Meigs Return

Rainy day catching up

2011-10-19T21:11:00.002-04:00

It has been raining here since yesterday and since I wasn’t going to be outside much I decided to get on the computer and up date the weblog. It’s been almost a year since I made an entry and we have continued to plug along on our homestead journey. So I’ll start off with the garden and then move on to the other subjects.

The Garden

We expanded the size of the garden this year and got in more then we did last year although our yields fell short. Our red potatoes came in fair. The problem was that I didn’t dig the soil deep enough to have enough soil to build up around the mature plants and so we didn’t get the yield that we should have. The corn did very well and both us really enjoyed the flavor. I planted two crops of 20 plants staggered with three weeks between and we had plenty for Beth to freeze. The cantaloupes were a happy surprise; while the flavor was very good, the size was lacking compared to store bought. I planted baby spinach and leaf lettuce. The first planting did very well, but once I got the second planting in I started to fall behind in the garden and the rest was lost. The cucumbers were a little late, but are still producing. The store bought tomatoes also got off to a slow start and haven’t done so well, but I didn’t have any blight like we did last year. I transplanted a number of tomatoes plants that grew wild in the location were we over-wintered the chickens and they did great. The summer squash and zucchini was a big failure this year compared to last; onions were so so, as were the carrots. All in all the bigger garden meant more work and I’ll have to adjust my time next year to keep up on it because we are going to increase by adding two new plots.

Fruit

We planted three pare and two apple trees, each of a different variety. Also we planted three grape vines, one seedless and two seeded Concords, which we'll use for jelly making. Our one peach tree did well this year. I cut back the tree in February and we had a nice amount. Beth was able to freeze a bit and has made some peach pies that were extremely good (she's a great cook).

Winter Plots

2011-09-09T14:00:00.010-04:00

We planted two 1 acre plots for winter forage. In the first plot we planted turnips and oats, and fertilized with 50lbs of nitrogen. In the second we planted Austrian pea-pods and oats, and fertilized with 50 lbs of nitrogen. We'll post and let you know how well we did and how the sheep responded.

Plot 1 (turnips and oats)

Plot 2 (pea pods and oats)

Catching Up Again

2011-01-13T22:56:00.002-05:00

It’s hard to imagine that it has been since July that we updated the web log. So much as happened it’s going to be tough to remember and cover everything, but we’ll break it out in to segments so we cover the highlights. Additionally, I plan to get the narrative up first and then come back and add the pictures we took.

Unpacking and Organizing II

Unpacking all of our household goods and organizing the house got pushed of to the side. Outside work became the main effort once we found all of the things we needed to get by in the kitchen. But even during Beth’s Christmas vacation we were unpacking containers and hanging pictures. Though there are still a number of picture piled up in the corner of our bedroom because we are not sure where they should go, or if we are even going to kept he stuff. I think we are turning into minimalists.

Garden

The garden had it ups and downs. Once we bought the goats and sheep the time spent in the garden became smaller. But over all we were very happy with what we were able to produce and right now plan to double the size for next year. However, we are hoping to get more things in during the spring and fall and minimize the hot summer.

The Field

Cutting and clean up the fields was still the biggest part of the work. Since the fields were in such poor condition we tried to cut as soon as the plan growth was shin high, so that meant we were always cutting. But the pay off will definitely be there down the road with better improved pastures.

The Goats

We made a purchase of seven goats, six Boar and one Nubian La Mancha cross, to assist clearing the pastures that had been overgrown with briers and multa-flora rose. They have done great job, but as fall approached and the forage dwindled and we had to start managing them differently and that it added to the daily chores. Right now they are staying the barn over the winter and I bring them to a new paddock each day. We lost two, one to bloat and the other to a neurological disease, we believe. Right before Christmas the first of four does birthed and so we have for seven new kids running around (one buck and six does).

The Sheep

We purchased eight Katahdin sheep, seven ewes and one ram, during the fall. The sheep will become the center piece of the farm as we want to sell commercial lamb. So far they are doing quite well on our pastures and if the ram does his magic we’ll have some lambs around the end of May or first of June. One of the ewes that we purchased came pregnant and on 8 January we were surprised by two lambs out in the field. We were told she was bred but as we were to learn sheep don’t really show and don’t have the tell tale signs a goat has indicating that a birth is impending.

The Chickens

We started out with 25 chicks and lost one straight away, and then 3 more died. But since the middle of December they have finally begun to lay eggs. Right now we are up to about 12 a day, which we are very happy to get in the middle of winter. Especially as cold as it is this winter. We’ll probably stay with these 21 for the next year, unless I can find a wheeled platform to build another egg mobile.

Right now the egg mobile I have is on skids and doesn’t have a floor. Not having a floor is great because there is little clean up, but I can’t move the chickens as fast and far as I would like to, mainly wanting them behind the sheep as they move from paddock to paddock. So if I can find something I would like to have another 50 chicken, which would go through the grass and sheep dung. But otherwise we’ll just stay with the 21 and plan for another way down the road.

Wood Cutting

Wood cutting became the number one priority when our firewood supplier bailed on us in mid October. One day we received a call from him telling us he sold all 30 cords of wood. What the hell I said to myself and to him later on. And in that conversation I asked “Why,” which of course there was silence; you know the kind when you question your children about something stupid they just did.

Well we planned on getting 5 cords to see us through until March and then we figured we’d have enough money saved to buy a new chainsaw. Well we don’t have the money to buy the chainsaw, hopefully that will come in March, so we are making due with my small Sears Craftsman that we bought back in Dayton for suburban life. I have four chains and chainsaw chain grinder and files, so do a lot of sharpening and moderate amount of cutting. Right now I stay about a week ahead.

Finding the deadfall was difficult in the fall but as winter came on we have been able to find enough. The problem we have is that the property was forested twice in five years before we purchased it so there isn’t the amount we’d feel comfortable with; but we are making due.

But for next year we’ll be set. We started selectively falling trees and well be set from here on out. We can really say there was a lesson to be learned. It’s just the way it goes. The guy sold us the wood the year before and we figured the same ting would take place this year…but so it goes.

New Barn

We had a new barn built for our equipment. It’s a nice one, 12 ft x 48 ft. The guy that did the finish carpentry on our house framed and roofed it, then I helped to side it with rough cut poplar boards. It turned our real well.

Looking back at all we have accomplished since May and my returning from overseas it has been wonderful. We’ve really made some great head way.

For the rest of the winter, we are clearing the fence line for a new perimeter trail, which straight line distance will be three miles, and for the perimeter fence we’ll start putting in as time allows. Also we’ll be continuing to clean up and expand the pastures from the growth. And at least once a week update this web log.

Replacement Egg Layers Arrived

2010-07-15T11:32:00.004-04:00

Our replacement egg layers arrived today; 25 Rhode Island Reds we purchased from Ridgway Hatchery. We lost our Black Stars to a raccoon last winter. These 25 will give us plenty of eggs plus a few extras.

Moving the Chicken Coop Across Meigs County

2010-07-13T14:40:00.009-04:00

We built our chicken coop over at Beth's Grandparent's farm back in 08' while we staying there and needed to get it over here to get our egg layers started. My youngest son and his friend were here and gave me a hand getting it over here. Thanks to our neighbor we were able to use his trailer and the move went incredibly smooth. Here are some pictures from the move.

