road and we have to drive ours out there by 10 am.
Many of you know we’ve been longtime recyclers. Tim’s family got hooked on it back in the 70′s and in high school our Saturday dates often started with a trip to the recycling center after sorting the brown, clear, and green glass.
Over the last two years, the farm has taught us how to take it to a new level. With a little creative thinking, a lot of what we used to throw away now becomes useful to a plant or animal in our Taproot family.
 "fertilizer producers" eating garden scraps In the kitchen, all food becomes a meal for someone. The chickens love leftover bread, oatmeal, rice, casseroles, beans, fruits and even fish scraps (did you know chickens are omnivores?). The dogs love “fixins” in their bowl to spice up their meal- drippings, meat scraps, etc. Of course steak bones are dessert. All our plant scraps (including paper napkins and coffee grounds) go into our wormery in the pantry or the compost heap in the garden.
All these “inputs” produce nitrogen-rich outputs!
Chicken poop and worm “tea” are primo fertilizer. When we clean out the coop it goes into the raised garden beds. When we drain the wormery, it gets poured on potted plants indoors and out. And when our free-range chickens forage in the pasture they spread their fertilizer for us
We also reuse our paper and scrap wood.
 Nests made of shredded mail Paper is shredded and makes a colorful nesting material for our hens. Fireplace ashes are spread like lime on garden beds to raise the PH and add trace minerals. Cardboard lines the bottom of garden paths to suppress weeds while allowing the rain to pass through. And thankfully, any extra we don’t put to use is taken to the monthly cardboard collection in town.
We make a special effort to reuse anything we can. Tim was thrilled when he found a use for all the pvc garden hoops that collapsed under the weight of last year’s snows. He cut them into 18″ spikes and uses them to mark tree plantings, fence posts or no-mow areas. They’d be good garden stakes too. The kids named our big scrap pile behind the workshop the “West Virginia Warehouse”, because Tim insists on finding clever uses for all but the smallest discarded construction scraps. Most recently he built a second chicken coop out of pallets and “warehouse” inventory.
This is like a game! I am saving empty wine bottles to stick in the walls when we build the art workshop. Tim uses old milk jugs full of water to hold down tarps in the wind. It is amazing how many things can be of use if we put our mind to it.
 wine bottles in earthen wall Of course when there are things we can’t repair or reuse we make a stop at the county recycling center on our way to Winchester.
What we’ve come to realize is that farming is not just about extracting what we need from the land… we’re part of a living system that needs replenishing. Just like in Nature, recycling is integral to everything that happens here. The land and animals feed us and, in turn, what we don’t use gets fed back to them.
As Joel Salatin teaches, farming should not deplete the land but nourish it:
What that means to the farm is that a farm is a community of beings. The more we can create and massage diverse relationships on that farm, the more stable it will be. And this is what ecosystems do. Ecosystems are always about diversifying, and they’re about cycles, not just linear-factory-we’re gonna pour this in this end, and pull this out that end. That’s not an ecological cycle. Even the term “ecological cycle” assumes a total recycling. And so, from a farm perspective, I’m not interested in monocultures, monospeciation, and single-plant, single-animal, single production of anything. I’m interested in relationships between the plants and animals- among the plants, among the animals- so that we have a diversified landscape creating its own checks and balances within the system. Like a community does. ~ Joel Salatin
This philosophy is important to us, spiritually and morally, and we’ll undoubtedly write more about it later. For now, before we throw anything away, we’re simply asking ourselves -”How can this be useful?” or “What can it feed?”.
So, today is Trash Tuesday and we’re smiling. Only one bag on the corner and the chickens had a good breakfast.
Posted on February 9th, 2011 Hurray for our first, thick blanket of snow! It feels like winter should feel – quiet, peaceful, but invigorating.
Last year, on a day like this, we would have stayed in our sweats and rarely ventured out. At that time we did not have any animals. Our farming used to end with the first hard frost when the crops withered.
 Morning Chores But, since we’ve added animals to the mix, farming is a year-round commitment. Now, as we pour our morning cup of coffee, we fill up steel buckets with hot water to thaw the ice in the drinking pails. Preparing breakfast includes collecting stale bread, pasta and veggies to throw out for the animals.
Our Taproot family now includes sheep, chickens, bees and dogs. They have taught us a lot about life in cold weather.
First, we learned about proper clothing. The old Scandanavian saying “there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing” holds true. We have thick overalls, gloves, socks and waterproof boots waiting by the front door each morning, so there is no delay when the lambs are calling for their morning hay.
 Eleanor and Jackie in winter coats The lambs don their snow suits 24-7! Once the temperature began dropping in late fall, their coat thickened to a triple-ply shag carpet into which you can barely dig your fingers .
