Unity Farm Journal - Fourth Week of August 2016

It’s another “vacation” week for me, which is code for catching up on all business and personal commitments I’ve made over the past few months but haven’t yet completed.   The good news is that I’ll start next week with a clean slate.

Google Maps recently updated their survey of Sherborn, so we have a very current view of Unity Farm.   Here’s what it looks like from above

And here’s Kathy’s hand drawn key so that you can better understand the features in the photograph.

As you can see, the farm is a self contained ecosystem with fruits, vegetables, forest, water, and animals.   We’re at the point where the infrastructure is entirely updated and doing seasonal farm activities every day is a smooth operation.   We are continuing to work on our farm sanctuary 501c(3) ideas and have submitted all the necessary paperwork.    Here’s a summary:

“Increasingly, Unity Farm has taken on an education, conservation, and animal rescue mission.      We often hold classes to instruct members of the Metrowest community in the cultivation of mushrooms, organic pesticide/herbicide free agricultural methods, and chemical free bee care.     Every month, we take on animals from the communiy that others cannot care for because of time, economic challenges, or regulatory constraints.

We wish to establish Unity Farm Sanctuary Inc. to formalize the community education, environmental stewardship, and animal rehabilitation/rescue aspects of our activities. "

Labor Day is just around the corner and that means we're preparing the property for the winter ahead.   We’ll have a few tons of gravel delivered to regrade the farm roads for winter.   We’re winterizing the pig barn with a new door.  We’re doing a long needed upgrade on the heating system to better distribute warmth through the buildings.   We’re touching up painting and stain.    Although this seems like a lot of work, it’s just part of the yearly maintenance of a farm.    Deferred maintenance causes problems quickly and we try to stay ahead of any issues.

The flowers of Summer are fading and being replaced by the flowers of Fall - goldenrod and Japanese knotweed.  Here’s a photo of the bee yard showing the current source sources of nectar.

Our daily harvests are still focused on warm weather vegetables - tomatoes, peppers and basil.   Here’s today’s hoop house harvest.

Finally, there’s a new business  that all farmers with property near golf courses should consider.   The Dowse farm near Unity abuts the Sassamon Trace golf course.  Golfers, especially those in training, have poor aim. The Dowse farmstand now offers “white crabapples”.   I think the yellow/orange ones must be overripe.