May and June Update

2010-07-13T14:08:00.004-04:00

The May and June updates slipped by and we figured before July was over we should get a post logged. Hopefully we can get into the habit of posting a weekly update, at least during the summer. Right now there just isn’t enough time in the day during the summer to get this out, but once a week sounds possible. While we hope this interests our family and lets them know what we’re up to, it’s also a partial record of our progress. So since it’s raining here so we’ll get this posted.

Unpacking and Organization

Well since I returned home in May we jumped into cleaning up and unpacking. As most of you know Beth moved into the house around the end of October and unpacked just the essentials to get by with the help of her family who live here. When I came home on vacation in December we unpacked a little bit more, but the bulk stayed in the garages. We still have a good amount of our home goods packed and it looks like it won’t be unpacked until we get some furniture with storage space.

The undertaking second to unpacking has been reorganization of the stuff. We have stuff stored between a three and a two car garage, a two story garden shed and a barn. Much of what we did was to take inventory of what we have, figure out what were going to move into the house, and then reorganize the space so we could make use of the building for its intended purpose. Once we got the garden shed organized we made some head way on the two car garage, and with a visit from my Mom and Dad and youngest son, and their help, we were able to get to the three car garage, which is were the bulk of our stuff is and where my shop is located.

Garden

For the first part of May we experienced almost nine straight days of rain, which made it almost impossible to get in a new garden. By the end of the second week I was able to rent a tiller to turn over the top layer and get some peat and top soil into our clay soil. We decided that we would put our garden in to the plot the folks we purchased the house from had theirs because the ground had been worked a little and was in good spot. Unfortunately much of what they had put in had been absorbed by the clay and the ground didn’t offer anything. But it is still a good site and we plan to make this our garden site.

Once I got the area tilled I took a large plastic tarp we used to protect our fire wood and laid it across the area to burn off the grass and weeds that was in the soil. After a week or so we headed to the farmers market in Athens to get our plants. Here’s a list of what we planted between May 22nd and 25th:

1 row, 6 plants Better Boy Tomatoes (Farmer’s Market (FM) purchase)
1 row, 6 plants, Cherry tomatoes (FM purchase)
1 row, 6 plants, Grape tomatoes (FM purchase) (We thought we were buying Roma’s but they weren’t marked correctly.)
3 rows, carrots, planted along side the tomatoes (seed)
1 row, marigolds flowers (seed)
1 row, 6 plants, leaf lettuce (FM purchase)
3 rows, Baby Spinach (seed)
3 rows, Swiss chard (seed)
3 rows, Baby Spinach (seed)
1 row, 6 plants, (unknown hot pepper) (FM purchase) (We thought we were buying bell pepper plants, which wasn’t case.)
1 row, yellow Bell peppers (seed)
1 row, red bell peppers (seed)
1 row, Zinnia flowers
2 rows, white cabbage (FM purchase)
6 rows, snap peas (seed)
2 plants, Summer squash (seed)
2 plants, Zucchini (seed)
9 rows, 8 plants, Sweet Corn (seed)
8 plants, cucumbers, planted with the corn (FM purchase)
2 rows, 8 plants, broccoli, (FM purchase)
3 rows, red radishes, planted along side the broccoli, (seed)

About week after we got everything in the ground we had two days of heavy rain and it washed away all of the carrots, spinach, peppers, and radishes. The tomatoes got off to a slow start but after some mulching are doing well. The lettuce we bought was doing well but after the rain ended we got a couple of really hot days and next thing you know the plants bolted. So we only got a couple of cuts from them. The Swiss chard is hanging in there, but I’m going to have read up on lettuce because I’m not sure I planted it correctly.

We went to the big hardware store in town and bought some mature bell peppers to replace the seeded ones we lost and they are doing very well.

All of the flowers are doing great.

We lost all the snap peas, two of the cabbage heads and all of the broccoli.

In June I planted the second plot of corn by seed (8 rows, 8 plants), which is doing very well. Also I planted 9 rows, 10 plants of bush beans by seed and that’s doing well too.

Around the house Beth has been focusing in our flower gardens, which became overrun with weeds in our absence. She started this spring cleaning and pruning back the growth and it's coming in nicely. Next spring we’ll have better luck now that we know what plants are perennials and those are just weeds. Beth also cuts the lawn, which has been looking great all season.

The Fields

We have been hitting the fields pretty hard getting a ton of dead fall that lies along the edge off and burned and then the cutting of the grass and woody growth. Since we don’t have any livestock on the paddocks yet we have been cutting it to mimic grazing rotation.

Much the farm had been cut for hay in the past by the last two owners without anything being put back into the ground. This has caused the soil to become weak and without any humus, so for the last three years Beth and I have been cutting it and letting the grass fall back to the ground. While this isn’t the end all, it has and will help until we get our sheep on there.

I'll end here and pick up with the rest of the goings on in a new post.

FARM Tractor Rollover Protection

2010-05-16T10:40:00.001-04:00

This is very informative and well worth the time to watch for those of us new to farming and farm machinery.

Pomeroy Ohio 2010 New and Old Pictures

2010-05-12T09:36:00.005-04:00

I came across this short film featuring our county seat, Pomeroy Ohio, called "Pomeroy Ohio 2010 New and Old Pictures" at our county tourism website. It provides a nice snapshot of today and years ago.

A Charlie Mankin Film

Getting Caught Back Up on the Weblog

2010-04-02T13:48:00.004-04:00

Wow almost a year since we updated the web log. Well hopefully we’ll be updating it more often as we get things kicked into high gear once I get back home in May and we move forward with our plans.

Update: The House

Well the house completely finished, except for some trim painting and picture hanging. Unfortunately we don’t have any pictures to post, hopefully we get to that soon, but we are really happy with the finished work.

The last thing we had installed was the propane generator, so now we are good to go if the power should go out, which it does during the winter and occasionally in the summer. It’s a great feeling having the outdoor wood burner and the propane generator during the winter because we know we'll always have heat, hot water, and electricity. It was definitely worth cutting costs in other areas and saving to get the generator for the renovation.

We did have some problems this winter. Due to the volume of snow we received our gutters got damaged. However if we had “snow jacks” installed on this metal roof this wouldn't be an issue. Unfortunately the roofer we went through was not the “best” nor “responsive” and didn’t advise us to have them installed, so we’ll get another company to install the jacks and repair the gutters ($$$).

On other point worth mentioning is our need to have good gutters. We collect our water off of our roof, so when you consider hiring a roofer make sure they know how to install gutters correctly so they capture all the water. Again, our roofing subcontractor didn't or a least didn't put the time into the job to do it right. Today less than year since having the gutters install we have leaks at almost every corner, so again that means more work and money, plus lost water.

This subcontracting problems are associated with any house construction or renovation especially being in a rural area, however overall we were very fortunate to have the group of subcontractors that we did. It sinks though having such a lousy roofer when the roof and gutters are critical to the house, but we’ll get through it. The rest of the house and utilities were installed very well so in that we count ourselves fortunate.

