An Update From the Farm

Now that we own the land and are starting to get some work and planning done I thought I should take at least one day a week to update the blog as to what is happening. So, that is what I am doing today. As you can see from the picture above we now have an address. This is a rather small step in the whole process, but for some reason it seems to make the idea that we will eventually be living there seem even more real. Now when people ask where we live we don't have to spend 5 minutes trying to explain how we live on just North of the 9th turn on the "Crooked Road to Melcher". Now we can just give them an address, although since there has never been a house there before it won't show up on any maps ... but, it is the idea that counts.

Planning on the building layout is still continuing as we try and figure out the best place to put the pole building house, a hay shed, and our eventual stick built house. Because our land did not perk we have to go with a more expensive sand filtration septic system which meant that we really wanted to make sure we placed it in a location where we could easily tie into the septic line from the future house. I think we have that figured out now, but it did require a little bit of movement to the west of the pole building house. As a side note, one nice thing about the sand filtration system is that you can graze and drive over it. That would not have been true if we could have used the less expensive lateral system.

Also, this week I drove the tractor out to the farm and pulled the hay rake out also. Now instead of sitting under the carport in town it is sitting under a tarp on the farm ... much more useful out there. I started to knock over a few of the anthills after I got it out there and plan on pulling the few old fence posts that are still in the fence line later this week. Now, if I could just a get a mower out there it would be much easier to pull out and put in the new fence. Maybe this weekend that will happen.

And finally, when we were out there Monday night we took a family walk through the pasture and along the woods. It was great to see the kids enjoying themselves so much (our son carried a stick so he could poke all the anthills he found) and it was nice to see how everything was greening up. My wife checked on the berries and is hopeful for a good crop this year. Finding plenty of berries on the farm takes away the sting of having to move away from the patch she has pruned and cared for in the ditch next to our house now. Also, we found that there are still plenty of wet spots on the farm (and around the state). Those will be areas that we need to stay away from during the rainy times of the year, but maybe they will hold on longer in the dry spells...

I will try and keep everyone updated on the doings on the farm and continue to through out thoughts from my reading/research. Thanks for all of the great help!