Project: Organization

I love when things are organized, don't you? It feels relaxed, clean and well, yes, organized. Before we hit the road, we stored most all of our household possessions in our two horse trailers. Problem is, we moved into a house with less than half the square footage.

We've unpacked a lot of our boxes right into our garage, which itself is huge compared to what we had, so that helps. But there was no organization and really, it was the last thing on our mind.

A mess of boxes and "stuff"

We have this very odd room in one of our barns ... used to be some sort of grain storage with a sloped floor in all directions. On the sides though, it had shelving. While we have no interest in walking on slanted floors we knew we could recycle and re-purpose those shelving units.

Old Grainary Room

It took us half a day, but we now have a corner of mostly organized storage. OK, boxes. But, I know what's in them. :-) As you can see, we still have tons of "stuff" not on the shelves, but we have more shelving to take out of the grainary room and we have committed to emptying 2 boxes a week every Sunday - we'll consolidate boxes and give stuff away that we just aren't going to need for a couple years. It's a little step but it feels good.

What organization projects are you working on?

Farm Update III

I'm not sure what else to call it other than Farm Update III, but it's a little list of what we have accomplished over the last month (May). While some of you are in awe and others could care less. For me, it's motivation. I get to go back through my month and there is just something amazing about writing down all those things we've accomplished.

For those of you without a farm, I am guessing your days are filled chock full, just differently. We've definitely slacked on things like getting involved with groups - or really, even friends. While that may sound a little sad, there is definitely a "honeymoon" of sorts going on here. It's really the only way to describe the feelings of sheer joy and excitement when we think of something new to do here. Even more so when we complete a project. Which leads me to "The List"...

May saw the completion, finally, of the visiting barn. Not so much of a visiting barn right now, but that is what we have planned for it.
New paddocks

Krystall was weaned off all her medications and we're holding our breath to see what will happen.

We picked up Lochlann and Roxanne. What a whirlwind of a trip! Actually, it was my Mother's Day present; Scott made the trip there and back for me.

We pulled out about 3 miles of fencing. Barbed wire (a vets way to put their kids through college ;) ) and high tensile wire, both 2 and 3 strand wire. Oh my is that stuff hard to control.

Perimeter fencing

The main, large pasture (approx 6 acres) was mowed again and then we put the disc on it. We're going to try the more environmentally friendly way to take care of annual weed - keep tilling them under so the plants eventually don't get to seed stage and there will be nothing will grow back.

Looking into sheep breeds and importing from the UK. Unfortunately, you cannot bring live animals in...

We built a pastured poultry pen for our new hens. 

We have things growing in our garden.

Farm Update II

We've slowed down a little this last month since Scott started working off the farm more. We've been more focused on outdoor stuff - the house is pretty much done - the bathroom will need to be completely gutted and re-done, but we'll safe that for a winter project. We still did get some house things done though, including ...

Re-painted a bench for the kitchen that Scott's dad had made for us
Finished re-upholstering the kitchen chairs (love them!)
Put together some Ready to Assemble furniture ... a new, larger desk (man that was heavy!) and a matching printer/electronic station and a comfy new office chair.

Towards the end of April we saw weather warm into the 80s and 90s for just a bit. Unseasonably warm, but we are sure enjoying drying out.

The Visiting Barn got a lot of work this month ...
We added more bracing to fully support the roof
New stall front openings and doors were made and a couple installed
We added a little landscaping to the North side of the building
Completely rebuilt the south wall along the barn
It still needs paint - it's gonna be pretty! - new, longer paddocks and the roof panels to be re-aligned. Maybe next month it will be finished...





Ended up with a sick horse that was not only in pain and extremely itchy, but also causing heart ache and trauma for us as well. If you missed Krystall's story, you can read it here. Still no good resolution.

Lochlann - what a bull

BOUGHT OUR FIRST COWS! Lochlann and Roxanne, our new (and long awaited) Irish Dexter cattle!


The Breeding Barn got:
  a couple extra tons of hay :)
  foaling stalls were stripped and actually had horses in them (happy horses with 14x24 stalls)
  all the ugly, black plastic covering the windows was taken down - Sunshine in!

The stallion paddock was finished. The shelter and panels were there, but it was an ugly, weedy mess not fit for anything other than maybe a goat that likes dry, pokey weeds.
And then OLE ARRIVED to use his new paddock!
And he arrived with WHR Beylah. Once again, we have an Erlend daughter for our breeding program.

Beylah, like most Fjords, thinks she belongs inside your back pocket. Here she is "working with" Scott.

