When we posted a blog a few weeks ago, we knew power had been run to our pedestal, but we hadn’t been out here to actually see it. As it turns out, they trenched it in. Which means a giant muddy mess all the way across our flower beds and side yard. Our neighbor was kind enough to get our trailer hooked up to the pedestal, so we have electricity!!!
Will is digging the trench for our power. He has been absolutely incredible in getting us up and running! We are so thankful to have him as a neighbor.
Getting power hooked up was the catalyst for everything else. First up was internet. Endeavor got out here the quickest and had us setup with internet in about an hour. Which means I’m posting this blog from the farm! We are lucky to live in a rural area with fiber…our internet is fast!
Next up was water. Eli from English Well Drilling came out and trenched in over 500 feet of water line (during a rainstorm) and put in a yard hydrant. The yard hydrant sits just a couple feet from our electric pedestal. We went this route because our trailer sits where our barn will be built in the future. Both water and power will be necessary in the barn, so we ran those services with the intent of them being permanent. The well is run off of one of our 200amp disconnects in the pedestal. Cost of running water from halfway across our property? About $2000. Yes, that’s a bit steep, but it was necessary both for our current living situation and for the future barn.
This is a yard hydrant. When the handle is up, water is flowing. When the handle is down, water shuts off and drops back down into the ground line, so it doesn’t freeze. We did have to buy a heated hose to run from the hydrant to the house, and we have to build an insulated ‘house’ for the hydrant before winter. The barn will actually be built over the top of the hydrant, so it will eventually be indoors and freezing won’t be a concern.
Last up was septic hook-up. The septic system is huge, so it can easily support our small 2-bedroom trailer. Baker Septic Service was out here within 2 days of us calling them. They figured out exactly what we need, got the parts and got right to work. And they loved our dog (who felt the need to ‘help’ at every given opportunity)!
It looks ugly, but it’s necessary. Unfortunately, the drop from the disconnect from the trailer to the point of connection at the septic tank is only 14 inches. So part of our septic pipe is above ground. There is some concern about it freezing this winter, so it will be insulated and the big pipe sticking up is a vent pipe. It will pull warm air out of the tank in an effort to keep the pipe warm.
Our septic hook-up is temporary. There was no permanent option that would be feasible with our barn. If we need a septic connection for the barn, it will require a pit with a pump. Which is much more expensive and will need to be located directly beside or inside the barn. Cost for septic hook-up? About $1100. Like the trailer moving cost, this cost is part of our ‘rent’. So we’re up to $4600 over the next year vs. $14,000 to rent an apartment.
It’s not a needed utility, but one of us likes to watch every televised football game, so we got DirecTV. Cable doesn’t exist out here, so going with a satellite dish was our only option. I’ve not had TV in years, so the very few times I get to watch HGTV are awesome!
Everything is done that needs to be done so we can live at the farm! The trailer is actually quiet cozy. Even though stuff is packed in here, it’s better than either one of us anticipated. Our final step is getting our Certificate of Occupancy. Our well and septic electric lines need to be put in conduit and we have to build steps for the front and back doors; then we’ll be ready for our final inspection.
The view out the front door. We’ll be able to sit here and watch out dream home be built right across the driveway. Pretty dang cool!
We’re moving right along! Before we know it, we’ll be meeting with the drafter to draw up house plans!!
Yes, yes I know. I’m way behind in getting a blog up. Things have been a little crazy the past few weeks, and I’m just now getting the chance to sit down and type it all up. So you may end up with a couple blogs back-to-back.
We’ll start where we left off 3 weeks ago. At the time of the last blog, the trailer move had been delayed due to a permitting issues. It got delayed again due to weather. But we are pleased to say WE HAVE A TEMPORARY HOME!!! The trailer was delivered mid-October, and we have been busy ever since.
The trailer being pulled through our south field. Dodge City Homes of Bloomington was our mover and they were great!
It’s here!!! Dan (our mover) did a great job of setting the trailer exactly where we wanted it. After this picture was taken, Dan and crew blocked, leveled, and anchored the trailer. There was a small shed that came with the trailer; it was delivered the following week.
For any of you looking for information on the cost of moving a trailer, it’s expensive. Like mega expensive. We had a difficult time finding info online about the cost of moving a singlewide. Our trailer was moved less than 30 miles, on major state roads the majority of the way, and we paid $3500. That included the entire tear down/prep for move, moving, permits, and blocking/leveling/anchoring at our property. It included the cost of disconnecting the heat pump prior to the move, but did not include the reconnection once the trailer was set. The $3500 also did not include putting the skirting back on. We saw the trailer when we signed the purchase agreement and didn’t see it again until it was delivered to our farm. We literally did nothing to get the trailer moved. We probably could’ve saved around $500 if we’d taken off the old porch and removed the skirting ourselves, but we didn’t have the time. It was easier and much less stressful for us to pay the professionals to do it. Use your own discretion, but expect to shell out a minimum of $3000, even for a local move. A double-wide trailer will cost your over twice that.
