We purchased our farm in May of 2023 and for multiple reasons we were not totally sure what we had bought. The land was promising and so we took a leap of faith!
The previous owners of the last 50 years operated a horse farm, but more recently had been retired. The land had been only partially cleared for traditional farming and the fields and horse paddocks had returned to a more natural state. It was difficult to discern the actual property lines for the farm. Since we desire to be good neighbors and land stewards, we hired James R. Holley & Associates to complete our land survey.
The surveyors had a difficult job as the summer fields were growing in with tall orchardgrass and our property permitter had several feet of invasive and prickly wineberries. We didn’t know about wineberries prior to the survey and were a bit sadden to learn that we didn’t own one large raspberry patch. We quickly got over it, and put the goats to works!
Despite the over growth, our survey was completed and we learned that one original property marker remained in place. The surveyors cut back an absolute jungle to find a small section of original stone wall in the back corner of the farm. We believe the wall is from the early 18th century. We were amazed to see it still standing and hope to incorporate that little bit of history into our new fencing plans as a reminder of generations who lived on and worked the farm before us. The surveyors also found many land stakes from the last survey conducted over 50 years ago that we suspect was done for the previous owners when they brought the farm in the 1970s.
The survey was a perfect first step for us as new farm owners. The team at James R. Holley are really cool people, who love their work, and happy to share their findings as they navigated the property, be it a baby fawn hidden in the orchardgrass or a native tree or plant that we should consider keeping and cultivating on the farm. The survey gave us confidence in our farm purchase and confirmed our fence lines.
Orchardgrass
Orchardgrass, is heat and drought tolerant, producing quality, high yielding animal feed with two seasonal cuttings. Once in late May and again in late August. It comes back every year, but since our fields were largely unused in the last decade they will require some work to get a healthy crop of hay going again. With the help of local farmer Dan Keeny and the Penn State Extension folks we are hoping to repair our fields and improve our yield.
We are grateful Dan and his father Ken were able to harvest both cuttings this year. The yield was used to feed his cows and not wasted. It also gave some legitimacy in calling Parc Ferme a farm. Dan is coming back next year and we hope we can improve the yield and quality over the next few seasons.
Thank you Dan and Ken!