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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

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

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. -Lao Tzu
Our Heritage Breed Chickens
  • Ameraucana (Blue, Black, Splash)
  • Bresse
  • Cream Legbar
  • Isbar
  • French Black Copper Marans
  • Lavender Orpington
  • Silkie (Blue, Black, Splash, White, Porcelain and Mixed)
  • “Olive Egger” (Blue Ameraucana x French Black Copper Marans)
  • “Easter Egger” (Barnyard mix of many heritage breeds)

Great Pyrenees Livestock Guardian Dogs

About our Dogs: Why Great Pyrenees Livestock Guardian Dogs

How We Raise Our Dogs: Naturally Reared for optimal health & longevity

Learn about each of our dogs on their individual pages: Beau, Bella, Bria, Blossom and Mint

Great Pyrenees Puppies

Available Puppies: Information and photos of puppies that are currently available

Previous Puppies: Information and photos of past litters and puppy updates from their families

Hours & Info
P.O. Box 3105
Shepherdstown, WV
917-727-2039
By appointment only
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Sarah | Better with Thyme Farm
Day 22 / Your family / #31daysofhomesteading with Day 22 / Your family / #31daysofhomesteading with @venturatohomestead⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣One thing that makes our family unique is that both parents work from home and all the kids are homeschooled (with self-directed education). It is a blessing and a challenge for us to all come together and find a way to blend our passions and interests while also meeting our basic needs. Though it sometimes feels like a cacophony, there is often a beautiful harmony.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣Little Peter’s interest in tools and building things has challenged Peter to branch out and learn new skills that he has always been interested in but had not pursued before. ⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣Adelaide has two older siblings to look up to and learn from and I’m often amazed at how much she can imitate and understand.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣The older kids get a chance to practice care taking and teaching someone younger than them.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣And on and on it goes.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣I am so thankful that we have the opportunity to experience this beautiful way to form a tight knit family who lives, loves and learns life together.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣I gave a more basic intro to our family on Day 1, it’s in the highlights if you missed it!⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣#familylife #homeschool #selfdirectededucation #unschooling #homestead
Time to meet another Isbar chicken. This hen is th Time to meet another Isbar chicken. This hen is the foundation of my project breed, and here she is meeting her chick (hatched in an incubator) for the first time. The meeting went well, she didn’t even think about pecking the little one. Perhaps it’s because she was just busy trying to figure out how to get back outside? This hen is a typical black Isbar girl, busy forging and hard to catch but will calmly let you hold her if you do manage to get her. Just don’t go near any dogs or she’ll set off the alarms. She needs a name too! Her mom was Wilma and her dad Sterling. One of her brothers is Onyx and her half brother is Silver. The rest of our remaining Isbars all still need names! Any suggestions for this one? Happy #meetmychickenmonday @17chickensandcounting and @chickouttawater⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣#isbarchicken #babychicks #babychicksofinstagram #chickens #chickenmama #chickenfarm #petchickens #chickenlife #chickenkeeper #lovemychickens #chickenkeeping #backyardchickens #chickensofinstagram #homesteadinglife #homestead #petphotography #crazychickenlady #spoiledchickens #permaculture #permaculturechickens #pastureraised
Day 21 / Favorite time of year / #31daysofhomestea Day 21 / Favorite time of year / #31daysofhomesteading with @venturatohomestead Summer all the way! When I was a girl I always imagined I would live by the beach. I was in heaven in Hawaii and then there was the time I went to Costa Rica and almost didn’t come home. I would rather be hot than cold any day. I guess I’m a #beachbum who somehow became a #farmher ? #honeybee #summer #ilovesummer #flowers #edibleflowers #nofilter
Day 20 / Your gardens / #31daysofhomesteading with Day 20 / Your gardens / #31daysofhomesteading with @venturatohomestead Most of our property is pasture with a small amount of woodland. We waited until the final grading was done around our house to get our garden areas started, which was late spring 2019. As soon as the grading was done we began to lay out and prepare our garden, using a keyhole mandala pattern with a large open circle in the middle for the kids to play. We got down a good layer of mulch on much of it, planted a lot of perennials (herbs, berries, shrubs etc) and we grew a handful of annual vegetables and fruits. We prefer to start with seeds or whips so it’s hard to photograph the garden until a couple of years in. One thing we planted for the first time this year is garlic. I’m super excited to for garlic scapes and our first home grown garlic crop. The plants seem to know that this mild winter is going to be followed by an early spring. The garlic never died back, a lot of plants are budding and even beginning to tentatively leaf out (elderberry especially) and the pink pussy willow that usually blooms in time for Valentine’s Day is already in full bloom now. #permaculture #permaculturegarden #permaculturezone1 #perrenialgarden #ediblegarden #growyourownfood
