Happy Solstice and Welcome Winter

Happy New Year as well!

We now have a facebook page, huzzah.

We had snow and the snow is gone. The weather was gorgeous for New Years weekend here in Michigan and we spent today outside with minimal outerwear. Temperatures are supposed to drop though, so it's back to deep freeze.

Saffron now has her own turnout sheet for those blustery wet cold days. Since the wind whips right across our property it seemed a good investment. I'd often see Gwyn out in the open without a care in her sheet while Saffron would be huddled by the tree line. Now they're both out.  These are just rain coats, if you will. Neither critter is clipped so they have their own fur for insulation. When the temperatures really dipped, poor Saffron was shivering, so I knew we were in need of something for her.

Eric got some pepper seeds for Christmas so we're sprouting them and have decided to set up a hard to utilize corner of our kitchen as a mini greenhouse. Seedlings will be moved downstairs and eventually into the aquaponics set up, since having the plants will increase our fish survival. Plus a coworker of Eric gave him a small fish tank so we can run a mini aquaponics set up and get some seed water for the larger set up.

We need more grow lights.  That's the TL;DR

Goals and To-Do List for the Farm in 2017
-Have a successfully cycling aquaponics set up: any size
-Regularly harrow the arena
-Replace and regrade the footing in the pens
-Spread manure in resting pastures
-Fix lawn mower
-Finish the drainage stream through the pasture
-Fix the drainage path from barn to stream
-Acquire wood chips for pathways
-Revamp play set (replace tarp, fix lean on the A-frame)
-Plan and plant front garden

Our christmas tree, still with root ball. It will be planted in the spring, until then, it's living inside!

Itty bitty but pretty!

We made our own plow for the driveway. It worked really well. I'll go more into that in another post.

Me dressing up to go feed dinner.

I added barn lights because my imagination was going crazy. I kept opening the door in the dark and turning on lights with my heart racing, expecting to see something waiting for me. Logically I know it's silly, but this helped.

Saffron's new blanket. 

Keep Saturn in Saturnalia!

Our stockings. The left one is mine, made by my grandmother. The other three were made by my mom for E, K and H. Hazel has the biggest stocking of them all.

Aquaponics Update

We are moving forward on the aquaponics idea!  At least in that we've started acquiring the pieces to put it all together. We started with purchasing a pump that would meet the needs for our planned set up volume wise and an outlet timer that had enough increments to fit the cycling we'd want to do (turning pump on and off so many times an hour)

Next was finding barrels for the fish. We live right near a pickle plant and there were a bunch advertised on craigslist for $25 a piece. I picked up four after our big snow storm. They smell STRONGLY of pickles, haaha. I need to rinse them out but I'm waiting for a longer stretch of above freezing weather before attempting that. 

Next was cinderblocks. Part of our system is going to rely on gravity for drainage so we minimize electricty needed to move water vertically. I was a beast of a pregnant lady and loaded all of those on the cart myself! (18 of them)  The employees were quick to help me push and they helped me load it in the truck. 

Good job farm truck!  We had a busy day when I got all of this and it made me so glad to have a pick up truck!  Water trough, two bags of shavings and the cinder blocks. 

Eric brought all the cinder blocks downstairs because I was thoroughly pooped. This was our first attempt for an arrangement. I wasn't pleased with the sturdiness of the cinderblocks, especially considering we'd be adding what is basically rocks to the upper tank. The height was also less than ideal when we started factoring in plant height and where the grow lights would need to be. 

This is our current arrangement. We'll be adding another barrel for sump water to minimize the current flowing back into the fish barrel. But then we considered the size of the fish we want and are wondering if the barrels are the ideal choice. So things are still up in the air and could change. But we are making forward progress and that feels good!

I expect we'll start with goldfish and get the system stable and plants growing before moving into edible protein aquaculture. 

Equipment Purchases

On Friday we picked up a 2015 Silverado 1500. It's a 3 year lease but for the time being it's all the truck we need and the price is hard to beat per month for our budget!

Today we went to look at a horse trailer. I'd found it on craigslist for an amazing price and brought a cashier's check just in case. Sure enough, it was a great trailer and we decided to bring it home! 

The trailer is a 2009 Eclipse, 2h straight load with dressing room. It's roomy, which is great for Gwyn. I can even lie down in the dressing room, which is a good back up for cold and wet camping at endurance rides!

The seller had put this set up of wood to hold hay bales in place so they wouldn't slide into the horses. And if you tie the horses, they can't eat at it. Genius! It's removable too.

Nice long stalls. I can't touch the ceiling when I stand inside.

Good floor. It's been stored inside and is no longer used since their daughter went off to college.

The center divider is removable

Tie rings and the lock to hold the dutch doors in back open.

Lots of hooks. The wooden bit is a whip holder!

Spare tire and an almost 3 year old

Mirror

I noticed a tiny bit of water coming in at the door when I tested out laying down but I plan to keep an eye on it for now.

We are now the proud owners of the Rochester Rd property in Dryden! Closing was today and it went smoothly!  Our last house purchase was from a bank so there wasn't much in the way of socialization at closing, unlike today! The current owners were there. I really like them. They're staying in the area and I'm likely to use Sara as a trainer for Gwyn to smooth out some edges.

I finished off today with a trip to the car dealership to check out and price Sierra 1500s. There's a deal going on now for 0% apr.  But when I came home (sans truck) and we priced out a base 2500 Silverado... there wasn't much difference in price and I'd get the features I really want, rather than the super expensive top of the line 1500. And with a 2500 I have some wiggle room with which trailer we end up buying.

So truck and trailer are next! It seems like we'll be ordering a 2500 soon!