Fox Haven Farm

Spring is in the air! I know it’s been a bit of time since the last post and I’ve been getting quite a few inquiries if we will be doing Breakfast with Burros this year. 

Unfortunately, this year we are going to have to forgo this event as the farm is under quite a bit of renovation for improvements! There’s just a lot going on here between painting buildings, reseeding, fixing fences, and general maintenance that hosting an event early in the spring is just not feasible.

That being said, we are hoping to do a fall harvest event, which will be most likely in August. ❤️

Experimenting with some new candle ideas. Is there interest enough in these to do a bunch?? Price would be around $40 and they are scented soy wax.

I also could do small cactus singles in terra cotta pots for $20.

Feedback would be huge!!

Shipping deadline: Today is the last day to order soaps or candles to arrive on time for Xmas!!

Brand new birdhouses, made with reclaimed wood

$40 each or 2/$70

Ready to hang, and they have a removable bottom for cleaning. Can ship or pickup in Windham.

I have a love/hate relationship with bread.

I love bread, and we go through a LOT of it… however a lot of my trust issues come from that bread from stores appears to last indefinitely while handmade bread lasts about 3 days. I have stopped buying store bread bc there HAS to be all sorts of preservatives for its shelf life to be so long… and quite frankly, it freaks me out.

So the solution for a bit was bakery bread. That however was also fraught with disappointment. So then a new solution was: I’ll make it!

*cue laughter as I have no actual time to get this done*

Clint saw the frustration and his solution was: The BreadMaker. 2 lbs loaves made on the counter where I can set it and forget it. Truthfully, it’s been a bit of a learning curve as a lot of the recipes are horrible. However with a bit of tweaking, I can now turn out loaves of bread that take us about 2-3 days to go through, which is perfect. This was a good solution.

Why I like this: the ingredients are completely my control. Flour, oil, sugar, salt, yeast. A bit of water. No extra garbage. And I can change the flour to make it better and more nutrient dense.

This small machine is a helpful little way to remove the more of the garbage from our diets. 💪❤️

Some lovely drone photos from today ❤️

Love the handmade soaps? This weekend I started cutting/packing NEW SCENTS!

-Peppermint (not strongly scented so soft on skin)
-Apple spice
-Grapefruit tea tree (personal favorite, its so sweet and fresh smelling)
1Lavender (will be replacing the other lavender as I like the result of this recipe better for scent and color)

Plus I still have these:
Oatmeal, Milk and Honey
Lavender verbena
Orange cinnamon (have one left)
Lemon poppy (I love this one- it’s an unsung hero)

Soaps are $6 or 5/$25 until Jan 1st 💕
Shipping included in the lower 48 or pickup in Windham!

HOLIDAYS ARE COMING! And with the holidays, I am putting all our handmade items out there for your consideration as you are getting gifts for your loved ones.

Sugar Scrubs! 2 different scents: Lavender Vanilla and Eucalyptus Mint $12

SOAPS! god I love soaps:
Oatmeal, Milk and Honey
Lavender
Lemon Poppyseed
Grapefruit Tea tree (amazing)
Apple Spice (only 10 bars)

$6/each or 2/$10

Dough Bowl Candles: $30

Honeycomb votives: $12
Smaller honeycomb votives: $8

We also have custom etched wood cutting boards and coasters always available.

Message me or email to purchase and I can send an invoice through PayPal or Venmo! Pricing includes shipping or I can do local pickup in Windham.

Putting the farm to bed for winter: Part 1

While the animals never allow us a break, the gardens are so gracious as to sleep for the winter. However, that being said, there is a lot to do to prepare for the deep freeze.

The first is to fertilize the orchard and any perennials, like the berries and asperagus. This fall effort is important because it supports the dormant plants as they brace for winter and start the work of extending their roots and preparing for the spring growth.

Clint has been storing manure “tea” in these totes for this very purpose, which is the nutrient rich runoff from our manure pile. This runoff is full of soluble nutrients and can be applied directly to the soil as a liquid fertilizer. How do we get it from pile to tote? He has a basin around the manure pile and after heavy rains, he pumps the runoff into the totes for storage.