Day 19 / Introduce your animals / #31daysofhomeste Day 19 / Introduce your animals / #31daysofhomesteading with @venturatohomestead This photo is our babydoll ram Joseph, in usual winter form - both covered and stuffed with hay! On our farm we currently have 86 chickens: Ameraucana, Bresse, Cream Legbar, Isbar, Lavender Orpington, Marans and Silkie 14 Ducks (Cayuga, Chocolate Runner and Welsh Harlequin) 5 Livestock Guardian Dogs (Great Pyrenees) 4 Blue Slate Turkeys 2 Olde English Babydoll Southdown Sheep 2 Nigerian Dwarf Goats 2 Cats -our oldest animals; they are 10 and 16 years old! 1 Holland Lop Rabbit 1 Miniature Jersey Cow We are expecting our next litter of puppies in a couple of weeks (and Bella is looking like it’s going to be a big litter!) We plan to get a couple of pigs this year We are also adding more babydoll lambs this spring We hope to sell our goats as soon as we find a good home for them We decided to postpone breeding Moonbeam until this summer, so we won’t have our first calf until the spring of 2021 I have been starting to use the stories and highlights more so you can see more about our animals in the highlights. I will keep adding as I get time! #babydollsheep #oldenglishbabydollsouthdownsheep #babydollram #babydollsouthdown #babydollsouthdownsheep #pastureraised #balegrazing #permaculture
Day 18 / Favorite machine or tool / #31daysofhomes Day 18 / Favorite machine or tool / #31daysofhomesteading with @venturatohomestead⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣We have made an effort to use human and animal work instead of machines as much as possible on our farm. One tool that makes this possible is portable fencing (you can see it behind the chickens in the photo). Portable fencing is one of my favorite tools right now since it allows us to quickly and easily move animals and direct their work (eg grazing, scratching, fertilizing etc) to where we need it. It also helps to keep animals out of sensitive areas like our young garden. We use a combination of poultry net, sheep net and one or two strands for our cow.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣#backyardchickens #blacksilkie #bwtsilkies chicken #chickenfarm #chickenkeeper #chickenkeeping #chickenlife #chickenmama #chickens #chickensofig #chickensofinstagram #crazychickenlady #dailyfluff #homestead #homesteadinglife #lovemychickens #pasture #pastureraised #permaculture #permaculturechickens #petchickens #porcelainsilkie #silkie #silkiechicken #silkies #silkiesofinstagram #spoiledchickens
Day 17 / Homestead hack #31daysofhomesteading with Day 17 / Homestead hack #31daysofhomesteading with @venturatohomestead⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣Hugelkulture is my favorite homestead hack. Basically it means burying a bunch of wood, preferably well rotted, under a big pile of soil or compost or whatever you have and growing your plants on top of the resulting hill.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣This hugel was made from seven maple trees we had cut down because they were growing out of a retaining wall and blocking the sun on 95% of our small urban lot. We layered everything in - trunk pieces, branches and the leaves on top. Then we dry stacked a stone wall in front of it to disguise it and covered it with several yards of compost.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣We grew all kinds of amazing edibles and NEVER watered it after the first year. Not even when we had a drought and our lawn died in several places. That’s how amazing hugelkulture is!⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣#ediblegarden #flowers #foodforest #hack #herbs #homestead #homesteadhack #hugelkulture #permaculture #permaculturegarden #tbt #throwback #urbangarden
I sadly don’t have any chicken photos today - we I sadly don’t have any chicken photos today - we’re in a cold snap and have been extra busy checking up on everyone and hauling water to replace all the frozen water etc and I haven’t gotten the camera outside.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣I do have the Isbar egg photo I promised. I’ll share a close up in my stories since I can’t get multiple photo posts to work right now.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣I find the pale blue and green eggs the hardest to photograph; they never quite look the same as in person but I think I got pretty close with these photos.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣These are my favorite eggs as far as color/pattern goes!⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣#meetmychickenmonday @17chickensandcounting @chickouttawater
