Tag: Arete

HOLISITC FARMING: a jigsaw puzzle

landscape field trees hill

Looking at your farm as an interdependent entity means evaluating how each aspect, crop or product interacts with the ecosystem of your farm much like a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces are an integral part of the whole.  Most farmers only think about these things when it comes to growing zones and choosing plant varieties. There is so much more to this equation if your long-term goals include stewardship, sustainability, and consistent profits.

Farming is a challenge under the best of circumstances.  Weather and rising cost of inputs being only two of the variables you must accommodate to succeed.  By examining the micro-environment of your farm, you can make informed decisions about plant and animals that will not only grow and make money for you but will continue to enhance the ecosystem of your farm.

Monocropping (planting only one type of plant or raising only one type of animal) only makes your farm subject to the whims of the market and attack by pests. This type of single mindedness will need a large amount of inputs like fertilizer and pesticides to bring your ecosystem even close to being back into balance and ready to monocrop year after year.  This type of farming is not only riskier and more costly but unsustainable.

Holistic Farming works with the environment not against it. By having diversity in your crops and animals you not only work with nature to create a sustainable farm, but you create multiple income streams. Both of these factors are important in creating a sustainable farm.

Subscribe to this Blog to join us on the Agriculture Adventure of making your farm a reality.

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Never give up on your dream

Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

-JOHN BARRYMOORE

The dream of someday living on your own farm is one shared by many.  The lure of a quieter life away from the bustle of consumer driven living is a strong one.  Being able to grow your own food and know exactly what you are eating is also a big motivator in today’s world of industrial food production. Wanting to be socially responsible by taking care of our planet is also a very powerful motivator to farm.  How to begin to make this dream a reality is often overwhelming.

Buying property, what crops to grow and what animals to raise are just a few of the questions that you need to answer for yourself. Hopefully before you begin the process of spending time, effort, and money you take the time to plan out your journey.  Are you going to farm organically, traditionally or a combination of the two? Is your goal to be self-sufficient or do you want to create an income with your farm?

Often the first discouraging advice you will here is “You can’t farm unless you inherit the operation and even then, you will never make any money at it.”   My response to this kind of helpfulness is to ignore it. This is usually from people who never got started.

  After 45 years of farming, I have come to realize the value and truth found in many of the old adages so often spoken by the successful Farmers who mentored me. The quote: “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway” exemplifies some of that wisdom and encouragement.

Subscribe to this blog as we will be exploring the process of making your dream a reality. We will be looking at goal setting, planning and taking action to start your Adventure in Agriculture.

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Intro to a Dream… The Agricultural Adventure

Solace Farm in Winter Greenhouse in the North

This Agricultural Adventure Series will be focusing on the steps to turn your dream of living an agricultural life into a reality.  I will share the steps my husband and I took to go from newlyweds with nothing but our determination, to successful farmers. 

I hope to save others some time by showing our mistakes as well as our successes.  I have also written down the wisdom and experiences of mentors and friends on their own Agricultural Adventure in the hopes of passing it on to the next generation. Some of these things will prove invaluable to many of you but some will also not apply at all.  Feel free to pick and choose what works for you on this journey.

I hope that you will try out the concepts and be willing to share your experience with other subscribers on the Solace Farm Facebook Page so we can grow and rejoice in each small success.

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“You aint gonna get rich farming…”

Solace Farm in Winter Greenhouse in the North

I heard an old farmer say, “You aint gonna get rich farming.”  This was blunt advice to a new farmer stuck with me.  Go into this with your eyes open…this life close to nature is challenging at best.  The paradox is that the old timer was encouraging farming anyway and welcoming to anyone willing to take the challenge.  He finished his statement with a small smile of contentment as he looked up from his work worn hands, “So you had better like what you’re doing.”  This is the best farming advice I could give anyone. 

The paradox is that this vocation is not one of ease or monetary gain. The agricultural life is physically and emotionally grueling punctuated with pure joy and contentment.  Don’t be fooled by the pretty pictures and happy stories on social media.  It is day in day out hard work and takes deliberate planning and fortitude.  But if you accept the challenge, it will be one of the hardest things you will ever love.  It will seep into your soul, mold your character and grow you in ways you never dreamed of.

I have been blessed to have spent most of my life farming and through the profitable years and the years that bled red on the balance sheet I have always felt a sense of contentment and gratitude.  I did not get rich, sometimes struggled deciding which bills to pay, but I always had healthy homegrown food on our table and to share with our neighbors. I always knew we had met each challenge that nature and life threw at us with our best efforts.

So why do it?  I do it because of the thousands of hours I have been privileged to watch plants and animals grow, knowing my labor was helping to create something wholesome and good.  I do it because of the many nights I have laid down an exhausted body knowing that I had done my part in making my small piece of this planet, we all call home, flourish.  Always I have known what a privilege it was to nourish the land while it nourished us.

I am not here to discourage you – far from it. I am here to encourage as many as I can to jump into the adventure called agriculture.  That old timer’s smile of contentment held a secret.  The wealth that comes from nurturing the land as it nurtures you back.

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Join Me on this Adventure

January Sunrise 2026

I took 2025 off from blogging to deal with some major challenges and life changes that have not only altered the course of my life but manifested changes in me.  I am jumping back into being regularly active on my website, still sharing practical farming and homesteading information.  Added to that, I will be sharing how that information and practical wisdom fits into building an abundant life.

Underpinning my posts will be the goal of sharing the process of building a blessed life.  In Greek the word Blessed (Makarios) means:

  1.  A state of being self sufficient
  2. Being complete within oneself and not dependent on external conditions

As a farmer it is easy to worry about and react to all the external forces like weather, illness, markets, and politics.  All of these and more, effect on our endeavors to be good stewards of the land and animals in our care while we attempt to flourish.  To live a blessed life on the land we need to find our resilience and joy in the myriads of small successes that we experience in our daily life.

I hope you join me on this timeless journey of living an abundant life amid the challenges that modern society throws at us. I look forward to hearing from all of you regarding the usefulness of what I share through this blog as well as your own experiences and insights.  My purpose is to build a community that will share with and support each other on this adventure we call life.

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