Building a Hobby Farm- from woods to eggs

[tony123]

Here's some photos after the weekend.

This is the road we cut in for the entrance. Use the boat as a point of reference from photo #2 in the last set of photos. I'm really pleased with how it came out. I'll be able to bring the truck back to the farm now! I think we're going to just seed the road as a grass "country" road.



This shot is the progress from the same spot as photo#4 in the first set. All the trees are gone and he's started across the slope cutting in the "pad". This is the lower pad, and looks like it will end up about 50' wide x 95' long. This will be where all the livestock will be, as well as pole barn for tractor storage, etc.



This is from the bottom looking back up the slope. You can get a good idea of how steep it was, and why we're having to excavate. The house is not mine, it's a neighbor. I'm going to plant some screening along the property line there.



And Here's another shot of the lower pad.



He said he'd be here on Tuesday to work some. Should have the lower pad done then and move onto the upper pad. May have all grading done by next weekend.

Tororider, no doubt lots of research to do. I need to figure out what I want, how many and where to put them. This will all help in placing the fencing. I'm thinking a perimeter fence that will cover both levels (roughly 100'x100') then divide it as necessary.

Any suggestions on good websites to do this sort of research?

tony

[3RRL]

Tony,
I love your thread and what you are doing on it. It's great to see your interest for your twins too. Even though you are doing it yourself, it will make an everlasting impression on those boys. I don't care if your lot is 2 acres or 200 acres, it is WAY different than growing up on a city lot.
Thanks for sharing and please post more when you can.
What kind of tractor did you get?

[Tororider]

Nice progress, isn't it fun to see how quickly things can change when you have the right tool.

Not sure on websites to research that kind of thing, all I know is that our "egg" neighbor has regular "laying hens" if there is such a thing as a "regular" laying hen. And then he has some tophat??? hens. He said the tophat are much smaller eggs with much larger yolks in comparison to overall size of the egg. He hasn't tried one yet since last I asked him, so I don't know difference of taste.

Your kids will have so much fun. My son, 3 years old, loves it when I take him out there and sees the frogs, snakes, hens and turkeys across the street. We live on what I would call a city lot right now, so I can't wait until my wife finishes her residency at a nearby hospital and we can build a place out there. Your kids will have so much fun and have a totally different frame of reference for life than 95%+ of other people. All I can say is have fun, it sounds like you plan on it.

[Tororider]

Forgot to mention, if you are looking for something fast growing to put between your neighbors and your project, check out Austree's. They grow silly fast, 8-12 feet a year, no kidding. I have the prunings to prove it. I think the website is rmausa.com if I remember correctly. I will try to post some pics of mine if you are interested, but they will give you a really quick screen, even if you plant an evergreen in front just to give you some blockage until your other stuff grows up.

[Tororider]

Just got some eggs this morning with my older son, he gets a kick out of going into the henhouse. I think if our neighbor ever moves we will have to do chickens. Heck even if he doesn't we may have to. Then of course my son wanted eggs for lunch, good stuff.

[tony123]

Rob, I got a Yanmar YMG2000D. It's a 20hp at PTO tractor. Large enough for all my maintenance purposes, but too small to do this excavating. My only implement right now is a box blade. In the spring I'll be getting a 4' shredder. Also on my list of wants are: single moldboard plow, tiller, post hole digger, trailer and or dirt scoop.

tororider, I'll check into the austrees, please post pictures if you have them. I'm actually a Landscape Architect by profession. I've got some specific ideas about how to handle the screening of his house.

The excavator was working this morning, and has shaped things up a bit more. Not enough for more photos yet but probably soon.

We're supposed to get some rain at some point in the next few days, which will make the dirt much more workable. It's like a powdery dust right now.

[Tororider]

I will try to post some pictures tomorrow, it really is amazing how fast they grow. I think ours grew 12 feet the first year. I actually owned a lawn care/landscape company for 12 years. The website is rmausa.com. They are pretty cool. Keep us updated, when are you getting the chickens?

[tony123]

I went to the website, and see that it is a Salix. Same family as Weeping Willow. So I believe the claim of quick growth.

I hope that we're ready for chickens by early spring. Our grading project should be done by this weekend. Then I've got a mound of tree debris to process. I expect at least a month of work doing that. Some for firewood, and the small stuff to the burn pile. Then I've got to do about 500LF of fencing and finally, construct a coop. So...spring is a reasonable target, if not optomistic. Good new is, my kids are only 2.5 so I've got a little time.

[Tororider]

Here is a picture of my trees, I think they are two and a half years in now. That is what I thought they were related to, people were wondering and that was my guess.

Have you thought about chipping up your trees? We just made a food plot and chippped everything that we cut down, bigger stuff became firewood. Probably more work than just burning, but you end up with usable byproduct. We are going to use ours to cover our paths in the forest.

[Tororider]

By the way, that is 5 trees lined in a small "L", and I have had to trim them extensively. My parents have ten in a row in their backyard and they have created a really nice vision screen in the winter. My inlaws did a row of 20 along their driveway between the neighbors and they love theirs two.