The Luna Acres Homestead: November 2012

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

the shop

The last month we have been focused on the shop. We gutted the little shed beside the front porch, put up ty-vec, closed in the wall, moved in cabinets, built shelves, and spent not nearly enough time yet organizing the tools from around the property. It has finally come together, despite still needing a bit more organizing (okay, a lot more), but it looks great! Jonathan, my dad and my cousin Billy did most of the work (I helped a little). We used all materials that we already had. This isn't exactly a "farm project", but with this new shop set up we have the larger shed to use as our barn!

Thanksgiving is tomorrow. I am very disappointed that I won't be eating a pasture raised, organic bird that I raised, but there's always next year. Yeah, definitely next year.

Best wishes to everyone!

Angela and Jonathan

construction!

a mess

tools

dad and billy cutting oak boards for the walls

cabinets

Jonathan helping build the motorcycle shack

the men at work


finished, except the wall

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

the first storm

I'm a little late in sharing our adventures of the first storm of the winter season, but it's better late than never, right? Life has been a bit chaotic; returning home, finding work, and fixing the Jeep have been overwhelming tasks, but we can finally cross them off our list (well, mostly.) Amist all the stress my blogging has been on the back burner, but no longer! The next few months will be busy busy busy with farm projects, and I want to share it with you every step of the way. Now, back to that storm...


the clouds rolled in

then the rain

firewood

the wind took down the pear tree

also, the strawberries (granted there was not much left to them)

soaked.

and very dark

our poor, poor tree

it will heal.

the morning after


the biggest casualty

Live simply,

Angela and Jonathan

hello there

We are Angela Kelly Jones and Jonathan Taylor, the farmers, if you will. We have been a couple for five years, and sharing our love of farming and animals for two. We were lucky enough to spend eight months on a working livestock farm outside of Richmond, where we learned the skills to raise animals ethically and naturally. The focus is on grass-feeding and pasture management, and while we don't have much pasture land ourselves, the techniques and benefits are still incredible. We also learned tons about gardening and growing mushrooms. We just returned home in early winter and are setting up to produce several varieties of mushrooms, and raise several different animals. Please support our homestead so we can continue to grow!

behind the name

I struggled for months trying to decide what to name the farm. I wanted it to be something creative, that caught your attention, that was interesting. Something meaningful. I wanted a name that could express our dreams, ideals, love for nature and animals, and commitment to sustainability and quality of life- all in one word. The name Luna seemed stuck in my head for weeks in the end of summer, and one day I was jotting down ideas on paper when it came to me. Luna Acres. I played around with the letters, trying to think of an underlying message I could convey within the name itself, this is where I thought, "life's unexpected natural abundance." Our society is so fast paced and materialistic, it's hard to see the amazing abundance that's all around us. We had been discussing the terminology of our business for several weeks as well, and we decided that homestead most accurately described what we are doing. We want to create a home where we can provide for ourselves as much as possible, that we can leave behind. The Luna Acres Homestead.