Spring Update on the Farm

I have no idea where March went, and April is almost over, so I’m going to give you a “Spring” Farm update. It’s been a wild start to the season, and we have lots of exciting news to share!

First, our three mini nubian does kidded and we have seven (SEVEN!) adorable baby goats. We are madly in love with every single one of them so we aren’t selling any this season. They will be weaned in a few weeks so we will move the bucklilngs along with our handsome buck Lancelot over to Buckinghamshire. Buckinghamshire is the Heritage Springs Man Cave of the goat realm, and they will have beautiful pastures to romp through that are far enough away from the does to keep the milk from tasting…well, like we have bucks living too close to the does. (This is a real thing, don’t let anyone tell you different!)

Sweet Pea passed her beautiful markings and perfect long ears down to her babies, Basil and Daffodil. They could not be any cuter!

The first day our sweet little kids were out in the pasture with their proud mamas, I saw a fox walking around the pond in the middle of the day. I had a talk with Neil, and the next morning I put a deposit down on an Anatolian Shepherd. That weekend I drove about 3 hours south of here and picked up the absolute sweetest puppy on this earth to be our new livestock guardian dog. Kanga is in training with the goats, chickens, and guineas and is growing like a weed. She considers the cows to be nothing more than a menace to the peace, and barks at them whenever she gets the chance. We’re still working on that.

Kanga is a beautiful (and very soft!) Anatolian Shepherd puppy in training on our farm to guard livestock.

Yesterday was the first day in eight weeks our house has been free of peeping, feathered cuties. Baby chicks are one thing- they’re easy to manage. We have dedicated brooders for them, and it’s a simple process. Ducklings are something else! First of all, nothing is cuter than a duckling. Nothing. Their floppy little feet, stubby fuzzy wings, and little baby duckling bills had me in love with them instantly. Second of all, nothing is messier than a duckling! I clean their brooder when I get up in the morning, again at lunch time, before I make dinner, and before I go to bed. This cleaning includes a full hot-soapy-water scrub-down of the tray I keep their food and water in, their food bowl, and the inside and outside of their waterer. Third of all, they grow like weeds, and in a week had outgrown their brooder. I bought them a child’s plastic swimming pool to use as a brooder now, and figured they could practice swimming in it in a few weeks. I put pine shavings in the bottom and added fresh food and water and they all looked like very happy ducklings. A couple hours later, Toby started crying at the door to the sunroom. I looked out and not a single duckling was in their swimming pool. They had escaped and gone on a safari adventure among my plants. Neil and I scooped them up and put them back in the pool. We watched for about 30 seconds until each one jump, jump, jump, jump, until they jumped high enough to reach the edge of the swimming pool and then heave their body weight over the side far enough to plop down to the floor. It was not elegant, but man was it cute. They are now in a galvanized stock tank. It is the Alcatraz of duckling brooders. There is probably a 50% chance that it works.       

Cayuga ducklings on safari exploring the world outside their brooder.

Another amazing addition to the farm that I wish I had started raising a long time ago- coturnix quail! They are adorable, sweet little birds that are incredibly easy to keep. They sound absolutely lovely when they sing. I bought three week old birds and they will be laying eggs soon! Coturnix quail mature in eight weeks. I want to hatch some before I start selling them, but we will start selling quail eggs soon!

Coturnix quail prefer to live in a hutch rather than free range.

If you know me at all, you may know that I am not often accused of being patient. That said, for my newest project, I am carefully and patiently selecting hens for our breeding program. I am obsessed with green eggs, and I am on a mission to breed hens that lay the prettiest green eggs on the block. Right now I am choosing the Welsummers. Every couple days, we move a new Welsummer down to the Love Shack and see what kind of eggs she lays. Once we know, we give her a little bracelet with a number and I make a note that Yellow 17 lays dark brown eggs with tiny speckles and I switch her out for one of her unadorned sisters. I am looking for hens that lay dark eggs with the large speckles. I am going to cover them with a Cream Legbar rooster so if you’re in the market for olive egger chicks, keep an eye on our social media- I will post them there when they are ready. If you want to get on our waiting list, just send me a note and I’ll get you added.

Some of the egg colors our hens are laying. They’re pretty, but I think we can do better!

Last weekend, we had the privilege of participating in the First Annual National Urban Farm Festival! We printed up some brochures on the benefits of Urban Beekeeping, Chicken Keeping, and Quail Keeping and spent the day talking with some amazing people! It is so refreshing to talk to like-minded people and a huge blessing to share what we have learned with people. Be on the lookout for a sizable influx of quail in the Maryland suburbs this summer lol.

Here is Olivia with the display honey bee hive and some silkie chicks who love to show off!

The honeybees are doing great this season! We have already made two splits. We have a brand new queen who is laying beautiful brood patterns, and we are waiting for our second new queen to make her way into the world. We also spun some honey that came through the winter, and people are buying it as quickly as we can get it into jars to help with their spring allergies!

Can you spot the queen?

Finally, I’ll share one more project I’m working on right now. I have talked to quite a few people lately who have taken an online beekeeping course, but don’t really know what the next step is before they start keeping their own bees. So many people have shared this struggle with me that I decided to write curriculum to fill that gap. I will provide students with a list of things to have on hand before you start keeping bees along with where to buy everything- a lot of people have told me that this is one of their biggest concerns. There will be some classroom time, but the bulk of the class will take place in the bee yard. Students will get to perform a hive inspection, treat for varroa mites, and winterize a hive. I will also be available to answer any other questions you bring. If you want to be notified when the class is ready, shoot me a note and I will get you added to the list!

That’s about all the news for now!

