The beginning of our homestead! At our current home we are building a greenhouse, getting meat chickens, and making some raised beds to plant garlic in this fall. We will be sure to post our lessons learned as we go through these processes.
We are acquiring property! 20 acres! We are super excited and already making big plans. Here are some of the good things about the property: two ponds, wild blackberry patches, good soil, mature trees, an existing boundary fence, existing well & electric, existing house, a few small animal sheds and lean-tos.
The not so good things: Junk strewn across the property, fences are in disrepair, house has been abandoned for years and needs serious repairs (The extent of which are unknown). There is an old pool and hot tub that have to be demolished and disposed of. The sheds and lean-tos need a lot of TLC, some of the property needs to be cleared, the pastureland needs to be improved, and one or two of the pond dams need to be repaired.
We will definitely have our work cut out for us, but we are excited for the challenge! Right now, our first steps will be to get the house repaired enough to keep unwanted animals, water and such out. Once we get the roof, windows, and doors repaired, it will be time to clean out the house and surrounding property just to get rid of all the junk, unwanted fences, trees, and underbrush.
In the spring, we are planning to plant a whole orchard of different fruit trees and hope to start a few bee hives! We are super excited and optimistic! We will not be living out on the property at the time being as we love our current home, but we want to put the land to good use and make it as productive as possible!
Much love!
The Spaulding Family
That's very exciting! We've discussed getting property but haven't found a piece we like yet.
I love that yours has wild blackberry bushes. When I was a kid our neighbor had a giant one, and we would pick blackberries and make fresh blackberry cobbler with them. Yum! I was just thinking a couple weeks ago that I wished I knew someone with wild blackberry bushes who would let me pick some in the summers.