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| Wildwoods Maple Farm |
| Established in 1999 |
Wildwoods Maple Farm was established in 1999 by the Watts family when we started building our dream home, a 50' geodesic dome, in the beautiful town of Warner NH. The dome itself was raised in June of 1999 and we moved in almost immediately. Although it was more like camping at first, we ended our apartment lease on July 31st, making the dome our official residence on August 1, 1999.
In the summer of 2001, our farm became more than just a farm in name when we purchased two Saanan female goats. That fall, each of the goats was bred.
In May of 2002, we witnessed the birth of 4 kids, 2 kids to each of our female goats. We were overjoyed to end up with 3 female kids and one male kid.
The kids grew up quickly and the milk production was at times hard to keep up with. We experimented at cheese making and a very yummy crumbly cheese with garlic, mozzarella, and cheddar was our best recipe. We also found a quick and easy recipe for making a cheesecake that was very delicious.
After 2+ years of milking the goats from that initial breeding, we finally came to the hard decision of downsizing. Both our children were growing up fast and would soon be embarking on their own life journies. It was becoming too much for us to handle everything and something had to give. The last of our herd was sold off in the middle of December 2005. Although we miss the goats, the extra time we now have is greatly appreciated.
In 2009 we added a solar electric system capable of generating 6.15kW. We worked hard to undestand where we could reduce our power usage and by 2014 our electric generation was almost enough to meet our needs. In 2015 we were able to reduce our energy usage to the point that we now generate more energy than we use.
Sometime around 2010 we decided to add a small flock of chickens to our farm so we could have fresh eggs. We purchased a dozen chicks. They quickly grew up and we soon had 8-10 eggs per day. Over the years we've lost some chickens due to predators and we've added new chicks. The flock size has tended to average about 18 hens with a high of 30 hens. We are working on creating a group of coops in the back yard with a common watering and exercise area, all enclosed in strong wire fencing (not chicken wire!) to keep the hens safe from predetors.
Our future plans include adding pigs and a functioning sap house, not necessarily in that order.
You can contact us at:
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