Our Farm is 15.3 acres near Bastrop TX, with goats, chickens, cats dogs and other assorted animals. We raise gourds, herbs,flowers and a kitchen garden. We will chronicle our adventures here warts and all. Mostly warts I think.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

One of the reasons we moved out here to the country is to have more "active" lifestyles (I  have a lifestyle???!!) 
At our last place it was too easy to sit before the TV and vegg out.  So now we have these 15 acres and around a hundred and forty some odd animals and things are busier.  Very busy.  Just a partial list of what needs to be done.  

The aforementioned trailer repair.  You never know how much you use something until it's unavailable.  

The cart.  That gets used daily for transportation around the place, as a wheelbarrow, for cleaning out the barn, for planting, harvesting, moving machinery, collecting animals, and sometimes it's nice to drive out to a seldomly visited area and have a glass of wine and discuss things.  

The deck.  I've been working on it for nearly a year and it's woefully incomplete. I'm redoing a section now and I expect some progress to happen here pretty soon.

The backyard fence. Bad dry rot.  It doesn't help that the goats rub up against it to scratch.  Several posts are leaning precariously.  This is a big project as there are 52 posts that need replacing.  

Vineyard gate. To provide easy access without having to go through the barnyard.  When you open the barnyard gate there are over a hundred animals that all want to stand on your feet and see if you have anything to eat. Avoiding them whenever possible is a good thing.

Herb Garden. Kristi had built a large, great herb garden.  Basil higher than your waist, even if you are a tall person.  Oregano, thyme, fennel, Lemon balm, catnip, rosemary and others.  Alas, it was build over a buried electrical line that runs between the house, the shed and the pond.  As we watered the herb garden, it would short a splice in the wire and the power would go out to the shed and pond.  So the garden had to go.  It needs to be relocated before spring.

Greenhouse. I had chosen a rigid clear plastic panel for the roof and walls.  Unfortunately the plastic I used was very brittle.  Just 2 months after I built the greenhouse (converted a large animal shelter) we had a hailstorm that battered large holes in it.  I have to remove all the panels and replace it with a different material.  The time for this project is right now. Since the greenhouse is best used Fall, Winter and Spring.

Pond. I have to put something in for geese and waterfowl.  We only have a barrel for them now and it's too small and gets fouled to easily.  This won't be huge, but maybe a couple of hundred gallons with a liner.  Then the geese can swim and dive and produce more geese for the freezer.


This is only a partial list and there are new items that pop up frequently.  Of course there are projects that look like emergencies and have to be done immediately.  Those don't appear on any list.  Well, gotta get to it...

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