Young Family, Farm Family

Earthaven Admin Team — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 23:27:27 +0000

Editor’s note: Andy Bosley and Julie McMahan have operated Yellowroot Farm at Earthaven continuously for ten years. During that time, they managed to incorporate the startup of three ag fields. The Hut Hamlet field was first leased in ’05, and the Horn of Plenty near the campground in about ’08. Persimmon Grove, leased two years later, has been in biodynamic soil preparation until now. Andy’s worked part-time off land since 2009, and Julie’s worked part-time for Red Moon Herbs for over ten years, even now that it’s in Weaverville. I asked them to comment on their farm family experience; Julie found pictures; Andy wrote this letter.

Ramona and Julie mixing biodynamic preparation.

[Dear Everybody,]

We had to make a conscious decision to scale back the farm while raising our young children—Forest, going on 5, and Ramona, 2. It hasn’t always been easy to step back from the farm that has been our other baby since 2005. One of the reasons we choose to live in a rural community and help create agricultural land is because we prefer this lifestyle for raising our children (and we think they prefer it, too).

left: Young farm hands Forest and Ramona.

It isn’t always easy to have kids around the farm—hot sun, mechanical equipment, sharp edges—to name a few, but there are many aspects that ARE conducive, and increasingly their awareness is such that they know a good place to stand when the tractor is around, or how to take care of themselves—get a drink of water and play in the shade.

We took a short break from raising pigs but have begun again, in large part so the kids can participate in raising their own food. It’s a delight to watch Forest, the big brother, help his little sister across the road and down the path to the pig pen, each with a bucket of foodscraps for the trough. It’s in these moments that we remember why we are doing this, and how important it is that we keep it up.

Ramona lends a hand.

Earthaven turns to Andy Bosley for a lot more than farming. He’s a key figure in our Forestry Plan, a gifted facilitator (i.e., cat herder), and has been active in the community’s men’s meetings on and off for years.

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Building progress at Earthaven

Earthaven Admin Team — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 19:28:58 +0000

Folks often wonder why Earthaven members haven’t yet made significant inroads into food production for ourselves. Sure, some ardent and enthusiastic gardeners have created small kitchen gardens, there are perennials beginning to reach peak performance (it was a bumper year for blueberries!), and several members have managed to eek out production in a crop or two over the last few years, but in the main we are all still majorly focused on clearing forest and learning how to design and build housing. So, whereas our agricultural fields are still in the most elementary stages of development, our housing accomplishments are showing a diversity of vision and style, as demonstrated in the following structures. Perched back from Another Way, in the Main Street neighborhood, Holly, Shawn and kids Rose and Eli moved into this 1400 sq. ft. state-of-the-art green home last year. There are three second-floor bedrooms in this earthy haven, a fabulous bathroom with double size tub and chute-type composting toilet, and a spacious first floor. Landscaping and small animal husbandry are some of the exciting next steps the Baumgartner-Swartzes are planning to take.

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agricultural Archives - Earthaven Ecovillage

Young Family, Farm Family

Building progress at Earthaven