Post by Gorignak on Sept 26, 2012 16:24:41 GMT -5
Hello all.....gorignak will be our "nome de guerre" here on the forum. We are the Schmitt family.....Michael, Judy, Alana, Jennifer and Christopher. The last three are the "kids". Now in their mid-20's. We are located near the Buffalo National River Headwaters and Wilderness Area, about 6 miles from Ponca, AR.
We have homesteaded a 160 acre timbered mountaintop (2150 ft) since 1974, and have managed the timber as a "tree farm" the entire time. We operate a small sawmill and dry kiln, and a thriving custom furniture business making Arts & Crafts furniture. Our rough hewn exterior conceals a sophisticated and talented group of artists and craftsmen.
Visit us on www.dryadstudios.com, our web site. If you search through some of the old 1970's Hippie, Back to the Land literature and books, you might find our name mentioned as one of the first owners of a portable sawmill....a Mobile Dimension Mill. We have cut out a lot of house patterns in the past 34 years.
Complementing our endeavors is a total commitment to sustainability through mindful management of our surroundings and food supply. We raise a 2 acre Organic garden each year and use our experience to help fund the ongoing "farm" effort. We hatch and sell about 5000 chicks each spring. We also raise and sell French Production Muscovy Ducks. The twin girls have a herd of world class Flemish Giant rabbits. It will have a cattle person writhing to hear of a visitor leaving with a $600. rabbit !!!! We have a large, woods raised herd of Asian Heritage pigs (to the pork eater) .....or Pot Belly pigs ( to the "pet" customer). Besides filling 5 -27 cu ft freezers and a couple thousand canning jars each year, we are just completing an on site slaughtering facility that we can offer to those who want to process their chickens, pigs, ducks or beef themselves.
Our new herd of Dexter cattle will be one of the final threads in the tapestry. Their smaller size and versatility were the main attraction for us. We have trained Oxen before. We will be focusing on Traditional horned black, and horned red Dexters. We will use both short legged and long legged blacks in our Ox efforts and will be selecting heifers early for milking and sales to the "10 acre" people that are overwhelming several adjacent counties. We have decided to finally name the farm...and, "Upside Downs" seemed fitting.
We are fencing for the first time, and we have chosen hi-tensile electric to keep the cows, goats, and pigs in, and the bears, coyotes, bobcats, fox, elk, and mountain lions OUT.
s1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg626/Upside_Downs_Farms/HI-Tensile%20Fence/
We could drop a tree across the long driveway, and life would proceed unchanged for us. We hope it doesn't come to that.
We have homesteaded a 160 acre timbered mountaintop (2150 ft) since 1974, and have managed the timber as a "tree farm" the entire time. We operate a small sawmill and dry kiln, and a thriving custom furniture business making Arts & Crafts furniture. Our rough hewn exterior conceals a sophisticated and talented group of artists and craftsmen.
Visit us on www.dryadstudios.com, our web site. If you search through some of the old 1970's Hippie, Back to the Land literature and books, you might find our name mentioned as one of the first owners of a portable sawmill....a Mobile Dimension Mill. We have cut out a lot of house patterns in the past 34 years.
Complementing our endeavors is a total commitment to sustainability through mindful management of our surroundings and food supply. We raise a 2 acre Organic garden each year and use our experience to help fund the ongoing "farm" effort. We hatch and sell about 5000 chicks each spring. We also raise and sell French Production Muscovy Ducks. The twin girls have a herd of world class Flemish Giant rabbits. It will have a cattle person writhing to hear of a visitor leaving with a $600. rabbit !!!! We have a large, woods raised herd of Asian Heritage pigs (to the pork eater) .....or Pot Belly pigs ( to the "pet" customer). Besides filling 5 -27 cu ft freezers and a couple thousand canning jars each year, we are just completing an on site slaughtering facility that we can offer to those who want to process their chickens, pigs, ducks or beef themselves.
Our new herd of Dexter cattle will be one of the final threads in the tapestry. Their smaller size and versatility were the main attraction for us. We have trained Oxen before. We will be focusing on Traditional horned black, and horned red Dexters. We will use both short legged and long legged blacks in our Ox efforts and will be selecting heifers early for milking and sales to the "10 acre" people that are overwhelming several adjacent counties. We have decided to finally name the farm...and, "Upside Downs" seemed fitting.
We are fencing for the first time, and we have chosen hi-tensile electric to keep the cows, goats, and pigs in, and the bears, coyotes, bobcats, fox, elk, and mountain lions OUT.
s1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg626/Upside_Downs_Farms/HI-Tensile%20Fence/
We could drop a tree across the long driveway, and life would proceed unchanged for us. We hope it doesn't come to that.