Welcome to Our Farm Page!
In the Spring of 2008 we moved to our farm in the beautiful
heartland of Virginia. The 41 acres we purchased, were once
part of the Old Metcalf farm.
We are starting up our farm slowly. Although, both of us have
lived on farms when we were children, that was a long time ago.
To achieve our goal to live as self-sufficient as possible. We have come up with several plans that are currently being implemented.
By raising livestock, growing crops and managing a large garden, we have eliminated most of our need to purchase groceries. By installing a wind turbine, we have greatly reduced the amount of electricity we take from the grid. A nice wood-burning stove in winter helps to eliminate our need for heating oil. Our goal is to install solar panels in a few years to make up for the small amount of power we still need.
We are members of the Heart of Virginia Beekeepers. We currently have three healthy hives on our farm. Our bees thrive on a mostly clover diet. During the winter, we provide them with a 2:1 syrup solution to ensure their survival.
We also do not use any chemicals or pesticides on our farm. Our goal is to raise the cleanest food possible to improve and maintain our good health and that of our customers.
Alternate Energy Sources:
To reduce our monthly electricity cost, we purchased the Skystream 3.7 Wind Turbine from Skyline (a subsidiary of Southwest Windpower). The rated capacity is 1.8kW with a 2.4kW peak. The turbine is mounted on an 80 foot lattice tower.
We installed our wind turbine behind the dairy barn, where it would not interfere with the bucolic vistas of our farm, but still receive the maximize amount of wind.
During the winter, when the wind is strongest, we feed back energy to the grid. In the summer, when the wind is milder, we use more energy from the grid. Overall, the wind turbine covers approximately one third of our annual electric bill.
We are still researching the different types of solar panels. We also plan on using solar for our electric fencing. We estimate at least another couple of years before we will install them.
We purchased a wood stove with blower from England's Stove Works, Inc. Our stove heats up to 1,000 sq ft and accepts up to 20" logs. We are now burning less than a third of the fuel oil we consumed prior to installation.
John is proving to be a wonderful carpenter. It is absolutely amazing how much you can accomplish when you try!
John's new bar with keg refrigerator!