Created an herb garden by the house
Built 4 raised beds for the garden area
Started the summer garden with tomatoes, basil, cabbage, beans, corn, lettuce, mint, parsley, cilantro, 
Planted 7 fruit trees (3 apple, 2 plums and 2 pears)!! I see pear buds but no plums. Apples are just finishing their flowering.
Installed our first row of our Vertical Garden. I've been planning this for over 2 years now! Organically raised strawberries coming soon.


Sprayed for those nasty, goat head weeds. Yes, we resorted to using chemicals for those nasty things. This will NOT be a regular occurrence on our farm though. With at least a year - maybe up to 3 or 4 years - worth of weeds and neglect, this one time application was the best option for the field.
Had a tractor malfunction, which set back a few projects by a week.
Irrigation!! We went in with one of our neighbors and purchased enough irrigation pipe to get water to part of our property ...

We had a few homeschool playgroups and field trips with the boys (lots of other boys too!)
Had an amazing visit from my dearest girlfriend back in the Seattle area- thank you Kristi P. for coming to visit the new farm!!
And then made a trip back to Seattle for a doctor appointment, work on our farm there and some COW shopping. 

Raised Garden Beds

An easy way to create a functional and attractive garden area is with raised beds.

This is our display garden area that, once filled, will be a nice example of what you can do in your own backyard with just a few supplies and a few hours. This garden area will end up providing our family with enough frozen/canned/dried tomatoes, green beans, peas, pumpkin pulp (we LOVE pumpkin anything!) as well as dried herbs for the year, as well as fresh all summer and fall long.

first layer on

We do not use pressure treated wood, nor do we use plastic to line the sides so it's important to pick something that will last. We ended up using Redwood, which is a great hardwood and has passed the test of time over and over.

We only went 2 high of 2" x 6" x 8' boards and make the entire box 4' x 8' in size. A little wide for comfortable reaching, but it's a very efficient use of the wood with no waste. Outdoor wood screws into the corners and we also used a 24" long piece of rebar on the outside middle to help give support once the boxes are filled with all that soil.

Instead of trying to dig out all the grass and weeds, we recycled in honor of Earth Day. We used old newspapers and layered about 3 sheets all over the bottom of each box and then added the soil. 


Speaking of soil, this is probably the most important part. Getting good quality topsoil MIX or a composted manure will feed your plants - and in turn you - is vital to the home garden. I remember my mom using old tractor tires, filling them up with semi composted horse manure and putting the tomato plants right in. They liked the heat and the nutrients and we had great tomatoes.  Thanks mom for all the gardening advice!

boxes done and filled with soil

The Rebuilding of a Farm: New Stall Fronts

The farm has been vacant for at least a year, but seems to have been run down for many more than that. Repairs abound! We love it though despite all the little kwirks and needed repairs. The Visiting Barn has some new stall fronts - in the front of the barn. Go figure! In addition to beefing up the structure to make sure it lasts another 30 years (it was missing vital, structural supports), we cut some openings at the front for entrance both front and rear to the stalls with their runs. 2 stalls had front openings and 3 had rear openings. Sorry, I am way to fussy to waist time running front to back to retrieve horses and access stalls.

Stall fronts before - no access from the front

I have such a great hubby! He made some great stall fronts for us. They're not done yet, they are getting the big cross in the middle for additional support, but he wanted to wait until I picked out the paint colors for the barn and trim before he finished them completely. By the way, we're going with a little richer red and black trim around the doors and posts with the white gutters. I know it will look nice when we get it done ...

Stall fronts after - DOORS!

The Stallion Pen

Not some fancy pen or play place for Scott and the guys to hang out, but an actual stallion pen or "run" for Ole, our beloved Fjord stallion.
Fair Acres Ole will be arriving at his new home here in Idaho after having spent close to a year in Montana with the ladies. And the wonderful people at Wild Hair Ranch. Thanks Michele!

 

 

Ole has a 16 x 16 covered run in and a 16 x 64 paddock waiting for him when he's not in the arena, out driving or having a date with one of his favorite ladies. Yes, that is green pasture out behind him. Sheer torture for a Norwegian Fjord.

