Projects and Patience

The brighter green tips mean spring is on its way!

We have a white board hanging in our house.  We use it to keep track of different projects that we need to do and a running list of things we need (groceries, things for the house, etc.)  We have quite a few projects planned for this year.  The biggest ones are fencing our property and building a new barn.  The biggest obstacle for both of these is financial.  We are planning on installing the fencing and building the barn ourselves to save money, but we still need to purchase the materials.  We’re still researching plans for the barn, so we haven’t been able to price materials yet.  The fencing needs to be in place before we can use the barn, but we would really like to have both in place before next winter.  We’re planning on breeding our doe soon, which means we’ll have a couple more goats this summer.  We would like to gradually grow our herd, but will need more space for housing. We also need a better hay storage solution.  The previous occupants had built a deer blind/tree house thing at the back of the yard.  We dismantled much of this and used the walls for our goat house.  We left the floor up, closed it in with plastic sheeting and tarps, and put our hay on a couple of pallets in there.  We thought it would be nicely out of the weather.  What we didn’t think about is that the “floor” of the deer blind, which is now the roof of our hay storage, is only made of pressboard and isn’t waterproof.  Once it started raining very much, it leaked.  We’ve lost a lot of hay to mold because of that.  Once we realized it was leaking, we covered the hay with tarps, but a lot of damage was already done.  So, while we’ve been able to protect the rest of our hay fairly well, it’s definitely not ideal.  Plus, the hay isn’t right next to the goat house, which makes feeding messier.  If we had a good sized shed, part of the shed could store our hay and the stanchion, and the rest would hold our goats.

It’s difficult to be patient for all of these things to happen.  We both want them to happen now.  But, there’s still several inches of snow on the ground on most of our property, which means we can’t even stake out where we want the barn to go.  I know it’s still February and it’s not unusual for there to still be snow on the ground, especially out in the woods where we are.  I’m ready for spring, though.  It’s also hard to have patience with the fact that the funding is simply not there for these things yet.  We’re going to start purchasing fencing materials as we can, and start putting them up (once the weather warms enough) as we get them.  We’re researching grant opportunities to help with infrastructure costs, but there don’t seem to be that many out there.

The other thing we have to be patient with is the fact that we’re working with a biological model.  We have to wait for our doe to be old enough to breed.  We have to wait for her to be in heat in order to breed her.  Then we have to wait for her to kid before we can start milking her.  We bought our three goats last August.  We won’t be able to milk until this coming July.  We also didn’t get to start a garden here last year.  It was too late in the season when we moved in to do much and there was so much else to do that took precedence.  I did manage to prepare a couple beds in the fall for planting this spring (which brings me back to the waiting for spring comments), but wasn’t even able to get in a fall garden.  Other projects for this year include building cold frames and row covers for season extension, possibly obtaining a greenhouse of some sort, small root cellar options (we’d like a full root cellar, but with the time and expense involved in fencing and barn building, that’s not likely to happen this year), and expanding the garden area.  This is all on top of expecting our first child.  Part of my impatience to begin sooner than later has much to do with the fact that I’m halfway through my pregnancy.  At some point my ability to do all the things I want and need to do will be far more limited.  I would like to get as much done as I can before then.

So, I’m trying to do as much planning as I can while we’re unable to build.  We’re researching barn building and determining the size and shape of the barn.  We’re hoping to use as much salvaged material as possible in order to save money.  And we’re starting to save so that we can afford to buy what we will need to buy.  If you would like to contribute to our efforts, we now have a “Donate” link here on the blog as well as on our website at www.slaintemhaithfarms.com.  We would also welcome donations of any materials, leads on places to get fencing and building supplies for free or cheap, and, if you’re in the area, help with the construction.  Maybe we’ll get to have an old-time barn raising sometime this summer.  We also have hand crafted soaps and lotion bars for sale under the “Products” tab on our website.  Click on the About tab to find out more about our goals and philosophies.