Day 16 / Throwback picture / #31daysofhomesteading Day 16 / Throwback picture / #31daysofhomesteading with @venturatohomestead⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣I was hoping to share some photos of our urban food forest and our first ever backyard egg but since Instagram isn’t cooperating — am I the only one who gets a crash every time I try to post a carousel/more than one photo? — I’m sharing my first attempt at growing something edible. This pot of basil lived on a wood shelf in our skylight since our NYC apartment had no balcony and the only windows didn’t get enough light except just before sunset. The basil thrived in the hot little microclimate up in our skylight. It grew into a big bush several times after harvesting.
Day 14 / Lesson you learned / Day 15 / Something y Day 14 / Lesson you learned / Day 15 / Something your proud of #31daysofhomesteading with @venturatohomestead⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣When I think about our process of beginning to set up our farm and build our house, I am almost overwhelmed by how many lessons we have learned in the last few years, but I am also proud of how much we survived and how much we have accomplished, getting our house built and getting our farm largely up and running.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣I think an umbrella lesson is to keep chasing your dream and focusing on what brings you joy and gets you feeling like showing up to life every single day. Even if you find yourself in way over your head, just keep focusing on your goals (and drop things that don’t align with your goals!). Every time we participate in welcoming new life into the world, like the little silkies above, reminds of this feeling of sticking with our dream.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣Another lesson is to be happy with what we have, even if it isn’t quite what we expected. When I imagined what it would be like to live in the house that we got to design and build, I didn’t expect that there would be certain quirks, but just like our previous more than 100 year old house (and I’m sure everyone’s houses!) there are oddities that came about during the process of translating an imagined place into a physical place. Shall we just embrace it all and call it character?⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣Does anyone else have a lesson they want to share? I love hearing others’ reflections on their experiences!⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣#babychick #bluesilkie #chicken #chickenfarm #chickenkeeping #chickenlife #chickenmama #chickens #chickensofig #chickensofinstagram #crazychickenlady #dailyfluff #farmfresh #homestead #homesteadinglife #lovemychickens #pastureraised #permaculture #permaculturechickens #petchickens #silkie #silkiechick #silkiechicken #silkiechicks #silkies #silkiesofinstagram #spoiledchickens #whitesilkie #bwtsilkies
Her hand-me-down coat wasn’t cutting it anymore Her hand-me-down coat wasn’t cutting it anymore and when she saw this one, she called it her silkie coat. Then the first thing she wanted to do was help feed the silkies and hold her favorite chicken, Alice. I think she was right; her coat fits in perfectly. Our littlest is definitely a #farmraisedkid; this is the only life she’s known. Thanks @sassy_feathers_farm for this fun hashtag! #backyardchickens #chicken #chickenfarm #chickenkeeper #chickenkeeping #chickenlife #chickenmama #chickens #chickensofig #chickensofinstagram #crazychickenlady #farmfresh #farmfresheggs #farmkids #fresheggs #homestead #homesteadinglife #lovemychickens #pastureraised #permaculture #permaculturechickens #petchickens #silkie #silkiechicken #silkiechicks #silkies #silkiesofinstagram #spoiledchickens #bwtsilkies
Day 13 / Mistake you made / #31daysofhomesteading Day 13 / Mistake you made / #31daysofhomesteading with @venturatohomestead We’ve made this mistake before (and it’s happening right now). This little gem was laid in one of the shelves of the desk in little Peter’s workshop. We have a whole bunch of pullets that are starting to lay and don’t know where to go since the winter housing we built for them doesn’t have any nest boxes and they’ve never been in the coops that do have nest boxes. Time to get building and teach them where to lay those eggs! Also, this egg is tiny (if we cracked it there would be no yolk). This sometimes happens with new layers. Another misfire with new layers is a really long, pointy egg. I’m thinking this one is darker since it’s so small but it would be awesome if the full size versions are as dark (swipe for a comparison to another Marans egg). #chicken #chickenfarm #chickenkeeper #chickenkeeping #chickenlife #chickenmama #chickens #chickensofig #chickensofinstagram #chocolateegg #crazychickenlady #egg #eggbasket #eggbasketcollective #eggenvy #eggrainbow #eggs #eggseggseggs #farmfresh #farmfresheggs #frenchblackcoppermarans #fresheggs #homestead #homesteadinglife #marans #maranschicken #pastureraised #permaculture #permaculturechickens
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