How to Grow Forsythia from Cuttings

Bright yellow forsythia blooms are one of the earliest signs of spring.  The gold blossoms burst open in late winter here in Northern Virginia and are a brilliant contrast against the still barren frozen landscape.  It is no wonder that the meaning of this happy beauty is “anticipation”.

Not only are the sunny flowers a beautiful addition to any landscape, but these early bloomers are an early source of food for honeybees after a long winter. Every time I walk by our forsythia patch in early spring, I catch sight of pollen-covered honeybees happily buzzing among the flowers.

You can grow your own forsythia pretty much anywhere. It is hardy between zones 4-9, it grows in sun or shade, it tolerates poor soil, and depending on the vibe you are trying to create, it may not even need pruning.  Who couldn’t use more gorgeous care-free plants in their landscape? 

Whether you want to add to the collection you are already growing in your yard or want to share these beauties with a friend, I will show you how to easily propagate this stunner any time of year. Forsythia are notoriously prolific and can be propagated through numerous methods. Taking cuttings is my favorite method so that’s what I’m going to share with you.

You can take cuttings three different times during the year to propagate forsythia: In late winter when the branches are still bare, in late spring or early summer after the blooms are spent and you are pruning the bush, or even in the fall to grow cuttings inside or in a greenhouse over the winter to plant the following spring. 

On the edge of our farm is a massive unruly thicket of forsythia. It is wild and overgrown and beautiful. In June, I prune it back (just a little) to clear out the dead branches and clean the old leaves and dead grass from the crown. This year I am going to take some cuttings to add to the hedge of forsythia that runs along the edge of my yard by the road, but mysteriously stops in the middle. Here’s how I’m going to do it:

Follow these # easy steps and you will have new forsythia plants in 6 weeks!

1.       Sanitize your clippers in a 10% bleach solution to prevent the spread of disease pathogens.

2.       Prepare your pots:

a.       You can use any container you want. Some ideas include 6” plastic nursery pots, repurposed plastic jugs or even a storage tub that will hold multiple cuttings. Just add some holes to the bottoms of your containers if you’re using something unconventional.

b.       Fill the pots with a mix of equal parts perlite, peat moss, and potting soil.

c.       Moisten the mix and allow it to drain.

3.       Take cuttings.  You can make multiple cuttings from a single branch.  Discard the top part of the branch that is thin and flimsy and cut the rest into 6” pieces. Mark which end of the branch is up with a sharpie or piece of masking tape. Forsythia do not like to grow upside down.

4.       If it is summer or fall when you take your cuttings, remove the leaves from the lower 2” - 3” of your cutting.

5.       Dip the end of your cutting in rooting hormone or cinnamon and shake off the excess.

6.       Insert the bottom 2” - 3” of the cutting into the prepared medium.

7.       Humidity is key for rooting your new forsythia plant. If you don’t have a greenhouse, you can make a tent with a 2 gallon ziplock bag placed over the cuttings.

8.       Put your cuttings in a warm spot with indirect light. Do not expose them to bright sun while they are rooting.

9.       Check the medium daily. Remove their humidity tent for 30 minutes or so to keep mold from growing, and water them if the medium is starting to feel dry.

10.   In about 6 weeks, your forsythia will be ready to harden off and plant outside!  (If you took your cuttings in the fall, wait until the danger of frost has passed before you plant them.)

Have you tried propagating forsythia?  I’d love to hear about your experience!

February on the Farm

The groundhog did not see his shadow this year, and it seems like spring is indeed just around the corner! It’s time for the February farm update to keep you all apprised of what’s happening at Heritage Springs with the warmer weather.

The vet came out last week and checked our mini nubian does who are expecting. All of our little mamas got an ultrasound, hoof trim, parasite check, updated vaccines, and an evaluation of their body condition. Kidding season will start at Heritage Springs in March! Expect a ton of pictures on our social media pages because what is cuter than baby goats?

Sweet Pea getting her ultrasound

To prepare for kidding season, Neil is in the final stages of constructing the goat shed. This weekend he painted the floors with waterproof sealant and set up the camera system. All that is left to do is put in the stalls, install solar panels, and hang the lights. When it is finished, the goat shed will have private stalls for our does to nurture their babies as well as an area for the herd to use as a run-in shelter. There will also be a place to store food, minerals, treats, and medical supplies. The part of the barn where the goats live now will be converted into a milking parlor complete with stanchions, milk refrigerator, and all the things needed to maintain sanitary conditions.

The goat shed floor is sealed!

Another super exciting update is that we have welcomed 3 female Maine Coon cats into our home! We have been in the process of selecting the most perfect Maine Coon cats we can find for months, and we are so happy with our cats! If you follow us on Facebook or Instagram you have probably seen photos of Chloe, Ember, and Calypso. In addition to being beautiful, they all have incredible temperaments. This is super important because Heritage Springs Cattery is the newest addition to our farm. I have taken a course on breeding Maine Coons and we are committed to ensuring we maintain the breed standard and further the breed through strict testing and adherence to responsible breeding practices. First and foremost our cats are part of our family and we take great pride in producing beautiful, healthy, and sweet kittens to become part of yours. We are hoping to welcome our first liter in early summer. Please reach out if you want to be added to the waiting list for kittens!

Ember is a black smoke Maine Coon

In other news, the winter houseplant glow-up is complete! When the repotting, leaf cleaning, and general maintenance was done I decided it was time to grow my collection a little bit. I added some rare alocasia, philodendron, and begonias that I’ve been trying to find for a while. I would love to highlight my favorites, but they’re pretty much all my favorites. If you’re interested in rare houseplants or houseplants in general check out my YouTube channel.  It’s all plants all the time: Heritage Springs - YouTube.

