Thanks, Mom and Dad!

I think it's time to go back to the beginning and recognize the ones who started the farm. My parents, Paul and Caroline Kovac, were married in 1948 - here's a picture of them taken on their wedding day.

At the time, they were living in a little apartment over my grandfather's restaurant in Cleveland. They started looking for a little house, maybe "out in the country" with a couple of acres, so they might have a garden. On nice weekends, they'd drive out and look for properties for sale. And one day, they happened on a sign in front of two big stone pillars. So they drove in, and saw this beautiful property and .... they fell in love.

First, they tried to talk themselves out of it: 'it's too much land for us', 'we're not farmers', 'it's too much money'. But they couldn't get it out of their systems and that night, they went back and told my mother's parents about the place. And my grandmother, bless her heart, said: 'let's take a ride back out there tomorrow - I want to see this place'. And as soon as she saw it, she said, 'you have to buy it'. She loaned them the down payment and they became farmers.

In the beginning, they still lived in Cleveland, and came out weekends. By the time I was born in 1952 they were living there full-time. Then we had oats, wheat, hay, chickens and cattle. Later came a small flock of sheep. And blueberries. My sister was born in 1955 and brother Paul in 1956. My dad regarded us as free farm labor and we worked hard! While Villa Mir was never a fully working commercial farm, it provided us and many of our friends and neighbors with home-grown food and a deep and abiding love for growing things.

Paul died in 2000, after a long battle with Alzheimers disease. Caroline - mentally youthful, curious and funny, sharp in her wits to the end - passed away in 2004, leaving us this wonderful legacy.

Another week on the farm

Just returned from another week at the farm, sandwiched in between business meetings in Raleigh and Pittsburgh. We got a lot done this week, and are starting to make some good progress on a short-term plan for increasing the agricultural production at Villa Mir. First, we found a local farmer who wants to 'lease' 6 acres to grow field corn next year. That's really good, because it will keep the fields that have never been in brush clear and plowed. We also decided that we should give the cattle idea a try. Way this works is, you buy 6 or 8 feeder calves at auction in the spring, put them out on grass through the summer and then sell them in the fall. Pretty much all they need is a fence and some water. The good thing about this idea is that they also will clear out some of the smaller brush and open up the pastureland again. We may still have to do more clearing, but this should help. Sheep or goats are better at clearing, but more work and you need to do something with them in the winter. We also have been talking to a beekeeper who is possibly interested in setting some hives out in the fields. We've still got about 4-5 acres of Christmas trees. And Paul's got someone who's making syrup in the woods. Sounds like a working farm to me!!

With proper conditioning, the soil on the farm is wonderful for growing all kinds of vegetables. The tomatoes in the raised bed gardens were just starting to come ripe while I was there - is there anything more delicious than a home-grown, vine-ripened tomato still warm from the sun? We had cucumbers coming out of our ears (not literally). And those little Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes are so sweet, they are like eating candy. Here's a picture of little Jack with a day's harvest.

Blueberries are also coming in well, although there hasn't really been enough rain this season. Nevertheless, we picked quarts of them and put them in the freezer. Jack and Helen have the right idea - pick one, eat one, pick one, eat one.

Next year, I'd like to plow up the whole field just behind the house. We could put in some sweet corn, maybe some strawberries. Of course we need to try out the lavender! I want to try some heirloom tomato varieties as well, and see what all the fuss is about! http://www.tomatofest.com/