Digging Deeper into Conservation
What's in store for Runamuk in 2025
Honestly—I’m not sure how it’s all going to work out now that I’m working off-farm part-time. What I do know is that I get serious withdrawals when I can’t be in the soil. Like a crack addict, my skill literally crawls without it—so not having a garden is not an option for me. And, I know the sheep aren’t going anywhere, either. Actually, I’ll only be digging deeper into conservation as we move forward. Join me on the farm for a look ahead at what’s in store for Runamuk in 2025…
Welcome to the latest Updates From the Farm! If you are new here, I invite you to check out my About page to learn what this is, who I am and why I am doing this. Or just dive right in! At “Runamuk Acres” you’ll find the recantings of one lady-farmer and tree-hugging activist from the western mountains of Maine. #foodieswanted
In This Post:
2025 Goals
Livestock
Garden
Farm
Conservation
Homestead
Authorship
Personal
Digging Deeper Into Conservation
2025 Goals
Ambition is both a blessing and a curse, lol. To some degree, I think I’ve learned to reign myself in a bit—thanks to quite a bit of trial and error, lol. It’s easy to make plans and set goals, but harder to follow through due to the very nature of life itself. Personally, it doesn’t make me feel good about myself when things are left unfinished, so I’ve become stricter about what I try to take on and where my time and energy are going.
If you’re reading this thinking of getting into homesteading or farming, I’d encourage you to do the same. Keep a shrewd eye on that list of intentions you set for yourself and be practical about your time.
*****For an over-view of last year’s highlights, please check out this sister-post: Reflections From the Field.*****
LIVESTOCK
Mini-Barn: This is a big one and I don’t know that I’ll be able to pull it off (financially speaking)—but I’m hoping to be able to build myself a mini-barn. This would replace and consolidate my motley collection of livestock housings, easing the burden of critter-chores and making the task of mucking easier (by design of the shed itself).
To that end, I’ve decided to use PayPal as a savings account (I have a business checking for the farm, but the bank doesn’t do savings accounts for businesses and I’m not bringing in enough money to warrant a personal account.) to hold any donations that might come through between now and then. I’ll post updates on the progress of this project as the season progresses, so stay tuned!
Plan B: If I can’t make the new barn a reality, I’ll make reinforcements to the existing accommodations to buy another year or 2. A new piece of greenhouse film to replace the roof on the sheep-shed and improvements or modifications to the chicken coop, at the very least.
Replace the laying flock: With 2-year old layers, normally I’d be thinking about bringing in a round of chicks to replace the existing birds. However, because chickens are my least-favorite farm animal, I may scale down this part of Runamuk’s operation to a homestead-level of production. If I do, I’ll hold off another year on buying in new birds.
GARDEN
Fence Modifications: Some of the t-posts surrounding the former market garden need to be repositioned to fit the smaller homestead garden where I intend to focus my efforts. The goal is to invest in these t-post extenders to raise the fence and keep the deer out.
Cover Cropping: Even this smaller garden is still large for homestead production to feed just 2 adults. With that in mind, I’ll cover-crop a number of my permanent beds to help suppress weeds and build soil conditions for the life therein.
Finish Cold-Frames: This past spring I built a number of raised beds and cold-frames, but was unable to get back to the cold-frames to construct covers. I’d like to finish them off and put them to use in 2025.
Use the Raised Beds: Using the muck from the chicken coop and sheep-shed, we filled the raised beds this fall. This coming season, I’ll use them for the first time to grow crops, even putting hoops onto the boxes so I can cover them and extend their use into fall and winter.
Attention Fruit Trees: We’ve planted more than 20 fruit trees since coming to this property, but many of them are struggling in our poor soil conditions. This coming season I’ll invest in specially formulated mineral amendments available at Fedco Organic Growers’ Supply, right here in Maine. We’ll apply amendments, manure and mulch, and if I can swing it, I’ll put a fence around or establish some kind of deer-deterrent to keep our neighbors from nibbling the tender branch-tips.
FARM
New Campsites: Moving away from the Farmstay and capitalizing on the uptick in traffic we’ve seen to our remote campsite, I’ve decided to invest in 2 new sites in 2025. And an outhouse, lol—with a gravity-fed outdoor shower! Woot woot!
Web-Updates: All of Runamuk’s online information needs to be updated ahead of the growing season to reflect the changes to our operation. The website at runamukacres.com, our Google listing and Facebook business page, as well as other listings online.
Refinancing? I’m hoping against hope that I’ll be able to refinance the farm and car together later next year. Largely, that will all depend on how long it takes me to catch the bills up. At the moment, finances continue to be a struggle even with the boon of income from my off-farm job, so it may take until 2026 to line everything up.
