SHAGBARK FARM - ADAMS COUNTY, OHIO

 

FARM OPERATION
Berries & Rhubarb
Melons
Mushrooms
Hickory
Culinary Herbs
Medicinal Herbs
Stevia
Wild Edibles
Hives

WHAT WE OFFER
AT MARKET
OUR RECIPES
BOOKS & GADGETS

 

 

FARM OPERATION & HISTORY

FARMING PRACTICES
When we bought our farm, we wanted to break from what we knew as "traditional" farming and wanted to find methods which would allow us to grow more food in smaller spaces. We wanted to grow unique market items but also be able to bring to market foods that grow in the wild in this unique area of Appalachia. It took research and practice and many years later we have landed on a hybrid-of-sorts description of what we are trying to do.

NUTSHELL: We are a biodynamic farm that utilizes permaculture techniques and forest stewardship council practices.
 
Biodynamic farming methods all work off the concept that a farm is a site-specific ecosystem. Biodynamic farming is a holistic system that places importance on all of a farm's elements: soil, water, plants & animals. These methods rely heavily on soil building, water conservation, composting, animal production and animal by-products. Not all growers using biodynamic techniques adhere to the complete biodynamics program. You can be certified, but you do not need to be certified to be considered a biodynamic farm.
 
Permaculture techniques include a design system that creates a sustainable food production environment. This environment begins with soil building, uses specific site design with a focus of more perennial plants less annuals, utilizes high density growing, companion planting and compost production. These techniques encourage growing more food in less space.
 
Forest Stewardship Council Practices (FSC)
Encourages the efficient use of the forest’s multiple products; Conserves biological diversity and its associated water resources, soils, and unique, fragile ecosystems and landscapes; Monitors the condition of the forest & maintains the health of the forest.

Read further on this page to learn about the history of our farm.

Or you can jump to our farm practices, how we use the land and water, how we keep our crops protected from local "critters" on our "About Us" page here..


FARM HISTORY

It took almost a year to find the perfect place to farm...to check-out....

About a mile off the road...

A relocated, restored late 1700's Adams county cabin on 10 heavily wooded acres in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, in Adams County, Southeast Ohio.


Two hole outhouse. No running water. No electricity.

January 2010

The homestead consists of several relocated and restored late 1700’s log cabins. The main house consists of 2 cabins attached together with a large native stone fireplace with a working iron cookarm. The barn has a brick 1st floor and a massive hand hewn log staircase leading to the large wooden loft. As no homestead would be complete without plumbing, we have an antique hand crank water pump and a 2 hole outhouse. Rounding out the homestead is a woodshed made from split red cedar logs from the farm.

Truely pioneer; there is no electricity and no running water. We have had to rely on imagination, creativity and a pond for a lot of what we are doing! Spending weekends in the winter have been a challenge, though there is an awesome fireplace, we have come to understand and appreciate the struggles of Ohio pioneers in winter!

February 2010
We began clearing a field for red raspberry production. We determined we needed 1 acre of our 10 acres for raspberry production. We accomplished this by removing a band of invasive red cedars on the hill side. The field is terraced and uphill from the pond. We also cleared several areas for herb production.

Once the fields were cleared we installed red raspberry canes and relocated many of the herb plants I had growing in the city and introduced many more plants. Beacause of the abundance of shagbark hickories present, we named the farm Shagbark Farm.

In addition to the farm operation, we corrected the flow of the stream which runs through our acerage and returned it to the original water path. We also did additional grading around the cabins to improve water drainage.

2011 In Review
We increased heating in the main cabin and decreased the ability for cold air and animals to enter the cabin. We also replaced a leaky roof on the front porch.

We increased the number of herb gardens.

2012 In Review
Because of the drought in 2011 and the planned increases in our crop production, we enlarged our existing pond. We also improved our water pumping system for crop irrigation.

We also removed a poor performing raspberry variety in order to add 2 additional varieties to extend our raspberry season. We are also installing bird netting structures to support netting to protect all of the berries from bird theft and damage.

We removed our row of lavender and chamomile in the berry field in order to install blackberries. The lavender was moved to several gardens near the cabins and pond. The chamomile continues to thrive as a ground cover in the berry field.

 

2013 In Review
We finally added the bird netting to the raspberry field. It was a huge project and it was successful. We also added some additional drainage in the raspberry field. We added 2 new varieties of raspberry and some beautiful blackberry plants as well - both for harvesting in 2014.

We installed the orchard which includes apple, pear and plum trees and also blueberries.

