About Tanglewood

Tanglewood is home to me, Emily Jenkins, as well as my husband and our various animal companions here in Salem township, Michigan. My husband and I rent this little fragment out of of history, and intend to live here for some time. We moved here in early 2009 and have loved it ever since (someone remind me that I said that in February when we're huddled by the wood stove). The property is part of an historical estate, built in the mid 19th century, and we live in what we think may have been either the servants' or the grounds-keeper's quarters. The huge stone manor house next door is rented by our neighbors, as is the stable apartment above the old stone stable.

Our small stone cottage is situated on the edge of an antique and slowly failing apple and pear orchard that we try to improve a little each year to keep it going. Beside our house is a small milking barn that I have converted to a sheep and poultry barn. We keep Icelandic sheep, ameraucana, welsummer, cochin and buckeye chickens, and khaki campbell ducks. Our poultry is fed organic and local grains that we are lucky enough to have sourced in Dexter Michigan, so we are able to offer organic duck and chicken eggs.

In addition to the livestock, we also grow most of our own vegetables when we can. We have two large vegetable gardens, seven raised beds for vegetables, an ever-expanding raspberry patch and several small beds of raspberries, european, wild and cultivated strawberries, blackberries, figs, currants and gooseberries. All of the produce is grown organically, though we don't seek to be organically certified. In early summer of 2011 we started offering produce boxes to locals. Details can be found here.

In addition to posts about the farm and what I'm growing, you can find posts here about various other topics including canning, horse training, recipes, foraging, fiber art, reviews, etc. I try to include a little bit of everything, and I try to write at least a few times a week, though in the summer it's nearly impossible to keep up outside and blog both. I hope you enjoy what you read, and feel free to comment and let me know what you think!