Vertical Gardening

I've been waiting for my Vertical Garden for at least two years now. Right after I saw them in British Columbia on a farm tour, I just knew this would be an amazing addition to our micro farm operation. They had a small farm in which they raised many things, but they had these amazing, vertical gardens - rows and rows of them - for their organic strawberries. [photos and instructions below]

Given the extensive use of pesticides and fungicides on today's strawberries, toxins which end up being consumed by our bodies, organic strawberries are top on my list. Yes, you can buy organic strawberries. They are on many of the "Dirty Dozen" lists (see this one as a great list); produce to always look for organically produced. Locally, they cost about 6 bucks for a quart size container. OUCH! That hurts most people's pocket books, but the alternative is expense on the back end in the form of added health care costs. So, here is my long awaited answer to both organic strawberries as well as a new alternative to gardening in general. Vertical baby. Sky's the limit.


We used:

3 - T-posts (available at your local farm and garden store)
1 - hog/horse panel, cut to 8'
2 - 10' long, 3" round drain pipe (white only - NO black. it's too hot)
2 - 3" end caps
4 - screws, self tapping
Potting soil mix and compost from the farm
Hole saw, drill and 1/4" drill bit

Start by drilling your holes evenly along the top of your pipe with your hole saw. How far apart really depends on what you're going to be growing. For strawberries we are going about 11" apart.
Turn over the pipe and in between the big holes on the top, you are going to drill the smaller 1/4" holes for drainage.
Attach the end cap and with your self tapping screws, one screw on each side.
Take your pipe, with the holes on top, and fill it with whatever mix you decide to plant in.
You'll want to keep tilting up the pipe so the soil mix will all fall down to the end. Keep filling, but do not take your hands and "pack" the soil in. Once you are full to the end, attach the other end cap with the two other screws.
Now it's time to place it. Two people are better on this job.
Place your T-posts 8' apart with the 3rd in the center.
Now you can lift up your pipe and attach it however you wish. You could use zip ties, but we're using up some bailing twine. We've got lots! Ask someone from a farm, if you can have some baling twine. They'll try and make you take 12 pounds of it. :-)

We packed bareroot strawberry plants in each hole and THEN packed some extra soil around each plant. Water very well and watch them grow. And produce.

We've started with just the two pipes for the moment. We'll add 2 more on each side, giving us a total of 6, yes, SIX rows of strawberries in the same space of one row horizontally. Talk about efficient! For those of you who have slugs and bugs eating your strawberries before you get a chance, this will drastically cut down on those guys! And really, it was pretty cheap. We recycled old T-posts, the panel and twine. We bought the pipe, caps soil and plants. That's what I want for my farm. For your garden as well.

What is your most efficient garden tip or technique? I'd love some more projects to add to our list ;)

Ever Have One of Those Weeks

WOW, has it been a busy week. Started off having to have our brand new mare tested and skin biopsied as her hair is falling out if tufts. We had one of the vets out early last week, but just didn't see any improvement at all. She has been diagnosed with Pemphigus Foliacious - an auto-immune disorder. Lovely. The vet said she has only seen a handful of cases in her 30 some years as a vet. Truly a disappointment and so sad to see her so miserable. We're working on a few paths simultaneously, but for now, she's on daily steroids.

On the positive side, we finally got a desk to fit in our house and start unpacking the office supplies, we built a couple dutch doors for the barn as well as finished supporting the barn in areas where it was really desperate for it. We celebrated 2 birthdays, Good Friday, Easter and some family movie time. We've also found a great little place here on the farm for our herb garden. It looks so nice and is a happy spot on the way to the barns.

We also built 4 of our raised beds this week and look forward to planting seeds this weekend. We also picked up 3 apple trees and 2 plums. Oh, how I can hardly wait for late summer! What is the most exciting part of both the herb garden as well as the garden/orchard, is that it will become a showpiece for teaching others about gardening and how little space really is needed.

It's funny how we hear so often from people about how they don't have room to grow anything. We're here to tell you - and show you - that YES, you can. It doesn't take nearly as much room as you would think. Tired of mowing your yard? Guess what? You can turn all that mowing time into weeding and harvesting time! And then go inside and truly enjoy the benefits of a little bit of work!

Enjoy the sunshine!

Garden Design

Joy, oh joy it's really almost here: Gardening Time! This year, it's also garden designing time as well. Every year, about the end of January, I get the gardener's itch to start planning and preparing for the seasons bounty. I dig through the catalogs, which interestingly enough, come at just the right time! This year though, instead of a few, smaller raised beds for our family, we're going to step out a little and go for the College Fund Farm.

Yep, the boys are so excited and have been asking on their own about gardening, that we are going to let them set up one of the long beds for themselves. To sell on their own and save some money for their future...college funds hopefully.

This is the area where we are going to start with our new garden design ... it will have a total of 3 or 4, 4' wide by 40' long, slightly raised beds. It will also be the area that we will put in a few dwarf fruit trees as well as our vertical garden are for the strawberries (and who knows what else).