Anyway, we just wanted to get this up there, and for our family, we’ll be posted more often, so be looking for it in the near future.

Regards!

Back Porch

2009-05-31T09:18:00.007-04:00

I got a little ahead of myself and forgot to post the pictures of the back porch. There is one part of the porch that I forgot to take a picture of and that is the small portion that came out over the kitchen door. It was nice feature and helps out when going straight into the kitchen verses the mudroom.

Outdoor Wood Furnace and Heating

2009-05-31T08:50:00.008-04:00

By the last week of April we had our heating installed. We had an air handler installed that will force the air over an coil insert attached to the outdoor wood furnace.

We purchased a outdoor wood furnace made by Central Boiler and we also had a propane insert installed in the furnace in case we won't or can't heat by wood.

Submersible Pump, Well and Slave Well

2009-05-31T08:25:00.006-04:00

In the first two pictures our plumbers are preparing to install the submersible pump into our cistern. The cistern was originally dug when the house was made. It goes down about 35 feet and after 8 feet was hewn through Ohio sandstone to the final depth.

We cistern captures some ground water that runs from the ridge behind the house, and then we'll have the gutters empty into the cistern as well. From there we'll let the water settle out and then move it to the slave tank, made of concrete, where we'll pull it into the house. Once in the house it will be filtered with a standard home water partial filter and purified with a reverse osmosis filter.

We decided to install a slave tank in the event we have to haul in water during peak summer months, we won't lose the water through the sandstone.

Rough Plumbing Installed

2009-05-31T07:55:00.009-04:00

During the first of April our plumbers were able to get down to our house to install much of the rough plumbing, actually a week or so before I took vacation. Below are a few pictures of the rough-in portion.

For the central water system we went with PEX rather than copper for cost savings and longevity, and in the first two pictures you can see the green PEX that will tie in to our outdoor wood furnace and our forced hot air system, and it will also heat our hot water tank (picture 2).

We have two hot water tanks, one is propane and the other is electric. The propane will be for summer use, and in case we go away and let the outdoor wood furnace go out, say on a vacation. The second hot water tank, electric is just a holding tank where the water will actually be heated by the outdoor wood furnace and then move to the propane tank for distribution through out the house. Using an electric hot water tank rather than the "holding tank" normally used saved us about $200.

The young guy in the last picture is Aaron, our plumber Harold W. oldest son, who knows more about plumbing than a plumber twice his age.

Pentecost Sunday

2009-05-31T07:18:00.006-04:00

Good Sunday, today is Pentecost Sunday.

Acts 2: 1-4
1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Construction Begins on the Front Porch

2009-03-26T07:59:00.006-04:00

Here are some pictures of the new front porch.

Originally the porch had a flat roof, which led to a door on the second floor leading into the master bedroom. The folks that owned the house prior to us had taken the door out and installed a wall. Since the old porch was so rotted we had no choice but to tear it down. We added the small window where the door used to be and then we decided that we would change the front porch up a bit from the original, and add a hip roof that mirrored the main roof line. However, we kept the orginal footprint of the old porch so it is basically the same size.

Basement Stairwell Takes Shape

2009-03-26T07:49:00.008-04:00

Our concrete guy finished pouring the new wall that will encase our outdoor stairwell to the basement. Right now the stairwell is in the kitchen and took up quite a bit of floor space and we both felt it was pretty unsafe having a trap door in the floor, which would be fairly close to where planned to have the kitchen table. Since we have the extra money we decided to have the exterior stairs built, which will definitely be safer, give us the floor space in the kitchen and provide a good cold cellar to store can goods.

New Work Begins: Excavation

2009-03-26T07:27:00.009-04:00

Well, it has been a few months since we had any work done on the house. Beth has been coordinating the work that we planned for before I left, and I'll have a few postings from the pictures she sent to me. The plan for this new phase was to have some excavation completed before we started on the exterior. This includes having a new line dug and installed for our waste spectic tank; French drains along the backside of the house to divert ground water; a new slave cistern for our household water; a stairwell into the basement; the driveway graded and new crushed stone laid; and flexible water line we'll need that will go from the outdoor wood furnace into the house.

Gravel and grading of the driveway

Plex line to the future outdoor wood furnace location

New slave water cisturn

Location of the new outdoor stairwell to the basement

New septic waste line from the house to septic tank

Merry Christmas

2008-12-26T07:27:00.001-05:00

Beth and I wish all of our family, friends and neighbors a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

God bless.

Gabriel Enters this World

2008-07-18T10:11:00.006-04:00

We are happy to announce the birth of our grandson Gabriel. Our daughter-in-law Ana gave birth yesterday to Gabe, who weighed in at 6 lbs 9 oz and was 21 inches long. All are doing very well and we could not be happier!

A proud Grand Ma with little Gabe.

Rosebuds and Dogwoods

2008-05-05T07:41:00.006-04:00

We wanted to post a few pictures from the farm and around the area showing you the great flowering of dogwoods and rosebuds that were in bloom the last three weeks in April. Last year we had a weird frost that killed off most of the flowers, but this year was amazing. This is one of the great aspects about living in this area, seeing the abundance of natural flowers.

January House Construction Final; and Next Step May Update

2008-05-05T07:28:00.004-04:00

Well it has been a number of weeks since we last posted. So I think an update is in order. As you can see from the picture to the right (taken in January), we have all the windows and doors installed, and for time being, the house is buttoned up.

So what's next? Well we decided to bite the bullet and apply for a “new construction loan” and finish the house so we can get out there. Trying to maintain two houses has become a chore and it seems at times that we spend less time at our farm now that we are in Ohio, then when we were commuting from Virginia.

For the last month we have been meeting with a variety of sub-contractors to install the roof, siding, gutters, heating, plumbing, electrical, to name a few, in order to present our plan to the bank. So hopefully by next month we can get construction underway.

I’ll post accordingly, but there are a couple of facets of this I will try to highlight, such as the outdoor wood burner we will have tied into to our heating system, it seems kind of relevant to discuss this with the high cost of conventional heating; and our “rural water purification system” which will include a cement cast cistern with pump house built over top that will contain our filtration system. So hopefully someone out there might gain a little from our work and research.

Pollan: In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

2008-02-20T13:12:00.003-05:00

Last evening I caught this lecture on CSPAN2 given by controversial writer Michael Pollan about his recent book “In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto.” Pollan discusses the American diet that emerged after World War II, which may the leading contributor of many health problems we have.

Much of what I liked about the discussion was based on common sense. For instance buy and eat the food that is sold on the parameter of your market. Generally this is produce, meats, and dairy; and stay away from processes foods found in the center aisles. Easy enough; or rather than buying prepackaged processed foods, just buy the raw ingredients and make it yourself. So instead of buying that “Egg McMuffin,” just buy the eggs, muffins, ham, and cheese and make it yourself. You’ll probably save yourself some money and enjoy the food more.

I have read many of Pollan’s articles and I would say that many of his perspectives would be at home in Athens Ohio[1] rather than northern Ohio. However, what he points out and should add some balance to the great food debate is that nutritional science is very young and many of the claims being touted from many quarters are questionable. This new area of science has a lot of catching up medical sciences.

