We, The Beard & The Braid, along with our children, moved here to this small farm in summer 2020. Like many families taking the leap into a more simple, agriculture-based lifestyle, we left the city of Portland, Oregon, and have been loving on this plot of land about 30 miles outside the city and almost 2000 feet up on a butte of the cascade range for over a year and a half. It’s been a wild ride attempting to learn what it might mean and look like to unlearn so much of our habits and dependence on a system, and to find what a small, permaculture inspired farm could operate by just our own hands?
Upon our arrival, within the first month we acquired a host of farm animals: chickens, rabbits, ducks, bees, sheep and goats only to suddenly evacuate from wildfires that came as close as a mile away. A few months later at the start of 2021, an ice storm wiped out thousands of pounds of natural forest on our property and trapped us in without power or water for weeks. (We did say we moved here to simplify things, right?) Later that summer we experienced record heat waves of over 110 degrees which hung on for days scorching our animals and gardens. While we began with five goats, we grew to almost twenty sheep and goats - an amazing journey which at after birth, growth, weaning and sales, are now back down to six sheep.
In another adventure, we went from two chickens to sixty in one year. We learned how to ferment feed, to allow our hens safe range over the farm co-existing with our sheep and dogs, and established an (ever-expanding) customer base for our rainbow eggs. Yet, living rurally we also learned hard lessons about the vulnerability of our poultry to many natural elements and said goodbye to many a favorite bird over the last year.
For our first year our gardens were surprisingly productive much in part due to the many steps we took and still take to feed our soil and support our local pollinators. Our best amendments come from our small community of bunnies! We had such a bounty our first year we were able to give away weekly bundles to our egg customers. The Beard built an impressive 20x40 greenhouse, completed in late summer 2021, and we hope it will play an important part in expanding our production in the coming year.
More than anything, we have loved - and relish in, all the time we spend sweating and laughing outside with our plants and animals. Finding the balance of how to live and farm here in ways that fit our hearts and this land has been the most beautiful adventure. Thank you for taking a moment to read about our beginnings. We look forward to sharing stories and adventures here at Beard & Braid Farm with any whom may enjoy them, or coming to play along here with us!