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This is a series of short stories or thoughts that we have had while working on the farm. Keep checking back in as we will be adding the complete stories and sharing more of what we have been doing throughout this year.
How to meet your neighbors in the country. The pigs ran away. I spent 2 days looking for our pigs and a neighbor a ½ mile away found them in their horse pasture and called me over to get them. We had never met before and I was really impressed that they figures out they were ours. These neighbors are amazing and we feel blessed being introduced to them via our pigs.
How we got our land. I had been hoping to get hunting land for over 10 years. I figured I would be old and crippled before I thought I could ever make my dreams come true, but my wife created a miracle. She happened to be doing a period search for land and she found some land a logging company was selling. After calling a real-estate agent and submitting an offer sight unseen, we had to figure out how to pay for it. We had to get creative, but if you want something bad enough you have got to be willing to put in the work to get it. Hear how we figured out how to make it happen, and see how we created some of our own good luck.
You want to learn to build a fence, spend some time with a pig. Pigs will teach you everything you need to know about how to build a fence. The is nothing pigs like more than to show you that you know nothing about fences.
Running with the pigs. The best exercise program in the world. These pigs are fast, low to the ground, and can get into places you tall folk just can’t stand. Learn how to catch a pig. It’s probably not what you expected.
I left my family at home during the pandemic to see my dying Grandmother in Ohio. While visiting I had a covid scare and came home with an 28’ Camper, Bobcat T770 track loader, and a 14,000 pound dump trailer. Lessons in turning lemonade into a three course meal. Turning problems into opportunities and creating good luck.
What to do with a thousand treetops? How I learned to run and operate a saw mill, as a commercial wood chipper. What I have learned from the experience and the grand plans I have.
Raising turkeys in the city… did you know turkeys fly and they prefer to live on my roof rather than in their run? Limitations of fencing again identified by livestock.
Wild chickens! They weren’t really wild but they preferred running around the yard rather than staying within their fence. Yes, chickens can fly too. Lessons learned and lessons we are still learning.
Having food to sell, but no customers. The business side of farming. The things you should think of, but just expected to work out in the end. How to prevent this from happening to you and techniques to consider.
Rabbits, the protein only homesteaders think of but is good for everyone.
Things to consider before raising rabbits and how to raise them successfully.
Diggy diggy hole! Getting an excavator. Why did I do it and would I do it again?
My first tractor. What I bought. Why I bought it. Would I do it again? What has happened since then? Would I do anything different?
Buying attachments for the Bobcat track loader. What order did I buy them in? Thoughts and opinions of each.
What to do when you have equipment too big for the trailers you own. Hint: buy a bigger trailer. LOL
Problems and more problems. How to address all the problems. Prioritizing by impact timeline and impact. Is it worth stressing about the stuff you have no control over? Letting things fail. Creating a long term plan and reducing future problems.
Had a bad day which often makes for a good story. I had to head out early Saturday morning to pick up 3 tons of feed for the animals (120 bags each weighing 50 pounds. Later you will see why this is important). This time instead of bringing it back to the city, I took it all out to the farm. The plan was to disconnect the trailer at the farm and then head out to pick up the new boars we were buying. Then come back and unload the boars and then the feed needed on the land and bring the rest back to the city. Well, anyone that has every been out to the farm can tell you that the road is more of an idea than a road. You have to cross 3 creeks and on really wet days you better have 4 wheel drive to get up the muddy hills. This was one of those days. Now let's back up a bit. I decided to try my luck and drive some back roads after picking up the feed. This was a bad idea. The last load of feed was loaded a little too far back on the dove tail trailer and 1 hard turn knocked the whole pallet sideways. I didn't notice this until I was almost to my land and there was no safe place to pull over and inspect the load. Once I got to the land it looked like I was only missing one bag. There wasn't anything I could do to fix it from leaning so I figured I would just take my time and drive carefully back to the farm. Well, that swampy, windy, bumpy logging road would not allow me to crawl on back to my property. I was in 4 wheel drive pretty much the entire way and I didn't stay in the throttle enough, there was no way I was going to make the hills, and this 26 foot trailer is no fun to back through the woods. Needless to say, it got rough and the road pulled 20 bags off my trailer and tore open 4 bags of feed. Figuring about $12 a bag I just see the money falling off the trailer. By the time I park, all 3 pallets are completely sideways and I already know what I will be doing later. I chocked the wheels, disconnect the truck, and drive back the 1 mile lane picking up all the bags that didn't make the trip. I unload those bags onto the trailer look up at the sky and hope it doesn't rain and head to get the boars. I did double back through the old country road and found the first bag the fell off before getting to the land. The trip was beautiful, minus the stormy looking clouds. I love driving those country back roads, which is good because there is no interstate highway close to where I was going. I love seeing the parts of Kentucky that are forgotten by the city. I prefer to ride these areas without anything on the radio and just let my mind wonder with creative narratives about the land, farm, or community. It's a great way to free your mind and get the creative chemicals flowing so that you are prepared to solve that next problem around the corner. I finally arrive at the farm with the boars and then realized I forgot to bring the money. Fortunately my wife was able to wire the money over to the farmer and I was able to bring the boars back to the farm with me. Also to my luck, the rain stayed away, but I still had my work cut out for me. Normally I use a Bobcat with forks to unload the pallets of food from my trailer, this day I had to do it by hand and there was no one else around to help. So I put some music on and got to work. I have no idea how long it took but I do recall how tired I was. Work wasn't done yet. I still had to carry 320 pounds of water to the pigs and get the new boars out of the back of my truck, but that story I will save for another day. Farmer strong is a real thing. My goal has been to be stronger at 60 years of age than I was at 40, and if I keep having days like this, I think I will be able to pull it off. In the end it was still a good day, I just had a rough start. It is all about perspective and if the hill is in front of you or behind you. Until next time, keep moving!
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