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Off the keyboard of Knarf

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Published on Open Mind on April 16, 2016

Discuss this article at the Doomsteading Table inside the Diner

One of our regular Diners Knarf recently started a Blog for his Buddhist Monastery called Open Mind. He shared with us on the Diner Forum some of the pictures taken on their farm, which are quite beautiful and I asked him if I could share them with the Diner Readers. He was cool with this, so here you have a photo essay of the farm of a bunch of Buddhist Monks currently operating down in the Lower 48.

A wonderful vision of a more peaceful life working together with nature, which really you do not need to be a Buddhist to enjoy. You do howeer need to learn cooperatively and in peace with others if you are to do so. -RE

Here are some pics of our farm.

Homestead hogs in portable pens till a garden plot.

Handmade footbridge over intermittent stream.

Three-point farm implements.

This garage was used as a filling station in the 1920s.

Reversible garden frames to keep critters from disturbing seedlings.

Yellow groove bamboo (Phyllostachys aureosulcata).

Farm cat rests in the shade.

Compost pile.

A green insect we thought might be an emerald ash borer. It isn’t.

This tree isn’t doing well.

Layer pullets and guinea keets.

Grown laying hens.

Barred rock rooster.

American guinea hog gilt, Binkie.

Preparing for winter.

Homegrown sunflower seeds.

Newborn Kinder goats Eliza and Alexa.

Binkie, shortly before farrowing.

Binkie vs The Great Pumpkin.

Dipped candles are clipped to a pasta rack.

Kinder goat herd. (disregard date)

Banker, Binkie and their first litter, preparing ground for sowing red clover and alfalfa.

Piglets grazing on wheat grass.

Corn thrives, thanks to liberal application of composted, manure-rich hog bedding. (disregard date)

Eggs collected daily are dated in pencil to ensure first-in, first-out rotation.

An aggressive but non-venomous little snake.

Flash flooding takes a toll on the footbridge.

A home-butchered 18-month-old American guinea hog boar, ready to be wrapped in freezer paper.

Hogs rooting up the field again.

The creek on a snowy day.

An oven-ready wild gooseberry pie.

The homestead blanketed in snow.

‘Nuf said.

Livestock guardian dog Snowball studies her new charges.

Chicken coop and footbridge.

Starter trio of Kinder does — left to right, Lori, Lacy and Harriet.

Guinea hog pork, ready to serve.

Years after discontinuing its use, we sometimes find scraps of this landscape fabric in our vegetable garden. Ugh.

The footbridge and the back of the chicken coop, as seen from the other side of the creek.

Boosin the cat took the raccoon bait.

We found Snowball offered for free on Craigslist.

Black walnut logs for the wood stove.

Apple trees in bloom.

A snapping turtle on the marshy forest floor.

A morel mushroom in the leaf litter.

Expect the unexpected.

Bass from a nearby farm pond.

Sunflowers.