It sounds like a lot of money–and it is–but for us, it was much cheaper than paying rent. Our trailer will be sold as soon as our house is done. In fact, we’ve already had an offer to buy the trailer for what we paid for it. If we had rented while our house was being built, we would’ve been ended up paying about $1200/month. Over the course of a year, that’s over $14,000! Since we’ll make our money back on the trailer itself, we essentially paid $3500 instead of $14,000 for ‘rent’ for the next year. We also have the benefit of living at the job site. Which means we’ll be available every day to check the progress of our build, as well as watch over the job site after hours.
As soon as the trailer was delivered, we got busy painting. We were not fans of the purple and teal, so we repainted the walls a nice light gray. All of the trim got a fresh coat of white to make it look a little cleaner too.
The master bedroom was painted a plum color before. Now it’s light and bright.
The Living Room and Kitchen were also painted the same light gray. It’s Silver Leaf by Valspar…available at Lowe’s. We think this color really sets off our incredible hardwood floors.
My mom was moving out of state two days after our trailer was delivered, and we got a bunch of furniture from her. So we rented a U-Haul, moved it all into the trailer, and had to paint around it.
Pro Tip: The ramp of a U-Haul fits perfectly in the front doorway of a mobile home. This made our move-in so freaking easy! We spent 3 hours loading the U-Haul and about 20 minutes unloading it.
This is the reality of moving while painting. Everything got piled up in the middle and we worked around it.
Once we figure out the whole editing thing, we’ll post a YouTube video showing the move and some of the damage incurred during the move (don’t worry, a little damage is normal). Other than the long wait to get the trailer out here, the whole moving process was relatively painless.
I’m sure some of you are thinking about the possibility of living in a mobile home on your property while building a house. For us, it made sense because our farm already had a well and septic system in place (both installed within the past 15 years and in good working order). We also have a driveway already in place. Those 3 pieces of infrastructure can be very expensive and are normally installed as part of construction. So yes, this worked for us, but it may not be practical or economical for everyone.
Stay tuned for another blog about getting our utilities connected.
I know I’m a few days late getting our weekly blog post up… but ya know, life happens. However, so much has happened since last week’s update. First of all, Endeavor (our internet provider) ran our fiber line last Thursday. Since we both work from home, finding a rural property with fiber was a must (easier said than done, but we succeeded). They used directional boring to run the line under our flower beds and driveway (as opposed to trenching), and it was the coolest thing to watch. They use water! Some of you are probably like ‘duh’, but to us it was cool to see. Our actual service appointment is set for the end of next week…then the blogs will be coming from the farm!
This is the directional boring machine. The operator sits in the middle of it and adds pieces of pipe as needed to feed the conduit through the hole. Once the conduit is in, they use water again to feed the fiber line through the conduit. They spent more time marking and checking the property than they did boring… the boring and line install took less than 30 minutes.
Part of the purpose of this blog is to give you guys an idea of what to expect when building a house or developing land. I’ll share cost whenever possible and will provide tips for making your journey easier than ours. Internet was our first utility to go in, so we’ll start there. Since we are considered a new account, our line was run to the trailer for free. However, when the house is done, the line will have to be relocated to the house (internet in the barn is overkill). At which point, we’ll have to pay a relocate fee of $250. Overall, not bad.
While we’re talking utilities, let’s talk power. REMC came out and ran our power line on Monday! This is HUGE! Unfortunately, we were not at the farm, so we didn’t get to watch. In fact, we’re not sure if they trenched (and left us with a mess) or directional bored like Endeavor. We’re hoping for the latter.
Now let’s talk cost. (Disclaimer: this will be different for everyone, because it’s specific to your power company.) We are part of a rural power co-op, and here is how they charge: If power is existing on the property and the line needs to be relocated, it’s $10/foot to move it…so if we needed the line run 50 feet, it would be $500. If power does not exist on the property and needs to be run from the nearest utility pole (think completely undeveloped land), the power company will usually pay for a portion of the install (after all, they’re about to make a ton of money off of your electric bills!). In our case, our co-op will pay up to $2400 for new service. There was a big back and forth between people at the power company about whether we were new service or a relocate… but ultimately it was decided we were considered new service (thanks to our engineer Dillon!!). Since we only needed the line run about 220 feet, our install was free!! Because we will need power at the location of the trailer long after the trailer is gone, our service is permanent (usually in a case like this, it would be temporary, but our barn will need power in the future). Which means, we will have to pay a relocate fee to have power run to the main house. Since the pad transformer is pretty close to the house, it should only cost a couple hundred bucks. Power for both our house and our barn for a couple hundred bucks? We got lucky!
