our first year at the new farm - part 1

can you believe it?

Today is the first anniversary of our move to The New Farm.  It’s almost unbelievable.  I don’t mean to be overly dramatic, but I think that when you go through something as disruptive and traumatic (too much?) as moving a farm was, the memories stay fresh for a LONG time.  We chose this disruption, but there’s a point during a move where it cannot be stopped, the gears keep turning and you have no choice but to get ground up and spit out the other side in whatever form that may be.

The form I took was a very disheveled, slightly heavier version of my current self. Someone who was exhausted and yet could not sleep. Instead typing all night, journaling a nonstop stream of insecurities with the unifying theme of "will we be happy here?".

The work of unpacking and getting settled moved on and eventually I slept again. Then, on one perfect, sunny evening in late autumn, I was moving sheep fences in the big pasture and Ari was gamboling around me and for the first time, I felt good about the decision. Let's not pretend that that sense of peace was permanent, but it was a bright spot for sure.

I’d like to mark this milestone by looking back over the projects we’ve worked on this year.  To say that the work here has occupied every waking minute is only a slight overstatement.  We have spent time with friends and eaten nice food at restaurants, but we have not left this farm for more than a few hours at a time and my series of notebooks (separated by topic) are full of the lists and plans of an obsessive.

Here’s a look back over the past year! Well... part 1 of the look back. Otherwise this post would be 100 pages long.

Louisa

One minor miracle is that the disruption of the move didn’t kill Louisa - our 14.5 year old German Shepherd Dog. Following us around as we unpacked in this strange house was exhausting for her and I was worried. 

Naughty Louisa on the verboten white couch.

Majestic Louisa enjoying a spring day at The New Farm

barnyard before and after

All of the other animals had an easier transition, but the sheep were pretty disappointed at first.  This morning when I did a sheep and grass check, the ewes crowded around me for gossip and attention, so it seems that I am forgiven.

Before: Angry ewes in weedy nightmare barnyard. After: Less time spent staring angrily at the farmer.

The barnyard was FULL of burdock and thistle. My sheep always steer clear of thistle, but they love to eat burdock and aren't deterred at all by the burrs. Even at the old farm where they had free run of 13 acres with relatively little burdock, they never avoided it and always picked up a bunch of burrs in the fall. There was some talk in our new neighborhood about this situation, and it was and still is really upsetting for me. We were working around the clock after working nonstop for months and I thought that we were moving into a farming community where people would understand the effort involved and obviously the barnyard was not in ideal shape for grazing, but it was the only part of the property with any type of fencing and we didn't have another choice. I LOVE these sheep! I wanted better for them more than ANYONE!! We need electricity to run our portable fences, so we can't just set them up anywhere. In this case there was electricity and existing fence posts that we could use for extra support around the weedy barnyard, so it was our best option for the short term. Anyway, I'll let this go eventually... maybe.

Before the permanent fence could go in, we cleared the barnyard of approximately 1,000,000 fence posts and 4 of these trailers full of wire. Some of the wire was still strung between the posts, but a LOT of it had fallen and was partly buried or at least overgrown with weeds, so it wasn't a straightforward project..

exterior doors

I thought that an easy way to smarten up the exterior would be to paint the exterior doors and the plain white garage doors.

In a surprise twist, I didn't go with one of the greens!

pilates studio

This room just needed a little paint and some paintings that my grandmother made. The visible one was clearly during her Thomas Kincaid era and she wrote an inscription on the back to me. I have a lot of things that she made, but the ones she specifically made for me are pretty special. This way I can think of her while I improve my core strength.

dog accommodations

Of course wee had to make some modifications for our canine family members!

Stair and hall runners to keep them from destroying the floors.

Cell Block D - for when we are going to be gone for more than a couple hours.

Training room!

solar

My involvement here was limited to paperwork, but we are now solar! The array is designed to be large enough to power the property full time. It's a big house with a big barn and a big pool, we use a lot of power. Even with the loan payment this is a cost savings for us.

OK! I'm going to leave this here for now. See you at the next installment!