Zen And The Art of Farm Maintenance

We got a lot of work done one the property this weekend. In fact, aside from the stock tank, I think we got more done on the property this weekend than all of last year.

Doug and my mom put t-posts along the fence line where there were just twisted spacers. Then we went in and wire clipped the barbed wire to the t-posts. Wire clipping the barbed wire to the t-posts is actually really meditative. But, after awhile, you forget to meditate because your hands can't even grip the plyers anymore.

This was Thursday and Friday. Saturday we continued down the fenceline, removing prickly pear and pencil cactus, along with some mesquite trees, as we went. I HATE CACTUS! (insert footstomp here) I know it serves a purpose...but when you have to dig out entire neighborhoods of it that are older than you are, it gets tedious. Plus I think I have stickers in places that have never even seen the light of day and I was stuck using The World's Heaviest Shovel. On a side note, yesterday Doug and I saw a shovel with teeth marks in the blade...I was ready to give up our first born for it, to not have to use the other one again, but Doug said he'd rather take a saw to the other shovel and do it himself. Foiled again...

Our tractor was in a low spot where it was moved 30 feet by rainwater overflow the last time it rained 3 inches. Our friend James was wonderful enough to come out with his Jeep and help Doug move it up the hill, where we don't have to worry about it floating down to our neighbors property and can get it fixed.

Getting that done actually felt like the biggest accomplishment of the weekend, though, clearing 165 feet of cactus and mesquite and fixing fenceline is nothing to sneeze at either.

Farm To Do List

1. Clear back property line and install fence

2. Clear roadways around property

3. Buy and spread road base on all cleared roads

4. Rake and disk the 16 acres cleared 6 months ago

5. Continue perimeter and interior fencing

6. Plant native grasses on disked 16 acres

7. Repair tractor

8. Build water troughs and install in paddocks

9. Buy cattle and release on property

10. Build cattle shelter on South corner of property

11. Buy and install solar fence charger

12. Build garden shed that will sub for temp. shelter

13. Install culvert at water feature on easement

14. Improve water quality in tank and stock with fish

15. Dig second tank

16. Cut channel from 1st tank to 2nd tank

17. Improve channel between tanks for improved drainage

18. Improve dams on both tanks

19. Dig water well

20. Improve paddock fencing

21. Buy and release goats on paddocks

22. Establish rotation and implement

23. Disk the garden and plant

24. Install irrigation

2010 Resolutions

Piano –Complete Music Theory Book (Complete 1 Chapter per week), then move on to other music theory books
Practice 30 minutes 4x/week

Healthy Eating & Weight Loss –
Pick 1 ingredient each month and make at least 3-4 recipes using that ingredient
January – Quinoa
February – Broccoli
March – Barley
April – Garlic
May – Carrots
June – Zuccini
July – Basil
August – Summer Squash
September – Tuna
October – Black-eyed Peas
November – Bulgar
December – Duck

Workouts – Strength Training MWF (work through circuit on home gym)/Cardio TuTh (30-45 minutes on stationary bike)

Property –
Create to do list with Doug and post on blog

Coven -
Meet every 2^nd & 4^th Friday

Garden –
Grow enough food to make one meal (this is apparently a stretch for me)
Follow planting schedule on Angel Song Acres Farm

Homework – Weekly, review where I am at with my goals and if I am still on track. This will probably happen at Sunday breakfast.

Au Revior 2009...

I am ready for this year to be over with. Period. There have been some good parts, like the trip to Ireland and such, but as far as the farm goes, it has been slow going this year...though we did get the stock tank dug (which is a huge accomplishment). Being a huge accomplishment though, it seems to take a lot more to feel as though we are making progress.

That being said, we did finally sit down and get our resolutions done up for 2010. I am a huge proponent of resolutions. It gives me something to focus on and work towards. I will be posting those here (personal resolutions and farm resolutions)...in order to create a higher level of accountability.

Of course, I leave this place "post-less" for months at a time without any accountability...but I do feel bad about it. In fact, it keeps me up at night...well, for a few seconds anyway.

Bottom line, I think that we have finally got the right fire lit under our rumps to get motivated and get things done.

Let's hope we can keep up the momentum.

Where I spend my time not really giving you an update...

So...long time no see. All I can do is apologize and give you an update or at least an update on the updates I will be posting later.

We just got back from Ireland. It was a great trip. I'll have to do a post on that later but I have some other things I need to catch up on first.

We haven't done anything on the property, but we a planning on sitting down and re-working our "to-do" list so that I can have a better grasp on where we are and what we need to get done. I feel lost not knowing where we are and where we are headed. I'll give you an update on that too once I have it figured out in my head.

With that little bit of a "no real update to speak of" I will get back to you soon.

I am so happy that fall is finally rolling around to our parts. Now perhaps I can stop sweating when I breath. The other exciting part of this is that as it cools off, we will be able to get things done around the property.

Ahhh...the property...for the last few months it has been a huge source of frustration for me. Back in May, someone cut one of our gates and some cows that we had allowed to run on our property (they are not ours) got out. Of course, our non-english speaking "neighbors" saw big dollar signs when the cows started messing up the place. Keep in mind the cows were out for THREE DAYS before we even got a call from the police about it.

THREE DAYS!!

They "couldn't get a hold of us". REALLY?!?!? Then please remind me WHY WE BOTHERED TO GIVE OUR PHONE NUMBERS TO THE MAYOR OF THE CITY!!!!!!

We went out there (I with my camera to take pictures for evidence) and these people had the audacity to claim that these cows that aren't even ours damaged a lot property (some of which we know for a fact was already damaged). The cops gave us a bunch of crap about it...and were trying to tell us where they came from because we were going to need to patch up the fence and there was no damage where they kept saying that they were coming from.

So everyone left and we walked down the fenceline of the property to find that someone had cut the wire to our drop gate on the other side of the property. When we called the cops back to tell them, there statement was...get this..."we can't do anything about it because it's in another county".

I can tell already that this is going to potentially be an issue for us since the county line runs through part of our property.

So ever since that event I have not wanted to go out there and have even had thoughts of selling the place and buying property elsewhere just to not have to deal with these people that throw trash on our property, cut our fence lines, and play their music at ungoldly levels all night. My only hope is that since the weather is cooling off we will be able to get out there and get some work done, so we can get out there on a more permanent basis and can create a permanent solution.

Lets just hope the weather holds up.

Facebook Farming

So...I finally stepped into the 21st century and joined Facebook. I only signed up so that I could play a piano game that was offered on there.

That's not the amazing part.

The amazing part is that I am actually playing a game that requires some effort. Not the piano game, but another game called "Farmville". I know...you're shocked. I was too. Doug started playing it about a week or two ago and practically owns the King Ranch now. I, on the other hand, have 9 little squares of strawberries, eggplant, wheat, and *gasp* soybeans. This is not the funny part.

The best part is that you actually have to wait for things to harvest. Granted on a much faster scale. For example, strawberries have to wait 4 HOURS to be harvested.

Okay...call me crazy...but my brain just couldn't register that.

Why do I have to wait???

Can't I harvest now?

Not even just a teeny little bit?

Not one soybean??

YOU MEAN I HAVE TO WAIT?!?!?!?

Because as disturbing as it is that this game perverts nature into growing and harvesting crops in 4 hours from start to finish, my little instant-gratification, pee-brain couldn't even wait that long.

Dear God, I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.