Month: July 2024

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Planting the orchard

Today was a big day for the farm. We brought home eighteen fruit trees and planted the start of what we hope will become a thriving orchard over the years ahead.

We chose a mix of varieties so that the harvest will be spread across the season and the land will have some built in diversity. Several types of apple trees went into the ground, along with peaches, plums, and pears. Right now they are small and quiet, easy to overlook if you do not know what is coming.

Planting trees is a different kind of work than most of what we do here. It is slow. It asks for patience. The real reward is not months away, but years out. Yet there is something grounding about setting roots into the soil and imagining what those branches will hold one day.

The orchard does not look like much yet, just neat rows of stakes and leaves. But it already represents long term thinking, steady care, and a belief that this land will provide if we are willing to invest the time.

Eighteen little trees are now part of this place. We look forward to watching them grow.

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Well, that sucks.

Our homestead in Florida had a well, and we loved it. The water tasted great, and it gave us a level of independence and self reliance that fit the way we live. When we moved to Tennessee, even though the house is on city water, we wanted to bring that same independence here.

So we called the best well drilling company in the area. They set up, drilled for two full days, and went down to seven hundred feet. By the time they wrapped up, we were already into the project for more money than we ever conceived of spending. Then came the bad news.

The well produces only one-half gallon per minute. It is nowhere near enough water to support a household, and certainly not enough for a working homestead. The water is there, but not in a usable volume. After all that work and cost, it feels like the well just does not want to cooperate.

So what now?

We are going to pivot. The plan is to install cistern tanks to catch rainwater from the gutters and pair that with a pump that also draws from the small amount of water coming from the well. It will be a more complex and more expensive system, but it should give us the level of water independence we are looking for.

If all goes well, we hope to move into part two of this project next spring. There are challenges ahead, but this is the path we have. And like everything on the homestead, we will learn, adapt, and keep moving forward.

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Summer is in full swing

Summer has settled into the mountains, and it could not be more welcome. The days are warm, but not heavy. The kind of warmth that sits gently on your shoulders instead of pressing down on you. The grass is thick and bright, growing faster than we can walk it. Everywhere we look, the trees are full and green, filling out every ridge and hollow.

The mountain views feel bigger this time of year. Layers of blue and green stack against the sky, sharp and clear on some mornings and softened by mist on others. It is a sight that never seems to lose its charm. Even after months here, we still catch ourselves stopping to take it all in.

Summer work has its usual rhythm. Fencing, mowing, tending animals, watching the pasture fill in, and trying to stay ahead of whatever the land decides to do next. But there is also a calmness to this season. A steady, growing pace that matches the landscape itself.

Right now, everything feels alive. The grass, the trees, the hills, the air. It reminds us why we chose this place, and why the work here matters. Summer in Tennessee is a gift, and we are grateful to be living inside it.