They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
It is ironic, but one of the biggest challenges on our farm has been water. We receive 41 inches of rainfall annually, yet water is one of the biggest limiting factors to our productivity, because most of that rain falls between September and May and correspond to cloudy weather, while the periods of greatest sunshine… Continue reading Cold Weather
Coldest morning of the year this morning. 25 degrees when I got to the farm at 5:30, so of course all the water troughs were frozen. This picture is from about 6:45, not 5:30. We've been having issues with this particular frost-free hydrant, one of the oldest ones I think, that the previous owner put… Continue reading Disappointment
Quick project just to make watering the sheep and cows easier. And by easier, I mean automatic, nine months out of the year.
I hate it when projects have to get shoved to the back burner. God, in His merciful love, has therefore seen fit to decree that the farm shall always be filled with projects that are continuously being shuffled around the stove, to continue the metaphor, that I may learn patience, trust and detachment. One of… Continue reading Un-Ditching the Ditch
Early this year, in January, I think, we had two big willow trees on the farm cut down from some 30-40 feet tall to about 6 feet tall. There were several reasons for this. Both were in inconvenient locations. One was shading the garden and slowing the soil warming in the spring. The other was… Continue reading Tree Hay
Bit of a time crunch, but we got it done (enough) in plenty of time, at least two hours to spare. Saturday morning, bright and early at the Home Depot when they opened at six, Ryan made the decision to save over a hundred dollars by switching to 3/4" PEX instead of the 1" PEX… Continue reading Plumbing and Trenching.
Uncle Adam got time to do some digging yesterday. And... He found our water line! Only about 20" down or so, which is not typical for water lines around this place. It also makes me feel a bit ridiculous for having dug four feet down for part of the trench. We will leave that little… Continue reading Found it!
Another hour and a half of digging, still no water line.
Saturday morning, just like most mornings right about now, Daddy was digging a ditch, somewhere between 5 and 6 AM, and he looked at where the ditch started... And where the ditch was going... and realized that this is more or less the line where we want to build a gate across the driveway. This… Continue reading Squirrel!
Actually, it probably will not be the last ditch. But we have broken ground on the next stage of the rainwater catchment project. This is the trench that will run water out of the tank and splice it into the line running out to the pasture. And this is why hand tools for digging rather… Continue reading A Last Ditch Effort
Little Farm in the Big City 