I'm going to see if I remember my html code and try to post some pictures of our new house.

This is the front.

This is the back.

This is the side.

This is the pasture.

This is the barn.

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2003

Answers

Very nice house. I really like those trees in the yard, should really help keep your house shady in the summertime, minimize winter winds, and help keep the electricity bill low.

The horse seems really content - you should be also.

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2003

Wow!! Those pictures are really beautiful, Sherri! I love the barn and all that available pasture. You just HAVE to fill it up with four-legged animals!! Congratulations!!!!!!! BTW...The house is beautiful, too :-)!

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2003

Congrats on getting what you wanted, Sherri!

Did you ever say how much acreage? Are YOU going to have a horse? ;- ) Say, you could put llamas or alpacas in that barn . . . . [evil grin]

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2003

It's just a hair shy of 13 acres, 12.8 acres to be exact. The current owners asked if we wanted to buy any of the horses but we're not going to. My opinion on horses is the same as my opinions on dogs and children: they're great as long as they belong to someone else. :) If my friend Karen does buy a horse for her daughter then we may board it for them but that's the extend of my horse ownership desires. I actually saw another farm a few miles away that has llamas or alpacas, I'm not sure which. :)

I think that I've resolved my dairy goat vs milk cow debate in favor of goats. (I can hear Marcia and Dee cheering now). I want some time to check in with the locals and see what's available, I'm hoping to find someone nice who lives close by and would be willing to help out a newbie. I also have to make sure the fences are goat-proof. So the goats probably won't be until next year, the garden and some chickens are #1 and #2 on the priority list.

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2003

Sherri It's so nice!!!! I love all the pasture. My hubby Mike wants to know if we can come up and help ourselves to some fire wood!!!! LOL We are selling it from trees in our yard & him and Mom have gotten addicted to the extra money in the winter!!!

Hope ya'll enjoy your new place!!!! Sandy

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2003

Ooooo Sherri ... I love it!! Brick ranch. Does it have a woodstove? Best of luck.

On the goats vs cows, I chose goats because I have wooded land. Goats like to browes. If I had pasture, I'd get a couple of cattle. One to sell, one to keep (in the freezer). You already have the fencing for it. If you get goats, I found that woven wire with a strand of electric works best. Then again, there is nothing that says you cannot have cattle and goats.

Speaking of horses, mine broke into the barn and ate about 20 lbs of goat feed. So far, there is no lingering results. Will see in a few days if that changes.

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2003

Oh yea! Looks like a park!! Better go with the goats to help with mowing the lawn. Love it!!.......Kirk

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2003

Like Dee said...why not a couple of milk goats AND one or two beef cows. If you get a good dairy line of goats you don't have to breed every year...just keep them miking for two years or so. Breed your beef cows so that each year you'll have one 1½ yr. old calf to put in the freezer. My does are very easily fenced with just two strands of electric tape...once they learn that it carries 4650 volts :-)!! We have coyotes in the area also, but they don't bother my goats.

If you want to keep your pastures grazed "neatly", don't expect goats to do it. As Dee said, too, they're browsers and will only graze on grass if it's very "clean" and tall!! Sheep, cattle and horses will keep pastures shorter.

So...where are ya gonna put the holding tank for lobsters??! Has to be salt water, ya know :-)!

-- Anonymous, May 20, 2003

Looks wonderful! And cozy. Congratulations!

-- Anonymous, May 20, 2003

The pasture is about 50% open and 50% scrubby/wooded. Don't worry, I haven't given up on cattle entirely. I'm thinking about using the excess milk from the goats to raise a steer for the freezer, but that's a long-term plan. I want to take it slow with the livestock additions. Even though I was raised in the country we didn't have any animals so my practical livestock knowledge is nonexistent. I don't want to get a bunch of animals and then not take care of them properly.

Marcia, there's two ponds on the property so I thought we could just dump a bunch of rock salt in one of them to make saltwater for the lobsters. I don't think your boat is going to fit though. :)

The house does look small from the outside but the basement is finished so that gives us some more room. We may eventually put a four-seasons room on the side. There's a fireplace upstairs and downstairs and they do use the downstairs one quite a bit in the winter. We may put an insert into that one to increase the efficiency and not lose so much heat up the chimney.

-- Anonymous, May 20, 2003

Sherri, that house looks so much like one of the many houses I lived in as a child! Your place is wonderful..........looks so peaceful.

I wonder if after you've been there awhile if you will still refer to as our 'house'. I was thinking about how a farm is so much more than a house; I always referred to it as a farm; the house was one small part, to me anyway. NOW we live in a house, even though surrounded by woods and pond, cuz there's nothin else here. But in the country there are other buildings, and nooks and crannies and paths and terrain changes and special trees and views and secret places where mushrooms grow or fairies hang out or wild onions grow or wild roses take over or deer like to graze or wild berries surprise you or millions of choices of what to plant where or clear views of stars and northern lights or the sweet smell of hay and even manure or new litters of kittens or spring babies of all kinds..........

I better shup up!

anywho, am very happy for you on your new journey and pray you will be sublimely happy on your new country place!

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2003

That's an interesting observation EM. I've been pondering it all evening. Even though I was raised in the country I don't think I've ever referred to someone's farm as a "farm". It was more like "I'm going down to Uncle Bob's place" or "I'm going over to the Walkers". Maybe it's a regional thing?

Among our friends we all jokingly refer to the place as "the compound". We say that we're going to build a big wall around it and buy a bunch of guns and start a religious cult like Waco. And since it's my cult, I guess that means I get to be the polygamist....on second thought no thanks, one man is plenty! :)

I have been thinking about giving the place a name though, like they do in Great Britain. Right now I'm partial to "Moonheart Farm", after the Charles de Lint book. I want to live there for a while and make sure the name fits before I decide. BTW, I really liked the name of your farm. :)

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2003

Thanks! I'm thinking we're going to use the same name, only plural, for the food business. I can see us expanding to all kinds of gluten- free, low-carb stuff, and WiseAcres Farms still sounds good to me. Kinda light-hearted, but a pun, and keeps that connection to the farm. I want very much to deal with local producers as much as I legally and financially can. What do you guys think of the name?

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2003

Gorgeous place, Sherri! Is that a garage or a walk out basement shown there in photo #1. Which way does the front face; and the side with the big windows? Can you see either of the ponds from the house? Looks like you've got some rolling ground, maybe? How far is the barn from the house; and from running water? Uphill or down hill? That will have a lot of bearing on your livestock choices.

We refer to our place as the farm; as does the rest of the family - probably because we're the only ones that live on a farm. Mama named our place Clayhill many years ago - it used to be Clayhill Orchard, now it's Clayhill Farm. She named it that because it sits on a clay hill. Duh. When John the 1st and I lived one road to the north, I wanted to name that place "Hog Waller Holler" but no one would go along with me on that one. Some folks just don't have any sense of humor...

Congrats on your new home - and remember to buy a new broom and leave your old one behind - one of Granny Leone's superstitions - "Don't take an old broom to a new house."

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2003

Like the name EM

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2003