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New Heirloom Farm

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Kelvin

Kelvin

NewBee
Registered Member
Jul 1, 2012
158
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Indiana
I am done with law school in May. The girl and I are moving to a 35 acre farm in Northern Virginia and starting an heirloom farm where we will also have several beehives (I dunno how much honey we'll be getting at this time). I've already started a patch of seed barley here to have ready for when we move. My question is, would it be against the rules or would anyone be horribly offended if I put my kickstarter page here when it is ready? This is not a money making venture. The seeds are for saving and posterity (of course we will eat some of the food and use a lot of the grains). If our bees provide a good amount of honey I will of course post info on that here. But don't count on a lot of it because we are doing topbar hives for the ease and health of the bees. We want the bees for the plants and to also take care of them (we are losing them quickly)... honey is a secondary concern.

Thanks.
 
Have you thought of sending a PM to Vicky ? After all, it's her site or Oskaar (Pete, I think) is the other admin........

They'd be able to give a definitve nod or not, or you can put links in your sig etc......

Most likely the answer is in the t's & c's but I'd suggest its courtesy to ask......
 
Congrats!
Top bar hives!
Yeah!
As for the kick starter, some people include a link to their FB account so GotMeaders can connect that way.
 
I agree, they are very important. I worry about GMOs running rampant as well. I spent about $200 on heirloom seeds just for going to seed. Hopefully I get a good supply from this season. I'm going to be growing some in an aquaponics greenhouse. 1. for the great fertilizer 2. to keep similar plants from crossbreeding.

I'm really excited to get started. I can't wait to graduate and get on the road to Virginia. We got the land from an inheritance to my fiancee's mom and uncle. They are letting us buy it cheaply to keep it in the family.

It's like a dream come true to me. A nice farm that helps the planet and I also get to practice law and I get to marry a wonderful woman. I am truly blessed.
 
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What kind of top bar hives you guys going to use? We just put together a kit from Mann Lake to try this spring in the eastern panhandle WV. I think your main flows are going to be locust, tulip poplar and berries if its like our area. If you have knotweed around your area that makes a good honey. There are literally hundreds of wineries in NOVA, no shortage of experts if you can get them to talk over a bottle of mead.

WVMJ
 
The Top Bar hives I am making myself. One already done. We're going to need to get the kickstarter going soon before I can do much else. We are doing the angled type, "Kenyan". My kickstarter video and our farm website will have the hive I have built already. I'm working my butt off to get it all done while at the same time working on a paper and finals. I want to get the kickstarter going before we leave because we will be there June first so we need to get the planting done asap. They will already be a bit late in planting.

As far as Heirloom seeds, Fatbloke, it just means they are natural, non-hybrid (at least not anymore, some of them were developed long ago as hybrids but are not really considered hybrids anymore because of the long pure line.) It basically means older non-crossed strands without and genetic alteration.
 
Sounds like you have a good plan.

What books did you use in planning for a heirloom farm and beekeeping?

Also have you looked into planting hops?
 
Kelvin said:
-----snip-----

As far as Heirloom seeds, Fatbloke, it just means they are natural, non-hybrid (at least not anymore, some of them were developed long ago as hybrids but are not really considered hybrids anymore because of the long pure line.) It basically means older non-crossed strands without and genetic alteration.
Click to expand...
No not so much the seeds...... but "heirloom" in relation to the farm site.

So maybe I'm correct in presuming "organic" ? Or is there more to it ?
 
Nah you about got it right Fatbloke, definitely organic, but the seeds themselves are basically very old strains. For instance, I have a barley called Bere Barely that is pretty much almost wiped out and grown in Scotland in a very small area. I'm actually growing that now in a big planter in the back in order to get some more seed for sowing next spring, but it appears to be a very finicky barely. I've started watering it with my aquaponics water and it is doing better now, (I think it was nitrogen starved) we'll see if I get any amount of seed from it. Barely is definitely something new to me. I ordered another strain last night that I hope will be a bit more forgiving plus they had a lot more in stock so I can actually grow a good patch of it unlike the Bere Barley that only gives you like 25 seeds per packet. That's not really enough to get amount of seed from. Even if it grows well it'll take a few years just to get enough to sow an acre. So, I'm going to try this other barely out in June and plant it straight. I think it'll be a bit late for planting in Virginia but we'll see how it turns out. It would generally be ready to harvest in July but I'll be harvesting it in around late August or September if it takes off well.

Kansas, I have been planning this for over a year. I actually grew up on a farm so I have a good background, but I have also been collecting lots of internet stuff and I also bought some bee keeping books to go along with the stuff I have amassed online. I did grow up with bees but I didn't get much training in it so my experience is limited. And I already have 4 hops plants growing. I ordered them in January. I have 2 Magnum and 2 US Golding growing like troopers as we speak. : )
 
Oh, no Fatbloke, the farm site is really irrelevant. You could grow heirloom seeds in your backyard in the city if you wanted. I just say heirloom farm because we are going to use exclusively heirloom seeds. So no humanity killing GMOs or nasty hybrids without nutrition.

That's all I mean by heirloom farm. Yes it will be completely green though. We are raising money for solar panels, batteries, digging a new non-electric well, more bee hives, and a few small buildings and aquaponics stuff. I've spent about 3K already and I expect to spend about 15K total and I think I'm going to set the kickstarter thing at 7 or 8k or something. I haven't decided yet. I just want to make sure the goal is reached. I'm already expecting to spend about the same amount in my own money that we raise.

I'm also looking into distilling for fuel for the tractor and random equipment, but that is not an immediate concern. For now we need to get it set up and running. I'll use gas (petrol) for a year or so then look into distilling for fuel.
 
Kelvin said:
The Top Bar hives I am making myself. One already done.
Click to expand...

I have been pondering getting into beekeeping and just learned about Top Bar Hives by accident a couple weeks ago when I signed up for a bee keeping class. I thought Top Bar was the name of the place, not the actual hives. I am quite a fan of them after seeing them. I just need to figure out if I'm staying in the house (I'm renting) I'm at long enough to make it worth the bother of getting them up and running or wait until next move.

How did/will you populate your hive(s)?
 
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