We've already started by using the tractor to scrape the grass and weeds, but before we put down one shovel full of dirt, we'll also put down some of our leftover newspapers to help kill off everything in the most natural way we can. We found the prior owners manure pile, which has been sitting for at least a couple years, and is perfectly rotted. Yes, there will be weeds, but easy enough to control as they start out.

Is the spring garden bug getting to you yet? How are you preparing for your garden? And remember - a garden can be anything large, but most assuredly, it can also be a few pots on your patio! Don't think you don't have room. Go for it!

Farm Update

It has been a whirlwind of activity around the farm over the last 6 weeks, but it was a particularly busy week this last week. Although the boys were on Spring Break, we managed to just about finish up the house and have started work on the outside buildings.

Sunset at Willows Edge Farm

One of our new neighbors stopped by and we were talking about all the projects we did this week. I had mentioned that we got quite a few things from our list done and she said something about keeping a list of all the projects we complete as we go. What a fun - or completely exhausting - idea!

So, here are some of our accomplishments...
Let me start by saying the house was not liveable when we bought it. Actually, I won't go into the gory details.
Scrubbed down all the walls, cabinets (inside and out) and bathroom
We painted the interior of the house, including ceilings
Carpeted the bedrooms and hallway
Installed a new wood floor in the living room and dining area of the kitchen
Put in new floor trim
Got to install a cool, new mount for one of the TVs to hang from the wall
Installed the new floor in the kitchen and entry
Installed new mini blinds and wood blinds in all the windows
Installed closet organizers/systems in 4 closets
Ran wires for the TV antenna to 2 rooms
Modified some of our old furniture and re-purposed it to new uses
Put in a new refrigerator, dishwasher, washer and dryer
Installed a water purifier under the sink
Removed the leaky kitchen faucet and the sink a facelift
Repaired the water softener - it works now
Unpacked most of the 2 horse trailer and half the 6 horse (that is where we stored our household when we moved out)
Installed new kitchen lighting

Scott fixing some bad drywall

Removed some rotten drywall and replaced it
Put in some pretty wainscoting 
Closed off and sealed up 4 floor vent openings that were not functional
Installed a bathroom fan - nope there was no ventilation in there
Put an attic fan in and added a vent opening in the opposite end of the house
We put in driveway alarms on both driveways
Had some new wiring done inside the house
Made 2 runs back to Seattle - one to get more of barn supplies
Culled a lot of clothing, kitchen wares and linens that won't fit into our new, smaller home

Me & Elsie mowing the pastures

Outside, we mowed all the pastures. Almost 11 acres.
Bought a new tractor.
Scraped a lot of ground clear for reseeding
Cleaned out 3' tall weeds from the paddocks of the small, 5 stall barn
Repaired 2 water leaks, 3-4' under ground
Had the Breeding Barn completely wired with some new lighting for each stall, the walkway and the upcoming vet area wired with separate lighting and GFI plugs
The garage got a new wiring panel and a plug for a welder
We put in a special RV plug in for the camper to have it's own spot

A motion sensor light was installed by the garage and one of those big, dawn to dusk lights out in the middle of all three barns
Got a new Propane tank installed outside
Wiring to the Big Barn and the arena was repaired - WHOOHOO!
The boys cleaned up most all the feathers all over the arena (for some reason, it had become a killing area for the local wildlife)
Collected a bunch of owl pellets from the Big Barn
Spread 3 yards of sand around the arena and walkway in the Big Barn
Got an extra Fjord mare for our growing herd :)
Scott, Dakota and Chelsea took their Hunter's Safety classes (20+ hours)

We took a lot of pictures, enjoyed some amazing sunshine and had our oldest come for a month long visit. We have started to make some new, local friends - one of which is from our hometown of Bothell - and have been looking for our new church home.

I know there's more, but that's about all I can remember for now. Actually, looking back at this list, I  understand why we're tired. I think I will start a list for April ... this re-building is hard enough, but re-building a farm that had been run down for so many years? Well, we knew we were getting a project. We are the right people for this job.

The First Fjords have Arrived

We are nothing as a farm, without of Fjords. And not having any here was hard ... for a few days. Elsie Rose arrived last week and Miss Krystall joined her this weekend.

For those who know our herd, Elsie Rose was one of our original Fjords. Actually, she was my first and will forever have a place in my heart. She is my other little princess.

Krystall is the first of who knows how many new Fjords we will be adding to our herd this year. Here she is at day one:

One Step Forward ...