Some of the alocasia additions

The latest plant passion project I’ve immersed myself in is plant tissue culture. Plant tissue culture is essentially the micropropagation of plants and I am officially fascinated. I have been spending all my free time learning everything I can about using plant stems, nodes, and sections of leaves to grow new plants in test tubes. I am in the process of setting up a sterile lab in my basement and I’m hoping to get my first experiments into culture soon! Spring is a super busy time on our farm, so I expect all progress to abruptly come to a halt sometime in the next couple of weeks only to resume around November. That said, I will keep you all updated via Heritage Springs - YouTube , Facebook , and Instagram.

Another exciting tid-bit is that I am partnering with Landon Farm LLC in Sperryville, VA to teach some classes this spring! I will be teaching Kombucha 101 and Fire Cider 101. In these classes you will learn everything you need to know about how and why to brew these homestead staples yourself! Keep an eye out on , Facebook and Instagram for details on how to sign up!

A jar of kombucha brewing

I have been preparing for the kombucha class by producing the cutest SCOBYs possible. My personal SCOBYs are giant, floppy, gelatinous masses that can appear somewhat grotesque to the untrained eye. I decided to work on the presentation a little bit and have been making adorable little SCOBYs in quart sized mason jars. These are small, pert, gelatinous masses that look like they’ve dedicated their lives to cycling and eating kale. They will be packaged in 16 ounces of kombucha starter tea and be given to students as part of a complete kombucha kit in class. If you have questions about the class or you want to buy a kombucha kit separate from the class, please feel free to send me an email or a facebook message.

It's almost honeybee season! Here in Northern Virginia, there have been several days this month that it has been warm enough to feed our bees. During the winter when the temperature reaches at least 60 degrees we feed them. They get honeycomb left over from the honey harvest and sugar syrup fortified with a special blend of essential oils designed to boost their immune systems. This just gives them an extra boost to help them get through the winter.

A frame of honeybees and brood with honey on the edges

We plan to grow our apiary this year significantly by splitting our hives and buying nucs from local beekeepers. “Nucs” is beekeeper speak to refer to a nucleus of bees that typically have been overwintered at least once. Usually, nucs are boxes containing 5 frames of bees, brood, honey, pollen, and most importantly a queen bee that is already laying eggs. We are going to start preparations soon- we will paint hive bodies, build frames, and check over all of our bee keeping equipment to ensure everything is ready to go.

There truly is no better way to spend a spring morning than to be out in the bee yard. The smell of the smoker is reminiscent of a campfire which is complimented by the sweet scent of honey. The bees are content because the spring nectar flow is on and resources are plentiful. They make happy buzzing sounds as they fly back and forth with their legs loaded with pollen. The sunlight shines through the trees overhead and light up the frames as I look for signs of progress: eggs, pollen, nectar, and always vigilant to catch a glimpse of the queen. Beekeeping is one of my favorite things we do here on the farm and I am so excited for this season!

Olivia (left) and Victoria (right) walking back from the apiary

This weekend we will spread compost and plant our cold- tolerant crops like beets and radishes. Once those are in the ground we will get our greenhouses up and start the tomato and pepper seedlings. The potato garden will be prepped so we can celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by planting potatoes. I am sure I’m forgetting some things, but we will be posting updates on all of our projects on social media. ,We would love to hear what your spring preparations look like! Drop us a comment and let us know what you are up to. You get an A+ if you send pictures!

View of the sunrise from the barn

10 Big Reasons to Choose Farm Fresh Eggs Over Store-Bought Every Time

1.       Happy Hens! Hens that live on our small farm are happy and healthy. I can’t speak for every small farm, but I would bet this holds true in most cases. Our hens have names, best friends, and favorite nesting boxes. They play games, are free to wander where they please, scratch at the ground, find bugs, and live their best chicken lives. In contrast, the conditions hens are kept in at factory farms is heart-breaking. The practices that are the norm should be illegal. I won’t describe them here because it is too upsetting, but I expect a quick google search would convince you to never give another dime to support the commercial egg industry. In fact, this reason alone was enough to keep me from ever eating another store bought egg.

Olivia holding Adelle, a Welsummer hen.

2.       Health benefits! There have been numerous studies comparing the nutritional value of commercial factory farm-produced eggs and eggs laid by hens who live in a traditional small farm environment. The results are pretty amazing. Eggs laid by hens allowed free access to sunshine, exercise, and a variety of foods have far superior nutritional benefits including: less saturated fat, half of the cholesterol, 400% more omega 3s, 62% more vitamin A, 220% more vitamin E, 500% more beta carotene, and higher levels of carotenoids. Convinced yet?

The Welsummers Enjoying a Beautiful Morning!

 3.       Small farm eggs taste better. I didn’t believe this until I tried it for myself, but I promise it’s true. The eggs our hens lay here at Heritage Springs taste so much better than store bought eggs. The flavor is rich and even the texture is better. In comparison, store bought eggs are watery and bland. Don’t take my word for it- try them for yourself and see what I mean.

Blue, Green, Chocolate, Speckled, and Blush Colored Eggs

4.       No drug residue. The hens at Heritage Springs have never been given antibiotics. Because factory farms house their hens in such poor conditions, their flocks are regularly given antibiotics as standard protocol. These antibiotics make their way into the eggs which means Americans are unknowingly consuming eggs with drug residue in them. Our hens are kept in clean, spacious living conditions. They are given apple cider vinegar and oregano oil in their water to boost their immunity and prevent disease. If our flock ever were to get sick and need antibiotics, we would certainly treat them, but we would not sell their eggs while they had antibiotics in their systems.

Flower Strikes a Pose!