It makes sense that if we look at how we eat prior to WWII and today, the folks back then had it right; simple and hearty meals. I would have to say that’s pretty much how the rural folks down here in southeastern Ohio have always eaten. Check out the video if you have the chance.

Click here for the video.

Time: approximately 60 min
[1] For folks outside of Ohio, Athens is generally considered a tree hugger area.

January Construction Part 4

2008-01-29T15:13:00.000-05:00

By Friday of the forth week our house was officially “pink.” The contractors had removed all of the vinyl siding and clapboard, completely replaced it with OSB and the house wrap, and all of the windows were re-framed for the new windows. In addition, they installed the new windows in the kitchen.

This week marked almost a year to the day that we had begun the renovation process. With the progress we have made these last weeks, we are beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

A Winters Day; Not a Bad Life for the Dog

2008-01-25T11:34:00.000-05:00

I stepped into the kitchen to get another cup of coffee and looked down at Holly sitting by the heater enjoying the warmth of the flame on this cold January day, and I thought that’s the way to enjoy life. The dog has it made.

January Construction Part 3

2008-01-25T11:06:00.000-05:00

White Turns to Pink

By the second week of work the crew was making some great head way removing the old siding and replacing it with OSB, framing the windows and exterior doorways, and applying a “pink” wrap.

So far things are going well and there has been no surprises encountered, which is big plus.

January Construction Part 2

2008-01-25T10:57:00.001-05:00

Window Framing Begins

After making quick work of the sills by the end of the second week of January our contractor had started to remove the vinyl siding and clapboard in order to frame the replacement windows and install the sheathing on the frame. When the house was originally built sheathing was not applied.

January Construction Part 1

2008-01-25T09:07:00.000-05:00

During the last three weeks we have made some great gains on the renovation of the house. Since I have been a little slow and getting the pictures and narratives posted I’ll break this out into a few parts in a couple of separate postings.

Sill Replacement

We were very fortunate during the second week of January to get some very mild weather and our contractor got to work on the sill that runs along the western side of the house. This side had the most water damage and faces a ridgeline on the property next to us.

The four pictures below show the sill at the rear door to the addition, where we will move the kitchen to, and the front of the addition. Our contractors made quick work of replacing the sills; I have some comments below concerning this problem.

Lesson Learned

Beth and I have learned a number of lessons since we began this work and luckily for us we were prepared a bit more since this is our forth home. However, the biggest lesson we learned is to really check out your contractor. The man we presently have working for us was our first choice, but at the time we started to get this under way he was working on another project that prevented him from taking the job. So we began to look around and came across another contractor from the community. We found one and went to one of his jobs and spoke with the home owners, who gave a glowing recommendation. Without out checking further we went with the guy. The lesson we had learned earlier in our marriage was not applied, and as you can imagine we got taken. Back in North Carolina we got taken by a HVAC installer and we made it a point to really check references from that day on. But in this case of our former contractor, we “felt” good about the situation after talking with him and one of his past clients (felt being the operative word), and failed to use solid reason. In the end we were able to get on our present contractors schedule, but that came at a cost ($!).

This is going to be an important issue for anyone trying to renovate an old house. But it becomes even more difficult in rural areas because the number of folks that do this type of work is limited, and to examine their prior work is difficult because carpenters and construction folks have to travel a fairly large area to bring in business. So be prepared to do some traveling, but also be prepared that it may take longer than you expect. That is of course if you are planning to do all of the work yourself. In my case, sill work and framing is not something I have ever done, so I have to contract this portion out, as I will some of the major systems to be installed.

Another lesson to consider is the fact that with an old house renovation a contractor is not going to make the house perfect. In our case our foundation is still Ohio sand stone and will not become square. Our contractor does his best and actually wanted us to tear down the house and start over. But we continue to press on for two reasons: first we have a good amount of our savings in the house and farm already and trying to start over would have forced us to go into debt; something we said we would not do with this house. Second was simply for plain utilitarian purposes; we do not see the need to have a HGTV house. This is a place were we cook our meals and go to sleep, but it is outside where we really want to be. Of course we have given a lot of consideration to getting old and this something that we have planned for in our construction. But that does not mean we should be sinking loads of money into things that have no value or purpose. I guess the big thing we learned along the way is that function must outweigh style or form.

One other point to consider for anyone that reads this weblog and is considering the same lifestyle change, ask yourself first, "should I renovate the house in the first place?" Well if you are going to homestead or even farm commercially, I would say no. When you consider the cost of farming equipment, out building construction, fencing, plants or trees, and livestock, just to name a few categories, it makes no sense to renovate an old farm house. I would seriously consider tearing down at some point and putting up a prefabricated modular home.

So why are we doing this, well because we came at this from another direction. We had planned to work longer at our jobs and move to the farm for an early retirement. Yet we had always wanted to homestead, but at the time we were searching for the property we thought that it was beyond a point that we could do it. It wasn’t until we read Joe Salatin’s book, You Can Farm, and crunched the numbers did we realize we could. But at that point we had already purchased this farm and had started on the renovation. So we had committed ourselves. Nevertheless I would say to anyone, before failing in love with the farm house ask yourself, “is spending upwards of $150K to $250K on a house renovation worth it in the end?” Or is tearing down and refinancing your mortgage with a simple $60K prefabricated house better; and then busting your behind to get rid of that debt.

We do consider ourselves to be in a good position and will really limit the amount of money that we put into the house. There are a number of factors that go into this; first, our expectations are focused on the outdoors not the indoors, so again the inside is going to be solid, but not HGTV. Second, we can do much of the work ourselves. Since this is our forth house we have done many of the tasks head of us before, and we are very confident. But remember not to be too concerned about your ability level. I think I underestimated myself in the past but found buying a book at the home store that explains the processes really helps and before I knew it I had the job done. Third, we are luckily to have our family to help and we have some good neighbors that have already been there (this is key out in the country). Forth, we have no problem using recycled, used, auctioned, or dented materials. The bottom-line is it comes down to costing. There are a few more factors but I think you get the point. If you are going to move out to the country be prepared to do it yourself, unless of course you have deep pockets.

The most important aspect for anyone wanting to homestead is making sure that you first have the money to become self-sufficient and to get your center piece effort under way on your farm. While you may have income coming in from an off farm job, you have to get the farm to a point that it is generating some income; and this takes time and money. If you are like us, working off the farm is not why you moved there in the first place; being there is. So again, before jumping into a major renovation, crunch the numbers and ensure perceptions are properly focused, because you do not want to end up having to sell the farm to get out of the debt incurred through a costly renovation. Farming and homesteading should be the bottom-line not home construction, so plan well before going into this.

The Agrarian Life

2008-01-03T21:58:00.000-05:00

Jeff at Stoney Creek Digest has some thoughts about business opportunities in “organic tree nurseries.”

