We’ve had another interesting week here on our little farmstead. We had to run over to the county courthouse and find out the process for getting permissions on some things we need to do to the outside of the house and ended up finding something that I always thought would be exciting to have but ended up being really depressing.
This is our little farm back in 1990. Not a super old picture but still almost 25 years old. While it’s neat to see how and where everything was and how everything was set up, it makes me sad to go outside and see it now with run-down buildings that are falling apart. Amazing how just a few years of disrepair and someone that didn’t keep up with the upkeep will do that to a place. So this picture is a source of some sadness but it’s also great motivation. I want the buildings to look this nice again!
So now that in the interior of the house is almost all the way done, we’ve turned out attention to the outside and what’s next for our farmstead. This week we created a purpose for all the buildings that will be able to stay (some are unsafe and need to be torn down). We are looking forward to this next phase of planning and work!
One thing that we’ve already been working on is the pastures. When we moved here they were covered in 6 foot tall weeds and totally unusable. We purchased our goats in the spring and they’ve been doing their job! About half the pasture areas are cleaned up so far and this week we were able to plow up one of them. Our next step is to find some native grass seed and replant the pasture so by next summer it should be looking quite good! The picture at the very top of this post is a section of one of the fields that we’ve already done this process to (this spring). The grass is looking very nice already!
This coming week we will start working on fixing and moving fences and thoroughly going around the buildings to see what repairs they need. All buildings need new roofs, some need their foundations fixed, and at least one needs to be torn down completely. It will be a big long project but we are ready for it!
I’ve been busy canning this week as I had a big fruit order from Azure Standard. So far I’ve only got the apples done but the peaches will be later today and I will start on the pears this weekend. So much yummy fresh fruit for winter! I also canned up a big batch of pinto beans for some quick warm meals.
And of course when you work hard you need to play hard too! Our apple tree in the front turned out to be mostly ornamental crab apples but has one branch of regular apples. We enjoyed a few for a snack this week and Farmer Boy decided he needed some too…but he decided it would be more fun to roll them like bowling balls down the driveway. Of well, free entertainment right? 🙂 His arm has finally started to heal for those of you following that little saga, another 4 weeks at least in the cast though. 🙁
Ok, I better get back to work!
Don’t forget that today is Friday Deals day! You can check out all the deals I found this week on free ebooks and more here.
LOVE catching up with what’s going on with your life. Such an interesting saga. 🙂
blessings,
Shan
The How-to Guru
Looks like a lot of work Merissa! I have four 25-pound boxes of roma tomatoes to can this weekend. It is a lot of work, but so rewarding throughout the winter!
Sounds yummy, I love working with Romas. Yes, it’s always rewarding!
Ah,farming…there’s always something to fix! Isn’t it a fun adventure,though? As my grandpa used to say,,”With all this work we farmers have,there’s no time for mischief!” There is alot of wisdom in those words. Work hard,but don’t forget to enjoy yourself in the process. By the way,what happened to Farmer boy? Poor little guy!
Oh yes, never a dull moment! Farmer Boy fell off his chair on the dining room table and landed on his arm just right…he broke his wrist 🙁
Great update! Do you do any cold frame planting?
No, the weather here is too unpredictable for it I think. I do plan on planting indoors though 🙂
Oooh, could you do a couple of posts about your indoor gardening this winter? I am new to gardening and I’m learning a little more each year. I would love to know what I could grow inside during the winter.
I’m planning on it! Right now I’m deciding what to plant and where I will fit it in but I’ll be posting more about it soon 🙂
Yay! 🙂
I love reading your blog. It is my favorite.
I enjoyed the scenic pictures new and old and your progress, farmer boy too! You really should write a book about it all. I for one would buy it!! I love it all. Please keep it coming.
I’m so glad you enjoyed today’s post! 🙂
I just started following your blog and I love it. My husband and I have dreams of a little homestead some day. Out of curiosity, does your husband work or are you living off the land? Do you have any tips (or posts you can point me to) on how to get started with a homestead? Keep the blog coming! It’s fabulous and I adore the photos!
Hi Lina,
My husband worked a regular job in a nearby town up until a few months ago when we realized that we were paying just about as much in gas for him to get to work as he was bringing home, so we both chose to have less pay and work from home. We are hoping over the next year we can also start building up our farm and making an income from that as well (in the form of products, eggs, meat, etc). I have a few posts on creating a homestead in the middle of this page: https://www.littlehouseliving.com/homestead-living I hope that helps a bit. 🙂
Once upon a time I was a city girl living in california. Beaches, restaurants, disneyland…the high life. Then one day I had babies and decided that city life was not for raising boys so we moved. We now live in beautiful Tennessee. We rent a 1500sq ft home in the country. Talk about culture shock!
Out here in the country, in the middle of nature I rekindled my relationship with Jesus. And now, as I let Him guide me I feel that he is guiding me to have more of a homestead lifestyle.
And then as I asked him for guidance he led me to ur blog…and Im hooked!!
This coming week I am going to try to grind my own wheat and see where I end up with it.
I have one request if possible. Sometimes I feel as if Im lacking because I am not a property owner yet. I feel like whats the point? Any comfort words you can share with me?
Yours truly,
Hanging up my heels and putting on some boots!
Hi Miriam, I’m glad you’ve discovered the blog, I’m glad you are here! I’m not sure that property ownership is for everyone but I think for us we’ve always preferred owning property over renting because it’s something that’s ours no matter what. Even though we are currently making payments on the house (hopefully not for too many more years!) we are putting that money into an equity that we own and we can sell someday if we chose to, hopefully getting the money back out that we’ve paid for it. Of course unless you pay a mortgage off early you probably aren’t getting the money back when you sell but that’s something to work towards! Good luck on your homesteading journey.:)
I just read a post on creation care. It looks like you will be doing plenty of that. It is rewarding. My reading also put emphasis on the importance of home — staying in one place. I have also done reading on living in “the nearby”. I am wished you blessings, Merissa and family. Hope you will “bloom where you are planted”.
I love that saying 🙂 Thanks for sharing the encouragement Pamela!
Oh my goodness…..that was a beautiful piece of property in the picture, I’m sure that many years of neglect have shown & Im sure it’ll be a work in progress for some time BUT: WOW!!!! The potential is amazing, well I’m sure the property is already amazing at this point but add in the TLC you 2 are giving it now & I just can’t imagine it’s level of amazing-ness;) So looking forward to future post about it as we’re both in a very similar boat, omg the work…..but, omg the pay off;) Good Luck:)
Yes, so much potential here! We are excited to start making progress 🙂
I’m always amazed at the amount of work you get done in such a (seemingly) short time! I always look forward to your blogs and seeing the improvements to your farmstead. Thanks so much for sharing them with us.
Merrisa, Even though you mentioned that you don’t have family close by it sounds like you’re happier here than your previous home. I hope so. .
We do not have family nearby but yes, we are very happy here and feel like it’s where we are meant to be right now. 🙂
It may be depressing to see all the buildings in disrepair, but as a grazier’s wife, I think it’s awesome how much greener it is right now. The 1990 picture looks all bare and trampled. I bet the rest has been good for your soil health! 🙂
It’s probably true. It looks like in the 90’s it was some kind of feed lot.