- July 20th, 2009 -BackBayBotanicals is a 20-Acre Farm In the heart of Pungo, one of the last remaining spots in the Virginia Beach area still dotted with horse stables and pick your own fruit farms. The Main Home at Back Bay was a farmhouse built in 1870. Mom and Dad bought the home in the late 1990's and poured many years of sweat equity into remodling the home. Although new and improved, The farm house still retains all its country charm, with original wood floors, and a tiny set of stairs leading to the second floor with picture perfect views overlooking the farm.
We'd like to think Back Bay Botanicals will make a great working farm and possibly a bed and breakfast sometime soon!
When you approach the property, The first thing you notice is the traditional porch that wraps around the front of the house. It is the prime spot to grab some lemonade in the shade or sit with a book in the porch swing. Ferns adorn the front door and quite often you will find our yellow kitty cat (sunny D) lying around to meet and greet visitors. Hummingbirds are one of our favorite visitors at the farm, and the front porch makes a great place to sit and watch the little flying jewels. Dont blink you might miss them!
The front drive is lined with hundred-year old cedar trees and to get to the main house you drive across a small creek that leads to a tributary of the back bay nature preserve (hince the name of our street, Muddy Creek Rd)
Across from the main house is a fenced acre for our farm mascots, 2 Nanny goats named Lilly and Tulip! They are very friendly and are compost machine on legs. One thing is for sure, they make sure we dont waste or throw any table scraps away. Our house rule is, Please feed the animals! - Always up for a treat, the girls love everything from bannana peels to salad greens! There bellys are always full as they spend their days mowing the grass in "their property"
Further back on the land is our soon to be new home. The "bunkhouse" faces the view of the neighboring soybean fields and the newest project our greenhouse.
Chris is busy building designer coops for our arriving chicks(we are expecting! Aug. 24th). Chris has already starting out with the grass cutting and it is hard to keep him off his tractor during the weekends. Lets just say the grass keeps the goats - and the residents up to their ears in mowing!
The greenhouse has been a vision on the farm for at least the last 10 years. Its been here waiting patiently, plastic cover and all- just waiting for Chris to arrive with his ideas and carpentry skills to make the magic happen!
We have big plans for the garden too! Herbs, flowers, and vegetables. As you can tell we are planning big and hope to have enough extra eggs and herbs to share with some of the local community - and maybe even the surrounding restaurants and farmers markets in Pungo. Its possible an orchard is in the works as well. (we have heard chickens love orchards). Of course we will need some bees to pollinate all our fruits and flowers so - we have already picked out the spot where we will have a few bee colonies that will provide us with fresh honey as well.
We have big plans for the garden too! Herbs, flowers, and vegetables. As you can tell we are planning big and hope to have enough extra eggs and herbs to share with some of the local community - and maybe even the surrounding restaurants and farmers markets in Pungo. Its possible an orchard is in the works as well. (we have heard chickens love orchards). Of course we will need some bees to pollinate all our fruits and flowers so - we have already picked out the spot where we will have a few bee colonies that will provide us with fresh honey as well.
Alot of fun is in store! Keep coming back to see what we are up to on the farm!
Notice the telephone poles around the farm? They are there to support e cathedral ceiling of blue tinted netting, a must-have to protect the fruits from all the birds and wildlife that would otherwise delight in the free buffet.