 5.       Salmonella is a minimal concern. The risk of salmonella is significantly less from eggs laid on a small farm than from factory farm-produced eggs. Hens on small farms are not as prone to getting the disease for a few reasons. I’ve already highlighted the difference in living conditions. Naturally, disease spreads quickly through flocks when hens are crammed together in cages or packed into a hoop house. The biggest factor though is due to the source of salmonella. Salmonella is commonly spread by rodent droppings and rodents run rampant at factory farms. At Heritage Springs, Catniss the Mighty Huntress takes care of the rodents, so they are not a problem. Again, I can’t speak for all small farms, but I have never been to a small farm where I didn’t see a barn cat snoozing in the hay feeder or purring up at me for some attention. On small farms, I expect the credit for the incredibly low salmonella risk is due to the well-fed feline farm hands.

Catniss the Mighty Huntress Lounging in the Hay

6.       Farm fresh eggs are fresh! There are varying thoughts on how old eggs are when you buy them from the grocery store. It is reasonable to assume that the freshness depends on how close the grocery store is to the source of the eggs, and how fast the grocery store sells the eggs. It is safe to assume the freshest eggs you will get at the store are around a week old, but it is not uncommon for eggs at the store to be a month old before you buy them. At Heritage Springs, eggs are gathered twice a day, and it is not uncommon for us to sell eggs that are so fresh they are still warm from being under a hen!

Ruby Crowing

 7.       The planet will thank you! Eating eggs from a small farm is better for the planet in more ways than one. The most obvious reason is that eating eggs from a local farm cuts down on transportation emissions. This alone is huge, but there’s more to it. The chickens at Heritage Springs eat well. In addition to their organic, non-GMO, soy-free chicken food especially formulated for laying hens, they enjoy a wide range of kitchen scraps. Kitchen scraps that would otherwise end up in the trash and be taken to the landfill where they would emit ethylene gas for the next 50 years while they decomposed. No kidding- it takes that long. I never thought about throwing out food waste before because I assumed it broke down quickly and just wasn’t a big deal. I had no idea how detrimental it was to the earth. Now that we have chickens, our household food waste is virtually zero. Chickens are omnivores and they truly eat everything. Banana peels, unfinished dinners, spoiled yogurt, and cheese rinds are delicacies our lucky chickens pounce on with delight. Feed chickens not landfills!

Neil Holding Buttercup

 8.       It’s good for the economy! Buying eggs from a small farm near you goes a long way to building a strong economy in your community. Studies show that buying from a small local business is twice as effective at increasing the “velocity of money” (how quickly money changes hands) as buying from a large chain business. I am not an economic expert, but the basic idea is that the higher the velocity of money is the greater the number of people that can benefit from that money because the money has been owned and used by more people. That’s the gist, but it might be worth a google search to read articles written by people smarter than me if you want to really understand this topic in depth.

We Sold Eggs and Honey along with Paw Paws at the Paw Paw Porch Pop Up Sale in September!

 9.       You can connect to your food! Where does your food come from? I might be able to tell you that I bought a box of cereal from a specific grocery store, but I would have no idea how it got there. What farm grew the wheat? What kind of pesticides or chemicals did the farmer use on the crop? How far from the farm was the cereal factory? Is the factory management kind to the employees? Is the factory clean? How much sugar is added to the wheat to make the cereal? What is the packaging made of? Where does that come from? There are a LOT of holes in our knowledge about most of the food we consume. If I didn’t grow it myself or buy it from one of the small farms I like to shop at, I can’t answer any of these questions. Can you? Only a few generations ago, most people knew where their food came from. They either produced it themselves or they knew the farmers they bought from or traded for it with. If we all bought the majority of our food from local farms and people we knew I think we would be healthier and probably eat more delicious food. We don’t raise our own meat, but I like to buy meat from farms where I can see the animals being treated kindly and living in clean conditions. When people come to buy eggs from our farm, I love to show off our flock. Factory farms do not allow visitors, and I don’t think anyone would want to see what they are doing even if they did.

The Coop Decorated for Christmas

10.   No chemicals! It’s a law in the United States that eggs sold in grocery stores be washed. This seems like a good idea except that washing eggs removes the protective coatings from the shells which keep bacteria out. Washing eggs encourages them to spoil faster too because the protective coating is gone. There are different ways companies wash their eggs, but often they use diluted bleach. With the protective coating gone, the bleach can make its way through the shell and end up in your eggs. The eggs we sell at Heritage Springs are left unwashed to keep them fresh for as long as possible. It is recommended you wash your eggs prior to use, but since you are doing it yourself, you have control over what you wash your eggs with. I like to use a drop of natural dish soap and a gentle brush. I do not recommend you use bleach.

Eggs from the Buff Orpington Hens

How to Propagate Philodendron Hederaceum Directly into a Soil Mix

I made a video to show you how to propagate Philodendron Hederaceum directly into a soil mix. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/0cP-KEE-rRA?si=H6GE1TuLzlMlpA2P

Philodendron Hederaceum is commonly known as Heart Leaf Philodendron. You see the standard green variety of these growing in shopping malls, Burger Kings, and on teacher’s desks all across America. We finally got something right! These plants are stunning with delicate heart-shaped leaves and trailing vines. Philodendron Hederaceum comes in many varieties besides standard green. The two shown in the video above are Lemon Lime and Philodendron Brasil. The Lemon Lime variety is a solid bright green color and the Brasil has the base color of the common green variety with splashes of the bright green of the Lemon Lime on the leaves.

I have a wall of cascading Philodendron Hederaceum and Scindapsus that was wildly out of control. Plants were trailing all over the floor and tangled together. I cleaned it up the other day, and ended up with a ton of cuttings that I needed to do something with so I recorded the video linked above to show you all how to do it.

In addition to propagating these Philodendron, I thought it would be interesting to do an experiment to see if there is much difference between using cinnamon on cuttings and using commercial rooting powder. I put together 4 pots of cuttings (2 of each) and I will check them in a month and let you all know what I find out.