“There’s another kind of agrarian business that thrives on small acreage. Surprisingly, I hadn’t given it any consideration until I came across this organic tree nursery in the Klamath River valley. A nursery! In fact there’s one right across the road from me, selling fruit and nut trees along with peaches, cherries, and farm fresh eggs year-round: it’s been there for generations. The organic tree nursery I am working with sells bare-root fruit and nut trees all over the country. The present location is so remote that there are very few local customers. 90% of sales are internet based, generated by a prominent top-notch website. The nursery’s customers are primarily rural homesteads, small farms, community gardens, and urban backyard gardeners. The product is shipped when dormant. College interns supply much of the labor, thereby minimizing labor costs while educating young people at the same time. Only two or three fertile acres are needed along with some additional infrastructure (an irrigation system, office space, etc.). Until now this has been a part-time, hobby-like business for the owner, but it has grown to the point where it requires more attention than he can give it. The business is seasonal, leaving much of the off-season available for leisure or the development of complimentary products. Unlike most small farms today, this nursery is operating at a profit - albeit a small one at this point. With some additional marketing, a full-time owner can expect to grow this business to its full potential.

“The nice thing about this business is that it is internet-based. That is to say, it is relocatable to anywhere in the country with a suitable climate and growing season.”

Read the rest of the posting here.

Comment: While the posting is specific to the farm Jeff is recommending, opportunities are ripe for Ohioans to start small farms, particularly in our neck of the woods of southeastern Ohio. Land is cheap, cheaper than most parts of Ohio; and so cheap we have influx of Amish moving into Hocking and Meigs Counties from Kentucky and Holmes County Ohio.

I would also add that with more and more of the northeastern Ohio land moving toward the production of grain for ethanol, grazing opportunities will increase as the cost of feed increases for beef, dairy, sheep, goats, and hogs. Again southeastern Ohio has wonderful grazing opportunities for small and mid size farms.

You might never become rich, but you will live a very rich and rewarding life.

Fish Farming in Ohio

2007-12-13T15:41:00.001-05:00

Wayne sent me this link from The Ohio State University that has an embedded video detailing “aquaculture.”

“With their help, fish farming is becoming big business in Ohio. About 200 fish farms throughout the state generate about $5.3 million annually, the specialists estimate, up about 170 farms and $3.5 million since 1998. Some of the farms raise only fish--teachers, for instance, who raise shrimp in their summers off. Others are full-time farmers who want to add fish to their existing wares.”

Click here too.

Beth and I looked into raising yellow perch as an addition to our center piece; however the cost was too much for us, due to the hilly geography of our farm. But once we get our pond dam repaired we do want to stock it for our use.

Anyway, the video provides an interesting look into another aspect of Ohio farming.

The End of November Update

2007-11-30T12:06:00.000-05:00

Well the end of November is drawing to a close and things are slowing down around here. So with that said I figured I give a few highlights from Meigs County.

The Family

The big fall news is that Ana is pregnant (Wayne, our eldest son’s wife)! So big changes are soon to come for them, and Beth and I will be proud Grandparents. Boy, time really marches forward.

We had great thanksgiving this year. We all met up in Columbus at Wayne and Ana’s home. Sean drove up from Dayton, and Troy and Erica flew in from Arizona. Ana cooked a great turkey and wonderful dinner. We really had great time being together, drinking a few beers, playing some cards, and being together (yes I meant to be redundant).

Troy and Erica finally got orders for his new branch and is out in Arizona for training. They drove out there and along the way did a little sight seeing. Since arriving they have been getting in a little travel on the weekends seeing the southwest for the first time.

Sean is in his second internship for his program at school and is really enjoying the work. It’s the second time he has worked for this particular company, and he thinks they’ll offer him a position after graduation.

Hunting

We have struck up a relationship with our plumbers Bob, Rich, and Harold, from Dayton. Beth knew that they were all devoted hunters, so she came up with an idea that if they helped us plumb the farm house we would offer them full life time hunting rights. Not a bad deal when you consider the cost of plumbers and to hunt on good land anymore. So they have accepted and have been hunting here for two seasons.

Harold brought his two sons, Jerrod and Aaron, down for Youth Season. Both of the boys have been hunting small game with their Dad for years and came down to get their first deer. Only Jerrod went home with anything, a small buck. But Aaron wasn’t disappointed though because he had purchased a Honda ATV with the money he made working with his Dad plumbing last summer and he was able to get out on the trails around the farm. Beth took him for a couple of memorable rides, so he also left happy.

Bob and Rich came down for the start of Shotgun Season. The first day was unbelievably bad with pouring rain, strong winds, and cold temperatures. But on the second day Bob got a doe.

The House

We had been having some difficulties with our former contractor. So we started the search for a new one and luck was with us. We were able to get one of the best builders in the area who has some open time on his calendar. So we will have him finish the sill repair, then move to the exterior. We plan to have the clapboard removed and have OSB sheathing installed, house wrap, and then new vinyl windows and doors. The problem we ran into with the exterior is that when the house was built there was no planking used on the exterior; just framing and the clapboard. So for us to have a well insulated house we needed to have the full exterior removed.

Once that is finished we’ll start working on those areas that we can handle alone. But at least by knocking out the exterior we’ll be able to work inside over the remainder of the winter.

Tractor Woes

Things were going well in the fields cutting back the growth of brush, saplings, and briers that had taken over many of the fields. But then Murphy strikes, which is to be expected with a tractor built in 1962.

It seems the alternator wasn’t charging the battery so there was a continued drain on the battery. Joe and John, our neighbors to the north of us, came by to jump start me and get me from the “back forty” to the barn, and helped try trace the problem. Well four weeks later and replacing the majority of the wires “Old Betsy” is still down.

I brought the starter to be looked at and it turned out it was fine. But the guy said that since I had it out he’d clean the rotors and give it once over. But when I got it home the new bendix wouldn’t engage the flywheel. At the time Bob and Rich, old farmers besides being our plumbers, helped me find what we think was the main problem, the wire from the push starter to the solenoid, with Rich’s multimeter. (My brother did recommend this method earlier on but I was too lazy to track down my missing multimeter.) So I went back to electric shop and we noticed the shaft is slightly bent, so he is thinking that this could be the reason the bendix won’t engage. We will see.

The Farm

Not much to report here. The immediate plan is to buy 25 chicks for egg laying soon. I just have to settle on a brooder and growing hut design.

I have two worm bins built to start raising red wigglers. I want to start raising the worms first to increase fertility in certain parts of the hay fields, and in our garden; then in the second or third year start selling compost (worm castings) in 1 pound bags and compost tea (water run off from the worm beds) in half gallon jugs to a nursery.

Other than that it will be repairing the fence line that we still have standing and clearing away growth around the perimeter to put new fence up.

Well that about wraps it up for now. Take care and God bless.

Making Great Garlic Powder

2007-11-29T16:29:00.000-05:00

The Deliberate Agrarian has a very detailed and useful posting that provides step by step instructions for making garlic powder. This is great posting for any residential suburban gardener or homesteader. Mr. Kimball provides instructions for planting, harvesting, and drying of the garlic, then finally the making of the powder. This is a very detailed with a good amount of pictures. It’s worth a look.

Movie Posting

2007-11-14T07:55:00.000-05:00

This posting is a small test; our digital camera, an inexpensive Kodak EasyShare C643, has as most cameras do today, a video camera feature to take short movies. I am testing the feature and wanted to see how the final product would appear on the weblog. The video is of Beth giving the jackhammer a try.

