Building a Hobby Farm- from woods to eggs

[tony123]

Things are finally in motion to start our Hobby Farm. A bit of background: We moved onto 3 acres back in July. This is our first time to have any property, and have looked forward to the space and the option to do things such as having a small farm.

We love our property! It is set back 600' off the road and gives us the privacy we want. It also has nice winter views of the mountains! Now the down side....it is sloped pretty good. This makes our views better, and allowed for our walkout basement, but doesn't make for good tractoring, or farming.

We have twin two year old boys and want to give them the experience of farming. Actually, we're both city folk ourselves, so this is as much for us as it is for them.

Here in lies the project. Our land is sloped and wooded. We've cleared about a half acre for the house itself. After getting the tractor, I realized I needed more "dirt" to work. So, I started working on a little area about 35'x150' that was reasonably flat. Here it is.



looking back at the house. entrance to farm will be where the boat is.



and looking further downhill.


across the downhill slope. we'll be cutting on the uphill side about 4' and filling on the downhill side about 3'. We will then end up with two areas. The upper will be about 35'x150' and the lower terrace will be about 55'x160'


and looking back uphill.




Once I saw this space, I thought, well...I could just terrace all the way down the hillside this way. So I called a guy with an excavator. He came by last night and did about an hours work and will do most of it this Saturday.

We are planning a vegetable garden on the upper terrace, and pasture for chickens, goats, pig, turkey on the lower terrace. We no nothin' about any of it, but figure it will create tractor projects.... I look forward to getting some feedback on laying things out, and then some gardening and livestock assistance.

Stay tuned. I'll post some photos by Sunday that will make things much clearer.

Dennis, you around? how's this for a project?

[mikim]

I predict 2 things : 1. you're gonna have a lot of fun with this and 2. you're going to discover that 3 acres ain't nearly enough. .... in addition .... if you go out and buy 30 acres you'll find out 2 things .. 1. you can have a lot of fun on 30 acres and 2. 30 ain't nearly enough. Good luck and good fun!

[tony123]

mikim, I'm sure you're right about the size of the land. But two things that ain't going to happen. 1. We ain't moving. 2. I'm not going to turn this into "work".

I should have stressed the "hobby" part. I'm thinking of a garden that's roughly 20x75'. For livestock, enough chickens for one families worth of eggs. What is that 4-6 chickens? A pair of turkeys. A pair of goats. One pig for harvest, so maybe for a year at a time but only every second or third year.

Is this sounding like more work than I'm bargaining for? I don't think so, but what do I know.

[TC29-dude]

Originally Posted by mikim

I predict 2 things : 1. you're gonna have a lot of fun with this and 2. you're going to discover that 3 acres ain't nearly enough. .... in addition .... if you go out and buy 30 acres you'll find out 2 things .. 1. you can have a lot of fun on 30 acres and 2. 30 ain't nearly enough. Good luck and good fun!

Truer words have never been spoken! I started w 7 acres added more for 16 added even more so now I am up to 44. I now have my eye on my neighbors 50 acres that is behind me (landlocked w/ easement across my property for access). Does it ever end?

[tony123]

Okay....I conceed. I suppose worse things could happen than loving it so much I've got to find more property.

[Grrrr]

I am sure you are going to have great fun learning about farming on your little farm.

I think farming is one of the most interesting hobbys there are (and it gives you an excuse to spend time on the tractor )

[Highbeam]

Each healthy chicken will lay one egg per day. I have five chickens and get five eggs per day. Every day. Now I don't know about you but a guy can only eat so many eggs. I too got the animals for my kids to learn that eggs aren't born from a paper crate. CHickens are perfect since they are dirt cheap to buy, don't eat much, don't poop much, and generally are pretty disposable. Plus they produce a benefit every day.

I envy your place. With two-two year olds you must be close to my age and to have a nice hobby farm is an accomplishment. It'll only get better.

[Tororider]

You can always sell surplus eggs, or have your boys do it and put the money in a college savings. We buy eggs from a guy across the street from our property. Great eggs, good price, and they are farm fresh and free range. When we build at our place I hope to do something like you, we have about 18 acres.

[tony123]

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

The excavator made a lot of progress yesterday. All the trees are cleared and he's started the grading. He'll be back today and probably be close to completion.

I'll post photos this afternoon. You'll be amazed at how much work got done. I was.

That's a great idea to have the kids sell eggs for college money. We have several neighbors that I know would participate. Maybe we start with 5-6 chickens and if it goes well, we move up production.

Highbeam, I'm 37. I don't know how much of an accomplishment it is, but it is nice to hear somone say that it is.

I promise to include lots of tractor photos here too. We're just not at the point that I can even get in there with the tractor.

[Tororider]

I think our neighbor that has the chickens has 12-18 chickens, and I thought he said he gets about 3 dozen eggs a day. I may have my numbers wrong, but you may want to look into how many eggs different types of chickens lay on average. I know different chickens give different types of eggs, smaller, larger, bigger or smaller yolks, etc. I just wouldn't want you to be expecting one thing and get another.