As if the raspberries weren't enough for the bees, we installed a butterfly garden which has mostly edible flowers, and an added plus, the bees love the garden too! We began experimenting with vertical growing and learned some lessons there. We had the largest raspberry harvest to date, in spite of the fact we had only 3 of the terraces producing! We increased our production of hot peppers and began making a hot pepper sauce. We also discovered wild ginger and began stewardship of the area with the hope to bring fresh harvests in the future.

2014 In Review
We added a new structure to house all of the herbs we produce. We call it the "herb shack". We began producing hickory smoked salt to add to our lineup of hickory products. The winter months were pretty harsh and many farmers lost lavender plants, ours survived as did the raspberry and blackberry plants. Our rhubarb crop was pretty phenomenal in the Spring.

The blackberries we installed produced beautifully. We took blackberries to market a couple of weeks. We look forward to 2015 harvest as the variety we chose was awesome and will be even better as the plants mature!

Wild mushrooms were slim this year, in spite of the harsh wet winter, the Summer months were dry and did not yield the mushrooms we usually can collect. However. Autumn produced some pretty amazing Maitake. 30 pounds to be precise!

 

2015 In Review
We had a lot of Spring rain and it was the year where we twice almost lost the pond. We found out what a crawdad collar was and installed one of those at the drain pipe. (If you want to know what crawdad collar is, just ask. We didn't know either.) Our rhubarb crop was again pretty phenomenal in the Spring and we were able to begin offering rhubarb at markets.

Raspberry harvest was good but thin, Spring rains caused most of the fruit to mold. However our blackberry harvest was great. We also started growing and offering melons. Ever since I tried charentais melons in France I have been interested in growing good melons here. You just can't get a good melon around here anymore, so we started growing them. Adams County seems to have a great climate for melons. Who knew? Wild mushrooms were also pretty plentiful - all varieties we harvest.

2016 In Review
We moved to the farm house in January! Strange time of year to move, but when you're a farmer, winter is the best time to do "big" things - that you have control over! The farm house isn't exactly as we want it, but what house isn't an ongoing project?

The raspberry harvest was good as were the blackberries. We're still having problems with the birds getting through the netting. Last year they hadn't quite figured out how to defeat what we we did, but we're guessing the winter physics classes they all took paid off, we again had significant bird damage, so it's back to the drawing board for 2017!

The melon crop was phenomenal, we are so happy with the heirloom varieties we chose! We look forward to even better melons in 2017!

Wild mushroom harvest was good and with everything we've learned about mushrooms, we're looking forward to cultivating mushrooms in 2017. An exciting and new endeavor! Pawpaws were also strong this year in spite of an early frost that damaged many of the blossoms. This was also the first year our pear trees really produced, but the squirrels got most of the fruit before they matured. Plans are in place to remedy this issue for 2017!

Most of the lessons learned on the farm are hard ones, but farmers are the eternal optimists - there's always next year!

 

2017 In Review
We have a new face at Shagbark Farm. Someone dumped an older kitten who managed to find his way to us. He was pretty beat up when he arrived, weighing in at just 9 pounds as what we guess to be a 18 month old cat. We got him to the vet and he survived and is living as another one of our farm cats. Sweet guy, we're glad he's here!

Spring was not good for the raspberries, so we didn't get to test our bird netting as we would have liked. The strawberry plants produced enough for us to produce some pretty spectacular jam and as always our blackberries did great. Melon season was strong and we took many melons to markets. With what we are learning about melon growing, we plan to increase our specialty varieties in 2018.

The bees are thriving. We were able to take a small quantity of honey to market which was pretty exciting for us. The bees really are extraordinary critters. With what we learned this year, we plan to increase the number of hives we have in 2018 in order to increase honey production.

Our "wild" crops also did well this year - Pawpaws once again were plentiful as were the wild mushrooms we harvest, in particular chanterelles. It was the first time persimmons were early enough to take to markets, they were well received!

2018 In Review
2018 was a very wet year. Because of that in 2019 we'll need to rennovate the entire raspberry field. Raspberries don't like to be wet and the last two very rainy seasons has weakened our plants. As the raspberries are 10 years old, we'll most likely be replacing many of our plants. Our strawberry harvest was very good and we took many berries to market. Even thought it was a very wet summer, we took melons to market, not as many as we would have liked but there's always next year!

The wet season made mushrooming quite successful, we took many pounds of mushrooms to market.

The bees continue to thrive and we again took honey to market. We split our hives and now have twice as many. We're hoping for a great 2019!

 

Read further to learn about our farm practices, how we use the land and water.

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