A small organic farm in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We encourage and protect native plants, as well as grow vegetables, berries, nuts, fruit and produce raw honey.
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It took about 8 years for me to finally admit that what I was doing where I lived was more of a farm versus a simple vegetable garden. Middle Way Farm consists of 1.5 acres of vegetable beds, berry patches, perennial edibles, an orchard, nut trees, and honey bees. At one point there were chickens, and maybe there will be chickens again some day. In any case, okay okay everyone! I admit it’s a farm! I admit it so much I finally designed a logo and made a website for it!
While you’re here, if you’re curious about the local flora, fauna, and fungi found around the farm (and like a good story) check out the Middle Way Nature Reserve website, which I built because I couldn’t handle using a spread sheet for that information…
You really have to practice acceptance and equanimity when you’re a gardener.
I started off with the primary goal of being able to grow enough for my household to eat and to also store and put up in order to eat throughout the rest of the year. As the soil improved, so did the harvest, and so over the last couple of years, I’ve been able to share some of the excess harvest with friends and family. Currently I am finally growing enough extra vegetables and fruit to occasionally sell to friends and family. I have high hopes to start getting really great harvests from the orchard (except I have a bear issue) which one day I hope to be able to donate extra to food banks.
It’s taken many years to experiment and watch what works here and what doesn’t, and I’ve learned how to pivot and change based on the environment, soil, changing weather, oh, and the critters. The ones that are very happy that you have planted a buffet for them! In this almost decade of intensive gardening, I have learned a lot about letting go. You just don’t know what will do well from one season or year to the next, and you really have to practice acceptance and equanimity when you’re a gardener. Otherwise you’ll be a very stressed, anxiety-laden, and depressed gardener! I also had to learn to get better at accepting weeds. To a point.
I’ve worked to create a healthy environment for me and the bees and the plants
I practice organic growing except in the most dire circumstances (which usually involve the potential loss of a fruit tree, so that’s when I might resort to a spray that is low on the risk factor). If I do have to use something to deal with insects, I will use a kaolin clay spray, or Neem if it isn’t a plant that the bees will visit.
Although I wouldn’t call my farm a permaculture farm, I would say that I bring in permaculture practices into what I’m doing and how I plan the garden. My goal again is to make an environment that is rich in variability across the spectrum of organisms and to restore and be of benefit to the environment in the long run.
FAQ
About me
I really love gardening and plants, probably because I love cooking and eating so much — especially things I’ve grown, and I try to eat seasonally. By trade I’m a graphic and web designer, as well as an artist and a lapsed musician.
