American Farmhouse: How to Live on a Small Farmstead

At the front end of gardening in Georgia, newly graduated from SMU into Jimmy Carter's 21% interest rates and few jobs, I lived above a 3 car carriage house.  Built in the late teens of the last century, red brick, wood floors, high ceilings, 3 dormer windows, 2 bedrooms/1 bath, living room, kitchen/dining, and a huge deck in back, high on posts, overlooking 50 rolling, open/wooded acres, behind dense woods an east/west train track, unseen but not unheard, bordered the back property line, with 3 horses, my favorite, Dan, a dignified Tennessee Walker who reminded me of Cary Grant, if he were a horse in late life.
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After a year in the carriage house, Miss Louise died, and we moved into the Big House, a red brick/white trim Williamsburg, 5/4 and a door, circular drives at the front and back.  Elegant proportions & details, though not large, oak floors aged the color of north Georgia sourwood honey, and a garden evolved over decades into blooms everyday of the year spread amongst, azaleas, hydrangeas, camellias, roses, mahonia, gardenia, iris, lilac, lily of the valley, forsythia, daffodils, cherry trees, magnolias, viburnums, sweet shrub, red bud, and more.
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Almost 2 years later I built my starter home, tiny lot, less than a quarter acre, in a new cluster home subdivision.  
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There I learned to garden.  Added another degree, Horticulture, & more importantly, 2+ decades of travel across Europe studying historic landscapes.
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A few weeks ago, I moved from my starter home to the country, time lapse 33 years.
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Now, with Beloved, I'm in a white clapboard American Farmhouse, ca. 1900, wide chipping gray painted concrete steps, framed on one side with a plumbing pipe handrail, step on to a wide/deep front porch, and finally you're at the front door, original to the house, its brass bell, with a turn of the latch, still rings loud at 115 years old, 11' high beadboard ceilings, a central hall 9' x 50', heart of pine wood floors, 4.5 rolling acres, open/wooded, pond, historically sited with house close to the road and property line, century old pecan trees lining the street/sidewalk, leaving space for orchard, potager, pleasure garden, livestock, barn, sheds, drives, and views of the trailing Piedmont before it turns to Coastal plane, dotted with neighbor's dairy cattle.  Many views pure Thomas Cole, 1801-1848, founder of the Hudson River School painting style.
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A homestead garden.  Horticulture joined with agriculture.  A garden never meant for amusement, instead, stewardship.      
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It's not uncommon to reach 100f in summer, nor a cow to jump a fence into the garden, deer/fox/coyote ubiquitous, myriad ant species continually on the march, flying insects further evolved than their city counterparts, timber rattlers and happily king snakes too.  But I have gotten ahead of my story.  There are no pleasure gardens, potager, paths, barn, orchard, chicken coop, focal points on axis, potting shed.  Yet.  And the pond, rimmed with trees & an earthen damn threatening breach has not been touched in decades.  Exciting times.
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Cannot imagine a more perfect proscenium.  The play, ours to write, build, and live.
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Time, land, house, weather, the project list, day job, and division of labor between the sexes are dominate.  No pretending I have control over time, weather, or the rest of the list.  Lifestyle choices honed in the city aren't useful here.  This house, and property, have it right about life, I've moved into my beliefs.  Wendell Berry made this choice years ago.  Without awareness, choosing to live in this house and on this property was the action step of Joseph Campbell's, Follow your bliss, and Jung's, Our lives are about getting the outside to match the inside.
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By now, gravel drives, paths, parking courts, barn, wrap around porch at the back of the house, sheds moved, chicken coup built, interior painted, front porch stained, were all to have been completed and plantings ready to be resourced from growers.  Instead, it's a list, and the house/property are in charge.  During this, I'm realizing, is a rich life.  No more fighting city instincts, the choice is made, stay in the new chapters, let them grow.  Zero regrets moving here but surprised at the depths of change.
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An acre of land, above.  Glad I know how to steward ornamental horticulture with agriculture, this homestead, above, does not and it's an expensive mistake.  Do you see the mistake/s?  There are no plantings maximizing pollinators through out the year.  Why does it matter?  Maximum pollinator habitat increases agricultural yields up to 80%.  In addition, no fencing to keep predators out, nor crops eaten by deer/rabbits, and where are the car & small tractor parked?  Finding the source for this pic, Mother Earth News, I discovered a better assessment of this garden, here.
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Pic, above, via Tim Cuppett Architects, here.
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Knew from first visit to our property, gravel, lots of gravel.  Drives, lanes, paths, parking courts.   Gravel is easy to work, affordable, historically accurate.  Ironically, it's also the best choice for living with timber rattlers.    
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 Pic of Vita Sackville-West by Cecil Beaton at Sissinghurst.

Clothes to garden are an issue.  Choices are year round regardless of 101f, snakes win.  Boots.  Cowboy boots, pants, pockets, long sleeves all against snakes/insects, and the phone in case something does happen.  Taking a direct hit from a century old pecan tree branch falling has been a thought.  Muck shoes for the chicken coop, rubber boots for wet days, 2 pairs of everything, front/back doors are so far apart, there is no trudging between.
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 Pic from, I Love Your Style.  Shirt by Isabel Marant, trousers by TopShop, boots by Grenson.  

