The master plan – orchard.

Posted on by David Maxwell

Like the garden that I mentioned yesterday, the future orchard will be a great source of healthy and delicious fruit. Which I am super excited about because fruit is a) tasty and b) expensive. My goal is to have apples, pears, figs, apricots, peaches, plums, and anything else that will grow. I am most excited about figs because fresh ones are amazing and difficult to find here.

Once again I hope to benefit from my father-in-law’s expertise. He is an expert fruit grower, with many years experience raising apple, pear, and cherry trees up in Michigan. If he is in town soon we might go up to the nurseries in McMinnville and Smithville to buy trees.

I would really like to load up the front yard with trees. I think 50 or so would be a nice number, if there is that much space. The soil seems pretty good. I wish the space was a little more level, as it might be a bit of a pain to use a ladder on the hill, but that’s okay. We can also use the tractor and front end loader, as long as nobody calls OSHA.

The master plan – garden.

Posted on by David Maxwell

I love fresh fruits and vegetables. I am not so crazy about the high prices. Therefore I look forward to growing my own on the farm. There is an area of about an acre that I have identified as being the best place for a large garden. My neighbor Russ told me that it is great soil and that anything will grow there. Right now it has some exceptionally tall and healthy looking weeds. Hopefully I will have a tractor before too long, then I will determine what implements I need in order to efficiently work the land.

I want to grow a large manner of things, particularly items that are expensive and hard to find in the stores. It will be lots of fun to experiment. Liz gave me three heirloom seed catalogs for Christmas, and I have really enjoyed looking them over and thinking about what I want to order.

It might be a bit of a challenge to plant much this spring though. I will be super focused on trying to finish the house as quickly as possible that it will be difficult to devote time to planting and upkeep. Maybe there are some seeds that I can just throw out and forget about.

I also want to grow herbs, although that will probably happen in a dedicated little garden just behind the house. I have also looked into growing potatoes and sweet potatoes in tires. Tires should be pretty easy to get, and the process seems pretty simple. It will also be fun to can the produce so that we are ready for the zombie apocalypse.

Going to my in-laws’ farm in Michigan is something that I have really enjoyed over the past few years. They grow about twelve acres of heirloom pumpkins every year, probably around twenty varieties. I hope to grow many of the same types that they do.

The master plan – goats.

Posted on by David Maxwell

Go, go, goats

For some reason Liz thinks that goats are pretty much the greatest thing ever. I think they are marginally cool. Anyways, she wants us to get about four to start with, with the possibility of getting many more. In my mind that will entail four small paddocks so we can rotate them, and two little houses. Those sheds should be pretty fun to build. Installing the fence posts, less so.

There are lots of goats listed on Craigslist in Middle Tennessee. I have also found websites for several goat farms in the Columbia area. It will be fun to visit them and speak with the owners. There are tons of types available but I am partial to the pygmy types. They look so cool with their horns and beards. We definitely don’t want billies, but are okay with either neutered males or females. The ladies obviously have the advantage of producing milk, and babies. I am thinking maybe two of each to start with.

Last fall we went to the fainting goat festival in Lewisburg, which was a lot of fun. That is where these photographs were produced. There are also lots of goats on the campus at Sewanee. We go see them every time we are up in Monteagle. I think that goats on the farm will be a nice attraction for our friends’ kids to come see.

My dad is obsessed with the idea of making goat cheese. However he hasn’t mentioned anything about milking the goats twice a day. We’ll see what ends up happening with that.

Spring seems to be the main time to buy new goats, but it looks like there are always some being born. This fall will probably be the ideal time to acquire some, once we are settled into the farm house. I am looking forward to getting them and having fun with them. One guy told me that they are awesome pets.

 

The master plan – workshop.

Posted on by David Maxwell

The Workshop

One thing that I miss from my childhood is having a space to build things. The house I grew up in had a full, mostly unfinished basement that was perfect for working on all sorts of projects. I repaired my bikes there, undertook many woodworking projects alone and with my dad, and stockpiled all manner of materials. I have not had a comparable place in the nearly twenty years since we left that house. Even though the farm in Leipers Fork had several sheds, they were only good for storing materials and not working, due to dirt floors and a lack of electricity. Now at the condo I don’t even have space to store my tools, let alone use them.

Fortunately that situation is about to improve. I will be building a 30 by 48 foot workshop out at the farm. It will have a concrete floor, 12 foot high walls, electricity and maybe running water, and I might add some additional covered space to store materials and firewood. To say that I’m excited to have this building would be a serious understatement.

