Last fall, we had a small gathering of family and friends to celebrate the new developments that year on our 10 acres across the road as well as the naming of the land, Twisted Oak Farm. We all walked the property, visited with the animals, feasted on Fred's stew, and enjoyed a big fire in the new fire pit we made by the goat barn. Since then, we have built a shelter for hay bales and firewood as well as a new pig hut.
 |
| Pig hut, goat barn, and shelter |
Our goat herd currently consists of 4 goats: the buck and 3 does. We slaughtered all of last year's Spanish kids for meat, since they turned out to be so small. However, the does are definitely starting to show, so we should have a new batch of kids in the coming months, which will hopefully grow better. We also hope that we will be past any further crazy cold spells by then.
Predators have taken a huge toll on our chicken flock. We are down to only 6 hens. We have trapped a couple large coons and 2 small possums, since the beginning of November (when we had 17 hens and a rooster). We had been making the coop harder and harder to get into, but the last coon kept eluding the trap and eventually getting through our defenses. Finally, a larger and sturdier trap caught it. Right now, we are not planning to rebuild The Haven flock. Instead, we may start raising meat birds at Twisted Oak and eventually start a new laying flock there as well. Xander, our livestock guardian dog, appears to be doing well with the goats. We shall see how he does with other animals.
 |
| Portable pig hut |
As the mention of the pig hut indicates, we are gearing up for more pigs. Jeff raised 2 feeder pigs a couple of years ago, but this time, we are going to try our hand at breeding pigs. We hope the pigs will help with land clearing and plowing gardening space. We aim to develop a rotational grazing system with the pigs, goats,and chickens to maximize the health and productivity of the land and the animals and minimize the amount of commercial feed needed for the animals. Fred is taking part in this new pig adventure too. He and Jeff built the pig hut, which is portable, so it can be moved to different pastures as needed. Jeff is excited about raising Berkshire pigs, which have been referred to as the Kobe beef of pigs.
 |
| Composting tumbler |
I have started lots of seed for this year's garden, and all of the garlic I planted last fall appears to be doing well. We purchased a deeply discounted greenhouse kit, which we have set up in the clearing behind our blueberry bushes at The Haven. It will help with getting young plants started plus other gardening needs. Jeff also built us a composting tumbler, which will hopefully produce compost more quickly and easily. We found a good local source of used food grade metal barrels for making composting tumblers plus other things such as a smoker.
We acquired 6 apple trees last weekend. Our first fruit trees! We'd visited a local apple orchard about a month ago and got a great tour from the very nice and knowledgeable owner. We chose a variety of southern heirlooms with which to start: Gold Rush, King David, Liberty, Roxbury Russett, Lowry, and Black Twig. We prefer tart apples, but we got a couple of sweet ones too. We also took into consideration time of maturity and natural disease resistance. They are planted along the middle of the southern property line of Twisted Oak. At the recommendation of the grower, we will pick the blossoms for the next 2 years, making our first harvest the year Raine turns 5.
 |
| Yule log burning |
Jeff thoroughly enjoyed the cob building workshop he attended in TN last fall. He is eager to start experimenting with cob here, using our soil. As soon as the weather gets warm enough, we will build a cob oven at The Haven, as our first cob project. The whole family is registered to attend a cob building workshop in KY, during the first week of May. Even Raine will get involved as part of the associated kids' camp.
Jeff and I are very happy about starting to develop our land, and we are excited about all of our plans, especially building our own home. Of course, there is some apprehension too, as we wonder about having the time and resources to accomplish everything and managing the other challenges we might face. However, we will do our best to figure it all out as we go along. Furthermore, I suppose when we are finally able to start living on our land - at least in some capacity, we will rename this blog again. :-)
Posts