With the satellite internet connection uploading takes a little while; actually it took a few minutes. So it’s probably not something I do too often, but I think it is kind of nice to know that I can get short videos uploaded for family and friends to see about thing we are doing on the farm.

Let me know how this posting came through for you. I had a few problems and may use YouTube to upload in the future. Thanks.

Breaking Up the Back Porch

2007-11-14T07:28:00.000-05:00

Last weekend Beth and I along with Sean, our youngest son, and Grant our nephew, spent all day Saturday breaking apart a concrete porch on the backside of the house with a jackhammer we rented. We have some sill damage on the same western side of the house and over the years settling has cause the slope of the concrete to incline toward the house, which caused dampness and some rotting along the sill and top plate areas. Another problem we had with the porch was when there is a greater amount of humidity in the air water always formed on the surface. It seemed like we could never keep it dry.

Beth hauling away debris.

Beth removing the debris.

Sean on the jackhammer.

We took the broken concrete and put the small pieces on the driveway where we had some erosion and the larger pieces we put in to semi-dry creek bed that also has some erosion problems. The work was fairly back breaking, but the jackhammer was really worth the price of the rental. At $55 it was fairly reasonable. Everyone tried the jackhammer within a minute got the hang if it.

Once it is completely removed, our plan is to use pressure treated wood to make the new decking, sitting on small concrete piers, and extend the porch along the whole length of the house. Then over the next few years will enclose it so it has small wall around it and screening on the top.

The Peak Weekend

2007-10-23T22:02:00.000-04:00

Both Beth and I agreed that last weekend was the peak weekend for the autumn leaves change. The colors down in southeastern Ohio were tremendous. Here are some pictures of the farm we hope you enjoy.

The Latest Addition to the Farm

2007-10-15T11:06:00.001-04:00

We have a new addition to the farm and she is Holley, an American Rat Terrier. After Beth’s Grandmother passed away Holley went to Beth’s Aunt’s house to stay. But since we are staying at her Grandparent’s farm while we getting some of renovation done on our house, we took Holley back out to her home.

She is good hunter and keeps after the mice and rodents, so she earns her keep. We have been taking her out to our farm and she seems to like the fields and woods there too. But, this is one head strong dog though. We thought our Jack-Russell Terrier, Rocko, was head strong, but Miss Holley does not listen when she gets outside; we hope to instill some good discipline in the coming weeks. Nevertheless, she is good dog and will probably be my side kick for the time being.

Making the Move

2007-10-12T19:26:00.001-04:00

(The metro station close to the apartment)

Last week was my final week commuting to Virginia. For the last three and half years I have been commuting between Virginia and Ohio. I had a small apartment in Arlington and would drive back to Ohio on the weekends. However since we decided to raise livestock for commercial sale, we have been preparing for my return full time to Ohio.

By the end of the summer we were in a good position to make the move, so in September I tendered my resignation. I was very fortunate to have worked with the folks I did and the same goes for the company I was employed with; they were all great group of folks.

But the time has come to prepare fields, repair fences, continue to work on the house, and raise pasture broilers and fresh eggs. Winter is going to cause us to slow down, but we will be in a much better position come spring.

So with a little trepidation, but a large amount of excitement, we are ready to enter the commercial farming market.

Jim’s (Gerrish) Top Ten Links

2007-09-27T18:16:00.000-04:00

Here is a group of links I came across today called Jim’s Top Ten Links, Jim being Jim Gerrish, grazing management consultant based in May, ID, and former lead pasture researcher at the University of Missouri's Forage Systems Research Center in Linneus. Hopefully they can be of use for you.

The BEHAVE project
Many visitors will recognize the name of Dr. Fred Provenza from Utah State University. This is where you can hook up with Fred and his many colleagues studying and teaching a holistic approach to human and natural resource management.
http://www.behave.net

BEEF magazine
Jim is a contributing editor for BEEF with a regular column, The Grazier's Corner. A good all around source for news and information for the livestock industry.
http://www.beef-mag.com/

American Forage and Grassland Council
This is the national organization for forage-based agriculture in the humid US and Canada. An excellent national conference and publication with links to many state affiliates. Good science-based information for management.
http://www.afgc.org/

Society for Range Management
The rangeland counterpart to AFGC. Links to Journal of Range Management and numerous other science-based information sources.
http://www.rangelands.org/srm.shtml

The Stockman GrassFarmer magazine
The only publication in the US dedicated to Management-intensive Grazing and pasture-based agriculture. Includes a monthly column by Jim: 'Grassroots of Grazing'. Sponsor of numerous workshops featuring Jim and other leading pasture-based experts.
http://www.stockmangrassfarmer.com/sgf

Jo Robinson's website
The best umbrella website for the information on the health implications of the pasture-based diet and sources for healthy food from all over the US. Healthy food supplier links for every state.
http://www.eatwild.com

The Forage Information System
Another excellent science-based information source for many aspects of forages. Many links to universities, industry, and other resources for pasture-based agriculture.
http://forages.oregonstate.edu/

The University of Missouri-Forage Systems Research Center
This where I spent over 22 years of my professional career. Use the research and archived news links for many references that form the foundation of MiG principles.
http://aes.missouri.edu/fsrc/

National Agricultural Library search engine
You want to find the original scientific reference for something? This is where you go.
http://agricola.nal.usda.gov/

Pharo Cattle Company
Your source for outside-the-box beef genetics and lots of other information on profitable ranching http://www.pharocattle.com/

How to Butcher a Chicken Weblog

2007-09-18T18:43:00.000-04:00

Wizbang Chicken Plucker prolific homesteading writer and inventor Herrick Kimball has a very useful and detailed weblog, called “How to Butcher a Chicken.” Herrick takes you through 10 easy steps to butcher a chicken in no time. Besides the detailed narratives, he also provides plenty of pictures that are extremely useful.

This is a great site, check it out straight away.

Chip Implants Linked to Animal Tumors

2007-09-10T16:07:00.000-04:00

Chip Implants Linked to Animal Tumors; By Todd Lewan; Associated Press; September 8, 2007.

“When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved implanting microchips in humans, the manufacturer said it would save lives, letting doctors scan the tiny transponders to access patients' medical records almost instantly. The FDA found "reasonable assurance" the device was safe, and a sub-agency even called it one of 2005's top "innovative technologies."

“But neither the company nor the regulators publicly mentioned this: A series of veterinary and toxicology studies, dating to the mid-1990s, stated that chip implants had "induced" malignant tumors in some lab mice and rats.

“‘The transponders were the cause of the tumors,’ said Keith Johnson, a retired toxicologic pathologist, explaining in a phone interview the findings of a 1996 study he led at the Dow Chemical Co. in Midland, Mich.”

Comment: The big Argo companies are really pushing this along with the USDA and the FDA, yet Americans have no idea how NAIS will impact their food. It is so important to know where your food comes from, who grows it, and how it’s processed.

Agro Building Plans

2007-09-04T15:14:00.000-04:00

I came across this link to “building plans” at the LSU AgCenter website. The there are over a 100 plans from head gates, to beehives, to houses. Generally no instructions, just the engineering plans, so this site might not be for the beginning do-it-yourselfer; worth a look though.