Clint also finished the irrigation trailer this weekend to be able to apply the liquid goodness to the earth. The little trailer and totes are all pre-loved marketplace finds, and the PVC fittings came from tractor supply/Home Depot.

This little tank trailer will also will be invaluable next year for watering everything as it will make that so much easier.

Part 2: mulching the berries/raised beds

Google maps takes some lovely photos!

More on mud!! I had a few people reach out and ask... so what did the property look like before all the grading and drainage?

Well. The ground was like pudding basically all the time. No heavy vehicles could get in or out for deliveries to the barn. In the early days, I was dragging a garden cart with shavings and feed from our house driveway to the barn through the yard and it was definitely less than ideal. Then when we had freezing and thawing, our pastures were under water and turned into ice rinks.

I am writing a post on how to use infrastructure to help create areas of watershed across an entire property, and I have photos of how we did that here. That will get posted perhaps later this week as I get those images together.

One of the things we here often when people come to the farm is “there’s no mud!” Or “Its so dry here even with the rain!” And honestly— those are the things that bring SO much joy to us as it is something we have taken very seriously into consideration with everything we do here.

Our mission is consistent, purposeful improvement of the land and soil. Animals, especially large hooved animals like horses, are VERY tough on the pastures as they are not designed to be kept in small turnouts - they are expected to move their heavy bodies over long tracks of land. When we put them in paddocks, a lot of things happen— the earth is compressed down and left with little to no aeration, the native grasses and vegetation (with very deep root systems) are destroyed, and often— people this on purpose because they like the idea of “dry lots” — with nothing at all except what is provided in a hay net, on dirt. My feelings on this will be in a separate post, however to go back to dealing with mud— if we remove all the things that help manage mud naturally, then we have to be proactive on how we approach our pastures.

Why mud is an issue in all the most inconvenient places: The animals will hang out by the gate and sometimes pace the fence line — thereby compress the soil. Compressed soil not only is very dense and loses its ability to drain, but also changes the grade of those areas so they are lower. Lower grade + condensed soil is a recipe for water retention. Add organics like manure, urine, hay, shavings… and you’ve got a p**p soup mud mess that lingers long after the rain has gone.

There are a LOT of products on the market that tell you they will help with mud. Plastic grids, mats, pellets etc…. But the bottom line is, there are no quick fixes and if you pay attention and take the time to maintain it, you won’t have to spend a pant load of money on artificial solutions. Here is how we approach mud here, in New England, because there is a pretty straightforward formula to fixing it while working with the earth.

NO ORGANICS by the gates. No hay by the gates— walk it deep into the pasture. No bedding by the communal areas. Its a common thought to added shavings or wood pellets to the area to absorb the moisture, however all you will get is a bigger, nastier mess as it will absorb and hold water for WEEKS. Unless you plan on putting it down and then picking it all back up, do not use organics. Not to mention… many animals will see those shavings and use it as their bathroom even more, adding to the struggle. If you have an in-and-out stall, make sure you remove all the shavings and extra hay that they horses walk out into the outdoor area or leave behind. Its way easier to do it when the shavings/hay is dry then when they are wet and gross.

Grass and native vegetation is your friend. More on this in a post about pasture management and root length. But honestly… let it grow.

We had an issue with mud due to organics in our pasture with the donkeys. We put in a load of chipped apple tree cuttings for donkey enrichment (they love to take stuff apart) and after they had gotten bored with it, it became a bathroom area— directly by the gate. This made a HUGE mess and as the rain kept coming…. We had a huge soggy mud issue that we did not have in the other pastures. Between the lowered grade due to soil compaction, the lack of vegetation, and the amount of organics… we needed to fix this asap because it made it impossible to get in and out of that pasture without going ankle deep in gross.

Step 1: remove the organics. This means scraping ALL the mud down to the hard pack. This is not just manure, but also enriched topsoil due to the manure and in our case, apple tree chips. We save this as compost and will use it in the raised beds. Clint spent a day scraping this area down and then letting it dry out.

