Took the plunge...

Alright, I couldn't wait any longer. I've been going to TSC regularly and resisting the urge to get chicks. Thursday, my willpower gave out. I bought 8 chicks. I'm telling you, watching these little peeps is way better than TV. Here are most of them:

Sophie likes them too. They smell like her treats.

Chad's practicing for farm life. I think he likes his new rubber boots more than he admits.

Just a few more days. We take possession on Wednesday. I'm getting very anxious. I made invitations for our housewarming today. Here's the picture I used which is from the 1875 census of our county. There was a great sketch of our farm in it.

Stay tuned. Happy Easter everyone!

Cheers,
Jeff

Thinking like a farmer...

I think it's starting, and we haven't even moved in yet. I'm starting to equate expenses in farm costs. We had an unexpected bill for $900. The first thought that pops into my head is, "That could buy the fencing." We had to buy a plane ticket to bring our son up (which I'm glad to do) and I thought, "That's a goat or two." My econ teacher never talked about this method...


Speaking of fence, I need some suggestions. I am planning (key word 'planning') on having goats, chickens, maybe a mini donkey and a couple sheep. Anyone who knows me would say I should plan on fencing for elephants because my lists tend to grow... My impulsiveness aside, sticking with the 'real' list, what are your recommendations for fencing? I've been looking at electric netting. It seems to be pretty versatile. I like being able to move it easily if I want my herd to graze somewhere else. Do any of you have experience with it (and I'm hoping it's more than my friends reading this by now because most of them probably didn't realize there were more types of fencing besides chain link and picket)?


Tomorrow will start the 1 week countdown to move-in day. I'm getting very excited. I'm working on getting the 'bucket o' barncats' as OFG suggested. I have a breeder friend holding some Royal Palm poults for me as well as some Ameracauna chicks. I have 40+ seedling trees with their roots loosely covered with soil. I purchased these from the Soil and Water Conservation District. They are all native species, and most of them are some type of fruit, nut, or berry. One group is specifically for riparian areas (pussy willow, osier dogwood, etc.). I'm going to have a very busy first week.


I'm taking a couple weeks of work for my move-cation. I know it will be busy, but I think it's going to be more relaxing than any vacation. I'm just about to burst from the excitement of moving to MY OWN farm (and Chad's). Stay tuned for updates.

Cheers,
Jeff

P.S. If anyone had told me twenty years ago that TSC would be my favorite shopping destination, they would have received a look of death as I dashed off to the mall. Funny how time changes us.

Weekend Visitation

We got to visit our farm today. The previous owner wanted to show us all the technical stuff about the house. She ended up telling us a lot more. She had a few pictures from the previous owners who comepletely remodeled the place. It was a dairy in the 50's (and hopefully again in the 2010's ;-) ). When we were driving in I remarked that the trees lining the road looked like apple trees. My eyes didn't fail me. We have 5 apple trees. The owner said they make the best wormy apples you could ever want for pies. I've read up on organic methods to prevent worms. Let's just say I'll be placing an order for a box of those little footies you're supposed to use when you try on shoes while barefooted.... I'm not sure I can imagine slipping one of those around every apple. Maybe the worms can have a few.

The deer was STILL in the pond. I'm going to go out this week and mow the yard, and I'll try to get it out then. Anyone know where you can rent a haz mat suit in central Ohio? Ewwwwww. We have honesuckle growing on a trellis right outside the kitchen windows. I told Chad I might actually do dishes if I got to smell honeysuckle every time I did them. I don't think he bought it. There is at least one licac bush (which made me very happy). The front door is flanked by holly bushes. She said that the dead vine growing wildly up the barn is some type of jasmine. I didn't know jasmine would come back out here. The daffodils were putting on a lovely show for our arrival.

You can just tell that there has been so much love in this house over the last 200 years. I got a little emotional at times walking around taking in all of the beauty. On a not so beautiful note, it seemed like it was fly hatching day on the farm. They were everywhere. The previous owner claimed they never had problems in the house. I plan on getting muscovy ducks, and I've read that they can reduce your fly population by 90%. There were a pair of Canada geese hanging out at the pond and one wild mallard. Hopefully they'll have some friends soon. I hope the geese aren't the crazy mean kind. I plan on giving them their space, but you know I'm going to want to cuddle one of the goslings when they show up...

In closing, this is one of my favorite spots on the farm. It reminds me of a southern plantation for some reason. I can't wait to sit there on a warm (or rainy) day sipping ice tea (or something stronger...) and enjoying the beautiful view. Waanna join me?

Cheers,
Jeff

Initiation

I went to the house for the home inspection last week. I was surveying my new kingdom when I saw something out of place in the back pond. There was something floating in the pond. I walked closer and still couldn't tell what it was. Finally, I could make it out.....

Yep, that's a dead deer in the pond. Not what I was expecting to find on my home inspection. I think it fell through the ice and couldn't get out. I then wrote what has to be one of the weirdest emails to a realtor, " Can you please ask the sellers if they plan on removing the dead deer from the pond? If they don't, can you ask them if they'd mind if we did."
I'm sure this is the first of many adventures.

Cheers,
Jeff

Full Circle

Hi and welcome to my blog. I've had a dream to move to the country for many years now. It has finally happened! Today, we closed on our dream house. It's a cozy little house far from the city. It has 6 1/2 acres, a barn, springhouse, and two ponds. It's everything I've ever wanted. We get to move in towards the end of this month. I'm trying to be patient, but it's hard.

I didn't grow up on a farm, but I did grow up in the country. I'm not a complete city slicker. I am currently going to school for environmental science at Ohio State while working full-time. I'm very passionate about the health of the environment and living as 'green' as I can. I'm really looking forward to being able to provide a significant portion of our food.

Let me explain the title of this post. I did a lot of web searching about our little home. It was built in 1823 and I just knew there had to be all kinds of history out there on the web. In tandem with this research I signed up for the free trial on ancestry.com. I found out that my paternal 5th great-grandfather lived in the same township where this house is. I always said that area felt like home to me. I thought it was because some of my mom's relatives lived in the area. I had no idea that my father's family had settled there when they came to Ohio from Virginia in the 1800's.

I found an atlas of this county that was completed in 1875. I couldn't believe it, but there was a sketch of this house as it looked then! It was a quaint little farm in full production. It showed sheep and cattle in the fields, buggies passing by on the dirt road (it's still a dirt road), people completing all types of farm chores. It was glorious. Next, I looked at the map of the township. Something caught my eye....I looked a little to the left of this farm and saw my first initial and last name. Goosebumps jumped up on my arms. My 4th and 5th great-grandfathers lived three farms over from the farm I was buying. It just felt like this was meant to be. My family has come full circle.

I plan on starting with chickens, and graduating to bigger livestock. I definitely want goats, and I have just fallen in love with all of the donkeys I've read about on my favorite blogs. We're very inspired by the Fabulous Beekman Boys and see way too many similarities in our relationship. I have a lot of work(and learning) ahead of me. I hope that you'll all enjoy reading about my journey. It's sure to be entertaining! Posts may be kind of sporadic until we get moved in and settled, but they'll be coming.

Cheers,
Jeff