Actually, the terms "beginning" and "farm" are both a little misleading. Though April 22nd marked a beginning of sorts with the purchase of the Shire, Rosemary and I have wanted to have a place of our own for years now, probably due in large part to way we were raised. Rosemary grew up out in the country with horses, and even I, a city-boy, grew up on a large plot, weeding the garden and showing my chickens and turkeys every year at the local county fair. Our first "beginning" together was our first year of marriage in an old, rented Wisconsin farmhouse while I wrote for a newspaper. Our animals consisted of a mother cat, who bore kittens, and our garden yielded a few tomatoes. Then it was off to Dallas to pursue graduate studies with our oldest--then seven months old--in tow. One of our kittens came with us too, but that first year in the big city we lived in a small apartment, far removed from country life. The last three years in Dallas we were able to rent a house on a few acres from a professor, who also allowed us to build a chicken coop and raise chickens--a true God-send that helped Rosemary to tolerate city life. Alas, all good things come to an end (though the Lord always prepares something better), and soon we were in Raleigh, North Carolina, where I had found a prep school teaching position. Our first year here in North Carolina was spent in a rented house with a strict no-pet policy in suburban Wake Forest, longingly perusing properties on the internet. Finally, with the tax refund money in hand in February, the time was right, and we practically pounced when a property within the range of my modest teacher's salary became available. April 22nd might not have been the beginning, but it was certainly an important one.
The term "farm" is also a tad misleading. What constitutes a farm, after all? I noticed that farm truck registration in North Carolina is only available if one has at least ten acres. Since the Shire is only 2 1/4 acres, it seems the state doesn't think we're much of a farm. And admittedly, we're not. I certainly couldn't quit my teaching job and expect to eek out a living on these two acres. But Rosemary and I are optimistic that we can live a sustainable lifestyle--raising a great deal of our own food, both meat and crops--and even earn a little side income. Perhaps most importantly, we believe that we can inculcate in our children a love and respect for God's creation in an environment like this. I had to smile the other day when Cyprian, our oldest, after spending a little too much time by our feeder pigs, noted, "Daddy, I smell like a real farm boy!" I really don't like the term "hobby farm" because what we're doing isn't so much a hobby as it is a way of life. Sure, we'll shower before heading into town for church, but there's something right about getting dirty and working with one's hands, even if one doesn't have to. I'm fully aware that we're not dependent on the capriciousness of the seasons and the volatility of the market in the same way as real farmers, but Rosemary and I want to get our hands dirty; and in an romantic, idealistic sort of way we want our children to get their hands dirty too, to learn the value of hard work, to learn what they're capable of accomplishing.
So, it's not really the beginning, and Kleinshire isn't really a farm, but that's okay. It's both a beginning of sorts and a farm, at least for me and Rosemary. And this blog, by the way, is a joint venture of ours, with Rosemary writing some posts and me others. It's probably for family and friends, simply an outlet to share what we're doing with family back in Wisconsin and our many friends from Dallas and elsewhere. If it attracts a wider readership, then maybe we'll change things up and get more professional; but I've seen some pretty fancy sustainable lifestyle blogs out there, and I don't think we have the ambition at present to aspire to that level of greatness.
Let me end this first post by sharing what Kleinshire is and what we've accomplished thus far. As I noted, the property is 2 1/4 acres. It's located a mile or two outside of the small town of Bunn, North Carolina, 35 minutes from the school where I teach and nearly 30 minutes from our current parish, St. Catherine of Siena in Wake Forest. We're a ways out due to high property values closer to the city. Though the house is small, the property came with a large, two-car garage; a four-stall horse barn; and two fenced pastures.
Here's the land survey:
Here's a photo from the far right of the property looking towards the house and barn:
Here's the horsebarn
The back pasture, looking toward the right side of the property:
Rosemary's goats:
Ella, our baby goat:
Milking Tam:
Straining the milk:
Our feeder pigs, Ham and Bacon
My first big project (building a chicken run extending from one of the horse stalls):
Our chicks (forty, including 14 meat chicks and our future flock of laying hens):
Clement and Cyprian hanging out in their new fort:
No comments:
Post a Comment