Life on the Rent-a-Farm...with pics, maybe....

[Beekissed]

We moved here last May and were only going to stay until a real estate deal came through...well, it went belly up, so here we are still. Now, I love it and don't want to move! The landlord has given us license to do just about anything to the place but, being a single parent, finances don't allow a whole lot. We have scrounged materials here and there, found some fence post up in the corner of the orchard, remodeled some existing buildings, etc. We have so much left to do, but if you could have seen this place before, you would realize what we have gotten accomplished. After a heck of a lot of cleaning, painting, pruning, putting in fencing and gates, remodeling buildings, plowing and tilling, building raised beds, hauling many, many loads of mulch hay and wood chips......we finally have a garden, a less gloomy looking old farmhouse, and the intense attention of neighbors near and far!

This is the farm this winter with our one good snow!

We have remodeled the old buildings along the fenceline. The one on the extreme right is the privy, now toolshed. The one in the middle the henhouse, the one on the left was a pig barn/calf house at one time....now holds two dog houses tucked back in the corner, my lawn tractor and a soon-to-be-brooder pen for new chicks.


Bringing fence post down from the top of the orchard....redneck style!

Building fence...we had no way of cutting these posts, so some of these bad boys are 4 ft. in the ground!

Why its worth it....beautiful here every day...ice storm this spring!

I'll keep trying to upload photos, particularly of the garden before and afters. It takes forever to get a pic on here, so bear with me.

 

[Beekissed]

REally don't know why some of the pics worked and some didn't.....obtained them all the same way! Can anyone help me fix these broken links?

 

[Beekissed]

Here's a before of the garden, slave labor at work....isn't that why we keep teens around?

And an after....the small trellis in the forefront is for a couple of cucumber plants. The long trellis is the tomatoes. The corn is in two beds behind the tomatoes.

The chocolate/cinnamon potatoes in the middle of the Kennebecs and Pontiacs!

 

[Reinbeau]

REally don't know why some of the pics worked and some didn't.....obtained them all the same way! Can anyone help me fix these broken links?

Beekissed, I tried to fixthe first picture for you, it was lacking a '[', but I can't getthem to work, either. I think it's because they are preceeded with an 's' after the http:// instead of an 'i' like your first one. Are some of them in a private album or something like that?

 

[smom1976]

:happy_flower :tools :mow

wow... I tell ya you have an awsome place there... I would sooo totally not want to ever move.. especially doing all that work..

I really hope that your landlord is cutting your rent back for the months that you are putting in all that money.. or after all is said and done letting you make an offer on the prop.

 

[simple life]

Beekissed,
Thats an impressive amount of work you have gotten done. The garden looks great, I can see why you feel so good about what you have gotten accomplished. I hope the landlord lets you keep the property too. Hope someone can fix the links so we can view the rest of the pictures. I would love to see the rest of the property. I am happy for you Beekissed and wish you much happiness and contentment.

 

[Dace]

Wow, what a wonderful place! You certainly are blessed to have found it

I got a good clear view of your tomato trellis by the way, you described it very well! I am going to give it a go for my fall/winter toms.

 

[Beekissed]

I'll keep trying to work on those pics....I have some of the house before we cleaned and painted, some of the buildings before and after the remods, etc.

Thanks, everyone! The landlord hasn't even seen it yet!! I haven't seen him since I rented it last year. He hears about it from all the neighbors, though. He took $25 off the rent and plans to decrease it by that amount for each year I stay...it started out $400. He also says he will split all the cost of the materials with me(probably will just take it off the rent when I give the totals) which is pretty good, since he told me when I moved there that he couldn't afford any improvements.
Fortunately, there have been little cost associated with the changes.....just a whole lot of work! We tore down a building in the next state to get the lumber for the beds and the wood shed we are building. Along with the old building, there was chain link fencing and gates....this made our new 50-60 ft. chicken run (for when the garden is new) and provided gates for the fencing around the property we put up. We also built some wooden gates (one is 12 ft!).

The yard was a mess and I hated to take those pics, as it has been raining for the last several days and we haven't gotten to clean up since the company we had last week. We are trying to not mow as often this year, to conserve on gas, but it always makes me feel the yard looks shaggy!

Thanks for the compliments, you all! We are hoping to keep developing the property so we can have a roadside market (small) in which to market the vegetables, eggs, worms, honey(when I get the bees next year), dried flower crafts, soaps, lotions, lip balms, etc., homemade bread......well, you get the picture. This year was our experimental year on garden methods, but I'm trying to get it where I can manage it when the boys are gone. That is the main reason for the no-till, raised bed method. The mulching has made weeding that big garden about a 20 min. job! This is my way of avoiding the loneliness of when they are gone.....just keep extremely busy!

 

[bunch-a-chickens]

put them up in the adress bar and you can see them

 

[bunch-a-chickens]

the cat looks evil