What you need:

• Small nursery pots with drainage holes

• commercial potting mix, peat moss, and perlite to make your own soil mix or a commercial seed starting mix

• scissors

• cuttings from Philodendron Hederaceum with leaves

How to propagate Philodendron Hederaceum in soil mix:

• 1. Make a potting mix made up of about 30% commercial potting mix, 60% peat moss, and 10% perlite. This is a great mix for starting cuttings because the commercial potting mix provides structure and nutrients, the peat moss keeps the cuttings from drying out, and the perlite allows for drainage. You can also use a prepackaged seed starting mix if you prefer.

• 2. Cut the stems into pieces ensuring there is at least one leaf and one leafless node per stem.

• 3. Brush cinnamon or rooting hormone onto the leafless node and stick that end of the stem into the soil mix. This is actually optional. For years I rooted cuttings directly into potting mix without using cinnamon or rooting hormone and I got roots every time. These niceties just speed up the process.

• 4. Water well and set aside in a humid environment.

Humidity stimulates growth. I set these 4 pots in a small glass greenhouse. If you don’t have a greenhouse, you can use a sunny window in a bathroom or even place them inside a large ziplock bag (just don’t zip the bag all the way closed). Water your starts once a week to make sure they don’t dry out. That’s it!

If you try this, I’d love to see pictures and hear how it went. Bonus points if you do your own experiment comparing cinnamon and rooting powder!

Learn to Propagate Stems with No Leaves!

I made you a video to show you how to repot a Monstera Siltepecana and then how to propagate the parts with no leaves. You can watch it here: Repot a Monstera Siltepecana and propagate it from leafless stems! (youtube.com)

Monstera Siltepecana- check out the video where I show you how to repot this plant and propagate it from leafless stems! Repot a Monstera Siltepecana and propagate it from leafless stems! (youtube.com)

Propagating most house plants is pretty easy. Usually you remove a couple of the bottom leaves from a cutting to expose some stem and then plunk it in water. Voila! The cutting will root in a couple months and you have a new plant!

What about the cuttings you take that have no leaves? We’ve all been there. You go to water your tradescantia, pothos, or philodendron and see that your once lush plant full of leaves looks a bit…bald. At this point your best bet is to grab your scissors and show no mercy. Cut all the naked stems off and your plant will bush out and be beautiful again in no time. What to do with the chopped stems?

Before I learned this method for growing new plants from leafless stems, I threw them into the compost heap with the used potting soil and yellow leaves. If you’re like me, you hate to throw away plant cuttings. Even if I don’t want another pothos, I’ll grow it and use it to fill in a plant I already have that’s looking sparse. Sometimes I’ll trade it for another plant or use it to barter for something. When Covid started, I traded plants I had propagated for face masks. (Sewing and I don’t get along, but that’s a story for another time.) At the very least I’ll grow the cutting so I don’t live with the guilt of being a plant murderer.

You Need:

• Sphagnum moss that’s been soaked in water

• A transparent plastic container with a lid

• Scissors

• Naked plant stems

• Masking tape and a marker, optional

• Grow lights or a sunny window

Here’s what you do:

1. Put a few holes in the bottom of your container because you want the inside of the container to be humid but not wet. The best way I’ve found to do this is to heat up a drill bit and use it to make a couple holes.

2. Squeeze most of the water out of the sphagnum moss and fluff it out into the bottom of the container. Make a layer a couple inches thick.

3. Cut your stem into pieces that will fit in your container laying down. Leave about half an inch of stem on either end of the node.

4. Put the lid on the container.

5. Put a strip of masking tape on the lid with the name of the plant and the date.

6. Put the container under grow lights or in a sunny window and wait. I usually check mine 6 months to a year later and find little plants growing.

That’s it! I do this with tradescantia, philodendron, pothos, begonias, and of course monstera. Really any type of plant that has nodes along the stem. If you try this, I’d love to see a picture of your success!

Pot a Monstera Deliciosa Albo Variegata Cutting With Me

As promised, I made a video of how to do this and posted it to YouTube. You can watch that here: Pot up a rooted Monstera Deliciosa Albo Variegata with me. - YouTube

I made up an aroid mix for this monstera albo cutting using 1 part potting soil, 1 part orchid bark, and 1 part peat moss. I added some activated charcoal as well to rid the soil of any impurities and help keep insects away.

Aroid Mix of 1:1:1 Potting soil, Peat Moss, and Orchid Bark with a Sprinkle of Activated Charcoal

This cutting had been rooting in a mix of spaghnum moss and clay leca. I did not want to damage the roots, so I picked off the leca and removed the moss that came off the roots easily. I potted the plant with the rest of the moss still attached to the roots. The moss will break down over time and won’t be a problem.

I Left Rooting Medium Attached to the Roots to Avoid Damaging Them

I watered the plant well, and will keep it in a humid environment until it gets established. Once I know it is going to do well, this plant will be for sale. If you are interested, please let me know in the comments section! You can also drop me a note on the Heritage Springs Facebook page.

Water Plants Well After They Have Been Transplanted to Remove Air Pockets in the Soil

January Update

It’s January here on the farm. In Northern Virginia it is wet, cold, sloppy and grey. We are keeping the animals fed and warm, but not much is really happening. Soon we will plan the garden, start the seeds, greet the new baby goats, split the beehives, gather eggs for hatching, and do all the things that need to be done on a small farm after months of gross weather gives way to warm sunny spring days. There are still several weeks of dark and dreary days before then so what are we doing at Heritage Springs in the meantime?

