We work on being self-sufficient and sustainable, making a very small footprint on the 166 acres we live on. Although we do use some non-solar electricity, we have the ability to run just about everything on solar when the electric goes out. We also have a very, very low water usage, even though we both drink lots of ionized water! We have the ability to use well-water OR rain water we collect in huge barrels at any of our faucets, and we have point-of-use tankless hot water heaters in each location. We also use composting toilets for our poop, and we disperse our pee outside for the good nitrogen, and, around the garden – it keeps the deer away! (Write if you want to know more about any of this.)

We grow lots of vegetables, from tomatoes to potatoes, and even free-range organic chickens (although I’m a vegetarian, Justin and Rocky aren’t). We have delicious heirloom tomatoes all winter long in the greenhouse, along with figs and even goji berries, accompanied by hibiscus, passion vines and geraniums in bloom! We’ve even started growing dwarf banana trees in the greenhouse. In the summer we have gooseberries, blueberries, aronia berries, raspberries, blackberries, elderberries and strawberries grown in upright cylinders to get more berries per square foot. We have an almond tree, peach, pear and apple trees, and flowers galore! Over 150 different kinds of iris’ bloom amongst daffodils, tulips, lilies, hollyhocks, dahlias, foxgloves, clematis, and literally, countless others. Here’s a photo of us with the first crop of winter tomatoes from our greenhouse!

Knowing how much I always wanted a meadow of wildflowers (that’s Rocky in the meadow below), Justin created one for me. That’s what we have the most of on our farm – love. We both had to wait until our mid-fifties to find the love of our life, and, I have to say now, it was worth going through all I’ve been through, since Justin was my pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, after all the stormy weather. The only thing we ever argue about is who got the better end of the deal!