I have already ordered steel trusses and the metal roofing from an outfit in Shelbyville. I will buy the wood for the board and batten siding from a guy down in Alabama. I will build the sliding doors myself using hardware from TSC. The poles and framing lumber will probably just come from Lowe’s. I need to find a source for about 25 old windows. I want to have natural light coming in from two sides. I also need to find a nice wood burning stove. There are tons on Craigslist so I just need to narrow it down to a good one at a decent price. I have some old cabinets in storage that I will probably hang in order to help me be better organized.

The building should go up fairly quickly. I am a little nervous about setting the posts and trusses myself, and installing the roofing for that matter, but I’m sure it will be okay. The project will move forward once the concrete guys come out to do the foundations for the house and garage. They will pour the workshop slab at the same time. That will help keep costs down a little bit. Or so I hope.

So, what will I use this space for? A little bit of everything!

It will be a woodworking shop. I have a lot of very nice tools that are currently in storage. I will build tables and benches in order to get maximum use out of them. It is going to be so much fun to set up this space. But it will be even more fun to really start using it. My first project has already been determined – a dining room table for the new house. Hopefully I will be able to reuse some of the wood that I have already salvaged.

It will be a fitness center. Last year I did the Insanity workout and it was very effective. The problem was that I had to go somewhere else to do it – either the park on nice days or the YMCA when it was raining. That decreased my motivation. The concrete floor of the workshop would destroy my joints if I worked out on it, so I will build a wood and plywood platform, and cover it with closed cell foam for even more cushioning. It will have hinges so I can fold it up and out of the way when not in use. I might also get a few basic weights to use as well.

It will be a food processing space. Hopefully we will have a very productive garden and orchard in the coming years. I am most excited about fruits and pumpkins, although everything we grow should be great. I would like to set up an area where I can efficiently turn the raw materials into something more useful. That means canning apple and pear sauce, pureeing and freezing pumpkins, preparing other vegetables for canning and freezing, and maybe doing some actual cooking and baking. I would love to build a wood-fired pizza oven.

It will be an experimental laboratory. I just love taking old junk and repurposing it into something more useful. There is tons of stuff out there that people are just giving away. I also want to try my hand at some metal working.

It will be a classroom. When I was growing up my dad taught me all about tools and how to use them in our basement. I hope to do the same with Junior, and I hope my dad will be involved with that as well.

It will be a refuge. There is something to be said about having a comforting place to go to during difficult times. And difficult times are an unavoidable fact of life. So it will be nice to have a place to let off steam, refocus my energy, and relax.

Dang, I am ready to build this thing! It will be several months before it is complete and I am in a position to use it, but it sure will be great once it’s ready.

The master plan – garage/apartment.

Posted on by David Maxwell

Continuing to discuss the overall vision for the farm…

The garage/apartment

Liz really wanted an indoor parking space. We also want a one bedroom/one bath apartment with kitchen and living area for guests. My original thought was to have a three car garage with an apartment above. I quickly realized that this wasn’t a good option for several reasons. 1) Cost. That is a big building and lots of square footage equals lots of dollars. 2) Aesthetics. That is a big building, and there was just no way to hide its bulk. It would overwhelm the main house and not be very attractive. 3) Accessibility. We hope that the apartment will be occupied by all sorts of people, but some of the most frequent users will undoubtedly be our parents. As much as I love them all, they are no spring chickens, and having everything on one level just makes everything easier. So we cut two parking spaces and put everything on the ground. I’ve never had an indoor parking spot in my life, and can do fine without one. Our guests will just have to deal.

We want to make this living space pretty cool, while building it quickly and at a reasonable price. We will be able to use a number of items from the house – namely the bathtub, some kitchen cabinets, water heater, and possibly a vanity. We aren’t trying to totally replicate the look of the main house, which will help keep costs down. The two buildings will be connected by a four foot by four foot “nubbin”. The kitchen will be full sized and the living room will be spacious. When there are no guests the apartment will be used as “flex space” for other activities. I plan on having a vaulted ceiling and lots of windows so that plenty of light comes in. The walls will only be eight feet in order to keep the overall profile of the structure low. A wood burning stove would be nice, but a nice one is too big of an expense for the time being. We’ll have one in the main house and another in the workshop.

As mentioned above, we really want this apartment to get a lot of use. The farm should end up being a really fun place for people to come spend a weekend. I would like it to be a nice retreat for people looking to escape city life for a bit. We will also look into the possibility of listing it on AirBnb. That could be a nice way to help pick up some extra cash. I actually wouldn’t be opposed to listing the whole house at the right price, especially on a weekend when we could just go up to Monteagle.

I think that this will really help resale value too, as in-law suites are now considered pretty desirable. Not that we plan on selling anytime soon, but you never know what life holds. Sorry that this post lacks pictures.