Step 2: correct drainage and the grading. Around the gate is now lower, so it is necessary to bring it back up higher than surrounding areas. Ideally, we want the water to shed into the road (which was built to double as a drainage area and dry well) or shed into grassier areas where the vegetation can manage it. Raising the grade means bringing in dirt to literally raise it. We recently had another project which created a large dirt pile we could use, which is mineral-heavy— meaning NOT top soil. A sand/common fill mix is the best as it will drain while staying firm while wet. If you do not have a chosen area for watershed, then it might be time to look into building a dry well, swale, or other area for water to be graded into. Clint then added a truckload of fill and graded the entire front area into the low, high veg areas with some areas to drain into the road.

Step 3: more grading to make sure watershed is away from the gate and common areas. We also removed all the rocks as we did not have clean (rock-free) fill. We compressed the newly graded area with machinery and the animals will do the rest in keeping it compressed. Some small (dime sized and smaller) rocks we left as it will add structure and firmness to the area. I’d love to have no rocks, however these little guys do add strength to the repair.

Step 4: clean up any organics now that you’ve removed all the mud. If they p**p in that area, clean it up immediately. You dont want them continuing to use the area as a bathroom and making the same mess over again. Also keep an eye on the grade and make sure it continues to stay draining away from the common areas.

Step 5: encourage plants to settle in this new area. Plant grass... ideally plant native grasses. It's going to be hard to keep the area nice, however anything with deep roots will help keep this new fixed area from getting swampy again and prevent erosion.

Don’t get me wrong… this has been made WAY easier with Clint and his expertise of equipment. I am super super lucky to have him to help with this because without machinery this would be MUCH harder. However, that being said, if you are dealing with mud and needing remediation to fix this issue, it is 200% worth renting the right equipment so you don’t break yourself trying to shovel it.

If you have questions feel free to reach out. We are trying to do the very best we can with teaching how to naturally work with the topography to make the healthiest environments for ourselves and our animals. 🥰

https://foxhavenfarmct.etsy.com

Gifting season will soon be upon us!! I have soaps and candles ready to ship, and all custom woodcrafted items usually are 2-3 days.

FoxHavenFarmCT - Etsy Shop Fox Haven Farm & Art by Liesl Dalpe by FoxHavenFarmCT located in Windham, Connecticut.

Hover Flies! They are not bees! The easiest identifier is that they only have one wing on each side and bees have two wings per side. They cannot sting or bite although while they are licking you, you can feel it and you might think you are about to be stung, but they are after your sweat. These flies are pollinators too and their larvae feed on dead organic matter. You’ll see less of them as we enter the gap between summer and fall. So just enjoy them for a couple more months!

One of the big questions that comes up when people hear we have a farm is-- so what kind of farm??

It can be a question with a longer answer because we are not commercial farm or Co-op. We don't grow really anything to sell, and while I would love to re-open the farm stand with all sorts of hand-made things, right now that is not in the cards due to the schedules we keep, keeping me from doing a lot of the art I love to do.

Our mission statement - the thing that drives us- is the concept of restorative agriculture. The concept that by growing, and maintaining, the land, in a careful way....planting and rotating the right animals and plants, we can create a closed-loop system that not only feeds us but also feeds and improves the land. Everything we do must not only be beautiful, but it also needs to give back to the land and improve the plot of earth we are living on.

BIG words, right? how the heck does this happen? And thats really our journey. I thought about writing a book on it as we go, as I think it might be super helpful to people on smaller plots of land to maximize and also think of farming and homesteading differently. Maybe someday-- but right now I'm using this as my platform.

There are several steps to this. We've been working on this property since 2018 and every year, we pick a project and go full steam ahead. We now are teetering on the precipice of finally setting this whole wheel in motion. Some of the pieces:

-The road running through the property was purposely built to create drainage to a very wet, muddy soil when we first moved here. Clint masterfully designed this to help move water downhill to the edge of property, effectively drying out all our pastures and yard so that way it never is a muddy gross mess.

