Posts Tagged ‘Wintervale’
New Ideas
We have a new idea about a way to make a hay shed fit in optimal orientation in the space we have available. We are considering creating a roundabout driveway to the barn. I have updated our planning image to show how it might look. It would allow a delivery of hay to pull in without needing to back up or turn around. After unloading, the route out would be straight ahead around the loop.
It is going to alter the perimeter of the paddock on that side, but we think it will be a worthy compromise. Determining the route of the fencing is important because the first batch of fence wood has been delivered. When weather permits, we would like to have paddock construction begin.
I have a new inspiration about possibilities here. We enjoyed a dinner date with Larry and Nancy, the wonderful people we purchased this property from, and during conversation, the word “spring” came up, and not in reference to the season of the year. I was pondering the fact that we still have so much to discover here, not having yet experienced the wet season after the snow thaws. I’m not sure what to expect.
Larry pointed out that it can happen that there will be areas that will be dry, but others not. One time he unexpectedly got the tractor stuck in a wet spot and needed to have a neighbor pull it out. Nancy mentioned the possibility of there being springs that are the source of wet spots.
I will be keeping a close eye on any areas that remain unusually damp after the snow melts, the seasons change, and the heat of summer begins to dry out the land. I would be thrilled to discover we have a spring. There is so much yet to learn, simply by being here for a full year of nature’s changes. It is a great thrill.
Today we are snugged in, having run errands yesterday, and we intend to enjoy a predicted winter storm from the vantage point of our living room. There is a fire in the fireplace, and plenty of indoor work to consume our attention. It is a downright dreamy Wintervale day.
Finally Fencing?
This week, I have been getting a taste of what it is like to live in the deep freeze of winter out in the country. It seems to me that things slow down a lot more than in the big city. We haven’t had any action on the fence project, so it has been more quiet around here than any other time since we arrived. It seems hard to fathom, but during this below zero spell, the most action I have seen comes from tiny birds, and a few squirrels. You’d think that creatures with so little body mass would need to stay snuggled somewhere sheltered when it gets extremely cold, but there they are, right out in the open, picking away at the food, as if it was just like any other day.
There is another factor in the pause of our fencing work. We need to decide on a place to store hay. Before we commit to locating the paddock fence lines, we have to decide where the hay shed will be. Before we can determine the location of the hay shed, we need to decide how big it needs to be. To determine the proper size, we need to figure out what form of hay bales we will be be purchasing.
About here is where our friend Mike might point out that the old rectangle bales have been discontinued, because the animals weren’t getting a well-rounded diet. The big round bales are certainly becoming more common. If we go that route, we need to figure out the necessary attachment for the tractor to move the bales around.
One factor that will help us determine what form of bales we will buy, will come from the discovery of who we will be able to purchase the hay from. It’s not like we can just go to some pet store and pick up a grocery cart of hay for the winter. It is a little more specialized a process for the agricultural industry, and we are complete outsiders, needing to find our niche in the limited local market.
So, where do we put the fence?
Yesterday, we took another step toward that decision. We are relying significantly on the local knowledge and experience of our chosen fence contractor, and comparing his advice with the research Cyndie has done. They seem to agree on the size of hay shed that should support our plan of four horses. He seems a bit hesitant to assume we will be able to stop at owning just four, based on what he has witnessed with other clients over the years, so he continues to push us to consider ALL possibilities.
We have an estimate on materials for a shed, and a couple leads on potential carpenters with skill and knowledge to build it. We measured, again, to prove it can fit. Most significant, we came up with a way to locate the shed in the best orientation, and still allow front access to receive a delivery from a typical hay-wagon trailer. We are going to add to the driveway approaching the barn, converting it to a drive-through, to eliminate any need to back up a trailer.
With that decided, they can proceed with building us some fence …when the arctic high-pressure weather system finally releases its icy grip.
Light Confusion
With our temperatures well below zero these days, I figured it would be a good time to check out how easily I could split the cut logs that were here when we bought the place. It worked like a charm. If that doesn’t feel like the epitome of moving to the country: splitting some firewood by hand in the freezing cold.
Last night we snuggled by the warm fire in our main room. It was idyllic. We had finished bringing in the forgotten variety of left-over drink options from our open house in December, left to freeze in the garage in the extreme cold. Oops. With order restored, we enjoyed a lovely evening, computing on the couch together.
I finally got around to buying a new LED bulb for the light fixture by the front entrance. The old CFL bulb wasn’t a quick-start bulb and in the winter cold it took way too long to provide valuable luminescence. The new one works slick. Comes on right away. Even when it’s not supposed to. I accidentally moved the little switch on the housing that changes the setting for time delay to go dark after motion sense. Then, for some unexplainable reason, I found myself messing with the other switch, for the setting associated with the daylight sensor. Now I don’t know where they were set before, and I can’t seem to get the light to behave the way it used to.
I decided to go around to the back of our house and see how the identical fixture by our bedroom is set. It’s hard to see the text around the switch, because it is just raised lettering, the same color as the background, so I moved the switches back and forth to determine where they were set.
