ten chimneys was also a farm, though that may seem hard to reconcile with a flirtation room. as a child lunt enjoyed working in the fields and that continued as an adult. once while visiting the oliviers in england, he wrote home: "...i had a high old time as their garden was full of weeds & did i go to it..." from the initial three acres, the farm at ten chimneys grew to over 100. lunt was absent much of the year, so in 1929 he hired ben perkins of mukwonago as overseer. while lunt was away, he and perkins exchanged letters about matters like the used silo filler they bought for $65. (lunt was cost-conscious.) they started a large vegetable garden in 1939 and an orchard later. in 1941, alfred and lynn bought each other cows as christmas gifts - the first two cows on the farm. in 1942 the farm included four cows, some pigs and up to 200 chickens. to support the animals, they grew 6 acres of corn, 7 acres of oats, four of alfalfa, one of clover and 3/4 acres of wheat. the milk from the cows was made into butter, with some eaten on the farm and some sold locally. some butter, meat and vegetables were shipped to the lunts in new york and even in europe during wwii, when rationing made them hard to obtain otherwise. alfred would recall in 1956: i'm just a country boy who happens to be an actor. but fashionable parties and clever talk - all that sort of thing - well, y'know, it bores me stiff. i'd rather listen to my chickens clucking any time.