-The horses and donkeys have pastureland that is allowed to grow to care for pollinators. It is planted in such a way that there is seasonal shifts in blooms, including those in the gardens, to keep them fed and local all growing season.

-The livestock manure is being composted and creating manure 'tea' to feed the orchards and gardens. This is going to scale up to feed back into the grasses and enrich the soil. We recently got a tank system which will be for water recapture and watering.

-The chickens will be able to free range in the orchard and gardens in order to help with beetles, aphids and other insects without needing to use chemicals.

Everything builds on everything else. We still have a lot of work to do, but we are close now to that closed-loop system we hoped we could achieve. I believe in another year we will be in a MUCH better spot even still. Once we wrap up these projects I'll be able to do a walking tour of the farm hopefully with a drone. :)

Its been a while since we've posted, so trying to catch up on the goings-on here!

Clint's MegaShed (garage expansion to include wood and metal shop) is underway. Our builder, Randy, is underway with framing and by the end of the week we should have something up off the ground!! I am so excited for Clint because he's been so patient and this is something that has been a dream of his for so long.

Once this building is finished, I can start working on a bit more of the permaculture. I am hoping we can get things planned and planted before the first frost. The balance between beauty and functionality is always the dance on any farm, as I try to keep pushing towards restorative agriculture on these 6 acres. More on that later in a separate post!

Hope this summer is going well for everyone and I'll be trying to keep things better up to date here as our projects continue.

Tables set. “Helpers” not that helpful 😂

On my way home from work, I stopped at the local nursery and got some new flowers for around the house.

Put them in the earth… and said a prayer as the head Plant Murderer was watching closely

New 10% coupon on the Etsy store! Get 10% off when you 'favorite' something in the store.

FoxHavenFarmCT - Etsy Shop Fox Haven Farm & Art by Liesl Dalpe by FoxHavenFarmCT located in Windham, Connecticut. Top shop for gifts. Buyers bought gifts from this shop and gave them 5-star reviews!

We've got cutting boards available to order! 15"x7" Acacia wood which are perfect for hanging in your kitchen, everyday use or for cheese! $35 each.

I have a handful of the Wine with Friends boards complete, however I am happy to do custom engraving.

Moved the baby low bush blueberries intk the greenhouse and they are already so much happier. Poor little guys struggled this winter 🥺

Because of the need for them to deepen their roots and needing some TLC, these guys will stay in the pots through this year. For long term potting, terra cotta pots are the best!! Plastic is ok for temporary planting but terra cotta allows the roots and soil to breathe and better regulate moisture.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve made the change from using olive oil in cooking to sunflower oil.

Well both are similar in terms of Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats…the flavor is really different… sunflower oil being much more flavor neutral. I use it in my sugar scrubs and have now moved already using it exclusively in cooking.

While flavor it a big piece, the biggest reason for me switching is the fact that sunflower oil is indigenous to North America. In an effort to try and cook/eat with a nod to indigenous ingredients,  I have been hunting for sunflower oil that has grown and manufactured in the US.

There’s a lot more information (differences, pros/cons of sunflower oil ve olive oil) in the article below:
https://brightland.co/blogs/field-notes/olive-oil-vs-sunflower-oil

Come on spring!!

More on alflafa sprouts. Coming to a sandwich near you!

Alfalfa: Benefits, Nutrition Facts & Side Effects Find information about alfalfa and its potential health benefits, as well as nutrition facts, safety, side effects, and more.

Why beeswax? Because it’s AMAZING. For me, it’s about sustainability and using something that otherwise would be waste in the honey harvest. It burns bright and clean, all thanks to the 🐝!!

Soy vs. Beeswax Candles: The Inside Scoop You know that soy candles are better than paraffin candles, but are these really a green or healthy option? How do beeswax candles compare?

Hand dipped beeswax tapers ❤️
Coming soon!

Can’t wait till warm weather again!!