Now the back light won’t time-out and go dark anymore, either. It shouldn’t be as complicated for me as I seem to be able to make it.
The silliest thing about all this is that I have been trying repeatedly to figure out how to get the light to stay on all the time by “double flipping” the switch. Since the old bulb wouldn’t light up fast enough, when we were entertaining guests frequently over the holidays, I wanted to set the light to be on all the time. Regardless my efforts, it kept timing out and going dark.
It was so frustrating! I would flip the switch back and forth, but still, ten minutes later, it would be dark out there. If I stepped out in front of the sensor, it would trigger and the light would come on in a dim glow until the gas heated enough to illuminate. Then, after everybody was gone, or usually the next night when no company was coming, I’d flip it on a couple times and “BINGO!” Light stays on all the time. But, I was never able to get that to work when we actually needed it to.
Seems I’ve fixed that problem now.
Well Done
We had a good day yesterday, on the ranch. Cyndie and I were lounging in the recliners in the sunroom, contemplating a plan for our day, weighing many optional tasks we have in mind. We’ve been meaning to finish cutting a trail in the southwest corner of our woods, but leaning back in our chairs, it was almost too easy to save that work for another time. We set that one aside and put thought toward other errands.
Luckily, we are flexible in our planning, and the activity in the woods came up for second review and won our favor. It gave me my first opportunity to try out the chainsaw that Mary and Tim loaned me to allow me to have some experience from which to make a more informed purchasing decision. Mary, tell Tim it worked great for me! I think it is just the right size for our needs.
It was warm enough that we worked without jackets which helped to allow us to get a trail cleared just as the predicted afternoon winds started to pick up. The arctic blast was on its way. That allowed us to snug in and build a fire in the fireplace. I got creative and found a way to listen to the broadcast of the Gopher hockey game against North Dakota. This morning, the temperature is -2°F. We will probably work on indoor projects today.
I didn’t get any pictures of our work on the trail, but on the way up the hill to the house, I turned around and captured Cyndie walking up behind me. She got me back by pulling the camera out when I was celebrating a goal by the Minnesota hockey team.
Perfectly Special
Cyndie and our Realtor, Patti, walking the property on our very first visit here.
When Cyndie and I were on the hunt for horse property late last summer, our priorities became evident after walking just the first two showings our realtor took us to see. It wasn’t the house that mattered the most. By the third property, as the realtor headed to unlock the front door, Cyndie and I were headed the other way, in opposite directions. She would be looking at the barn and I would be surveying the land.
We wanted enough acreage to support 4 horses, and facilities already in place to shelter them. A house for us was something we both already had history managing, and felt we could take care of, or fix up, whatever building was on our perfect choice of property. This land in Wisconsin was in our sights from the first moment we began watching properties. It was just the right size and had a barn that was ready to go. The fact that the house was an incredibly beautiful log home was well beyond our dreams and wishes.
Since the time when snowy cold and darkness of winter settled upon us, we have been spending more and more time snuggled inside the house. In fact, just the other day we were talking about the fact that we have yet to make any strides toward organizing and setting up the barn in preparation for its future residents. Meanwhile, we continue to tweak things around the house. It is, quite simply, an incredible, charming, invigorating, inspiring, comforting domicile that is somehow both energizing and calming at the same time.
As special as this house is, we find it even more so, because of the fact we were not looking for anything along these lines, during our hunt for horse property.
Enjoying ourselves immensely here, I think I’m still in a little bit of shock over the dwelling, and will look up at a door or other small feature and just feel overwhelmed at how perfectly special it really is. It is humbling. And, it is a joy to behold.
Unknown Outcomes
I used to live in the suburbs. I don’t live there anymore. Now I live on a hill overlooking 20 acres of woods and pasture, surrounded by more woods and some farm fields. I used to live in a house with one cat, but I didn’t really want to have a cat in the house.
Now I live with two cats, and reveal how fond of them I am by my feeble attempts to complain about them.
I successfully convinced my family that we shouldn’t have a dog in a place where it would always be on a leash and we would be required to pick up its excrement, not to mention that our lifestyle didn’t align with the time and availability demands of properly caring for such a pet. Now we are pondering getting two dogs. I still don’t see how we will be fitting that time requirement into our plans to be getting horses, while still working day-jobs, off-site.
Of course, the long-term plan is to grow into a system of generating income from Cyndie’s training and consulting expertise, using the horses as guides in lessons. I have no guess how long it will take to reach that goal, and even less of an idea how we will acquire and care for dogs and horses in preparation toward getting there.
Isn’t this a great adventure! If you had asked me 27-years ago, how I was going to raise two children, in the suburbs, while we both worked, and keep our marriage together, I wouldn’t have had a clue. But we did so, and are healthier and happier on the back side of that stage of our lives.
Imagine what we have in store for the next stage.
Everything Serves
We were out for our half-hour therapeutic exercise walk yesterday afternoon, when a car went past that we didn’t recognize. We could see the driver wave, and then heard a toot of the horn, expressing a friendly hello. It was pretty convincing that this was a neighbor to whom we had probably introduced ourselves in the last couple of months.
