Photos of our land

These are of the forest area and the pond/stream which take up close to two acres of the 5.3 we own.

We got the land discounted because of these features.

It's amazing what some will see as defects, we see as wonderful.

Shabin and More

The Shed got delivered today. Rob waited up there by himself for pretty much the whole day.

Then the shipping container guy dropped off this. The shed is set back sixty feet from the road. The container is another twenty.

It's barebones in the Shabin right now.

Here is one of the lofts. Initially, the salesman said they would be two ten foot sections but they're actually more like twelve and fifteen feet.

It's going to be a lot of work getting them ready for more than a nights stay. We need to build stairs, insulate and figure out cooling and heating.

Here they are together waiting for us.

 We're hoping we're going up either this weekend or next at the latest. We have to have the materials ready and a solid plan of attack so we're not stuck at bedtime with no way to get up to the loft or inadequate bathrooms. But until then, Good bye for now.

P.S. Rob did some recon in the forest and pond areas and came back with some killer photos. I'll be getting those up later this week.

Multiplying like, well...Rabbits.

Today, I went and picked up two more Angora kits from the same lady that has so wonderfully helped us add Duncan and Leeloo to our family. Initially, I was only going to get the doe...but hot damn those are cute bunnies. I just couldn't resist picking up a papered REW buck sibling to add to my collection.

The nameless buck is on the left, the pointed doe on the right.

So, this is the start of it. Duncan was the first of our Angora Rabbitry. He's been such a great starter bunny but, lets be honest, you can't run a fiber/breeding business with just one buck.

While we won't be able to breed the siblings, Duncan can have a go at Flora in a few months and see what happens. I believe we'll be able to use nameless buck in 2 generations of that line but he won't really be ready to breed for a year or so anyway and who knows where we'll be or how many rabbits we'll have by then.

They're the cutiest things I've ever seen I think (besides baby chickens and baby goats, well all baby farm animals kinda rank the same on my cute scale).

I will probably start building an actual website for these guys in a month or so. Our Etsy store will be for their wool and any spun yarn I can manage to make. The website would be for kit sales once we decide to do that. For now, I'm enjoying watching them explore the kitchen, hopping and running around and of course pooping everywhere.

Our (nonexisitent) Etsy Store

I have an account online for our Etsy store to correspond to our Farm. It's called HeartSong Farms (the one without a plural was already taken). Once we get our stuff going we'll be selling handmade goods from our homestead. Here's a label I've designed for clothing and quilts

Does the background look familiar? It should, it's our land! I'm convo'ing a label maker to see if this is infact a workable model for the sew-in cloth labels. I have another less fancy one that would be a folding tag with just the basics, no pictures. What do you think? Too busy? Too much info? Esty store name instead of blog?

Our dream of farm ownership isn't just a weekend project. Its goal is to become a working (read: profitable) endeavor. There won't be an animal, project or whim that isn't going to be producing or giving back to us in some way. Already, I'm working on a few things to start us off; spinning angora fur and quilt making. I'll also sell raw and finished supplies and other crafty items.

I got an email from our bunny breeder. She's got a full English pointed white doe available. I'm excited! While the FE tend to matt quicker it's still good quality wool and it would give me a doe to breed if I so choose. Duncan's wool is softer than silk and shines like silver in the light. I want to breed him before he gets too old.

Anyway, just a little update. Our Etsy store is up but there isn't any wares up yet. Any comments or suggestions on our labels would be helpful!

Monday it is

The shabin is scheduled to be delivered on Monday between 10-1. Now on to figure out how we're going to get up there to do this and if we can get the shipping container that day too.

Update on the Shabin

The shabin has been ordered! Soon we'll find out when our gray shabin with gray roof shingles will be delivered. We were able to get in on the $150 security deposit discount too. Now we have to get the address and GPS coordinates over to them and find out about the container delivery. I'm excited. I feel like it's finally starting. Having a piece of property is one thing, actually having something on it is a completely different beast.

The results of our trip

Sorry its taken so long to get this up. Most of us were sick the week following and I completely blame it on crappy fast car food and a kinda yucky hotel.

We'll definately be getting a Cook shed for the land. We're going with the 12x32' model with two 10 x 12' loft sections which will be the kids bedrooms since there is quite limited head space up there. I also got a call that they're reducing the normally $300 security deposit (which just sits there until you give it back or pay for it) by half over the next 3 days so looks like we'll be putting the dsposit down soon! The only question is when to get it delivered. I love my land, I want to go up but I do not want to deal with six to eight hours of car riding plus waiting around for the delivery trucks with five kids in tow.

I've had about as much travelling as I can take right now. I want to be home. Though it'll take ten to fourteen business days to get it delivered which is plenty of time for me to get used to the idea of going back.

It was raining when we were there and a good bit of the property is basically a swamp. Which consisitently puts THIS in my head. This has had us change the placement of the buildings now being closer to the Southeast corner of the property rather than due East by the treeline.

We'll get the 8x40' metal shipping container delivered on the same day which will at least limit the number of times we have to go up. We're researching various off grid living methods for the shed, which I want to call a cabin and Rob insists is a shed so we'll just call it a shabin and be done with it.

Here's a sample of one of the issues. We need some sort of energy. We can't get electric without the building plans being on the books (which costs permit money and we're not ready to do yet), we can't get electric to the shed without a billing address and we can't get an address for a shed. So we're researching generators and propane. Another issue is human waste disposal. And yet another is water: comsumption, aquisition and disposal.

One thing about doing things off the norm is that nothing is ready made. Every issue in the shabin, and eventually the house and barn and workshops and garage, will need to be addressed separately. Not just "lets deal with the water, then electricity" seperately either. No, more like, how will we power the fridge? propane? electric? how will we get water to this specific sink? What will we do with the water from said sink? Do we want a composting toilet or septic?

It's seriously complex but in the end will be well worth it, I believe.

Though in the interum, while we're trying to figure out all these things, it's a bit more than a little daunting.