Cloverleaf Farm

Happy Earth Day

2011-04-22T02:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Earth Day! To celebrate, we are planting seeds today. What are your plans?

The first Earth Day was celebrated April 22, 1970. Protesting the war in Vietnam was high on the list of many Americans. Saving the planet was not.
Earth Day Network shares the history on their site, and includes a video from a news brodcast of the day.
Read more about the history of the first Earth Day

Welcome to Spring in New Hampshire

2011-03-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

Sunday was the first day of Spring. It was a beautiful sunny day. The perfect spring day. You could actually be outdoors without a coat. It was nice to be able to open the windows, and doors and get some fresh air into the house.
Just when you think it is safe to put away the shovels, Mother Nature thinks differently. Yesterday, we had more snow. About 5 more inches. Just enough to cover up all the bare spots shimmering with spring life.
Welcome to Spring in New Hampshire, where one needs to remember to pack shorts and a tank top for one day, and boots and a parka for the next.

Scraps of Gold

2011-03-07T04:13:00.000-08:00

Okay, they are not real gold, but to me, scraps of fabric are like gold.
We have a neighbor that will be turning 100 next month, and I have been thinking about what we could make her as a nice gift. Being that she is my sewing buddy, I thought that a lap quilt would make a nice gift.
I went into my sewing/craft room, and started tossling through the bag of fabric scraps I save from sewing my skirts. I have chosen some soft, cotton pieces that I will cut into pieces to fit into the quilt. Ah, maybe I could make a crazy quilt. That is something I have not done in a long time.

While going through the bags, I also took out a few pieces for a new skirt for me. I haven't made a new skirt in a long time, so I guess I am due.

Dr. Seuss Birthday Bash

2011-03-05T03:38:00.000-08:00

Every year, to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday, we get out our Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes and head over to the Efingham Library and have a party. All the kids love it. We love it too.

We decorate party hats, have some cake and home made apple juice, and read Green Eggs and Ham. It was my son's favorite as he was growing up.

The children get to meet and pet Penelope the chicken. She doesn't lay golden eggs, but she does lays green eggs. The little ones always get a kick out of petting her.

Making a child smile must be the best feeling on earth.

Why Organic Heirlooms?

2011-03-04T02:04:00.001-08:00

That's a question we get many times. Whether we are at the farmers market, or doing farm tours. People always ask why.
Well, I'll tell you.
Organic should be the only way things are grown. Who wants pesticides in their food? If you spray anything on or near a plant, it will grow into the food. It is soaked up through the roots, and traces will show up in every vegetable on that plant that grows. Some may tell you that insecticides break down after 7 -10 days, but they don't. The toxins are there. This is why in order to become a certified organic farm, there must be at least 3 years of no toxic sprays being used. Do you want toxins on your food. No, me either.
Secondly, heirloom vegetables are the most tastiest vegetables you will ever put in your mouth. What is an heirloom you ask? An heirloom veggie, or fruit is one that our ancestors would have grown. They have the same genetic make up year after year. This mean, that you can save the seeds from one year to the next, and always get the same delicious fruit. For example, we grow Mortgage Lifter Tomatoes. Mortgage Lifter got it's name from a man during the 1930's who grew these tomatoes and used the money to pay off his mortgage. They are big and juicy. Mortgage Lifter isn't always the prettiest tomato, but it sure is one of the tastiest.

Organic Heirloom combines the best of two worlds. Healthy and tasty food.

You won't find heirlooms in most grocery stores, but you may be able to find some at your local farmers market.

Sorting Out The Seeds

2011-03-03T08:22:00.000-08:00

When it get's to be March, we start to get a little bit of cabin fever. We are tired of the piles of snow, and look forward to the green, green grass of home.
We are seed savers. It not only saves money, we can continue to get the same great crops of tomatoes, pumpkins, squash and other veggies we grow. We grow organic heirloom, which means that we will get the same veggies year after year.
Today, I think it is time to sort our all the seeds, and see exactly what we have, and what we will need to order. We buy our seeds from Johnny's Seeds. They carry all the heirloom seeds we need, and they are only a couple hours away. We visit with relatives when we go, so it kills two birds with one stone...sort of speak.
This year, we are going to try a new heirloom variety they have called Black Triefle. The description sounds delicious, and they look kind of cool.
Off to sort out my seeds.

To Pig or Not to Pig

2011-03-02T13:28:00.000-08:00

A couple of summers ago, we raised a couple of Tamworth cross pigs. Last summer, we chose not to, but we are thinking about doing it again this year.
Raising pigs is kind of fun, but it does take a bit of work. They are like having children. They do expect to eat three times a day. This would mean that we would not be able to travel far away from the farm. Not that we usually do anyway, but it is a decision we don't take lightly.
We enjoyed raising Pork and Chop, and we especially enjoyed having a freezer full of meat for the winter. Both pigs were about 200 pounds each when they went to slaughter. This provided us with close to 175 lbs of meat. Tamworth pigs are very lean, and have hardly any fat on them. They are a heritage breed, which is why we chose them.
We have a few more weeks to decide whether or not to do it again.
We are also thinking about getting goats for milk.

