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- #11
FarmerD
Lovin' The Homestead
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2015
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thanks baymule, i appreciate the compliments. im definitely interested in that catalog you received..... did you call them to get it? its hard to find a good, reliable nursery..... especially one that doesnt charge an arm and a leg
now that i have a little time, ill lay out some more details about what we've done and whats to come. after looking around at land we couldnt afford in the 25 acre size range, the wife and i stumbled into a fantastic deal on the 43 we have now...... with only one catch. it had been nearly clear cut. we battled through all the hurdles it takes to buy raw land and survived. next we tried to work with a natural building architect in our area, but things got too expensive too fast and we set out on our own. we are in now the process of completing our roughly 750 sq ft earth bag/ clay slip home. i designed it to be conducive to passive solar heating/cooling, to run completely on collected and filtered rainwater, to use a greywater to landscape treatment for our waste water, and obviously to run on solar electricity. its taken just over a full year to get to the roofed structure you see in the photos. our total cost so far (not including solar) is about $10K. that figure also includes most all the windows, doors, plumbing and electrical fixtures, cabinets, and stone finishes. we should come in well under $20k for the house itself, and under well under $40k for all housing systems (house, solar, greywater, cisterns, etc.)
later this year, we'll start on the farm infrastructure proper. currently we have about a dozen top bar bee hives, and we're looking to have a total of around 45 or so by the end of 2015. after i get the house reasonably done, ill start prepping the market garden beds. im looking to cultivate about 2-3 acres intensively, with additional acreage devoted to raising rice, grains, and other staple crops. we plan to work with the forest edges we have left after the clear cut to plant fruit/nut trees and shrubs for additional food/income, with our main perennial crops being blackberries and blueberries. we will also be digging a 2-3 acre pond probably next summer as well as several smaller "puddles". we have a couple wetland areas that i would like to enhance along the way. when we're able to live full time at the farm, we will begin to accumulate our livestock. currently, we're investigating a few heritage cattle breeds, kune kune pigs, and flocks of various poultry breeds. right now i have a lot of irons in the fire, but we are making progress...... slow, but steady progress.
our property is located just outside of the congaree national forest. it would have been seasonally flooded by the river back before they dammed it up. now it just gets muddy in winter. the habitat around us is incredibly diverse, and the soil is very rich. its a beautiful place if you dont mind the mosquitoes. my wife and i have only a little previous experience in all this. we are young, childless, and driven. i am one generation removed from a mill village family on one side, and one generation removed from tobacco farmers on the other. i grew up running a chainsaw for one grandfather in a baled straw operation and spending weeks at a time living with my other grandparents helping tend their market garden. i guess i boil down to a 30 something good 'ole boy from the deep south. i can hunt, i can fish, i can shoot, i can build my own house, fix my own truck, wrangle some bees, milk a cow, build my own boat.... you get the picture. now ive got my wife in tow, and we're simplifying our lives so we can work for ourselves, live with a minimum income, and minimum work.
now that i have a little time, ill lay out some more details about what we've done and whats to come. after looking around at land we couldnt afford in the 25 acre size range, the wife and i stumbled into a fantastic deal on the 43 we have now...... with only one catch. it had been nearly clear cut. we battled through all the hurdles it takes to buy raw land and survived. next we tried to work with a natural building architect in our area, but things got too expensive too fast and we set out on our own. we are in now the process of completing our roughly 750 sq ft earth bag/ clay slip home. i designed it to be conducive to passive solar heating/cooling, to run completely on collected and filtered rainwater, to use a greywater to landscape treatment for our waste water, and obviously to run on solar electricity. its taken just over a full year to get to the roofed structure you see in the photos. our total cost so far (not including solar) is about $10K. that figure also includes most all the windows, doors, plumbing and electrical fixtures, cabinets, and stone finishes. we should come in well under $20k for the house itself, and under well under $40k for all housing systems (house, solar, greywater, cisterns, etc.)
later this year, we'll start on the farm infrastructure proper. currently we have about a dozen top bar bee hives, and we're looking to have a total of around 45 or so by the end of 2015. after i get the house reasonably done, ill start prepping the market garden beds. im looking to cultivate about 2-3 acres intensively, with additional acreage devoted to raising rice, grains, and other staple crops. we plan to work with the forest edges we have left after the clear cut to plant fruit/nut trees and shrubs for additional food/income, with our main perennial crops being blackberries and blueberries. we will also be digging a 2-3 acre pond probably next summer as well as several smaller "puddles". we have a couple wetland areas that i would like to enhance along the way. when we're able to live full time at the farm, we will begin to accumulate our livestock. currently, we're investigating a few heritage cattle breeds, kune kune pigs, and flocks of various poultry breeds. right now i have a lot of irons in the fire, but we are making progress...... slow, but steady progress.
our property is located just outside of the congaree national forest. it would have been seasonally flooded by the river back before they dammed it up. now it just gets muddy in winter. the habitat around us is incredibly diverse, and the soil is very rich. its a beautiful place if you dont mind the mosquitoes. my wife and i have only a little previous experience in all this. we are young, childless, and driven. i am one generation removed from a mill village family on one side, and one generation removed from tobacco farmers on the other. i grew up running a chainsaw for one grandfather in a baled straw operation and spending weeks at a time living with my other grandparents helping tend their market garden. i guess i boil down to a 30 something good 'ole boy from the deep south. i can hunt, i can fish, i can shoot, i can build my own house, fix my own truck, wrangle some bees, milk a cow, build my own boat.... you get the picture. now ive got my wife in tow, and we're simplifying our lives so we can work for ourselves, live with a minimum income, and minimum work.