In fact, when it snows it piles up on their backs, because their body heat is trapped tight inside this mat of natural insulation. They stay outside most all the time unless it is windy or wet when they retreat inside their run-in barn. These days, Jackie and Eleanor are keeping warm butting heads to establish who’s the ‘first’ first lady.
The chickens are dealing with winter by slowing down egg production. In the summer, our 15 hens were laying 1 dozen eggs a day. But now we sometimes get as few as four. It requires a lot of energy to produce eggs! Not only are they using that energy to stay warm- but some chickens do their molting (shed and replace feathers) in the winter- so they are doubly challenged.
Our bees are easy to take care of this winter- because both hives failed. Oh well. That is the bad news. The good news is we harvested 60 lbs of honey before the bees left- that is 20 quarts or 5 gallons!
 Banjo staying warm on a snowy, blowy day After some detective work, we think the queens became honey bound. That is when the workers fill the comb around the queen with honey, leaving less space for brood (egg chambers). Experienced bee keepers (not us) know to regularly rotate honey out and fresh brood space in. Since worker bees only live about 6 weeks, it is critical that the queen continue laying eggs or the hive will die out. Lesson learned!
Our outdoor dogs seem to have adapted to lower temperatures just fine! They each grew a nice thick coat and they stay active hunting voles, collecting deer bones and chasing each other. If weather gets windy or wet, they curl up in the porch chairs or snug-as-a-bug in the doghouse Allen built.
 Pups waiting for a snowball At night, they retreat to the “dog apartment”, a nicely insulated room in the workshop. It is a joy to see Banjo and Pick enjoying the season -racing across snowy fields following the scents and sounds of the country.
Not all the canines on Taproot are domestic. This morning we discovered coyote tracks in the front yard straight up to the front porch!
 Coyote tracks We sleep pretty hard, so we have no idea if the dogs were warning us. We knew it was a coyote because we Googled it! Coyote tracks are leaner and longer than a dog’s.
They are called “perfect steppers” because, when trotting, the back paw steps into the track of the front paw. It almost seems as if they are hopping. We decided not to fret over these late night visits as long as the electric fence is working and the coop is closed up.
Finally, winter is a time for us to reflect, plan and dream about the coming spring and summer. The seed companies must know we have more time, because our little P.O. box is stuffed with catalogs every day. All those colorful pages of healthy vegetables and flowers sure get the gardening juices flowing! In addition, this year we are leafing through books with titles like, “How to Raise Pigs” and “Poultry for Market”. It will soon be time to order some piglets and peeps.
As tempting as it is to spend this time dreaming of warm weather activities… we don’t want to miss the uniqueness of this season. Winter, in its stark beauty, is an opportunity for some needed rest and renewal. At least until the buckets freeze over again.
 Banjo and Tim playing in the snow
Posted on January 29th, 2011 Yesterday, we had a wonderful visit from Hampshire County’s own large animal vet, Lowell Hott. Lowell was in town visiting a couple of farms… one of his calls was to check-out a sick duck! We asked him to stop by to meet the whole Taproot Family and talk with him about our farm plans.
 Sending Dr. Hott home with a dozen eggs Finding a good large animal vet is very hard to do nowadays. But several farmer friends recommended Dr. Hott and we can see why. He patiently answered our rookie questions and the animals agreed he has a great bedside manner.
Vets are there to help the farmer out in case of an injury or birthing problem. Primarily they serve as medical advisor- teaching the farmer how to prevent diseases or accidents and set up a good schedule for care.
 Tim giving the innoculation For instance, sheep need a CD-T shot at 3 months old and again as an annual booster. CD-T provides three-way protection against enterotoxemia (overeating disease) and tetanus (lockjaw). With the help of Steve and Ruth of Church View Farm, we gave Eleanor and Jackie their booster last week! While Steve held the sheep’s head, Tim gave the subcutaneous injections (just under the skin) behind their armpit. After one failed attempt with serum squirting here and there, he was successful. Practice makes perfect!
Lowell said it is important to observe your animals’ behavior and handle them regularly. This is the surest way to spot a problem before it gets too serious. We gave the sheep a rub down to get a sense of what a healthy body feels like.
Some physical problems you just accept. We have a chicken with crooked neck syndrome.
 our "crooked neck" girl She walks around with her head sideways and has to sleep on the floor of the coop because her balance is off, she can’t make it up to the perch. The doctor said it is probably neurological. Well, she’s a trooper- she has adapted to her condition and is still one of our most dependable layers.
The future at Taproot may include some pigs, goats and a few beef cattle. Lowell agreed that the only way to find out what animal mix works best for you is to give them all a try. After all, a farm should reflect the personalities of the farmer and the attributes of the land.
