Hello and welcome to our 3 Corners Farm and Homestead page! In case you are new here, welcome! We are a family of five who live in Oregon and I write this blog once a month to share our journey in small farming. If you would like to learn more about us, what we do, and what makes us unique, please visit our 'About Us" page.

With that said, it's harvest time again!

This means we have been blessedly busy. Not only is our middle son graduating high school, and our daughter graduating eighth grade, but the animals have been keeping us on our toes too. Added to harvest season, it's all been just enough work to be constant, but we get to experience so many good blessings along the way.

If you are reading this blog and hoping to one day start a business or small farm operation of your own, please know that it gets easier. The start-up is the hardest part, so just make a plan, and get out there and do it! 

Without further ado, here is what we have been working on in the month of May this year... 

Farming

Travis has been driving to Odell to harvest his salad greens from the leased one-acre lot there. He brings his load back to the Homestead where he washes them and our daughter (who has been homeschooling and wants to work to save up money) helps him in bagging and labeling them all. Each bag must be sorted through for any stray pieces of grass or such that need to be removed, then each bag must be weighed, and all must be counted and tallied up carefully before being stored in the walk-in freezer until delivery the next day.



This year Travis is selling his produce at local restaurants. These include Riverside in Hood River Oregon, Freebridge in the Dalles Oregon, and as a bonus, he sells some at Brenna's Mosier Market in our tiny town of Mosier, too.

Then there is the Gorge Farmer Collective Co-Op where he also sells once a week. Travis serves on their board to help the amazing team of dedicated food providers grow the co-op, to easily serve all those who love fresh, organic foods within the Columbia River Gorge area.

We will expand our 3 Corners Farm sales to include other restaurants and venues in the future, such as Cousins Restaurant in The Dalles to name one place, but we are working on growing more produce first now that our previous goal amount has been reached.

May this year was our best start with sales so far, and that is very exciting for us!

We harvested and sold three times the amount than at this time last year!

In May of 2022, we sold 68 pounds of produce.

In May of 2023, we sold 243 pounds. 

What growth!

400 pounds would be a great goal for the month of May next year, especially for such a hard month because May is rather unpredictable. It can be a surprise as to what survives the cold or hot snaps that the beginning of the spring season can bring.

Our ultimate goal is to aim for selling 300 to 400 pounds a week, but time will tell how long it takes us to get there.

Weather

The beginning of May was wonderfully sunny and warm! Sometimes the heat can be hard on produce, but Travis is on leased land with irrigation so the weather has actually been great for the greens! 

Now it has gotten cooler and windy, but the temperature still remains in the 70s which is perfect for what we are growing, and the cooldown came at just the right time...  just when that heat was getting to be a little much.

(No surprise snow or hail storms this year so we're good, haha!)

Other Supplemental Income and Farm Happenings

Since we have decided not to attend the farmers market this year, I will have nowhere to sell my homemade loaves of bread unless I want to do home deliveries, and I just won't have the time to commit to that. So, I am considering expanding and selling alongside Travis's greens, but we need to look into a commercial kitchen for use.

I want to be able to sell a few basic loaves of bread in bulk. I have found that trying to keep up with too many varieties of baked goods is overwhelming with little revenue in the end, so I would prefer to stick to homemade loaves of breads which include white bread, cinnamon bread, banana breads, zucchini bread, and possibly wheat bread as well.

Homemade White Bread

And guess what? My latest book, "The Glory House" is finally published and ready for purchase, woohoo! Here is the link if you would like to give it a read. Now I need to get set up to sell my books locally and set them up as audiobooks. Once I accomplish these things, I will be ready to write more. 

Farm Friends-The Animals

Here is one more final thought about our Homestead animal gang before I go. 

We had a vet visit on May 16th for our two horses, mainly Willow who is 23 and struggling a bit right now. Here is what the vet touched upon:

Willow, Age 23

*Willow's teeth did not need any work done, but they are getting dull due to age. All we can do is start soaking forage in the form of alfalfa and timothy cubes, and upping the senior feed. Unfortunately, Willow does not eat the soaked forage well, so our senior feed expense is climbing.

*Willow's stomach ulcers still have not calmed down, which makes it harder to keep her at a good weight and not too thin. I am giving her another round of the medicated ulcer treatment from the vet but I fear she can not take it long-term. There is a supplement for horse ulcers that we will look into next.

*Willow now has swelling in all her ankle joints, which has been new this year. Previously, she only had mild swelling in one fetlock periodically, but age-related arthritis is catching up with her. She was given her first injection to help with inflammation and swelling and we can repeat that every 6 to 8 weeks.

*And finally, we made it down to Willow's hooves. As I've shared before, Willow has inner hoof damage from founder before we took her in and she also has extremely flat hooves. We have been able to maintain her comfortably so far, however, now the vet is recommending a new kind of horseshoe that is plastic in nature, to get her sensitive soles up off the ground. These can be glued or nailed on her front hooves just like regular horseshoes but will allow her joints more flexibility. 

So... we will be looking into that as well. Phew! Seniors are so much work and expense but also so incredibly special and worth it all.

Joe Joe the mini horse is good! So much so that the vet barely even had to look at him, (he's such a good boy), and all the other animals are doing well.

Other than that, I added information to our visitor's board out front again so that anyone in our neighborhood who wants to follow along in the animals' care and hear their stories, can enjoy them right along with us.

And that's a wrap!

Thanks for visiting our blog and be sure to soak in the loveliness of this spring season!

Before I go, our family would like to extend our congratulations to ALL graduating seniors this year. We are proud of you and excited for your future! The world needs you now more than ever.

Until next time, take care and be blessed,

Amy E. Darr

3 Corners Farm

Mosier, Oregon U.S.A.