silarajc's "Starting a Farm" Journal

[silarajc]

FIL died last June, so MIL moved in. We needed a bigger house, and had wanted to move to the country for a time, so we did both and myself, hubby, two daughters (10 & 12), and dog, moved to 30 acres in November 2016. We added a cat (cat-napped a stray from the old neighborhood) in December, and 25 chicks in March, another 8 chicks in April (chicken math at work already). Neither one of us were raised on farms, so this is like a huge experiment!

Building the coop has been a hassle. Hubby had taken off several days while I was on Spring Break (I work in the schools), and I really thought we could get the majority of it built then, but...the ground was so rocky we had to change plans for the foundation and it took us a while to just get the foundation completed. Add to that having to finish moving and repair the old house, multiple rainstorms, after school activities, etc. SO...we close on the old house Monday, and will get that off the plate. THEN we can finally get the coop done! About time too, the chicks are 8 weeks old and still in the garage!

Plans for the future: finish the hay bale garden (yes, it is horribly late, but maybe can get some things planted since my summer break starts in a couple of weeks), and possibly add some goats & sheep in a year.

 

[silarajc]

Oh, and bees! Hubby really wanted bees this spring, but we are just too busy with the move and building the coop.

 

[norseofcourse]

Welcome to farm life Always too much to do and not enough time to do it. I remember one year I harvested my *first* tomato in September... (or was it October...)

 

[CntryBoy777]

Since there is a good bit of rock all over the state of Missouri, ya might want to consider raised beds for your garden eventually. Also, for your chicken yard, ya can use wood to frame some fence with, to lessen the amount of post holes that have to be dug in that rocky ground. Just be sure to have 4"x4" or bigger on the bottom and just staple fence directly to the wood. Before ya get goats, have pen and fence up and ready for them.
Welcome to the "Journal" life....and Welcome to BYH!!...
Oh, and check your state laws on bees before ya get set-up for them, it may save ya some $$ in the long run.

 

[Latestarter]

Following along since I can identify with most of what you're dealing with... too much to do and not enough time or manpower. Congrats on choosing the country/farm life. It does have rewards

 

[silarajc]

Whew! Today is closing on the old house. So glad to get that off my plate! Gonna work on the coop tonight and tomorrow night, then will have to throw a tarp over it for the rains predicted for the rest of the week. Having flake board for the flooring is the major problem for us finishing the coop, because it will take a few days to get the roof and walls on.. With both of us working full-time and the longer commute, then the rain every week, it has been hard!

@norseofcourse @CntryBoy777 & @Latestarter - thanks for your kind replies! We are so enjoying not living shoulder to shoulder with the neighbors!

 

[CntryBoy777]

Ya can get a cheap blue tarp from WallyWorld to cover the floor between times, until the walls go up and roof, so it is protected. Glad ya are getting some loose ends tied up, it will help ya to focus forward....

 

[Latestarter]

Congrats on eliminating the old house from the list of things to waste time on. Now, if you could just get the right combination of lottery numbers, you could farm in style! It sure is nice to look out the window and see nature rather than the neighbor's ugly wallpaper... justsayin

 

[silarajc]

Well, the AC wasn't working when the temperatures got up, so no one felt like going into the direct sunlight with no relief when we were done. We are spoiled for that AC! It is out in hubby's car, too, so he's driving almost an hour and a half to get home in the afternoon in a hot car.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Back before AC even existed, the heat made it very enjoyable to being squirted with the hose in the front yard....and the spot closest to the fan was always the "Primo" seat....as long as ya didn't sing in the fan too much, cause it would get on Mom and Dad's nerves after a while....