What is a Weidehof?

What is a Weidehof? Lets start at the beginning. It has long been our goal to be self sufficient, and live away from the city, with the intention of living an existence as self sustainable as possible. We moved to the property in 2019 with our two sons. Moving from a busy city living in a suburb to a house with no visible neighbors was both liberating and vastly different. No street lights, you can see the stars. No ambulance or police cars racing by, you can hear nature. No people walking their dogs, just wildlife doing their thing. To be honest, the change was not hard to get used to, and greatly welcomed.

When we moved here, the farm was originally named Fox Hill Farms, it was not our name, and honestly we have never seen a fox on the property. As the idea of creating a farmstead became more apparent, we started looking at names. We didn't want to attach our family name to the farmstead, what if things changed or if we had to move. After much deliberation, we settled on Weidehof, loosely translated to pasture farmstead. Our farmstead has a 7 acre pasture nestled in the middle of our property, and is the focus of our name. It has so many uses, and it just felt right.

Our mission is to be as self sustainable as possible, working with nature to create a environment that fosters a symbiotic relationship between mother nature and man. We refuse to use pesticides, chemicals or things that may destroy that balance. We encourage the use of natural predators to control pests. We free range our chickens, ducks and turkeys to help keep pests under control and provide us with food. We have an apiary, that not only provides us with honey, but ensures that we have excellent and continued pollination to our gardens. We have barn cats (sometimes too many) that control larger pests and predators.

We grow only organic on the farmstead, using non-GMO seeds that are collected whenever possible from our fruits and vegetables. We preserve our yields by canning, freeze drying and dehydrating, we sell the excess to support new projects on the farmstead. We harvest, cut and stack all of our firewood from standing dead trees on the property, we stack using the holz hausen method. It requires no rack or support and they are quite nice to look at, the round shape sheds water more effectively and dries the wood quicker. The wood, provides heat to our home.

We create herbal medicines from the abundance of elderberry and other medicinals on the property, creating useful syrups, tinctures and salves that we personally use to benefit our health. We offer these products to you, so you may enjoy the benefits also.

We understand that our situation is unique, and not everyone has access or wants to live on a farmstead. So we offer our homemade goods to help others enjoy products that are made without chemicals, preservatives or other additives that aren't necessary. Our products contain the minimal amount of ingredients, we stand by the idea that you food should be kept as close to its original product as possible. Corn should be corn, not corn syrup.

We welcome you to the farmstead, follow us on a journey of failures, failures that eventually lead to successes, increased yields and harmony with nature. Ask questions, come for visit, offer us you ideas and thoughts. Remember that nature is not ours to abuse, but to nuture and use. Leaving it better than it was, to ensure it endures for many years to come.