LSU AgCenter

America's Cheapest Family Lives Debt Free

2007-08-30T11:45:00.000-04:00

This family lives debt free on $35,000 a year. Imagine what they could save on top of that if they were growing their own food.

Additional information:
America's Cheapest Family

Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes

2007-08-27T13:13:00.000-04:00

One of the better books we have purchased since we began this “endeavor” has been “Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes,” by George Nash.

The book has been a wealth of information for anyone wanting to renovate an old house. I read it at least one a month and sometimes more often because of its completeness. It deals with everything from your initial inspection of the home, preparing for the renovation, the foundation, roof, heating, plumbing, just to name a just a few items. All procedures are explained in easy to understand manner and with complete detail.

The benefits of the book also cover the person that will actually do the work on their own or the one that will contract out. I highly recommend this book.

Farming for the Soul

2007-08-23T10:05:00.000-04:00

HT: The Yeoman Farmer: Farming for the Soul

From the NYT: "Humane, sustainable practices like Mr. Lively’s are articles of faith for many Americans concerned with the way food gets from farm to plate. But they are even more deeply held matters of faith for a growing number of farmers and religious groups. In the past few years protecting the environment has emerged as a religious issue. Now, something similar is taking place in the way people of faith view their daily bread."

Read the rest here.

The Geography of Flavor

2007-08-23T09:45:00.000-04:00

This article may be of some interest for those that market their products.

The Geography of Flavor; Bringing a European Idea Down to Earth: Producers, Farmers Pin Hopes on the Appeal of 'Terroir'; By Jane Black; Washington Post Staff Writer; Wednesday, August 22, 2007; Page F01.

"Studies show that the strategy can be profitable. According to a May 2004 survey conducted by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, 56 percent of respondents were willing to pay at least 10 percent more for a place-based food, or "produit du terroir." The survey also revealed that 65 percent of respondents preferred products that would give farmers a higher percentage of profits than processors, distributors and retailers."

Read the whole article here.

NAIS 'Opt-out' Now Available

2007-08-22T12:14:00.000-04:00

NAIS 'Opt-out' Now Available; By Henry Lamb; August 20, 2007.

“It took the better part of a year, but Calvin and Carol Whittaker finally got their name and premises registration removed from the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Within days of completing what they thought was the renewal of their brand registration last year, they received a letter from the Idaho Department of Agriculture informing them that their ranch had been registered in the NAIS.

Read the entire article here.

Comment: Ohio residents can find out more about the program here.

National Animal Identification System Honest Explanation

2007-08-21T14:16:00.000-04:00

The videos below provide one of the single best explanations to the fallacy of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). It is incumbent upon all Ohioans to watch and understand the effects of this agenda because our agricultural efforts depend upon defeating this.

Part 1

Part 2

Work on Nelsonville Rt. 33 bypass could start Next Month

2007-08-16T11:40:00.000-04:00

Great news here. Once the by-pass is completed we’ll have better access to the growing suburbs of south Columbus. This could be a boom to southeastern Ohio farmers that have been somewhat restricted due to transportation costs and time.

The southeast region could really benefit from an increase in agricultural jobs and south Columbus could benefit from local seasonal farm fresh food. The by-pass looks to be a real blessing for our area.

Sobering Article about Small Farming

2007-08-14T08:59:00.001-04:00

I came across an article on Rodale’s website, New Farm, written by farmer Mark Lichtenstein, called “The end of farming for me, for now.” Contained in the article are some very sobering realities about farming, organic farming, and small entrepreneurship in general.

Mr. Lichtenstein writes about his effort to become an organic dairy farmer and his subsequent liquidation of his entire assets in order to keep from going bankrupt. He offers some points worth reading for anyone entering an entrepreneurial enterprise, and especially farming. To boil the lessons he learned down to a few items I would say:

Stay grounded; don’t be become overly idealistic.
Choose you location carefully; don’t be too far away from your source of supplies and market.
Keep your overhead low.
Do not over invest.
Minimize or incur no dept.
Keep things simple.
Take small steps, especially at the beginning, until you are truly making a profit.

The article is very sobering and the mistakes I hope not to make. Also, this is one article that needs to be read by any future homesteader. I would also recommend reading Joel Salatin’s book “You Can Farm.” Many of the lessons learned by Mr. Lichtenstein are prefigured by Mr. Salatin.

1964 Ford 4000

2007-08-11T15:44:00.001-04:00

Our 1964 Ford 4000 tractor. She does the job.

Our Trip to Polyface Farm

2007-08-11T14:47:00.001-04:00

Beth and I were extremely fortunate at the end of May to make a trip one weekend to Polyface Farm, owned by the Salatin Family, in Staunton, VA. But this weekend luck was really with us.

The Salatin’s permit anyone to come out to their farm and observe their farming practices, so we decided to make a weekend out of it and explore what we had been reading in Joel Salatin’s book, “You Can Farm.” We called the Salatin’s and Mrs. Salatin said we were more than welcome to come out. So off we went to western Virginia.

When we arrived Joel Salatin had just starting a guided tour for a group from the Weston A. Price Foundation. As we getting out of our car, the group leader from the foundation told us we had to hurry if we going to get on the hay wagon. Beth explained that we were not there with the group, but were there to look around for ourselves. Then he asked if we wanted to go for the guided tour, which we both gladly accepted. This was extremely fortuitous because we were able to get the tour for free and learn first hand from Joel himself. What could be better!

continued below the pictures

Egg laying hoop house.

Farmer and author Joel Salatin

The eggmobile

Pasture raised broilers

Well after the talk concluded, Beth and I had some lunch and then returned to the take some additional pictures of the farm. As we were walking to the winter hay feeding shed, we looked at one another and realized how this visit was just one more special event in a series of sublime events that has led us to our move to the farm. Both of us realized that God is truly working through us and has a plan for us. It is amazing.

Well the trip that weekend was great. Seeing the Polyface Farm inspired so much that we are sure we can make this happen. We know the work is going to be hard, but what an opportunity to work with our hands as well as our mind. Truly this is unbelievable.

The Gutted House

2007-08-11T14:25:00.001-04:00

Well folks this is what the inside looks like; it’s completely gutted, both first and second floor. At the moment we are having our contractor repair the sills in couple of places that were rotted. There really wasn’t that much damage considering the age of the house.

Once the sill work is completed, the next step is to have the exterior completed. The exterior currently consists of vinyl over top of the original clapboard; however there is nothing between the studs and the clapboard which means that even with a good insulation job we would have a fair amount of exterior infiltration. So Beth and I decided that we would bite the bullet and have the exterior squared away with new sheathing, vapor wrap, new windows, and finally new vinyl siding.

One thing we are going to do though is have a new waste line installed from the septic to the house. The previous owners installed a new septic system but left the terra cotta pipe in place. Having this completed and the house buttoned up we can then work on the inside under better conditions. Also our plumbers will be able to get in during the winter to help us with the water and plumbing system. I’ll talk about this separately because there is a lot to relay since we have to find, collect, and clean our own water. I want to also post this separately because I am really working hard to collect this information. I haven’t really found a single site that provides this information in detail, so hopefully the information will be helpful for someone else starting a similar project.

