Red Elm Acres

Red Elm Acres A small project of restoration, one piece at a time, here in rural Minnesota

Harvest number three is officially underway. 🌰 Ever since I realized I had hazelnut shrubs on the property, I've been ke...
08/25/2026

Harvest number three is officially underway. 🌰 Ever since I realized I had hazelnut shrubs on the property, I've been keeping a close eye on them. I'd never actually seen hazelnuts growing on a shrub before, so I realized I didn't know how to identify them, when they flowered, or, most importantly, how to tell when they were ready to harvest. So I did my research. Most of what I found suggested picking them just before they're fully ripe and letting them finish drying off the bush. So when I was out walking Radar and noticed the first nut had dropped, I knew it was time.

The husks had started turning brown, the nuts were loose inside, and everything pointed to them being ready. So... I took a leap of faith. If I guessed wrong, then this year's harvest was a lesson. If I guessed right, then in a few weeks I'll have my first hazelnut harvest.

One of my favorite parts of this first growing season has been discovering what this property quietly provides. First apples, then elderberries, and now hazelnuts. It's made me realize just how much food was already growing here, and I'm incredibly grateful for the abundance.

A few days ago, I shared a photo of a very empty box truck. Well... it isn't empty anymore. Over the course of about 11 ...
08/22/2026

A few days ago, I shared a photo of a very empty box truck. Well... it isn't empty anymore. Over the course of about 11 hours spread across two days, I sorted, boxed, carried, and loaded enough donations to fill roughly two-thirds of a 12-foot box truck.

I'm excited about the reclaimed space, but I'm even more grateful for what this truck represents. Since moving in, one of my biggest concerns has been figuring out what to do with so many perfectly usable things that simply weren't things I could use. I was genuinely worried that a dumpster might end up being the only practical option. Instead, thanks to the incredible generosity of my local thrift store leaving me the truck, these items will get a second chance. Some are everyday household goods, while others are genuinely neat pieces that I hope someone else will discover and enjoy. Knowing they'll have another life instead of ending up in a landfill brings me a lot of peace of mind.

There's still recycling, trash, and a handful of difficult-to-dispose-of items to work through, but this was a huge step forward. I even found a few treasures along the way that were exactly the right fit for the farm.

And yes... Radar insisted on supervising the entire operation. 🐾

Eek! Something very cool just pulled into the driveway. After months of sorting through everything the previous owners l...
08/20/2026

Eek! Something very cool just pulled into the driveway. After months of sorting through everything the previous owners left behind, I'm finally ready for one of the most satisfying milestones yet. I'm taking the next two days to load this truck before sending it on its way to the local thrift store, and it's about to get very, very full. I can't wait to watch months of progress finally head down the driveway. Wish me luck... and maybe send coffee and an advil. More to come...

I had every intention of checking on the elderberries sooner. Then the apples happened. After a couple of days of collec...
08/18/2026

I had every intention of checking on the elderberries sooner. Then the apples happened. After a couple of days of collecting, cooking, and canning apple butter, along with other farm maintenance, I had this nagging feeling that I should go see how the elderberries were doing. Sure enough, the birds had already found them. About half the crop on the mature shrubs was gone, and the rest was right on the edge of being ready. So it was time to harvest.

That led to a spontaneous session of bushwhacking in shorts and crocs, an objectively questionable decision, through blackberry canes, giant ragweed, and more than a few stinging nettles. I came back with plenty of scratches, a handful of nettle stings, and half a grocery bag full of elderberry clusters. They're headed to the freezer until I decide what to make with them. Syrup? Jelly? Something else? There's time to figure that out later.

I'd call this one a draw. The birds got their share, and I came home with enough elderberries to make something delicious. Sounds like the farm could use a few more elderberry bushes.

I wasn't planning on my first harvest from the farm happening this way. I was just out on my usual evening walk of the p...
08/16/2026

I wasn't planning on my first harvest from the farm happening this way. I was just out on my usual evening walk of the property when I noticed the windfall apples under my zombie apple tree were in remarkably good shape. I picked one up... then another... and by the time I got home, my pockets looked like a chipmunk's cheeks. Four pounds of apples somehow fit in one pair of shorts 😅.

The next day I picked another four pounds. That was enough motivation to stop saying, "I'll do something with them eventually," and actually make apple butter. Even that wasn't exactly planned. I started cutting apples and simmering them into fruit pulp, thinking I'd transfer everything to the slow cooker overnight. But by the time the apples had broken down, I'd left enough natural pectin in the batch that it was already the perfect consistency. Suddenly I was pulling out the canner instead of the slow cooker.