We will undoubtedly modify our livestock and poultry plans over time with experience and we are grateful to have Dr. Hott just a phone call away!.
Posted on October 1st, 2010 At Taproot Farm we’ve been harvesting vegetables, picking berries, gathering eggs and feeding our sheep. Since we arrived here a year and a half ago, we have thrown ourselves into building a farmstead. Yes, learning to farm, for us, is central to living a life that sustains us physically, spiritually, and intellectually as we enter our “Third Chapter“.
 Niece Zoe's homegrown pizza  Tim and Kate donning their Taproot shirts  Tim and Allen working on the lamb barn …And we are finding out how much we love sharing it with our family and friends. We’re a bit surprised, but creating a homestead has become one of the most important “missions” for us here. It seems that when you care enough to create a place that feeds you, it feeds others… and that makes us deeply happy. We first realized this when our grown kids, nieces and nephews asked to come stay with us- in the deep snow, as summer farmhands, and for a hot August personal retreat before heading back to college. This place serves as a quiet, restorative break from their very busy lives. None of them arrive expecting to be entertained- the land offers all they need. Floating in the river, long walks, campfires under the stars and even the hard, sweaty work of harvesting one’s own dinner is what they seek
 Niece Blair and boyfriend Brandon  Jenny sharing coffee with a chicken Because of their response to our young farm, we are devoted to setting up conditions for more of these full-body, “full-contact” experiences. A neighbor’s used ATV is now a favorite way to explore our fields and forests. A stack of inner-tubes waits on a hot afternoon when you want to grab a Rolling Rock and plop in the river to wash off the city.
The newest attraction, a trap range in the farthest field, invites everybody to have a blast… girls included… competing for title of THE best shot.
And the rustic bunkhouse, thanks to family sweat equity, has become a special “away” spot to catch up with cousins and pick at the guitar.From bass fishing to building a pea trellis, we love watching children young and old testing themselves in active, outdoor adventures.
 Second cousins from Colorado  Reese-Sedinger group shot
The best was last July- when 140 friends and relatives arrived for the weekend to celebrate our 30th anniversary. Taproot came alive! 18 inner-tubers floating down the Cacapon; old friends “flatfooting” to The Lonesome Highway bluegrass band; long-lost family reminiscing over Skinny Dog pulled pork and hot berry cobbler; 23 tents filling the east meadow; toddlers following the chickens around like little chicks; girlfriends chatting on the green roof while beer buddies bonded around the keg; badminton; ping pong; bocce ball; cameras snapping in the vegetable garden. All culminating at the late night “circle up” round the campfire followed by a sunrise expedition for crawdads. Wow!
 Beth, mom, and Uncle Sanford Tim and I were busting at the seams with joy- something about the atmosphere was so welcoming , freeing, spacious and happy. We’ve wondered about the magic of that gathering and feel it had something to do with people carving out time to show up for several days and how nature offers such variety- quiet shade trees for talking, wide open fields for running, flowing water for letting go. How we don’t need to do anything here but make the beds and put on a pot of soup. How it is the stillness, the natural setting and the time that provides the rich experience.
It is in this vein that I have created Touching Stillness retreats for women. Last weekend another group of 13 women arrived seeking a way to unplug, rest, and touch stillness. I call it the “water table”- that place below the static of a busy, demanding life where we can hear the whispers of our own heart.
 at retreat- before launching  retreat participants in the garden Healthy farm-grown food, the beautiful natural setting, and a schedule balancing quiet reflection with gentle meditation practice and safe sharing are the conditions we set. The rest is magic. Just like the love and joy shared at our July party, these small group getaways always “fill the well”.
It feels as if we are simply the caretakers on this farm, but there is a bigger Host here.
We have never felt so relaxed welcoming others into our world. It is no longer us putting on the event. We simply set the table and She so graciously nurtures us… filling our plate and hearts with whatever we may need.
 Nephew Colin and his chickens Some friends have asked us if we ever feel isolated or lonely living on a farm way out here. The answer, surprisingly is no. never. Actually, we’ve never felt more connected to others, or to each other. We can’t explain it yet. But it has something to do with quality, not quantity, of time. With slowing down and really listening- a “no place to go. no-thing to do” attitude. With sharing experiences that are real, physical, and challenging as wide-eyed explorers together. Something about the shared joy of being surrounded by living things. Something about living in an environment large and dynamic enough that it can never be tamed or fully understood. We all feel it. All of us. We need only show up and follow it… like little chicks.