It provided a pleasant feeling of belonging. That’s valuable to us, because we still feel a bit unsettled into our life here.
Other than the walk, we weren’t outside for anything more than filling one bird feeder, and the day disappeared into a couple of computing projects we each found ourselves buried under. The reward for each of our efforts was frustratingly lacking. I accept that there will be days like this. We are each doing our best to frame it in a positive mindset, and recognize that even the struggles of the day serve a greater good of informing us. What we choose to do with the information is essential to the success of achieving our ongoing goals.
Here’s to continuing progress of health, happiness, and Wintervale projects, even after a day of not so much!
Big Accomplishment
The big accomplishment achieved yesterday is the removal of two windows from the wall between the kitchen/dining room and the sun room. Early in our days of settling in here, we felt there was potential for having those spaces opened up.
The front sun room is an add-on to what was once an outside wall. That wall had very nice windows that were meant to keep the elements out. They were the style that crank out to open. With our little breakfast table under the window, it wasn’t conducive to having the windows open, but we both were wishing the space between the kitchen sink and our breakfast table was open for passing things through, or just chatting back and forth.
Yesterday, with the help of our friends Greg and Mel, the window over the sink was removed. The result was pleasing enough that we just kept on going and pulled out the bigger window by the dining table, as well.
I feel like we haven’t been here that long, and we are making some dramatic changes, even though we were thrilled with the place just as it was when we bought it. Each step is creating an increasing feeling of the place becoming more ‘ours.’
In this shot from Thanksgiving, you can see how it looked when the windows were in place:
Enjoying Everything
After spending a day in bed, recuperating from a fever, it feels odd to step out onto our property again. Just one day, and I feel like a stranger. Maybe spending much of that time buried in a book that describes a farm in the Shenandoah Valley contributes to my feeling alienated. That, and the fact I have been busying myself with visualizations of what our place will become over time, based on the inspirations and energy of Joel Salatin’s writing.
Cyndie, poking at the embers in the smoldering brush pile
When I stepped out yesterday evening, I was back to the place with the fence project in limbo. We have provided funds for the purchase of material for the two paddocks. We now await arrival of the boards, posts, wire, and accessories, and then we hope for good weather and available laborers.
One thing I am okay practicing is, patience. We haven’t even been here 3-months yet. I still don’t know what the property will be like during the spring thaw. We hope to be here for many years, so taking our time to get these fences just right is very important to us. I want to remember to be patient about accomplishing all the things we are envisioning. I also want to be cognizant of the many possibilities that we haven’t even thought of yet.
In this moment, I am back at the day-job, striving to return to normal function. As always, things are moving fast, and also moving slow. We are where we always are, right in the middle, …enjoying everything about it.
Embarrassingly Easy
I have now successfully edited my posts going all the way back to November 30, to fix the missing links that allow viewing the images in their full-size. I find it a bit embarrassing to admit that the solution was always available in the form of a button to click, which creates the link. I guess the link was previously a default situation when I uploaded my images, and became a selectable option when the software was updated.
I let myself think I was too busy to pay attention to this level of detail. Funny how the mind works when it comes to things like this.
Not as embarrassing, but unquestionably easy, was our decision to purchase a share in Walker Farms CSA yesterday. They are our neighbors, and represent many of the philosophies that appeal to us. We came home with eggs, chicken, ground beef, ground pork, ham, and even some lamb weenies, from free-range, grass-fed animals that are not fed systemic antibiotics or any type of hormone, and are raised in a sustainable environment. 
That isn’t all we came home with… They loaned us the book, “The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer,” by Joel Salatin. I recognized having seen at least one of the documentary movies that are referenced on the back cover of the book, featuring Joel and his family farm. After reading just the introduction of the book, I am enthralled by it.
It immediately brought to my mind, the friend I consider a mentor, Ian Rowcliffe, in Portugal. Ian, you are so not alone in your visions and energies to improve our fates by altering the direction of so many aspects of the ways of the modern world. Visiting with our neighbors at Walker Farms, and discovering the writings of Joel Salatin from his Polyface Farms, has expanded my understanding of my own reasons this adventure that Cyndie and I are undertaking feels so right. Ian’s Forest Garden Estate fits right in with it all, and remains one of my primary inspirations.
It really is about more than just the horses, even though that is the primary focus I have been referencing for our reason for moving here. We are trying to figure out fences right now, for the horses, but fences lead to, and are connected with, all aspects of our future operation here. Managing manure is leading to reasons we might want to have chickens. Testimony from the Walkers offered good evidence of the value of chickens, and the introduction of Joel’s book pretty much cements it for us.
There are an amazing number of things for us to discover related to accomplishing all the things we hope to achieve here. As difficult as that seems to be sometimes, it is also surprisingly easy. You could say, embarrassingly easy… because we tend to embarrass ourselves over and over with each lesson we encounter.
Unfortunately, none of them are as simple as finding out the solution is just a click of a button.
