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Heritage & Rare Breed Poultry
Livestock Guardian Dogs
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About Our Farm
Heritage & Rare Breed Poultry
Livestock Guardian Dogs
Shop Our Farm

Home / Planning / Visiting the land

Posted on October 5, 2016November 5, 2016 by Sarah

Visiting the land

These photos were taken just after we officially became the owners of this land. It was a beautiful, sunny October day.

The Lane

Sarah & L by the lane

Peter & Jeep

The land

The view

Sunset by the cedar trees

Sunset by the cedar trees

Category: Planning

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About Our Family

Family photo 2020 — Our family values include nonviolent communication, self-directed education and gentle parenting. We strive to implement permaculture principles in all areas of our lifestyle.

We Love Thyme

Thyme and rustic scissors — We love thyme. With seemingly endless varieties of this aromatic, delicious, medicinal, flowering evergreen ground cover we thought it was a perfect namesake for our farm. We especially loved creating a play on words that reflects our values of hope, regeneration and abundance.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. -Lao Tzu

Our Heritage & Rare Breed Poultry

Ameraucana ~ Bresse ~ Cream Legbar ~ French Black Copper Marans ~ Lavender Orpington ~ Silkie ~ Silverudd’s Blue Isbar

Recent Reviews

Lavender Orpington Hatching Eggs
Rated 5 out of 5
by Shawn & Chellie
Lavender Orpington Hatching Eggs
Rated 5 out of 5
by Michaela H.
Silkie Hatching Eggs
Rated 5 out of 5
by Kaitie Gomez
Silkie Hatching Eggs
Rated 5 out of 5
by Devorah

Hours & Info

Shepherdstown, West Virginia

Phone: 917-727-2039

Hours: By appointment only

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betterwiththyme

This morning we were setting up another brooder an

This morning we were setting up another brooder and teaching the newly hatched chicks where the feed is. Most of these chicks are already claimed but I will be posting a few for sale on our website today.

#farmvideofriday / Day 10 / #homesteadersofigchallenge

@faulkfamilyfarm @pickofthelitterfarm @flowertowncharm @geraghtysmicrofarm @mtnlabhomestead @17chickensandcounting @crested_chicken @birddogfarmsllc

Today is the perfect day for us to share a throwba

Today is the perfect day for us to share a throwback photo - or 10! One year ago today these puppies were born on our farm. What an amazing adventure. It has been such a joy to see them all grow and mature into beautiful, loving and faithful guardian dogs!

Happy Birthday #briaofbetterwiththyme
#mintofbetterwiththyme and #goosethelgd

Throwback Thursday / Day 9 / #homesteadersofigchallenge

@faulkfamilyfarm @pickofthelitterfarm @flowertowncharm @geraghtysmicrofarm @mtnlabhomestead @17chickensandcounting @crested_chicken @birddogfarmsllc

Recently I’ve been delaying my morning up of cof

Recently I’ve been delaying my morning up of coffee until after all the animal and outside work is done for the morning. It’s turned into an intermittent fasting too and I’m really liking it for now.

Morning Cup / Day 8 / #homesteadersofigchallenge

@faulkfamilyfarm @pickofthelitterfarm @flowertowncharm @geraghtysmicrofarm @mtnlabhomestead @17chickensandcounting @crested_chicken @birddogfarmsllc

Thank you all for hosting 💚💙 #homesteadersofigchallenge
#homesteadereverafter #growbuildraise

#coffee #dripcoffee

This year the herbs and flowers are growing abunda

This year the herbs and flowers are growing abundantly since it has been so hot and dry. Did you know milkweed is edible? We have some vegetables and fruit in the garden that are doing decently well too since we have added several inches of wood chips/mulch. Lots of chicks growing out and lambs that seem to get bigger by the day. No fruit growing on the trees this year since late freezes killed everything. One of the things I love about a permaculture/polyculture is that regardless of what’s happening with the weather, there is something that thrives when other things aren’t doing as well.

What’s Growing / Day 7 / #homesteadersofigchallenge

@faulkfamilyfarm @pickofthelitterfarm @flowertowncharm @geraghtysmicrofarm @mtnlabhomestead @17chickensandcounting @crested_chicken @birddogfarmsllc

Thank you all for hosting 💚💙 #homesteadersofigchallenge
#homesteadereverafter #growbuildraise

Another very moody sky tonight, and another storm

Another very moody sky tonight, and another storm that missed us by just one town. We were inundated with rain all of 2018 while trying to get our house built. It’s been just about a year since we were finally able to move in. This year one of the things we’re trying to do is plant more trees. Luckily we have loads of wood chips to mulch with so they’re all alive still but I can’t help but wonder how big they would be had we gotten them in the ground 2 years ago 🙃

#nightsky #clouds #lightening #butnorain

This year I finally decided on my top four breeds

This year I finally decided on my top four breeds of chickens to focus on. It was my original intention to do this after one year of raising 16 different breeds. There were things we liked about each of them and never could decide on the top four. We slowly sold off one or two here and there but since we added the sheep and pigs in the last year I knew I needed to reduce the amount of time I was spending managing so many breeds of chickens. I don’t want to be spread too thin and i want to maintain our same standards of caring for all our animals.

