WhirldWorks Farm
A small homestead and Debouillet sheep farm in Central Texas
Farm and Homestead Update April 2015
I have discovered that it can be very difficult to document the many activities that go on around the farm, even when there isn’t really a farm yet. I have found, through the sweat of my own brow, that our President was certainly not speaking about farms when he declared, “You didn’t build that!”
Barn
The Barn is at a stage that we shall call complete! It still needs some finishing touches, but in my experience it is unwise to call a construction project finished. We still need to close in the bottom and place rodent protection around the perimeter. We did complete the latter task on one side by placing an additional piece of treated lumber below ground level and then attaching 1/4″ wire mesh that extends under ground for about a foot from the barn. Helpful Hint: If you are planning to purchase 1/4″ galvanized metal fabric, the best price we found was at McCoys. It was probably less than half of what I found anywhere else).
Utilities
It is no wonder that so many homestead mentors recommend trying to find land that already has water and electric/gas service on site. It may not be this way everywhere, but the cost of connecting to a water line just across the street surprised us greatly. We’ll be spending nearly $6000 just to get connected to our water supply. We considered having a well drilled instead, but the $20,000 price tag for that knocked that option off the list.The paperwork, too, has been filled with so much legalese that it took some time to decipher.
Electricity is a little better, but for a little more than $2000 I would think they could dig their own hole for a junction box. We finished digging the hole and trench for them to put it in and I am very thankful to live in a place with little to no rocks for this kind of work.
We hope to have both water and electricity installed by the end of this month!
Garden
We have set aside an acre for our future gardening area and have great plans for the future. For the moment though our garden is simply a little 20′ x 4′ plot as a simple token to gardening.
Hay Field
We have a little over 7 acres that will be used for hay production and livestock pasture, but currently my only means of tending the field is a hand-held scythe and a home-made hay baler. While it is fun and good exercise to produce hay in this manner, there is no way for me to realistically work the entire area. Thankfully a local farmer stopped by and we worked out an agreement for him to grow and harvest the hay field.
Forest
So far the forest area is on the to-do list and I’m sure we will eventually be able to tackle it. The creek runs through the forest for the entire length of our property and we have already seen areas where trees have fallen creating dams that back up the water during heavy rains. There are also plenty of dead and unhealthy trees that need to come down. With poison ivy in full bloom now and plenty of other tasks at hand, the only trees being cut are those that have either already fallen on the fences or look like they could do so any minute.
Whirld Wide Wednesday – Johnny Appleseed Goes to Jail
One of the greatest American stories is that of John Chapman, known commonly as Johnny Appleseed. Johnny is remembered in our American lexicon as a man passionate about apples and apple trees. He traveled far and wide planting apple tree nurseries. His devotion to sharing nature’s bounty carved him a permanent place in our history. Unfortunately, had Johnny been born about 230 years later his actions just might get him thrown into jail, or at least into some pretty severe legal troubles.
If a Johnny Appleseed in today’s world devoted himself only to planting and growing apple trees, he would be relatively safe. However, the day he bit into one of those apples, took out a seed and handed it to someone else he just might be in violation of the law in most States.
The various State Agriculture Departments impose a strict permitting process for producers and sellers of seeds. The permitting process requires distributors to properly test and label their seed varieties to ensure that consumers are protected from fraudulent business practices.
Unfortunately for smaller, non-profit operations in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, the local governing authorities are applying this law to their operations as well. In doing so, the community seed libraries are being suspended or shut down altogether in the name of a fight against “Agri-terrorism.”
The irony I find here is that there are a very small number of extremely large agricultural corporations distributing untested “franken-foods” into the marketplace without receiving so much as a second-glance from the same officials shutting down these community libraries.
Thankfully the actions of these government agencies is getting more and more attention. There is a gradual up swelling of citizen opposition to these overreaches and now there is a nationwide campaign underway to allow seed exchanges or libraries to operate without being required to submit to the burdensome costs of permits and regulations.
If you would like to find out how to support the seed-sharing movement and to sign their petition, please visit: SaveSeedSharing.org
In addition, if you’d like to get even more involved on an actionable level, you can learn how to start your own Seed Sharing Library or discover if there is already a nearby library that you could get involved with, visit: SeedLibraries.net
Before you go, here’s a short video that I remember from SOOOO long ago about the legendary Johnny Appleseed.
Whirld Wide Wednesday – Barns Around the Globe
In honor of our finishing the construction phase of our barn (more details to follow), I thought it would be interesting to put together a short pictorial essay of some of the more unique barns I’ve seen on the web. I can’t say much about each of these barns as I haven’t personally seen any of them, but they are certainly eye-catching and indicative of building skills that have all but disappeared. I hope you enjoy these barns.
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day
Today is March 17th and chances are that you or someone you meet today will be wearing green in honor of remembering the legacy of Saint Patrick. There will be parades, green food, green drink and plenty of tall tales. I wonder though how many of us know the real, true story of Saint Patrick. Here’s a hint: it isn’t about leprechauns, snakes, 4-leaf clovers, or green beer.
Patrick’s true story is about his mission to bring the message of God to the druids and pagans living on the island of Ireland. The clover was indeed part of Patrick’s message, but rather than the famed 4-leaf clover, he used the 3-leaf clover to illustrate the trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Thankfully you don’t have to take my word for it as Patrick left behind his own biography in his “Confession.” It is a marvelous and wonderful read, especially for those who want to get to know the true Patron Saint of Ireland.