Neil is braving the crummy weather and spending his Saturdays building a new structure for our miniature Nubian goats. We have five goats now. With the addition of our sweet little buck in October that number will be increasing this spring. We are expecting Primrose, Silver Leaf (Silvie), and Sweet Pea to welcome babies starting at the end of March. Neil is building a shed for them so they can each have their own space to mother their babies. It has been a long process. If you follow our Instagram or Facebook pages, you probably saw the girls testing the structural integrity of the floor dancing to Cotton Eyed Joe in early summer. Walls were added after that, but there are so many competing priorities in the spring and summer that progress was slow and eventually halted until now. I’ll post photos of the finished project soon!

The girls testing the integrity of the goat shed floor by dancing to Cotton Eyed Joe

I am happiest when I’m playing in the dirt. It’s too cold to be outside so lately I have been giving my house plants some seriously overdue TLC. I’m cleaning leaves, feeding, untangling, and pruning. It is still a bit too early for the optimal time to propagate, but I am amassing a collection of clippings and pieces I’ve accidentally broken off plants that I need to do something with. My orchids need their roots clipped and fresh bark too. Since I get a lot of questions on these topics. I am going to post some videos showing you how I do it. Stay tuned for the debut of Plant TV! Just kidding- it’s not going to be called Plant TV. Although it does have a nice ring to it…

Latest project: taming the philodendron and scindapsus!

In other news, our family is kombucha crazy right now. I have two gallons of kombucha on the counter in the first fermentation, and I have two more gallon-sized jars coming from Amazon so I can start more. The bottles in the fridge will be gone before I can get the batch that’s furthest along into its second fermentation. We are drinking it faster than I can make it. This is so weird because the first time I tasted kombucha I immediately decided it would be my last.

Kombucha is brewing!

Quick story: Last year while I was deployed, I met Linn. Linn and I shared an office and a car. Our dorm rooms were connected too so we also shared a kitchen and a bathroom. We spent almost every waking moment together starting at 5:30am when we went to the gym until 9:30pm when we left work. Luckily, Linn and I became good friends. We passed the time when we weren’t working talking about the hobbies and interests we had at home. One of Linn’s hobbies is making kombucha. Linn said homemade kombucha is delicious, and not at all like the vinegary store-bought kind. She described her SCOBY Hotel, what flavors she liked to make (apple-mint is her favorite), the process for making kombucha, and how healthy it is. Six months of listening to Linn extol the virtues of kombucha finally convinced me to give it another chance. I got home from deployment and ordered a kombucha kit. Post-deployment is a busy time, and the kit sat on my counter untouched. Linn came to visit during the honey harvest last summer and after all the honey was spun, I asked the Kombucha Queen for a lesson. I’ve been making kombucha ever since.

Naturally there are other things going on besides building a goat shed, playing with plants, and making kombucha. I’m on a never-ending quest to make the perfect kefir milk, Neil and I are about to start building and painting beehives, and our family is preparing to welcome two more Maine Coons into our home. Subscribe if you want to make sure you don’t miss anything. There’s always something going on around here!

My Little Chicken

If you purchase chicks at a store or online, there will likely be a minimum number you have to buy. This is because chickens are flock animals and are happiest when they are with other chickens. At least this is true for most chickens.

My Little Chicken came to us in the spring of 2023 in an order of Ameraucana chicks. When Neil and I scattered feed for the flock, one of the little chicks ran back and forth between our legs until one of us picked her up. When we turned over compost in the chicken run, the little chick perched on the pitchfork to get our attention. When we collected eggs, the little chick jumped into a nesting box and pranced around in front of us until we scooped her up. I looked forward to seeing her each day, and as soon as I’d get to the barn, I would look around and ask Neil, “Where is my little chicken”?  and that’s how My Little Chicken got her name.

My Little Chicken (or MLC as she came to be known) was different than the other Ameraucana chicks. She was weird. When all the other chicks stood around a tray of food to eat, MLC stood in the middle up to her ankles and chowed down. When the other chicks scattered at the site of us entering the chicken run, MLC ran toward us. When the other chicks played chicken games together, MLC wandered around by herself.

In case you haven’t spent much time with chickens, let me tell you that a pecking order is a real thing. It’s called a pecking order because high ranking chickens peck at lower ranking chickens to teach them their place. The pecking order is usually established over a couple days when new chickens are introduced to a flock and then when all the chickens know their place, the pecking stops.

My Little Chicken was at the very bottom of this flock’s pecking order. It was clear to me as a human, so I am certain it was clear to MLC, and it was obviously clear to the other chickens. Even though MLC knew her place, the other chickens were unrelenting. They sprinted across the run to peck MLC if they caught a glimpse of her. They stopped playing, scratching, or even eating for the chance to peck her. It was not just a few chickens who did this, the whole flock tormented her. I waited for things to calm down and monitored MLC for bleeding.

Poor MLC was teeny tiny. Her chick-mates were double her size. I started hand feeding her when I visited, but she was always hungry. One day, Neil showed me a picture he had taken of MLC with her head under a log in the run. She was hiding. My heart broke. I told Neil that nature is one thing, but I believe God gives humans empathy for a reason. He said, “My Little Chicken is moving in with us, isn’t she?”. Have I mentioned how much I love my husband? We set up an extra-large dog crate in the foyer and put pine shavings in the bottom. We added a roost, tiny chicken waterer, and a food tray and went out to the coop to get MLC.

MLC trying to hide under the log (the chicken in the foreground is eating watermelon, not a green fish)

It was after dark when we got out there, and all the chickens were asleep on their roosts. We looked for MLC, but she was nowhere to be found. My heart sank. We went outside to the run and through the darkness I saw a ball of feathers outside the coop door. I expected the worst, but MLC heard us coming and perked her head up. She was okay! I bent down and gently picked her up. She scrambled onto my forearm, put her head under wing and immediately fell asleep. Neil and I finished the rest of our barn chores that evening with MLC asleep on my arm.