A client lent me Amanda Brooks, I Love Your Style, well before moving to the homestead.  Already enjoyed, now, much resonates differently.  My homestead chores differ from Beloved's, often leading to the obvious, I cook dinner, yet this took weeks to realize.  Cooking, grocery shopping, pantry resources are a foreign language.  Have hired an expert to teach me how to menu plan, pantry plan, grocery shop, and wildly unexpected, teaching me how to use the freezer as a tool.  Asked a friend for input too, so far, my cooking = shopping/pantry/freezer/refrigerator lessons are in the kindergarten class, which is grand improvement.            



Pic from Veranda magazine.

Furlow Gatewood stole my heart, at first sighting of his potted hydrangeas, above, lining a drive.  I will use Limelight hydrangea, they are tough for heat/sun, similar large pots (already resourced the vendor), and drip irrigation.  First in inspiration, alas, they will be one of the last items placed in the garden.  Do not want to adjust them once sited.  Hearing Beloved's, "You're damn right I won't move them...."
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Pic, above, via here.

When I'm ready to put a new roof on our shed, I'll show the architect this shed, above.

The garden shed, ca. 1900, we're moving has a functional shape, not aesthetic, and was covered in aluminum at some point.  Once moved, the shed will anchor the new orchard at the front, and woodland and rolling Piedmont hills & lake view at the back, with chicken coop incorporated.  Getting the aesthetics correct, the shed will get a new roof line, matching one on the house, with awnings encircling the whole.
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Pic, above, via here.

Our front porch had been stained, long faded away.  Concrete steps are chipping grey paint.  When I saw this porch, above, I knew I had to go with the green.  Then, I discovered a similar shade of green was used by George Washington & Thomas Jefferson at their homes.  Remembering then, Monet chose an incredible green for his front porch.  I've been to all 3 homes, loved each.  Beloved is stuck on gray.
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Pic, above, from My Design Chic, you'll like the link, it's all about kitchen gardens.

My orchard/potager, will be gravel not lawn, and more orchard than potager.  Keeping maintenance low, yet fruit/vegetables/flowers, abundant.  Truly, I thought I would be planting it this month?  Instead, the only thing done has been burying one of my favorite chickens killed in a night time attack.  She was dug up, (armadillo?) 2 nites in a row, I buried her 2 more times.  Finally, Beloved, without being asked, took her in his Caterpillar to the back woodland and buried her deep.    
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Pic, above, from my previous garden, espalier apples at the front curb.  

Looking out my front door, from the central hall, is a perfect view into my neighbor's front door.  I don't 'do' that type of view.  Not in my realm.  Not a large garden space, Espalier pear trees will be planted for my view.  Obviously a better view for Linda, my neighbor, too.
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  Beloved has requested an outdoor shower.  This one, above, is in a client's garden.
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Pic, above, from a client's garden.
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Have decided to scare myself with daffodil bulbs.  When the garden is ready for siting daffodils, I'm placing a huge order with Brent & Becky's Bulbs.  Enough to feel it in the checkbook, and in the back while planting for days/days in late fall.  Why is this so extremely appealing?
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I know how to create a homestead garden but in this new layer, I must know, more finely, what to do.  Agriculture is weighted more greatly than ornamental horticulture here.  Jefferson in reverse, an old gardener but new farmer.
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Where to get the fine details?  It's humorous, needing to learn what is beyond books, knowledge residing, now, in people, kindred spirits.  
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Maine is well ahead of me, their Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, even in their name, is creating a culture of knowledge to be passed forward.  At the top of their website is this, "The history of every Nation is eventually written in the way in which it cares for its soil." - Franklin D. Roosevelt.  Signing the Soil Conservation and Soil Conservation Allotment Act.
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"MOFGA is the oldest organic agriculture organization in the country and is committed to developing a strong network of organic farmers. This network has helped them to attract and train the next generation of Maine farmers. Their Journeyperson program has 52-participants this year. Their apprenticeship program has roughly 175 beginner participants, each of whom is paired with a more seasoned farmer who can share their knowledge, experiences and best practices."
from, Martha Stewart's blog, her entire post about MOFGA, here.
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Eliot Coleman, Four Season Farm, has decades of organic experience with agriculture, livestock, & horticulture, "  

"I know of no other person who can produce better results on the land with an economy of effort and means than Eliot. He has transformed gardening from a task, to a craft, and finally to what Stewart Brand would call 'local science'."
— Paul Hawken, best-selling author and entrepreneur "
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Martha Stewart has a lovely slide show about Four Season Farm, here.  
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Keynote lecturing last weekend I learned about a program in sustainable agriculture in Wisconsin.  More resources to glean and adapt.
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Years before knowing I would move into our homestead, I've been reading Thistle Cove Farm.  Now, I look forward to scrolling backwards and take a lot of notes, to apply at our small farm.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO T