INTRODUCTION
Barlow Roots Newsletter - 6/13/2025

The big news for this update is that our high tunnel is being built! A crew of 3 workers started work on Monday and Tuesday and have made great progress, more updates below. Beyond that excitement we have been working hard at enjoying summer! Lots of fun outdoors and many adventures. The weather has been hot, dry, cold and wet, we are taking it in stride and loving the variety we get to see here in Wisconsin. Enjoy this weeks update from the homestead!

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Enjoy this weeks newsletter!

HOMESTEAD UPDATE
Keeping Up On The Homestead

With the farmstand business running in full force we are working hard to keep up on the homestead. We’ve tackled a few projects here and there but most of those are just related to maintence and keeping things operational. Here is a quick look at what a typical day looks like on our homestead.

For most of our animals they are only really needing attention early and late in the day. Extra work happens periodically as well but most of our systems are built to allow us flexibility in the day to day work. For our daily animal chores each of the kids have an assigned group of animals (except Anikka!), and Ingrid and I work as well. Espen is currently on chickens, Elias is on ducks, Bergen and Ingrid are on goats and I take care of the pigs.

For Espen that just means a ration of chicken feed in their feeder in the morning, double checking their waterer (it is a 50 gallon barrel so only needs filled periodically), and collecting eggs. We also close them up at night, they all find their way inside around sunset.

Elias takes care of his duck flock, similar to chickens they get feed in the morning and Elias collects eggs as well. Ducks are more water intensive so Elias is every few days filling up water tubs for them in their outdoor pen. In the evenings the ducks are “herded” into their shelter and locked in for the night.

Bergen assists Ingrid with milking (some mornings) and helps with feeding. Our goats get a ration of food in the evenings and Bergen does that feeding. We need to keep the goat waterer clean and fill it periodically as well. Mucking out the barn is one of the worst chores and something we do a few times per year.

The pigs are pretty easy. I take them a bucket of feed each morning and check their waterer as well. They are watered from a 220 gallon IBC tote so it is pretty hands off most of the time. We do rotate the pigs and did that in the last few weeks. We’ve built our pig system to make that relatively easy. The hardest part is the pigs of course who are pretty unpredictable! For this first move the pigs were insistent upon going back into their prior section of the paddock. They kept getting shocked and then charging through the fence. UGH! So we had to put back up the physical fence to remind them not to run through the fence. Later in the day they figured it out. They will be in this paddock for about a month and then rotate again.

Weekly chores involve taking out the bags of compost we get from the grocery store and feeding it to the animals. Moving our own garden excess to the animals. Hauling feed out to the barn and then filling the feed barrels for the animals and other tasks as needed. With a busy, young family we have really worked to keep our day to day hands on work to a minimum and it is working well!

Otherwise we have been working hard to enjoy summer! Bergen did summer camp last week and had a blast and Espen just left this morning for the boundary waters with a group. Ingrid and I and the boys kayaked the Kinnickinnic River and had a blast. We’ve spent many days at the lake swimming and fishing and have been blessed to share a friends pool with friends several times. Anikka is loving summer too, from traipsing around the farm to jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler, it is a great life for a 2 year old. We’ve had good family time too with a family reunion as well as a birthday celebration for my mother.

MARKET GARDENING
Tunnel is Going Up!

The crew came this week to start building our new high tunnel. I can’t tell you how many times I have thanked God for them! Seeing the detailed process involved with building this tunnel and the skill these guys have to do the work is amazing.

We have had some surprises along the way. I didn’t expect to have to do any dirt work or grading for the new tunnel but the guys had a laser level and found that we were pretty out of level on the north side of the tunnel. I knew the tunnel would sit on a slope the long way, but the east to west grade difference was going to cause some problems. So I got out our skid steer and got to work. It ended up being quite a bit of digging to get us squared up and level. At first I was really concerned about how we were going to make it all work when adding the dirt back in but I think all is going to be OK!

The guys worked hard for two days and made great progress, with the rain yesterday and today they are off but they should be able to get close to finishing the structure with one more day of work. Then they will need a really calm day to pull plastic and I am unsure how long that might take. So we will see.

Otherwise the garden business continues to chug along. We have had some slow weeks and are still trying to catch up after our late start to the year but I think we will be just fine financially and hopefully make up some ground in the next few months. The slow days and weeks seem to correlate with the weather. Even though our farmstand is inside with just a few steps from the parking area to the farmstand, rainy days, hot days, cold days, etc seem to deter people from coming. I definitely get it! We are working hard to keep sharing what we do and knowing that God will provide as we need!

In the garden I think we are getting closer to seeing some cucumbers and zucchini. The tomatoes are coming along too but so far nothing has started to color up. The hot days we had last weekend really pushed the summer crops forward. It was amazing to see their growth over just a few hot days. Spinach bolted during those hot days but the lettuces seem to be doing OK. We are hopeful that we will have carrots very soon as well. It is always an adventure riding out the wild swings in weather!

CLOSING
Father’s Day

I was blessed with a wonderful Father’s Day this year. It started with an opportunity to preach at our church. This is something I do 1 or 2 times per year and this time around it was downtown and outdoors. That was something new! I preached on the passages around the Prodigal Son and specifically focused on the father’s role in that story. After church I enjoyed a little downtime before making the long drive to drop Bergen off at camp. We were able to stop at a fun wood fired pizza spot on the way home. Yum! It is such a blessing to be a father, there are pressures and challenges along the way but I wouldn’t trade it for anything!

Thank you as always for reading and for following along on this journey. As always I would love to hear from you. If you have questions or suggestions just reply to this email and I will be in touch.