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There is so much to do to make a farm out of nothing! And the constant rain this spring isn’t helping, although I love rain.
See how muddy it is around our new chicken house? The yard all around our house is that way, too, because we haven’t had a chance to do anything about it yet.
The green is so gorgeous, though. I love the lush, lush green of West Virginia in the spring.
This 40-acre farm, wooded and long-abandoned, was once cleared land with crops and pastures wherever possible amidst the sloping landscape. Back then, it was part of a much larger holding. Along the road, small tenant cottages housed workers at the old gasoline plant up the way. Oil rigs were everywhere and there was a bustling community. This farm sat smack in the heart of it. There was a small church at the far end of our meadow that doubled as a one-room schoolhouse on weekdays. My grandmother lived in one of those tenant cottages and she later taught in the one-room schoolhouse and also at the new schoolhouse that was built across the river we look over from our porch. She married the son of another large landowner across the river and later lived on out the road across the river ford, where my father grew up.
This farm has been abandoned for at least 60 years as any kind of working operation. The tenant cottages are long gone and the little church burned down. The woods took over and only the meadow bottom along the road remained cleared. (Some people used to live down there in a trailer, which has since been removed.) We had not so much as a tumbled fence post to start with to turn this land back into a farm.
First Year Farm Goals:
1) Build a house. (Check! We have a place to live…..!)
2) Start a chicken flock and build a chicken house. (Check! We have chickens. And we have a chicken house now.)
Chickens are so much fun! I love my chickens, even the little psycho.
Did she just say something?
“My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”
See? SEE? You heard that, too, didn’t you?
We’re going to wait another week or so to put them in the chicken house, but it’s ready for them. I love this little door so that I can gather eggs without going inside the coop. There’s a latch to keep it securely closed.
Then it opens into the back of the nesting boxes.
And inside, there’s a new roost just waiting for my chickens.
3) Miniature goats. (Almost check. We have two goat babies coming as soon as they are born and weaned.) And build a goat enclosure and a goat shelter. (No check…. This is a pressing, upcoming project.)
4) Get a garden started. (Sort of check.) By the way, thank you for all the great ideas and suggestions about our garden challenges. I don’t think we can afford (either in money or time) to do any construction projects like gardening boxes or terracing this spring, but we may be able to incorporate some of those things next year (when my He-Man Helper isn’t otherwise occupied building chicken houses and goat enclosures). But–we have a garden started, which is the key step for the first year, and we’ve got some of the longterm gardening in place–getting blackberries, blueberries, and a peach tree planted, getting flower bulbs and asparagus in the ground, getting a garden fence and gate constructed, etc. We’ve got something to build on next year.
5) Fence the meadow bottom. (Check in progress.) In order to ever get a horse and/or that ornamental cow, there’s going to have to be fencing. We’ve got most of the fence posts up, so we’re getting there, slowly.
Hopefully, the second year of our farm will mean chickens regularly producing eggs, goats matured so they can have babies and be producing goat milk, garden continuing to progress, a fenced meadow for a horse and a cow, and please, please, a new “old-fashioned” barn under construction. The second year will mean a house settled into, a dedicated “cellar” space prepared for storing canned goods (for that garden that will eventually become abundant!). I want to learn to make goat’s milk soap and goat cheese. And candles.
The second year sounds a little more fun than the first, doesn’t it? And yet, maybe someday, I’ll look back on this first hard year of struggling to create a farm from scratch and remember it fondly.
While I sit on my porch eating pie and being thankful I don’t have to live it again.
Posted by Suzanne McMinn on May 21, 2008
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http://lifeislikechampagne.blogspot.com/
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It’s all good!
-Kim
P.S. That chick is cool! I *love* that chick! And hey, a little house finch has made a nest and laid her eggs in one of the hanging baskets out my front door, so next week I should see babies! I’m going to try for some pics. :-)
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Very coool :weather:
Hope you can get things set up for your goats in time.
Good Luck with that!
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And I try to remember to enjoy the journey – these will eventually be “the good old days”!
Plus, when started consulting and read a book about consulting which was both serious and a bit “tongue-in-cheek” – one of my favorite pieces of advice from that book, that applies to life in general:
Once you solve problem #1, problem #2 becomes problem #1 … i.e. there is always something
!!
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As for the horse thing, I strongly suggest a sturdy pony that can pull a cart. We’ve got 12 horses and four ponies, and while I’ll sell a horse I have way too much fun driving the ponies and their little pony cart to think of parting with them.
Maybe you should get a horse for riding and a pony for driving. They like to have a buddy anyway.
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You have come a long way in a short time! Relax and enjoy! :clap: :smile:
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The coolest thing about West Virginia is how fast things grow. We have trees that we planted that are over 40 feet tall, lots of apple and peach trees, herbs, and flowers everywhere. It won’t be as long as you think before you’ll have a thriving garden and critters everywhere. You’ve done well so far!
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Re: your chicken house. I LOVE IT! I love that you guys used old boards to build it. It’s gorgeous. I do, however, have a suggestion for your nest box access door. Put a lock on it, or one of those hook/eye latches that have the spring closure on them. Raccoons are VERY dextrous and will have that latch figured out within five minutes. We learned the hard way and lost a number of our hens to a marauding ‘coon.
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You’re making good progress on your Farm Check List. The garden boxes and terracing are nice, but not necessary for a successful garden. I’m sure you’ll have fabulous veges this year.
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great plan and isn’t it fun from the beginning! pioneers!
great name in inigo – suits him.
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You’ve accomplished soooooo much – :clap:
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Smiles, Barbara
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Blessings from Ohio…
http://www.homesteadblogger.com/wannabeone