Congrats - always happy to see folks returning to the land. It tends to put everything else into perspective for us. And 5 generations on the same land is definitely something to be proud of. It is a rare thing these days.

Dave

Shelly,

Hearty congratulations! That sounds like a fascinating course. Best thing is that in addition to learning useful stuff, you will probably meet other folks you can share (information, ideas, berries...( with as you move forward.

Very best wishes,

Z

Thank you. Thanks to Kay, for helping me with the application, thanks to Dave for pointing me to the NCHFP online course (though I don't know if it will be worth it to sell the canned goods, at least I know what to do with the excess produce now), and thanks for Zabby for the best wishes. Oh, and thanks to Annie, for farming tips (I'm sure I'll be asking a lot more questions, but we're going to try planting sweet potatoes next year!) as well as canning help.

DH *had* to point out the other night that I'm not the 5th generation to *own* this land, in direct line of descent, but my dad and his parents *did* live here for a while in the 40's and 50's helping his uncle. I didn't grow up living here, but of course was always here helping with the haying, plucking chickens, etc. since my great-uncle (and later his wife) and great-aunt (who was also my godmother) lived here. My cousin and her DH own the farmhouse and the barns, I got the back acreage (which has been neglected for 50+ years!) including the "old" orchard (planted more than 100 years ago, as opposed to the "new" orchard which was fairly new or may have even been planted by my great-great-grandfather). So we've got our work cut out for us!

DH and I hope to make a go of it. It's really nostalgia on both our parts, but we're not exactly novices to the hard work aspect, just the management aspects. This course should help with that. We consider ourselves stewards of the land and want to raise crops and livestock in an environmentally-conscious (if not "organic") way. This land is our kids' inheritance (and our grandkids' and so on I hope for another 5 generations or more). If we can just make the farm self-supporting so DH's salary doesn't have to pay the taxes and we can keep it in the family, that will be enough. We don't expect to get rich farming LOL!