This post is a journal entry from five years ago when I bought my first house. I was so in love with the romantic notion of dropping a few coops and seeds in the yard, add chickens and sit back to a harvest of year round eggs and bouquets. The reality is nothing like the memes you see in other social media showing a cute cabin in the woods and asking "Would you live here?"
The reality is daily chores that never end, predators that tear down your fences and kill your animals, weeds that crowd your gardens killing off your flowers and vegetables. The reality is watching your fruit trees bloom and bear fruit only to have the deer eat it all the night before you plan to harvest. The reality is everyday is Easter as you hunt for eggs under the lawn mower, under the bushes, in the goat house, in the garage, under the burn pile, in the neighbor's yard, under his goat house, even in his garage.
The reality is, I am having the time of my life. Every success is treasured, every non-success is a learning opportunity. And as long as I don't give up, I can have as many do overs as I want or need to succeed.
Poops, Coops and More
Finally, the dream is coming true. I have always dreamed of living on my own farm, and now two years into retirement, I am buying my first home. True, it is only on an acre of land, but I intend to make it a self supporting mini farm and this log will be a record of that endeavor.
The house is about 1400 square feet and sits in the middle of the lot. The current owner is elderly and ill and barely able to care for himself, to say nothing of upkeep on the house. It will need a thorough cleaning, paint inside and out, new windows and some repairs. And, my favorite, decorating!
Lots of windows means good light for houseplants and an herb garden.
Through the dining room and into the kitchen.
The grounds, however, are level, cleared and ringed with trees. All ready for me to start implementing my plans. I have three major areas to focus on first: chickens, gardens and a travel trailer.
Part of the backyard.
A friend raises chickens and already has some hatching for us. I hope to be able to provide all the eggs needed for the household plus some extra to sell at the farmers market. But I will start small, perhaps up to a dozen chicks at first. Originally I planned to buy a chicken coop ready made, but the cost is simply out of my price range. Instead, I have been busy on the internet researching how to build one. I think I have a pretty good grasp of what is needed for the chickens and how to build it relatively inexpensively. I will post plans, pictures and comments later.
Vegetables freshly picked from the garden; is there any taste that can compare? I don’t think so. Eventually, I hope to have home grown fruit and veggies to eat and fresh bouquets of flowers year round. Again, though I will start small. I hope to get a few raised beds in and planted this spring. Trees and flowers will come later. Another friend who has horses has offered all the “poop” we want as manure but it takes a year to season. I also want to compost, so again thanks to the internet, I have learned how to make a compost bin out of used pallets. Ironically, I gave five away when we moved last month so the hunt is on for more.
A travel trailer? Where am I going? Nowhere. Several years ago, my daughter, her partner, and their daughter moved in with me when her partner became ill and could no longer work. After he passed away, I faced some health issues of my own and my daughter stayed on to take care of me. Now she is ready to move out on her own again, but housing is almost non-existent here. Most vacancies on the island are rented out in the spring and summer at exorbitant rates as vacation rentals.
So we decided to buy a travel trailer that they can stay on my property until something opens up. This will help us to get used to not having the other around 24/7 and will allow us some much needed privacy and space.
It’s going to be a very busy time for the next couple of years, but I am looking forward to it.
April 2012