Not every harvest begins with careful planning. Sometimes it starts with stuffing your pockets full of apples on an evening walk. I'd call that a pretty good first harvest. Now I'm keeping a watchful eye on the hazelnuts and elderberries, they're likely to follow soon.

08/12/2026

If you're anything like me, it's almost impossible to look away once the heavy equipment starts moving. There's something incredibly satisfying about watching a crew that knows exactly what they're doing. One moment there's a giant hole in the yard, and before long there's a tank in the ground, trenches being connected, truckload after truckload of sand arriving, and the beginnings of what will eventually just look like another grassy part of the farm.

Right now there's a lot of exposed dirt. This time next year, though, you probably won't be able to tell where the excavators were. All you'll notice is a gentle rise in the landscape where the septic mound quietly does its job.

One evening while Radar and I were out walking, he stepped into a hole that definitely wasn't supposed to be there. A li...
08/11/2026

One evening while Radar and I were out walking, he stepped into a hole that definitely wasn't supposed to be there. A little digging revealed what looked like a broken standpipe and part of a concrete lid. That left me with a mystery. On a property this old, it could have been an abandoned well, a cistern, an old septic system... or something else entirely.

Fortunately, I happened to have the right people on site. Once the excavators uncovered the rest of it, the mystery was solved: an old abandoned septic tank from a long-forgotten system. Since they were already here replacing the current septic system, they were able to remove it, crush it, and safely fill the area back in.

It turned out to be a fun little mystery to solve, now the hazard is removed, and there is one less thing to discover the hard way years from now. I'll call that a win.

One of the biggest differences between living in town and living in the country is that so much of your infrastructure b...
08/06/2026

One of the biggest differences between living in town and living in the country is that so much of your infrastructure becomes your responsibility. In the city, it's easy to forget about where your water comes from, where your wastewater goes, or how those systems work. Out here, they're part of the property, and taking care of them is part of taking care of the farm.

When I bought this farmhouse, I knew the septic system would need to be replaced. It wasn't an unexpected surprise, it was part of the purchase plan from day one. This week, after months of planning, it's finally becoming reality.

I have to admit, it's also incredibly satisfying to watch experienced operators do what they do best. There's something universally fascinating about watching an excavator dig a giant hole, set a concrete tank with incredible precision, and transform a construction site hour by hour. It's not the prettiest project on the farm, but good infrastructure is what makes everything else possible.

Stay tuned, the tank is in, but there's still plenty left to do before the system is complete.

I saw how much the excavators accomplished on the east side and thought, "Yes, please, more!" So I gave them a list of p...
08/02/2026

I saw how much the excavators accomplished on the east side and thought, "Yes, please, more!" So I gave them a list of priorities and trusted them to decide how best to accomplish them within my budget.

About a week later, my panicked gardener heart was wondering if I'd made the right decision. Watching decades of volunteer trees come down was downright uncomfortable. Nature had already done the hard work of growing them, and once they're gone, that time is gone too. It was a strange mix of gratitude for how much was getting accomplished and realizing I was wiping years off the clock. After sitting with it, though, I realized the answer was yes, I am making the right decision for this farm.

The scrub trees and windowmakers are gone. The mature trees have room to breathe. I can finally walk through this woodland instead of picking my way through dense brush. For this space, the best way to care for the landscape is to make room for its next chapter.

One of my first opportunities to begin actively stewarding the landscape on this farm has been clearing thousands of vol...
07/19/2026

One of my first opportunities to begin actively stewarding the landscape on this farm has been clearing thousands of volunteer box elders from the eastern meadows. At first glance, that can seem like a strange decision, after all, aren't more trees always better? Not necessarily. These weren't mature woods. They were an overcrowded monoculture of fast-growing volunteer box elders competing for the same light and space. Left alone, they wouldn't have become a healthy, diverse forest. Instead, they would have continued crowding one another while preventing other species from establishing.

This work wasn't about removing a forest. It was about restoring the landscape so it can become healthier over time, reconnecting historic meadows, creating access for stewardship, and making room for a more diverse woodland in the years ahead.

There is still an incredible amount of work to do, but for the first time, I'm able to physically see the property beginning to come back together as one connected landscape.

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West Concord, MN

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