Saturday, September 12, 2009
Well we didn't move the fence again today, but we did get four (4) eggs. So the production reds are at least producing. I got about 2/3 the shelter built, and will finish it today. So that's the scoop for the day, at least as far as the farm is concerned. At least the animals got out for a while yesterday, so they could eat well, and swim and all that, although getting the chickens back in was a bit of a chore. I still have the nest to build, and roost to install in the shelter, and other such modifications. There doesn't seem to be enough branches to cut, but I have only just begun I guess. We really need to move the animals to our new land, but we are still waiting on the final agreement to be drawn up. I hope it don't take to much longer, because winter is coming, and I am pretty certain it is going to be a rather cold and nasty one this year.
The truth is Spring is coming soon too. We are not even ready for that either. We don't have a planting schedule, or a place to start plants. No green house this year, so we will have to start plants in the house and barn, and build beds where we can set them in high tunnels to hopefully get a jump on the season, because we don't have a lot of season. We will however be able to plant lots of greens as we will have great amounts of shade so we will be able to grow greens quite late if we set them in strategic places. Our market crops are a big part of our income for next year, so we will have to figure out how to obtain the seed and get things going early. I want lots of tomatoes set. Mostly heirloom Brandywines, but we should have lots of plum type tomatoes too, because they are the blood of sauces and other tomato based products. I need to ensure that we will have the buyers for the Brandywines, so we can be certain that if we set them, they will be valuable. Next Spring we will build a green house, and grow Brandywines early and late, as we will heat part of the green house to create a sudo hot house. I want to produce about three cases a week for our wholesale customers, plus some for the market. We will also have to produce greens, mostly romaine lettuce and custom greens for our wholesale customers, but we should be able to provide these without much trouble. I will get commitments from our wholesale customers in the form of deposits which should cover our seed cost. We most likely will not have organic status for three years, so we will have to get by on lower cost, unless we can get Eddy to agree to sign an affidavit that no chemicals have been used on the property for at least the last five years.
We also won't have a proper parlor in the barn as we will building a basic New England style barn, with just tie stalls for milking using a swing system with 2” pipeline to a bulk tank in the milk house addition.
The barn will be 20'x40' with a 10'x12' milk house addition. Although this diagram doesn't show it very well it has a six tie stall parlor, a storage room and two box stalls. It also includes a free stall and a hay loft. There are four of the cubicles on the roof that act as vents, and will include exhaust fans that can be opened or closed to control venting of the barn. This will not be the final barn, and the installation of the parlor is temporary, in that we will be building a much bigger free stall barn which will have a ATO ARM herringbone style parlor and multi-tank milk house connected by pipeline to the creamery. This barn will then be used for heifers and other animals as well as hay storage. We will also build a horse and machinery barn which will be attached to an indoor paddock which will double as a show ring area. The new barn will be a New England style barn as well in keeping with the current look of the first barn. The horse barn will also be a NE style barn, with a round indoor paddock addition. The green houses will also reflect this same NE style to maintain the basic look of the farm. I had considered the gamble roof style, but the complexity and cost of the trusses would make it difficult to build at least at first, so we will continue to use the NE style just to maintain the look of the farm.Well that's the plan anyways. I will maybe go into the house/cabin later. I still haven't decided if I will build a salt box style, or cape cod style. Either way, we may build a small cabin >1000' to begin with, and then later once we have purchased the property build a more substantial house. We will also be building dedicated buildings, such as a mill, a soap factory, a forage/kiln/bakery/cannery and some other special buildings which will be used for special purposes. Well that's it for now, I have work to do and daylight is burning.
Peace.
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