Here is Saint Patrick’s Confession.
An Irish Blessing
May the rains sweep gentle across your fields,
May the sun warm the land,
May every good seed you have planted bear fruit,
And late summer find you standing in fields of plenty.
Whirld Wide Wednesday – Farms Are Disappearing
Anyone who has spent time driving through rural areas will notice the growth in number of farming homes and buildings falling into disrepair. It isn’t because the farmers aren’t taking care of their assets, it is because the farmers have been leaving farms in record numbers. Corporate farming has not simply filled the void, they have been creating the vacuum that is sucking the life out of small farms across the globe.
Thankfully there is a growing number of people who are becoming aware of the catastrophic results of this trend and small farms are once again sprouting up across the country. Unfortunately the number of new farms is far outpaced by those that are shutting down, forever.
We may not realize the negative aspects of this as the grocery store shelves are still fully stocked with food. What many don’t realize though is that the quality of the food supply is deteriorating at an alarming rate. Food just isn’t as full of flavor and healthy benefit as it once was. If you’ve ever purchased food from a local farmer’s market and compared it to the food at your local store, there’s no doubt you’ve experienced the difference.
Fortunes are certainly not to be made by establishing a new family farm, but money is but a small price to pay for the health and welfare of our families and friends. There are huge considerations to be made when deciding whether or not to go against the tide of modern humanity in order to save our food supply, but consider it we must.
Whirld Wide Wednesday – Working Vacations
Have you ever traveled to a distant land for a vacation and left wishing you had been able to learn more about the culture there? Because we are not familiar with an area, vacation itineraries are often designed by agencies whose main goal is to support various businesses and venues. The resulting experience of visiting touristy areas often leads to a very minimal exposure to the true culture of an area.
What if there was a way to become much more immersed into the culture in areas you visit? Would you be interested in such an experience? Perhaps you aren’t able to travel, but would be willing to invite someone from a foreign land to come share their culture with you. Here is one way to do just that; Workaway!
What Workaway does is connect people from around the globe that share a desire to immerse themselves in the daily lives and cultures of others. Hosts often need help with daily chores such as babysitting, language learning, or even help around the farm. These hosts will often provide free room and board for the assistance they need. There probably is no better way to learn about someone else’s culture than to actually live in their home and experience their daily lives in a real, personal way.
There is no standard agreement between hosts and visitors and the details are arranged between the two. The stays are often considerably longer than the typical one week vacation, but that is how one learns about a culture, through an extended stay. Sound interesting? Visit Workaway to find out more!
One Year Anniversary for our blog!
On March 3, 2014, we began this blog with our very first post: Whirl’d Works Farm – Day One!
In some ways I feel like we haven’t come very far in a year, but in many other ways I know better than that. We’ve established a place on our property where we can live, eat and play safely whenever we have the time to visit. We are also nearly done putting up our pole barn which has been no small feat!
We haven’t had a lot of farming or homesteading content to add to date simply because we have not been living on the farm for more than a weekend or two each month. This is exciting because I have already learned so much from many of you wonderful bloggers out there and know that some day soon there will be a much greater amount of knowledge to gain and share here on the farm.
In spite of the lack of ongoing farm activity here, we have still managed to compose nearly 30 articles. We’ve gained nearly 70 subscribers to our blog and over 30 followers on our FaceBook page.
With activity and anticipation growing at a rapid rate in 2015, we look forward to looking back next year at our blog’s 2nd Anniversary! Thank you for joining us!!
Whirld Wide Wednesday – Homesteading in Chile, South America
Many, many years ago while serving in the United States Navy, I had the opportunity to sail completely around the continent of South America. As you can imagine I saw and experienced a great many things in those many nations. Several of our port calls were in Chile and the memories of that country still ring fresh in my mind. For years I planned to return to Chile sometime after my Navy service.
Of course that dream never came true and while I have no regrets about not making that move, I still think what life might have been like had I actually achieved that dream.
Recently I came across a family that sold everything they owned in the United States and moved to a small homestead in Chile. They have a YouTube channel that explains their decision-making, cultural adaption and a lot about Chile itself. If you would like to learn more about this daring adventure, consider watching and subscribing to their channel:
Chile Expat Family Introduction
Our Pole Barn – Two walls are up
We haven’t been faced with the frigid cold that has gripped much of the country this month so we have been able to take advantage of our weekends to continue working on the barn. The temperature did start to dip a little on Saturday, but we were able to finish the left side wall and get started on the front. On Sunday the temperature really began to fall and it also began to rain lightly as well.
We knew this might be the case so we came prepared with rain gear and mud boots. The weather didn’t stop us and we were able to get the front wall on. We also installed the sliding door, but I chose not to install the door panels. The wind was just to strong and with the walls still missing on two sides I was afraid a good gust of wind could swoop through the barn and damage the yet fully secured door.
Sometimes I wonder why it seems to be taking so long as we are ready for this project to be finished. Then I remember the sweet moments when our toddler son becomes very curious about what is going on and how he can help. We do our best to slow down and let him help as much as we can. He has helped use the drill to drive in many of the screws along the bottom row of the barn and loves to “press the button!”
WhirldWork’s new domain name
We’ve registered our domain name!
Moving forward, you can find our site at:
http://www.whirldworksfarm.com
Please feel free to update any of your bookmarks/links to our site. Please note that it IS NOT necessary to make any changes for your current links to continue working. We have a redirect that will allow anyone still using the old domain (http://www.whirldworksfarm.wordpress.com) to continue using it.
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