The Wildflower Farm Pot Rack.
One of the most important parts of farming and homesteading is organization. This pot rack ran us $110. It’s a bit of a DIY. These three wooden bars are antique horse yolks. We hung them on the wall then just popped ’em full of hooks. Now we hang our pots there. I bought the yolks on Etsy, and Dr. Farmer Moomin, did a wonderful job getting them set up for our Mauviel, copper pots, as well as for our cast iron.
Old wooden horse yolks make an excellent pot rack.
I like to re-purpose. It is part and parcel of this lifestyle. Old rail road spikes, check, cut down used as pulls for kitchen drawers and cabinets. An old horse drawn sled, now a beautiful coffee table in the library…. Old horse yolks, become a pot rack…. I love to give old things a new chance to shine filling a different role than the one they remember from their previously lives as whatever they were created to be and do.
Pot Rack
One thing I have learned about farming and homesteading is the importance of organization. I keep a tub of stuff I use to make soap and other body products in the crawl space, along side my tub of things I use to create natural home cleaning products, which I then use in my home. For some cleaning supplies it saves time to just order Caldrea products…. I keep a carefully managed collection of binders. One on animals and their health and everything to do with them. I keep the same for myself and my husband. Important documents go in there etc…. And I keep a house binder so I can keep track of everything home and yard related. I want to be sure at all times, no matter what happens to me, anyone could come in, pick up the binders, and find they have no trouble running everything here. I keep an organized pantry of jars….. There is no end to the need for organization. In fact, a farm with none is not a healthy farm. You need to know when you last wormed, when to get the dogs new dog licenses, who comes into heat when…. And so much more.
Farmers, we feed, we garden and most importantly we organize. It is the only method by which farms can grow and stay fully active and healthy. But it is a skill that takes a lot to learn and to become adept at. Without organization, everything falls apart on a farm. With living things you are responsible for it is simply untenable for their sakes to be disorganized!
So that is my thought for the week. I had it a few minutes ago smiling at my beautiful pot rack.
Thanx for reading
Amanda of Wildflower Farm
Tags: acreage, agriculture, agro, airbnb, B&B, bed and breakfast, bed and breakfast house, farm, farm blog, farm wife, farmer, farming, Farming New England, farmstead, handmade, homemade, homemaking, homestead, homestead blog, homestead farm, homestead wife, homesteader, homesteading, inn keeper, inn keeping, Inn keeping blog, lifestyle, lifestyle blog, lodging, new england, new england farm, new england homestead, old fashioned house wife, old fashioned housewife, old fashioned lifestyle, Organization, pot rack, re-purpose, simpler life, stay at home wife, Tourism, wildflower farm, wildflower farm acres
Wildflower Farm, is a small New England homestead, B&B and AirBnB, in the Baystate. We came out here 7 years ago, when we returned from the better part of 10 years as peripatetic aristotelian nomads, for my husband's post docs. Upon our return, we had a plan. We had a lovely home. Everything was so clear. Then, I got sick. Things I used to eat all the time during our travels elsewhere in the world and even here before I left almost 10 years earlier made me ill. It took a couple trips to the ER and a trip to specialist... It became clear, something had changed in the way food is processed in this country since last I lived here. Some off label things was inevitably going to be my demise.
My husband and I looked around to see the clear path we were on, had exploded in front of us. We decided we had to create a new path for ourselves. We put children on hold. We found a small piece of land with a house we loved in a rural suburb in a right to farm area. I began researching how to do it ourselves. Grow it ourselves, make it ourselves, survive on our own as much as possible. We bought the property, and began plotting a new course. One that didn't involve off label chemicals. Closer to nature, with a lot more DIY, gardens, and animals for the products they provide. We created a life we loved though it hasn't always been easy and has of course come with compromise with each other, and even with ourselves.
Our family thought we had lost our minds. What were we doing leaving the city? We had no idea how hard this would be. They thought we would be back in 6 months. That was over 7 years ago, now. We have been making it work. They were not wrong, it isn't easy. But has anything worth doing ever been easy? And for us, avoiding as much store bought food as possible was simply necessary so I could live given how sick I was getting.
Then Covid hit.... We were lucky to have this place. It has allowed us a lot less need for public use territories which has kept us a lot safer and spared us much of the risk others face daily. This place, has given us a privilege through this of great meaning to us. To be of use in a difficult time. We have been able to help friends family and even strangers in need when things couldn't be found on store shelves. Or money was tight due to not working, rent being due and a child at home, or some other draining situation. We are so very grateful to have been able to not be helpless like so much of society through this miserable time. Our families, got used to it some time ago, us being out here. They made peace with it the day there was no bread and they had to ask me for some. Or when fresh vegies were rotten due to supply chain issues but they could find plenty in my garden.
Wildflower Farm, was a place I dreamed of. One of those sweet pastoral dreams a city dweller grows up knowing will never come true, that became unavoidable when I became ill. I never expected to get to do this. I never thought I had what it takes to make this work. I have learned pacing myself is important, compromise is critical, hard work never ends, burn out is real so breaks are just a necessary evil.
We are not fully self sufficient, but we work hard in that direction as we create a new path through life for ourselves, always reaching to do even more ourselves and to get closer to the ideal we envision. We are however far more self sufficient than many in this world. 7 years in, we continue to learn and grow in this homesteading lifestyle. We welcome comments and advice and ideas and questions.
We welcome visitors from all over to our home with strict covid policies in place. We spend our time learning to live all over again in a more environmental and sustainable way though even there we are far from perfect always learning and growing doing better as we know better.
This little homestead farm is a magical place named for the New England wildflowers that grow all around. A place where a physicist, watches the night sky on clear nights with the aide of mirror and glass, and a woman, works endlessly in the gardens, the kitchen, and a variety of projects to create and to keep a very unique life style running and functioning. Wildflower Farm, has become so much more than simply a piece of land we can grow a few vegetables on. The longer I spend here, the more alive the land seems, the more I learn about it's function and the more meaning it has. My place in the universe and the next steps on our new path become ever more clear.
We welcome you on this journey with us.
Add Comment