MLC asleep on my arm while we did barn chores

MLC loved to perch on my shoulder, and I loved having her there. What I did not love was when MLC pooped down my neck. One day after my second shower, I decided we needed a change. I put MLC on the kitchen scale and started an Amazon search to find diapers for a .8lb chicken. Amazon did not disappoint, and Neil and I started diapering our sweet little chicken.

MLC hanging out in her favorite spot

Even the dogs fell in love with MLC. One night, our son Josh was holding MLC on the couch. Josh’s dog was watching MLC like a hawk, and our dog Bolt was watching Josh’s dog watch MLC. Josh’s dog made an almost imperceptible move toward MLC, but it wasn’t imperceptible to Bolt. He lunged and snarled and snapped. Nobody was hurt, but the message was clear: MLC is off limits.

I brought MLC everywhere with me. One day I had her outside on the porch while I watered the hydrangeas. I was talking to Neil when MLC walked off the edge of the porch. The porch isn’t high, and she flapped her wings a little before she hit the ground, so she wasn’t hurt. I said, “MLC is a klutz”. Neil said, “No. I think she’s blind”. He was right. Once we knew she was blind, we made some adjustments to MLC’s living quarters to make things easier for her. Neil lowered her roost so she could find it and I made sure her food and water were always in the exact same place.

MLC helping me water the hydrangeas

MLC lived her best life as a house chicken until the day she jolted the whole family awake at 2am with a scream that came from the depths of her little chicken body. We ran downstairs certain to find the mangled remains of our sweet little friend, but MLC was walking happily around her cage looking very proud of herself. Then she did it again. A piercing screech. I remembered I had read somewhere that hens will sometimes learn to crow if there are no roosters around. MLC had no roosters around and was learning to crow. And since she was blind, she had no idea what time it was when she practiced.

Very shortly after MLC started finding her voice, she moved onto the screened in porch with the bunnies. The four of them became fast friends, and most nights one or two of the little French Lops would be snuggled up with her. It was the picture of cuteness.

Around this time, we received a shipment of Salmon Faverolles chicks. Side note- if you want to own the cutest chicks of all time, these are the chicks you want. Normally we keep new chicks in a separate space in the barn, but we had a very big Black Snake living out there and decided to keep the chicks on the bunny porch with MLC instead. The chicks and MLC were adorable together, and the chicks grew fast. Finally, the chicks were big enough to move out to the barn. MLC was bigger too, and I suggested to Neil that we move all of them out to the barn together to see how they would do. I mean, after all, MLC could crow!

MLC and the babies went out to the barn that evening at bedtime. The next morning, they stayed in the coop while the big chickens went outside, but otherwise things seemed to go okay. On the second day, we couldn’t find MLC. I finally thought to look under the roosts, and there she was with her head stuck in the corner. Neil reached under the roosts and picked her up. Poor MLC. It was very clear to me that she would never be happy living in a flock. We brought her home and put her back on the bunny porch. The bunnies hopped to greet her, and MLC strutted around, happy to be back on her turf.

If you ask me how many chickens you need to start a flock, I will tell you to get a minimum of 3. Chickens are happiest when they are with other chickens. If you have some extra time though, I’ll probably tell you the story of My Little Chicken and how she prefers the company of humans, dogs, and bunnies to chickens and how she taught me that at least in farming, there is an exception to every rule.

MLC on my shoulder. I thi

We Figure it out as We Go

The first Mini Nubian does that came to live at Heritage Springs were in milk when we got them. If you aren’t familiar with that term, it means these goats had babies and were producing milk. Primrose and Silver Leaf (Silvie) arrived on a warm spring afternoon at about 3pm. Neil and I had never milked an animal before in our lives, and Neil was a little concerned. These goats had to be milked that evening, and we had zero experience. I told him not to worry and that we would figure it out as we go.

We had prepared for the arrival of our Mini Nubians by reading Raising Goats Naturally by Deborah Niemann, watching several youtube videos on how to milk goats, and setting up a milking area outside the tack room in the barn. The milking area included a stanchion with a head gate, a small bucket for goat treats like alfalfa and beet pulp, and a milking stool. We were ready…we thought.

Primrose (left) and Silvie (right) the first two Miniature Nubian does at Heritage Springs

Primrose was up first. Neil lured her onto the stanchion with the treat bucket, got her head through the head gate, and sat down on the milking stool. He reached out and gently took a teat in each hand. Did you know goats can scream? Primrose stuck her tongue out and screamed on top of her lungs. Then she threw herself off the stanchion and hung there by the head gate while we scrambled to keep her from strangling herself. We looked at each other. This is not how we thought this would go.

We heaved Primrose up and got her situated back on the stanchion. I gave her some words of encouragement, and Neil tried again. This time, from her depths came a loud long “mooooooooo!” She flopped down onto his hands like a defiant toddler. Neil tried to stand her up, but she refused to budge. She simply would not put her feet under her body. My poor husband looked defeated and frankly, very sweaty. I suggested we give Primrose a break and try to milk Silvie.

Silvie hopped up onto the stanchion, stuck her head through the gate and started munching happily on beet pulp. This was a good sign. Neil cautiously reached out to touch her, but as soon as he made contact, she let her legs go out from under her and fell to the table. He lifted her up, and I wrapped my arms around her to try to keep her standing. He tried again and she immediately fell down again. I told her she was overreacting. I told her that people had been milking goats for thousands of years and that this was perfectly normal. I told her that it wasn’t going to hurt and that she was being a baby. None of this helped.

I took out my phone and texted the lady I bought these floppy eared demons from. “Have these goats ever been milked before?” “Is there a trick to milking them?” “Help!!!” Silence.