~~ Beth and Tim
~ thank you to Anne Rocca for the two beautiful photos at the retreat (canoe tip and two ladies in garden)
-thank you to Susan Schaeffer for the wonderful photos of Colin, mom/me/Sanford, the second cousins and the sepia one of Tim and me. Thanks to Bill Schaeffer for the group shot.
Posted on September 4th, 2010 Maybe it is the school teacher in Beth, but September 1st still feels like the first of the year. Here we sit on the front porch at sunset reminiscing about our very rich summer- full of celebrations with old friends and brand-new experiences on the farm.
The daytime temperature hasn’t cooled much, but we certainly notice a drop in humidity and cooler, crisper nights. Despite this very hot, dry summer, we realize our farm grew in many ways:
 Tim cleaning out corn stalks. The Garden:- This week we pulled out and composted the “played out” vegetables- corn stalks, kale, beans, and the last beets. We are pleased with how the garden produced during this summer of record drought conditions.
 Niece Zoe planting onions. Drip irrigation elbow pipe and on/off switch by her knee.  Jenny and Zoe planting fall crops beside the drip lines. We were so grateful for the drip irrigation system Tim assembled with parts and advice from Drip Works. It saved us hours a day hand-watering. About half of the garden is irrigated and all we have to do is turn the water on and select the beds that we want watered.
In some beds, the drip irrigation lines lay under plastic “mulch” which prevents the moisture from evaporating- keeping it close to the roots where it is needed. We chose the biodegradable kind that breaks down by the end of the season so all we need to do is till it under.
Based on performance and taste, some of our favorite crops were:
Amish Paste, San Marzano and Brandywine tomatoes: Ladybug and
 colorful cherry tomatoes Sungold yellow cherry tomatoes ;
Blue Lake and Slenderette green beans. Yummy, Healthy and Pomodoro peppers;
Walla Walla onions.; Spring Treat corn; Heritage raspberries ; Carillon beets; Russian Fingerling potatoes.; and lastly, Bright Lights and Perpetual Spinach Chard.
Sheep- It feels (and smells) like a real farm now, because we have livestock grazing in the pasture. First, we enclosed a half-acre field with electric fencing from Premier Fencing.
 Tim, Allen and Chris setting corner brace Allen, Tim and our friend Chris set posts, strung wire and connected the solar charger which delivers a whopping 3,500 volt/ 1 amp charge. Tim was the first to test it (by accident) and it works!
In August we purchased 3 beautiful Katahdin Ewe lambs from Church View Farm.
 Allen and Jenny laying out pallets
 moving in
 Jenny feeding lambs near the lamb barn. Electric fence in foreground Tim and the kids built a sturdy run-in barn out of recycled wooden pallets and the lambs took to it immediately- spending the hot afternoons napping there. Our first ladies “Eleanor, Hillary, and Jackie” greet us in the morning with a loud “Maaaaa”, begging for their sweet feed morning snack. The ladies will be bred next fall (2011) to produce lambs for market in 2012.
Chickens- The “girls” are laying eggs like crazy. At 20 weeks old, the Leghorns were the first to lay their white eggs in the nesting boxes attached to the mobile coop. The Americaunas followed with blue/green eggs. And last, but not least, the Plymouth Rocks laid brown eggs. Everyone knows when an egg is laid- the chickens let out a half-cackle/half-belly laugh to announce the delivery.
I wonder if the delivery room at Arlington Hospital has a similar sound to it
 Like Easter eggs every day! Recently we noticed that there were not many brown eggs in the boxes and wondered what was up with our Plymouth Rocks (the most docile and friendly of the flock). Soon we discovered hidden nests tucked in odd places- Tim’s workshop bench, hay bales and even atop the outdoor ping pong table. Supposedly some breeds are lower in the “pecking order” and look for a less stressful place to lay.
Well, now egg collection is more like Easter morn-
 Plymouth Rock laying in the carport it takes a little hunting to gather the dozen a day.
 Tim and Steve robbing the hive  Beth scraping the honeycomb off the frame Bees- Our bees have been busy too. We have 3 hives, each containing a distinct colony (bees are rather exclusive). One queen is so prolific that her hive has required 3 additional boxes to house new bee eggs (the brood) and honey stores. It was thrilling to harvest our first honey. Our friend brought over his honey extractor and the kids helped uncap the comb, spin the honey frames in the centrifuge, and taste the clear, golden honey flowing from the bottom of the tank. We only “robbed” half the honey from the hives, since they bees will need the rest to survive the winter.
 Draining the honey from the bottom of the extractor.  Our first jars of honey. Looking back, Taproot used to be a much quieter place. But the buzzing of bees, squawking of chickens and maaaing of sheep are the new sounds of this growing farm.
It has been a wonderful summer!
 Banjo beating the heat - napping with the raised garden bed as her pillow
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