I am sure you’ve all been wondering what’s been going on with me lately? Or, perhaps not…. As many of you know we’ve been in the process of buying a new farm. Our property here on Shaw Island–aka, Podchef Island–sold back in January and we have been camping out here since then, caretaking it for the new owners while we clean up over a century of farm & sawmill debris. Since we’ve known about the sale of our old farm for so long, and since we’ve been planning on having to move someday soon anyway, we’d been looking for a new place to move for some time.

That search had me on a plane just days after closing, flying to Maine to search for our new, dream farm. I was in the state, driving all over on snowy roads, looking at all manners of farm and farm-like properties for over a week. In seven days I saw almost 35 farms, each unique and enticing. Everynight I would post the photos of the day and via telephone Kathy & I would discuss the merits of the places and rank them in order of best to worst. By the end of my trip we had a top 10 and further ranked it into a top five. Our number one pick was a stretch–nice location by the water, cheap taxes, good access to markets, but very spendy and in a close-minded community. We dodged a bullet by not being able to afford it.

So, for the last 45 days we have been working on purchasing farm #2–our second choice. 24 acres in a nice location, with a historic 1840’s vintage farmhouse, this was actually the 3rd farm I saw on my trip. I fell in love with it from the get go. It may still hold many surprises–I never did get to walk around the house, barn or property. It was 8 degrees outside and the snow was over 2 feet deep. But the house & barn checked out to be sound and the property used to graze sheep. On a leap of faith we’ve bought it.

What does all of this mean? We are leaving the Pacific Northwest for the challenge of colder climes. We are leaving 7 acres of hard-scrabble farm on a remote island for 24 acres of nice pasture, with a pond, in an area which supports farmers and has a burgeoning local food movement.

It also means we can keep more livestock. I have been wanting to expand my duck and pig ventures but have lacked the room here. Now, not only will I have more land to keep cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry but it is also land teaming with game and bio-diversity. And, it will be our land without family control. We border a state park and woodland surrounds us. It seems like an ideal spot for a venture like ours.

We will also, for the first time in my 20yr stint as a farmer so far, have a barn. A proper barn–not random sheds, temporary outbuidlings or a mish-mash of tarp covered piles. It’s not the barn I would have built, and it’s not 1/2 the barn on many of the properties I saw, but it is very adequate to our needs. I can’t be happier about it. It too appears to date back as far as the house. I can’t wait to speak with a few of the former owners of the property–it was once collateral in a poker game–to find out the farming history of the place.

Finally, there is the Kitchen. It’s painted in a radical color red. It’s funky and open & much larger than my current Kitchen Studio. I am hoping there will be many more podcasts, videos and meals cooked here. It also has exactly the homey, welcoming feeling I wanted for future Porkshops, Duckfests and other courses I want to hold on the farm. It also has a wood cookstove. Kathy grew up with one, I’ve always wanted one and now it is the cornerstone of our desire to make this farm as sustainable as possible.

But for now, that is off in the future. Right now we are concentraing on cleaning up and getting moved. We are hauling some livestock–3 rabbits, 16 chickens, a calf & a ewe across the country with us, as well as our 2 English Shepherds, 2 cats and all 7 of us. Reverse Pioneering I’m calling it.

I’m hoping to be able to do some updates here from the road. But if I drop out of communication for a while, you’ll know where to find me, in a week or so, once I re-surface–warming my feet by that stove…..

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