CONSERVATION
Actually Build Birdhouses: This has been on my to-do list since my second year on this property and I am growing increasingly anxious about making it a reality. In 2024 I bought lumber, but didn’t make it into the barn to actually build the birdhouses. Likely, the outcome of this project will depend on whether or not I’m building the mini-barn.
Put a Bench Out Back: I love to just sit on the field or in the woods, one with nature, and would love for visitors to be able to do so, too. With that in mind, I’m determined to assemble at least one of them this year.
HOMESTEAD
Pantry Room: Having decided that one of the perks of working off-farm is letting go the notion of having housemates or farmstay guests, I’ve elected to turn the first-floor guest room into a pantry. This room happens to be the former breezeway attaching the house to the barn, so it’s an ideal place to store the farm freezers and surplus goods.
Having more food storage can only help the farm in the long-run, as that’s been another of the struggles we’ve faced in farming: how to keep food cool and fresh for customers.
BraeTek’s Graduation! Not gonna lie—I’m ready for my homeschooling journey to come to an end. It’s a big responsibility and takes a fair amount of work, even just for one kid. As my second-born son approaches his 18th birthday, he’s studying to pass the high-school equivalency test and earn his diploma. We’ll have a big celebration when it’s all said and done.
AUTHORSHIP
More and More Writing! I got serious about writing in 2024. For nearly 20-years I’ve been blogging, but writing had always taken back-burner to everything else: raising kids, homeschooling…the farm. Now it’s time for my authory-self to have her moment, and it’s like Pandora’s box has been opened. The words will not be stopped. I will write.
Homesteaders’ Handbook: Enrollment for The Homesteaders’ Handbook is now open! Through this series we’ll cover a spectrum of homesteading related topics post-by-post. Later, these posts will be assembled into another book.
Finish “On Blackstone Mountain”: Up to chapter 9 in my serialized farm-themed romance novel, “On Blackstone Mountain”, I expect to see that project to completion in 2025.
PERSONAL
Continued authenticity and self-care: Following a devastating breakup 2-years ago, authenticity and self-care have become sacred to me. On a personal level, 2024 was all about authenticity and sinking into my truest self has been blissful. Now that I’ve given up on ever having a relationship, I can immerse myself in my own existence with wild abandon.
More walking and yoga: As I age, I am increasingly concerned with my own longevity. I still have a lot to do, yknow? Thus, I’ve made it a habit to practice yoga daily and take more walks in the woods. I want to maintain those habits into 2025, and increase the duration of the exercises.
Digging Deeper into Conservation
Much preferring to be outdoors, I have no idea how long I’ll stay in the kitchen at Kingfield Elementary. Nor do I know how long they will keep me. Who knows what will happen when they find out about my blogging habit, lol.
With my own ambitions and dreams to make into reality, I am not a company-girl. Most employers eventually realize that my priority isn’t to the company, but to the farm.
I’m a terrible employee.
Still, transitioning away from farming in favor of digging deeper into conservation means even less money coming in, as conservation work is largely non-profit. That income needs to be made up elsewhere if I want to return to farming full-time.
It’ll take time. Writing is a business like any other and I’ll need to generate momentum before I’ll start seeing a return on my investment. I’m confident, however, in my skills and the knowledge and experience I have to offer. I’m glad to have you here with me, along for the ride on this journey into a farmish-life. You inspire me to keep going every time you show up to read my work and that is a precious gift I do not take for granted.
Thank you for being here and for just your being you (as Mr. Rogers would say!)
Sending love and good juju to you and yours.
Your friendly neighborhood farmer,
Sam
Thank you for following along with the story of this lady-farmer! It is truly a privilege to live this life serving my family and community, and protecting wildlife through agricultural conservation. Check back soon for more updates from the farm, and be sure to follow @RunamukAcres on Instagram or Facebook!
Hey Sam. Many years ago when I worked at a small struggling wildlife sanctuary, my boss utilized Eagle Scouts for a lot of her projects…just a thought.
Looking forward to reading more about how your 2025 goals play out. I like how you shift gears when needed. I’ve had to take time away from home reno, caring for animals and growing due to several illnesses in a row, but keep reminding myself that this will pass. I miss my time with my goats and gardening. Your goals encourage me to consider my own without feeling so overwhelmed.
I get not being an employee. I am an entrepreneur at heart - and my previous employers struggled with me always having ideas about their businesses. Haha But it does sound like you’ve encouraged some of the children to broaden their palettes. I feel like you positively contribute wherever you land. And what more can one ask for?
Here’s to a productive and beautiful 2025!