Come visit Jim and Marsha online at our Hummingbird Hills Farm
 
What a blessing we have in this farm.  We live in Pennsylvania Amish country.  Our farm is on a dirt road just outside a small community with a population of 300.  The horses clip-clop their way past our home and you can hear the ducks quacking in the pond.  The Lord has been kind to us.  The farmland is about half woods and half rolling fields.  We raise chickens, turkeys and ducks and would someday like to raise some beef.  Livestock is the easy part of farming here.  The tough job is gardening.  The ground here is about as rocky as you can imagine.  Our forest thrives, but vegetables don't.  We had a fellow want to lease part of our property a few years ago to start a gravel pit.  That tells you how rocky it is here.

The other problem we have is with the abundant wildlife here.  I'll give you an example...  A couple of years ago we planted an apple tree that was about 6' tall.  It did well that first summer and fall, but then the winter came and the deer began to nibble at the branches.  The tree was damaged, but still leafed out in the spring and got a bit healthier through the next growing season.  Then winter came again and the deer stripped it of every limb and we ended up with an apple "stick" by spring.  I was going to dig it up and replace it, but the stick started growing little branches and leaves so I let it be.  The next month the deer came and picked it clean again and broke our poor apple "stick" in half.  Everything you want to grow here has to be in a fence to protect from the deer, bunnies, groundhogs and bear.

Yes, I said BEAR!  We have a nice population of black bear in our area and in our woods.  We see them from time to time and it's always a treat.  One of our neighbors just got rid of his bee hives for making honey because the bears wouldn't stop getting into them.  He even tried electric fencing, but they went right through it and still got to the honey and ruined the hives.  Kyle just about hit a bear on the highway recently on his way home from work.  Marsha saw one walk past our kitchen window.  Jim heard noise out by the chicken coop one night and went out to see what was going on and found a bear going through the trash in the barn.  We see bear "evidence" (of the number 2 variety, if you know what I mean) in the woods and near the house.  The "evidence" shows that you'd better pick your berries before the bears get them.  They love the berries.
 
We don't farm for income.  We're hobby farmers.  It keeps us grounded and provides hours of enjoyment as well as a stress relief after a busy day at work.  Watch out at retirement time though.  We may just crank up this farm to do some serious producing!  Here are some photos of our beautiful farm.  Enjoy!
 

 

 

Aerial view of Hummingbird Hills Farm 2005 - 46 Acres with Lots of Woods
 

 
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