Remaining Rooms on theFirst Floor

2007-07-19T21:39:00.001-04:00

The pictures below are the remaining rooms on the first floor.

This room is directly off of the living room. During the last year we used it for storage, but once we get the new systems installed this will become our office.

This is the additional room just off of the dining room. In this photo you can see the small bathroom on right. This room also has access to the cellar. are plan is to gut this and make this into the new kitchen.

This is the dining room. We'll keep this as the dining room, however, we plan on taking out the door to the left and walling it up.

This is the first floor bathroom. we plan on restoring the full window rather than the small one you see now. The space inside will be a little smaller because we will putting our furnace in the corner right after entering.

This wraps up the down stairs. I'll post the pictures of what it looks like gutted in the next post.

Mid Summer Update

2007-07-17T14:03:00.000-04:00

The house is pretty well gutted at this point. I have pictures to post soon. Most of the work has centered on the sills being repaired in a couple of place. However, work has slowed because two of our sons are getting married and money is a little tight. But we are hoping to make some new progress after July.

In the time being we have been cutting the fields. We have a 1964 Ford 4000 tractor now (pictures will follow) and we are getting the fields cut that have been over run by sumac and weeds. Our big goal is to start getting the soil prepared for grazing. We have been reading a couple of books, You Can Farm, by Joel Salatin, and The Keyline Plan, by P.A. Yeomans. Without going in to a lot of detail, the Keyline Plan is a method of cultivating your land so that water is retained so that the natural building up of the soil can occur, while not using evasive plowing techniques. Once I have some extra money, I plan on buying a chisel plow, as described in the Keyline Plan to further the process, so when spring arrives we can begin grazing the fields. Also, John our neighbor has been cutting the good fields for hay.

As for Joel Salatin’s book, all I can say for now is that it life changing. A colleague of mine loaned me the book after many conversations we had about small scale farming. Beth went through it cover to cover, which I too read cover to cover based upon her excitement. As a result, we have really changed our farming plan around completely based upon his methods and models. But I would like to discuss more about the book and our exploration in another entry.

But all in all, things are moving too slowly for us, but through it all we are really learning about patience, and being slow and steady. And we are comforted by the fact that we are not incurring debt.

The Basement

2007-05-21T21:42:00.001-04:00

(Picture 1 entry to the basement)

(Picture 2 systems in the basement)

The basement in the house is really a cold cellar that was added on the house shortly after the house was built on to the extra room. (the rst of the house is support on sandstone blocks with a crawl space.) The wall was removed and a stairwell was constructed to get into the cellar. When the picture was taken we had our water pump and pressure tank, water heater, and floor mounted propane heater contained in the cellar. The contractors have removed everything from the basement and we plan to build a bulkhead and stairwell to enter from the outside so we have more room in the new kitchen.

We’ll be replacing the pump and water heater, plus adding a filter and chlorination system to clean the water from the well. We’ll also add another pump that will pump water from the cistern for outside and grey-water usage. We have fairly good size cistern that is used to collect the rain water, so we’ll definitely take advantage of this.

The foundation is made of sandstone blocks, which are going to have to be re-tucked with mortar.

(Picture 3 cellar wall)

(Picture 4 water tank and water pump and pressure tank)

The Living Room

2007-05-20T22:15:00.001-04:00

(Picture 1 taken from about the front door)

(Picture 2 taken from the same location but to the right some, the door in the foreground leads to the stairwell to access the upstairs.)

The living room is going to remain the same; however we’ll be moving the stairwell to the mud/laundry room (the old kitchen). As it turns out this is where the stairs were when the house was originally built. The fireplace will be removed completely because it is really falling apart. We’ll replace it with a wood fire place stove and insulated exhaust pipe, which will be surrounded by framing and then a faux stone finish. We decided to keep the wood fireplace because we’ll need to have backup systems in the event we lose power. Because of the remoteness we often lose power for hours and days at a time.

The Old Kitchen

2007-05-20T22:06:00.000-04:00

(Picture 1 taken from the living room)

(Picture 2 taken from the dining room)

These three pictures are of the old kitchen. This was the original kitchen, as best we can tell, which is in the northwest corner of the house. We are planning to convert this room into a mud/laundry room and move the kitchen to the opposite side of the house. We have a large room that was added on to the house some time during the history of the house, which offers us the ability to have a much larger kitchen and eating area.

(Picture 3 taken from about the sink facing abck to the living room and dining room)

Down Stairs Floor PLan

2007-05-20T21:44:00.001-04:00

We will be posting a series of pictures of each room in the house this week. We'll post the pictures of the down stairs rooms first as they were when we moved in, and then we'll post the recent pictures of the gutting process. We hope this helps as a frame of reference. Once this is completed we will move on to the upstairs and the features like the doors and the stairs.

Yes we have been Away for a While

2007-05-20T21:41:00.000-04:00

Really, there is not much of an excuse, Brian forgot his password and Beth never learned to post. We hope to have some up dates this week with all of the pictures we took over the winter, and then show where we are on the construction. Also we may begin to discuss the information we are learning about from the Polyface, Inc concerning sustainable farming methods.

The Out Buildings

2006-11-02T21:52:00.000-05:00

I am standing beside what I think was an old chicken coop. However, what we use it for and the folks we bought the house from is a garden tool shed.

The grey building is a the barn and three car garage. The barn was orginally built to be a small milking barn, which as a place to milk and keep the cows. I post more pictures of the barns soon.
The three car garage will be used for a small gym for our treadmill and weights and the rest for a shop. With all of the work on the famr we shouldn't need the gym area, but it will be nice to have for the winter and bad weather.

The backside of the garden tool shed. The folks we bought the house from planted grapes, which is the large growth covering the back.

The last outbuilding we have is a two car garage, which we'll use for our cars.

All in all the building are in good shape and not needing any urgent repair. Although the barn is in need of some new siding. I'll discuss this later when I post the pictures.

21 and 22 October

2006-11-01T22:03:00.000-05:00

The pictures here are from the 21^st and 22^nd of October. We were really glad to be in Ohio for the leave change peak. We went to the top pf the ridge behind the house to take these photos. Beth and I have been a little slow posting, but we do have a good amount of pictures to post soon.

The Farm

2006-10-19T22:05:00.000-04:00

Beth and I have been a little slow getting this up, but with the summer coming to a close, we should be able to devote a little attention to the log.

We purchsed the Chapman Farm in July 06 and have been getting settled in with the move from Dayton. (Along the way we hope to find out what the orginal family name of the farm was. Chapman was the last family name, however, the farm was Martha Chapman's, who's family owned the farm prior. So we have to do a little digging to find her maiden name.)

Much the work has been to get all of our stuff sorted out and the grass cut. Besides that we have been getting the water in the well cleaned, and water to the bathroom and kitchen. Many of the pipes have burst so we had big leaks in a good many places, but we were able to get it squared away. There is not hot water, but we have flushable toilets.

We also have been getting the hay field cut so the hay will start to come back over time. We know we will have to fertilize but we have to see next year. Plus we are a couple of years away from getting a tractor and equipment to do it ourselves. Right now a neighbor cuts and bush hogs for us.