My goodness, it's been a few weeks since I've had time to write a post. As the title implies, we've had our fare share of delays.

The house was close to being a tear down. There are days we think maybe we should have. Little things like replacing the dishwasher that should have been a couple hours at most, turned into a 3 day project removing rotten flooring and cleaning/removing mildew from the floors and walls behind it.

Then there was the concrete floor in the dining area that needed to be filled since it was 4 inches lower in the middle than the sides. When we went to remove the trim from the wall we discovered more mold behind. Tried to scrub the mold off the walls and yep, the walls were rotten. Off comes the drywall and there is wood paneling behind it. Rotten as well. Behind that? Yes, you knew there was another layer didn't you?! Plywood and yes, it as well was rotten. Here's the upside ... it wasn't up more than about 6 inches and we cut out 30 inches to be safe and for it's replacement. :-) The other advantage is that all that was attached to the concrete walls that the house are built with, so that was all safe and capable of being used over again. While he was rebuilding the RIGHT WAY, farmer Scott decided to do some extra insulation. Whoohoo for more insulation. New floor is finally installed in the dining area of the kitchen and photos will be coming soon. It is pretty though.

So, hopefully you will understand that when I say we've been busy, we really have been busy. More updates to come.
More soon!

Getting Ready to Live

We bought a project property as our "retirement farm" and knew that from the moment we drove onto the property. Scott and I enjoy doing projects together though, and so this will be a fun one for us. First things first though, we have to get the house liveable (for us while we're here...) before we can do anything with the outside and the barns.

Before ... kitchen and dining area

Before ... bathroom

Paint is first. I love bold colors, but the house is small and needs some bright, light colors to open it up and make it feel a little bigger. If that was it, the process would almost seem too simple though.

The carpets and laminate flooring are also coming out as we think they are holding a lot of stink in them as well ... you know it's bad when you can see the outline of where the furniture was! YUK. New carpet is scheduled for tomorrow. Scott and I are taking out the flooring in the kitchen (laminate) and are going to be leveling the very un-level, concrete floor before we add some nice, simple wood flooring later this week.

New Farm Home

Well, we've finally got there! We have a new place to call our retirement home for our farm ... a little town just a few miles from Boise, Idaho - Kuna.

I finally have my BIG, RED BARN! Actually, it's barns - 3 in all. They all need a LOT of work to bring them back to some sort of glory, but if anyone can do it, we can. And we'll have a lot of fun doing it, too!

We'll have a lot more information in the days (weeks, months, etc) to come, but for now, know that the next phase of our journey begun.

On the Road to Visit Small, Family Farms Around America

We are a little over a month out now from hitting the road in search of our new farm location and doing some US History while we are out and about. One of the things that we feel so passionate about is visiting other farms. Seeing how they do things, sharing what we have learned and just encouraging others as we go.

We are so excited to finally be able to hit the road and visit other Fjord farms as well! It's been a personal dream of mine to visit other Fjord homes and see how they live. We've been to see a couple in Wisconsin, Washington, "Fjord Heaven" - more on that one later - but what about the rest?

Is there a farm that you've been to in the mid-west or south that is a must we should stop by and visit - horses or not?
Is that you? Would you host us? We'd love to write a story about your farm here too! Help us start a revolution and share the small farm story.

Share your farm thoughts here.
 

In Search of Greener Pastures

One of our reasons for the big trip is searching for the next "Willows Edge Farm" location. We've grown so much and done a lot and so well where we are here in Bothell and yet we have a strong desire to grow and add more in the food department. Particularly grass fed beef that actually tastes good.

me at my home in Seattle with the folks

We, well actually, I, would really like a little more warmth and a little less rain. I am a Seattle girl from the beginning. I was born at the little Group Health hospital and taken home at 10 days old (in a cardboard box, might I add) to our home in north Seattle. I truly am a Seattle native. And yet part of me has always loved the sun and despised the rain.
Yes, I know the rain is what gives the great Pacific Northwest such lush beauty and green pastures. I really do understand that in my head.

My heart (and my arthritic back) though, longs for a warmer locale. A place with big oak trees to sit under and sip some lemonade. A place that has rolling, dry pastures that go on and on. A place for the horses to run with big, long strides. A place to watch our children grow, play and learn. A big red barn. I love those old, big, red barns.

Don't know where it is yet. Thought we had found it a couple times, but it has been elusive so far. This time though, we feel the urge to press on and truly move forward, and take that leap of faith. Spend some real, dedicated, quality time searching for the greener pastures.