What is a Self Sustained Life?

2011-02-01T09:45:00.000-08:00

Self sustained, other known as self sufficiency. What exactly is it?
According to Wikipedia it is: Self-sufficiency refers to the state of not requiring any outside aid, support, or interaction, for survival.
That is the true definition, but it has different meanings to different people.
Our self sustained life is requiring very minimal outside aid. We grow what we can for food here on the farm, but we realize we also have to buy things like flour, butter and grains. There is no farm around here to trade with like there might have been years ago.
We have been doing this self sufficiency thing for 4 years, and in today's world, it is almost totally impossible. There seems to always be something that you need cold hard cash for.
You still to make money for taxes, food you can't grow, and feed for the animals. You can barter for some things that you want or need, but the town or city you live in will not barter for your taxes on your house or property. The local grocer probably won't barter for flour or grain either.
When we moved to the farm, we had in mind a total self sustained life. We would grow our own food, raise our own animals for milk, eggs, and meat. We would use wood for fuel, and not rely on petroleum oil. We would heat our water on the wood stove. For two years, we had no hot running water. During the winter, we bathed in the kitchen by the wood stove, and in the summers we would shower out doors. The 300 feet of dark red hose we used for watering, doubled as a shower. We built a shower / bath house, and it worked wonderfully. There is nothing like bathing outdoors in the fresh, clean air.
We then decided to become a foster home, so we had to put in a furnace. The foster parent idea was short lived, so we went back to our old system. You wouldn't believe how much you save on oil.
At this point, we could not totally go "off grid" because of our businesses. Michael runs a web marketing company, and I run the online store of Cloverleaf Farm. We do however use much electricity than the average Joe. We don't have a coffee maker, or dryer. We don't have a microwave; all our meals are cooked from scratch. Our lights for the most part are candles and oil lamps.
So, for the time being, we have electricity. That is something we hope we can change in the future.

Baking of The Bread

2011-02-01T08:12:00.000-08:00

The fields are covered in snow, and more snow is expected tomorrow. They say over 2 feet. I guess we won't be digging any more carrots out of the ground now.
That's okay. It's a good day for making breads. I will make 6 loaves, and that will last us for the month.
As far as other groceries, it is almost time to do our 'big" shopping in the big city of Rochester. In December, right before the snows hit, we stock up on winter supplies. We buy enough to last us the winter. This trip, we'll need just some of the basics like dry milk and flour. In December, we stocked up on dried beans, peas and chicken stock. We live on soups for most of the winter. They are hearty and healthy.
So, bring on the snow, and I'll bake my home made bread. Maybe, I'll make some pasta while I'm at it.

Our Little Slice of Heaven

2009-04-12T10:06:00.000-07:00

For years, we had been dreaming about our farm.
In November of 2006 that dream came true. We bought an old 1800's farmhouse that we named Cloverleaf Farm.
We are located in Effingham, in the hamlet known around here as "Taylor City". For over 100 years the Taylor family has called this home.
Our family farm is small, just a bit over 2 acres, but it is big enough for us. Come weeding time, 2 acres is too much. 2007 was our first season. We did fantastic. We grew tomatoes, corn, lettuce, beans, carrots, squash, pumpkins and herbs. We realized that the next season the gardens would have to be much bigger. What produce we didn't sell for money, we wanted to can and freeze for us for winter. The herbs were dried out, and used for our herbal products. We knew that for the 2008 season, we would specialize in heirloom and organic produce.

Living a Life of Self Sufficiency

2009-04-12T04:57:00.000-07:00

We wanted a self sustained life. We wanted to leave the mainstream world behind and realize a dream of living off the land as they did 100 years ago. We soon realized we had a few things to learn. We spent most of 2007 checking out books on self sufficiency at our library. Although it was "research" for our new life, it was fun to learn about growing more food organically, and raising animals. We read books on sheep, goats, pigs, and cows. I wanted goats for milk. I could use the milk in my herbal products. I could also use it to make our own yogurt and cheese. We could sell it at the farmers market. Michael wanted pigs for meat. He wanted Tamworth pigs. Finding Tamworth pigs turned out to be harder than we thought. We also did some research on the internet. Luckily, we weren't the only ones, and there are books out there to helpNext season our gardens tripled in size. We offered more heirloom fruits, vegetables and herbs. Our neighbor is renting us (for a bushel of corn) his field which will gave us almost 4 acres total. This gave us more to sell. We started selling at The Wakefield Farmers Market, and did very well. It aslo gave us more to can. I spent that fall canning, dehydrating and freezing vegetables for us winter. We made a list of foods that we couldn't grow and made a "winter survival list". We wanted to stock up and then hunker down when the snow started to fly. For the most part it worked. We only had to shop once every three weeks or so.