I looked over at Neil and could see that he was done. I was done. Silvie and Primrose were done. I said, “Maybe they’re just a little stressed from the drive. Let’s let them relax and try again in the morning.” He agreed and I spent the rest of the evening doing research on milking ornery goats and wondering if I had ruined our lives.

The next morning, we were out in the barn at 4:30am. We were determined to get these goats milked and this time, thanks to my intensive research session, we had hoof cuffs. It turns out that a lot of people hobble their goats when they milk. I had somehow missed this vital piece of information during my initial research phase.

I honestly don’t remember many details of that morning. I know we got about a quart of milk from each goat, and I know it wasn’t easy. It took us about an hour and a half of struggling to make it happen, but I put it in the W column. It would only get easier from here…right?

Over the next couple days Silvie straightened up and let Neil milk her. The hobbles were transformative. Once she learned that he was not going to stop milking her if she threw a fit, she stopped throwing fits. Magic. I think she even started to enjoy her time on the stanchion with her special treats.

Primrose was a different story. I changed her name to Nightmare, and in addition to the hobbles, we hung ratchet straps from the rafters of the barn to secure under her belly. With the hobbles on her ankles she couldn’t really kick, and with the ratchet straps holding her up, she couldn’t throw herself off the stanchion or flop down onto the table. She could still scream though, and she did a lot of it. It was unnerving. I told Neil that if we couldn’t figure this out in the next week we were going to give up and dry her off. It wasn’t worth torturing this poor goat or us to get some milk.

Nightmare on the Milking Stand

For the first time since starting our little farm I felt overwhelmed. I felt guilty for bringing all this stress into our lives. I felt bad for Nightmare, and I felt bad for us.

I walked out to the barn that evening and told Neil that I was going to milk Nightmare. He looked doubtful and asked if maybe I wanted to learn to milk Silvie first. I said I wanted to milk Nightmare. We got her up on the stanchion, I sat down on the stool, took a teat in each hand, and started to milk. I braced myself for the screams, but she calmly stood there and gave us a full quart of milk in 10 minutes. She didn’t scream or cry or throw any tantrums. In the days that followed she stood patiently while I milked her each morning and evening. She even let my daughters milk her. It turns out Primrose just prefers to be milked by females. Maybe she’s shy. Maybe she likes small hands. Maybe she’s really into feminism. I don’t know. What I do know is that she went from Primrose to Nightmare and back to Primrose, and finally to Primmie. She became my favorite goat and I absolutely adore her.

Primmie with her sweet little smile

When people see our little farm, one of the first things they ask is if I grew up on a farm. I tell them no. Then they say, “Then Neil grew up farming?” I say not really, and I tell them his dad had sheep for a little while when he was young. Then they ask, “well, how did you learn how to do all of this?”. I say we mostly figure it out as we go. They usually look doubtful, but it is the truth. Before we start something new, of course we do research and talk to people, but only so much can be learned that way.  At the end of the day, with patience, and by the grace of God, we figure it out as we go.  

Heritage Springs- How it all Started

My husband Neil and I bought our northern Virginia farm in Feb 2022. Our single goal was to move our family of 5 (along with our 3 big mutts) out of our cramped town house and into a larger home so we could breathe again. It just so happened that the house we found has a barn and I quickly learned something new about myself- I do not like owning an empty barn.

About eight weeks later, a tick crawled across my daughter’s cheek at dinner. I snatched it, killed it, and announced we were getting guinea fowl. A little research later, I found out that guinea fowl do better with chickens, so I added chickens to the list. On the way into the farm store to purchase our new feathered babies, a man in the parking lot let my daughters hold the baby bunnies he was selling. Add two bunnies. That’s pretty much how it started.

Olivia holding one of her favorite hens

In July that year, I deployed to the Middle East for 6 months. In my downtime, I read about farming and animals, listened to homesteading podcasts, and took a second beekeeping course. It didn’t take me long to decide it only made sense to get some cows for pasture management. If we were getting cows anyway, they might as well be adorable, so I put two mini cows on my list. Goats seem so obvious to me that I can’t remember exactly why I added them to the list. Maybe for their nutritious and digestible milk, the possibility of making goat milk soap, or knowing me, it could have just been their floppy ears. Add 5 mini-Nubians. We had already started beekeeping, but I did some quick calculations and decided in the next four years we could easily multiply our initial investment for a total of 50 hives.

My husband and I don’t have much farming experience. Neil’s dad kept sheep and bees in Maine for a brief period and Neil helped him when he was a kid. That experience amounts to the entirety of our knowledge base. I grew up in the city and the closest I came to livestock was the guinea pig I had in third grade. I had to google the difference between straw and hay. If you’re wondering, straw is the stalk after the good stuff has been removed (like wheat) and is normally used for animal bedding. Hay is alfalfa or grass and is used to feed animals. Even with no background in agriculture, I was drawn to this new adventure with inexplicable confidence that we would figure it out.

We have lived on the farm for almost two years now, and we have zero regrets. It grounds me to be out in the early mornings feeding the animals. We feel proud when we eat a meal we produced on the farm. I love talking to people about our animals and seeing them light up when one of our tiny cows eats grain from their hand.

Neil holding Sweat Pea- one of our mini nubian doelings

We get asked about our farm often and people are almost always surprised by my answer when they ask something like, “Aren’t chickens a lot of work?”.  I’ve learned there are a lot of misconceptions out there about the small farm lifestyle. Misconceptions that might scare people away from getting a few backyard chickens or a flock of tick-eating guinea fowl or even starting a garden. This blog is to share our real experiences in an honest way. Has there been a learning curve? Absolutely! I invite you to cozy up and get comfortable- I am going to tell you everything.