Time Gets Away From You

The best of intentions never go perfectly as planned. I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve written anything. Although thinking about how busy I have been it makes sense. I’m trying to get settled into the house and make it feel more like a home. We’re also trying to tackle the yard that managed to become a jungle thanks to neglect.

We still have boxes to unpack and put away. I haven’t hung all the pictures yet either, but that project should be completed soon. I have recently started painting and it is slow going and tedious. It’s worth it though because but it sure does look make it look nice and help freshen up the space. We’re scheduled to have our electrical brought to current standards next month. This months big goal is the mini kitchen makeover.

We’re both working full time and the kiddo is in preschool/daycare so plates are full, yet we can’t wait for more. Our big outdoor project that we’re working on is upgrading the current fences to ones designed for the livestock we actually want. I believe things are set up for beef cattle however that isn’t something we’re really interested in.

Outdoor Dreaming

Our goals outdoors are mainly to get a self sustaining productive farm going. The livestock that we are interested in and wanting to incorporate in the farmstead ecosystem are:

Chickens (we currently have 18)

Goats (hoping for at least 2)

Cow (Jersey or Dexter dairy cow)

Bees (hello honey)

Ducks (decadent baking plans)

Turkey (planning on raising one per year)

Pigs (we want to raise 2 per year)

Rabbits (rabbit math has yet to be determined)

Right now the focus is infrastructure. A spur of the moment decision to get chickens made it very difficult because it should have been more planned out. However we made it work and things are great. So as for the larger livestock, planning and prepping will be the best investment we can make.

5 or 10 year plan

Currently we’re planning the new fence lines with landscapers flags to represent posts while everything gets laid out. If we can get the posts installed before the snow it will be a blessing. I have a feeling that we will be waiting to see the flags poke out of the melting snow in the spring instead. The first fence we want is the new pasture that will take up the majority of the back of the property. As of current the ordinances say livestock shouldn’t be within 10 feet of property lines and we are being diligent to abide by that.

Once the spring comes and the fence is built we will look into whats next. If I had to guess though, we will probably do goats and pigs next. At least I still have 6 months or so to figure it out. We are also talking about how to make bees a possibility this spring. Can’t forget that we have next years garden to squeeze in with all this animal action too. That will entail starting our seeds and prepping the ground outside for the first available transplant day.

I have such a hard time sitting still and doing nothing. To me that could mean we will get through our wish list faster than expected. The inside will be tackled a little at a time most likely during the cold months. I haven’t come up with specific plans yet so it makes moving forward slower. However there is enough painting to do in this house to probably keep me busy for a 20 year plan.

Mistake?

We bought this house and this property sight unseen. Yes we have been called crazy, more times than I can count and yes we probably are crazy but I am still happy with our choice. I love our house, our location, our property, our neighbors. I also know that we got really lucky because things could have been a disaster. Knock on wood because they still could be a disaster because there is still plenty on our “needs fixing” list besides the electrical, but life is an adventure and there could be problems wherever you go.

What I’m trying to say is that we have no regrets. I have so little regrets that I see “forever home” here. That isn’t something I’ve felt in over a decade at least. That feeling is also keeping the momentum going.

Next Plans

I have been trying to get outdoor video but it never seems to fail that on my days off the weather is terrible and by the time I get home at the end of the day the sun is setting. I could take pictures, that’s easy enough, but pictures do not do justice to the size of the farmstead. Huffing and puffing my way around for the 3875234 mile perimeter is much more real. I should get one of those wheel measure tapes to find out how long the perimeter actually is but my estimation is probably close. A friend jokingly said we needed a quad to get around and the more times I walk around to see how things are coming the more I realize they were right. Every once in a while wouldn’t be so bad but it’s a lot more often than I even expected.

I would also like to get into a better habit of writing consistently. Establishing new routines will be a good thing, although change can suck sometimes too. Things are falling into place it feels and this is just another piece to the big plan/picture. There’s a phrase I sing every time something gets done around the farm. “Every day it gets a little bit better at The Fansler Farmstead” and so far, every day, it has.