March 19, 2014

A post from my original blog

Titled "Farm update"


We will be closing next Monday!!! I can’t believe it! But I will breathe a sigh of relief after all the papers are signed. Here are broken down updates:

Garden
The only thing I know about the soil is that it is clay heavy. I didnt know what this meant or what to do about so I went to my friends Emily and Roberto, who suggested a mix of soil, sand and mulch thrown right on top of the existing grass. So that’s the plan. I cannot wait for the heaving breaths, the breaking back and the blisters all over my hands from working this!!! I’m so desperate for some down and dirty work!

I’m hoping I won’t need fencing right away around it and am not planning for it. Getting the bed ready and the seedlings started seems to be enough at the moment. But if the garden begins to get attacked, fencing will be on huge list of projects to complete.

Using the garden planner from Mother Earth news, I have created a bed 20ft by 40ft. I am an overachiever and am confident that this will not be a garden to highlight in BHG, but I know that the best way for me to learn is to get in there and do it! So that’s what I plan on doing.

I just ordered my seeds and am hoping they get here today so I can get that setup going. No clue what’s going on with the sowing of seeds, but a little youtube and book help will get me through it. I wasn’t going to go the seed route, but with the size of the garden, it would have cost a fortune to buy all seedlings. Ultimately, my saving grace is going to be my friend Gwen, who I am hoping will be at the new house mentoring me through it all.

Milk cow
This, as most of you know, is where my heart is, and my jersey cow is on the top of the list for purchases in 2015. For now I am reading about fencing options for the pasture and working with different ideas. The goal is to have the fence up by this fall and the milking stanchion ready.

Chickens
We will be picking up our little egged darlings at the end of April and then will begin the 21 day hatching process. At the class, we got to crack open some eggs that “didn’t make it” through the entire development process. Three embryos were saved for the class I’ll be doing for our 4-h kids! They were preserved in baby food jars. It took 3 days before we all were equally grossed out and they are now hidden in the closet until the class.

We have two options for a coop- an old milk house that we can work with or a huge dog cage that we can build around. Those will be the permanent options until next year. I’m hoping we won’t have to go the route of the temporary PVC piping coop. The plan for the dog cage will be to cover the outside with “something” ( don’t know what yet) for protection and such. My dream for my chickens is to let them free range all over the place and then let them head in at night, but I’m not sure what the predators in the area are yet. This will just be a learning process as everything else is.

The Hog
I’m still looking at costs for fencing options for my hog-a licious. Not much planning has been done in this department except that it’s still on the to do list for 2014.

Safe families
We have completed our training and once we get into the new house we can have our home study done. For those that aren’t familiar with Safe Families, it is a program that helps families in crisis get back on their feet. If for example, a mother has to go into the hospital and she has no one to take care of her children, instead of going into foster care, they will come stay with us. There are a lot of different scenarios, but the ultimate goal is always to go back to the family….which I love!! The best place for kids to be is with their parents, and the great thing about this program is that we are not only helping the children, but their families as well! For those with older children, if you have toddler clothes and toys laying around, save them for me!! I’m an extreme purger so I save nothing and get rid of everything!

That’s all in the way of updates. The McClenehan sisters and I will be heading down to Comet Crossing for some fellowship and farm air next week. Keep us in your prayers as we will be traveling with 8 children!

Until next time……