So I went with our top two sellers (Silkie and Lavender Orpington) and my personal favorite (Isbar) plus the most amazing meat breed because I just can’t go back to Cornish Cross after having them (Bresse).

So my biggest project this year I am working on selling off roosters from all our other breeds and increasing the number of chickens we have in our breeding groups so we can fill orders more quickly too.

This project includes planning, hatching and building larger portable coops for the Lavenders and Bresse who I plan to keep separated and following behind the cattle and sheep when they are on rotational grazing (basically all year except January and part of February).

The silkies will remain in pasture pens and fencing and the Isbars will be our free-ranging breed.

I’m really excited for the shift and focus! The rooster in the photo is Silver, who is one of our Isbar roosters.

Current Projects / Day 6 / #homesteadersofigchallenge

@faulkfamilyfarm @pickofthelitterfarm @flowertowncharm @geraghtysmicrofarm @mtnlabhomestead @17chickensandcounting @crested_chicken @birddogfarmsllc

Thank you all for hosting 💚💙 #homesteadersofigchallenge
#homesteadereverafter
#growbuildraise

#meetmyhickenmonday @chickouttawater @17chickensandcounting

I love looking for art in the everyday. When I loo

I love looking for art in the everyday. When I look around our farm I see art everywhere from the tiniest mushrooms, up to the sky and everything in between. Check out my photo of the moon from last night if you missed it!

Farm Art / Day 5 / #homesteadersofigchallenge

@faulkfamilyfarm @pickofthelitterfarm @flowertowncharm @geraghtysmicrofarm @mtnlabhomestead @17chickensandcounting @crested_chicken @birddogfarmsllc

Thank you all for hosting 💚💙#homesteadersofigchallenge
#homesteadereverafter
#growbuildraise

I bought a new (used) camera lens to help identify

I bought a new (used) camera lens to help identify hawks since we have seen several species both in the sky above us and in our pasture but then I started taking photos like this one and I’m having so much fun with it. The kids enjoyed all the neighbors’ fireworks tonight until they saw the moon rising and asked me to come see it!

#moon #nightsky

I planned to share a photo of our somewhat wild an

I planned to share a photo of our somewhat wild and free (ranging) Bresse chickens for the #homesteadersofigchallenge today but while I was taking photos of the chickens last night, I looked over and saw the girls doing this.

I can’t remember a July 4th during my lifetime that I felt freedom here in the USA was under threat more than it is today but I’m trying to stay focused on what is within my circle of influence, such as how we raise these little humans. Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.

I also believe every adult can make a difference now. I keep hearing/reading that voting for a third party is a wasted vote. This is a narrative that reinforces the two party system. I won’t tell anyone else what to do, but I think it’s important to listen to your heart and stand up and be counted if you want to have a voice. Your vote and your everyday actions do make a difference.

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

I’d like to share @rinatofamilyadventures for th

I’d like to share @rinatofamilyadventures for the #homesteadersofigchallenge today.

Alina and Rob are truly inspirational. They made their family dreams a reality and you can just feel the joy emanating from their photos and stories!

I procrastinated all day yesterday trying to pick

I procrastinated all day yesterday trying to pick a favorite animal and I just couldn’t. We are blessed with too many wonderful contenders. ☺️

So I’ll just say Moonbeam is one of my favorites. We met her when she was only three months old and fell in love.

She’s been with us for almost a year and a half and we hope she’s expecting for the first time as of yesterday!

#homesteadersofigchallenge #moonbeamofbetterwiththyme

Thank you to @sassy_feathers_farm for tagging me t

Thank you to @sassy_feathers_farm for tagging me to join the #homesteadersofigchallenge

It’s been a while since I’ve done an intro and today’s theme for the challenge is intro/homestead selfie.

Most of the selfies in my camera roll include one or more children or animals. This one is me and one of our livestock guardian dogs when she was 2 months old.

We started our first (urban) homestead in 2012 and moved to our farm in 2017. I do most of the farm work, including animal care, building, planning, planting etc. My husband works from home and joins with the farm duties when he can.

We raise a variety of heritage and rare breed chickens, ducks and turkeys, American Guinea Hogs, Babydoll Sheep, Mini-Jersey Dairy Cattle plus Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs to protect everyone.

We sell hatching eggs and birds, occasionally have puppies available and hope to have lambs, piglets and calves in the future. We also have two pet cats and a pet Holland Lop rabbit.

Most of our land is used for grazing and hay but we are also adding gardens with a focus on perennial edibles and medicinal plants as well as trees that will eventually produce food.

This year has been hard for everyone I know and I’ve been struggling recently with the lack of social connection during this time. I read about some studies that reveal an epidemic of loneliness and that social media doesn’t help with these feelings the way individual and in-person social interaction does. I very much appreciate the individual relationships and conversations that have developed through our farm customers and Instagram accounts. If you are reading this and haven’t had a personal conversation with me yet, please feel free to reach out any time! My name is Sarah.

“Eudaemonic well-being” is another thing I am trying to focus on to combat the sense of isolation and loneliness. It is a sense of purpose and meaning derived from working toward something greater than self-gratification. We are working to transform this little slice of earth we are stewarding and hope to leave a positive legacy for the future.

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