The joys and struggles of renovating an old farmhouse and creating the Newtown Orchard
August 29, 2021 - August was actually somewhat of a slow month. We harvested and gave away most of our vegetables. We did process some of the peppers and made hot pepper vinegar. We smoked paprika peppers then dehydrated them to make smoked paprika powder. It did not have as much smoke flavor as we …
August 5, 2021 Our garden has been going gang-busters on us. We wanted to compare the different types of growing beds (hugelkultur raised beds vs mounded beds). Unfortunately, we just can’t do that! All of it is growing very well. In early July, I realized that all my garlic has grown scapes. I noticed it …
July 31, 2021 Once our rough-in inspection was complete, we started our list and began purchasing supplies for the next steps. After several trips to Menards (our favorite home improvement store), we were ready to get working. We replaced 2 more windows in the bedrooms since the old windows did not open. They were probably …
June 20, 2021 One early Saturday morning, Joshua and I were heading out to run some errands. Before we got into the car, we heard a noise coming from one of our storage buildings. To our surprise, a kitten was curled up in the tall grass in front of the building. Don’t crucify me, but …
June 12, 2021 We finally have been eating from our garden! Our Swiss Chard and Kale have been uber productive and we’ve eaten sautéed greens at least once a week for the past month! Fortunately, the netting we have over the beds has prevented most of the cabbage moths from getting in, although a few …
June 4, 2021 It is now the early June. The wedding was beautiful. A lot of people were there. Many of our family from around the country were able to make it. We got a suite at the hotel where our family was staying and turned it into the hospitality room. There was plenty of …
May 16, 2021 In February and March, we started over 2,000 seeds in our 500 sq ft loft apartment! We had 58 trays of seedling on 12 shelves and the floor. Every evening, we spent hours watering, thinning, up-potting plants. At the beginning, during the coldest time of the year, we did not have running …
April 7, 2021 In mid-March we were informed that Joshua is bringing some friends home from college to spend a long weekend with us. We needed to make sleeping arrangements for 2 girls and 2 guys. A little bit of panic set in as we wondered where to put them. Katie and I rushed to …
March 3, 2021 Oh boy! Winter kicked us hard!! The temperature dropped to negative 19 degrees, dropping a lot of snow and freezing our water pipes underground. We were scheduled for our rough-in inspection on the house but Greene County gave us another month since it was so dangerously cold. After a few days below …
February 14, 2021 – Happy Valentine’s Day Hello every one, welcome back to the Newtown Farm and Orchard where we continue to share our undaunted farming story - well, maybe a little daunting, but certainly doable. This month’s story starts with a sunrise which was picture perfect, which brought the start to a beautiful day. …
Undaunted Farming 