Just some food for thought if you’re considering the country life: Electric service is where a lot of people can make a big mistake. They buy rural property and want to put their house way back off the road… but don’t take into account how to get power back that far. Even with a $2400 credit, it could easily cost over $10K to run power down a long driveway… and that’s assuming it’s a straight shot with no obstacles! So maybe trade a bigger front yard for a bigger backyard and build a little closer to the road. Like I said earlier, every power company is different, so reach out to your company for their policy on new service. Also, consider the timeline of when you need your utilities. I thought a month from move-in was enough time, but we’re just barely squeaking by. Both utilities were running about 2 weeks out for installs when we set up our accounts, but it’s been as high as 6 weeks recently. Our advice? Call sooner rather than later…they can always push back an install a few days if you’re not ready, but getting them out ASAP usually isn’t feasible.
While we’re on the path of good news, our trailer should be delivered TOMORROW!!! There was a delay in getting the DOT permit by the moving company, so it wasn’t moved today as originally planned. Fingers are crossed the chance of rain tomorrow doesn’t delay the move. Our plans are to paint the inside of the trailer this weekend, so we can move a few big pieces of furniture in. It will be hooked up to power the beginning of next week, at which point it can be inspected and the Certificate of Occupancy issued. Once we receive that blessing from the building inspector, the power company will drop our meter in and we will have functioning power! It’s been a long road to this point and we are PUMPED!
This past weekend, we started clearing out the tree line and creek behind the soon-to-be house. We’d previously cleaned up the area near the well so our water line could be trenched in, but we’re now making our way upstream. It’s obvious this area hasn’t seen attention in years. There is so much brush and weeds and overgrown bushes…lots of poison ivy too. We want to open up this area to have a better view of the north field, so we can keep an eye on our livestock.
This is the before, taken on Saturday morning. You can’t even tell where the creek is.
This ‘after’ picture was taken Saturday afternoon. We worked all day Sunday too, but I forgot to get a picture on Sunday afternoon. If you look at the middle of the picture, you can see where the creek bed is. That was at least 3 or 4 feet in from where the edge of the overgrowth started.
One of the things we discovered in clearing out this area is the abundance of Eastern red cedar trees. We love cedar trees and were thrilled to find so many seedlings. They will grow tall and provide privacy from the neighbors, yet we can trim the lower branches to give us a great view into our field.
This cedar had to get a bit of haircut to give us access to the deeper brush, but that’s how we discovered they were red cedars. Fun fact: Eastern red cedars are actually part of the juniper family, not the cedar family. And Western red cedars are actually members of the Cypress family.
The weedeater and chainsaw got a major workout this weekend. We managed to throw the chain on the chainsaw…twice. But we put it back on and kept right on going. Our bodies and our tools might be worn out, but our hearts are full.
Thankfully it was easy to put back on. There are so many more trees and bushes that need to come down, we may have to break out the second chainsaw too!
We can’t wait to get out to farm this weekend to work on the trailer and to do some more work along the creek. And it’s crazy to say this, but this is the last weekend the farm is a destination. Next weekend, the farm will officially be HOME!!!
Y’all, we have said it before and we’ll say it again…we have THE BEST neighbors!!! One of them spent his entire Sunday afternoon helping us get our meter pedestal installed. Another one made us chili for lunch because it was cold out and he knew we were stuck working outside all day. And all of them welcomed us with open arms at their local music festival on Saturday! We don’t know how we’ll ever be able to repay them for their kindness and generosity, but we’ll sure try.
On Saturday, we spent most of the day picking up field corn the combine left behind in our North field. There’s no sense in letting the leftovers go to waste, so we’ll put them in the bird feeders.
We got even more than this! Once all the kernels have been removed, it will be about 10 gallons worth of tasty treats for the birds this winter.
We also started clearing along the creek and treeline. There is years and years of overgrowth, so it’s a very slow-going process. Of course this time of year, we have to be watching for snakes (copperheads and rattlesnakes are our venomous ones…and love the woods), so that also slows things down. Unfortunately, this project is not one that can get done in a weekend. It’s something we’ll be working on all winter long, as the treeline and creek are several hundred feet long.
That little brown and white speck in the middle of the picture is our well. To give you an idea what that area looked like before, either go back a few blogs or look at the weeds/trees/bushes as the left, middle of the picture. The entire treeline, from the east side to the west side of our property is like that. Obviously, we plan on leaving the mature trees and any berry bushes/vines, but everything else has to go!
The biggest news of the weekend is we got our meter pedestal installed!! This is a HUGE step in getting power to our trailer/barn/greenhouses/construction crew. Our awesome neighbor Will helped us get it setup this weekend. The building inspector is coming out to inspect it tomorrow morning. As long as it passes, it will get a green tag and REMC will be out next week to trench in our electric line!
I now want an auger for our tractor! It drilled 2, 2-foot holes in about a minute. It would’ve taken us so long to dig those by hand. (LOL see our corn harvest mess from the day before?)
It’s in! This picture was taken before the ground wire had been fed into the box, so nobody panic. There is extra space next to the box for an outdoor panel that will have outlets, which will provide power for our contractors…so no temporary pole for construction! At a later point, this entire box will probably be mounted to the side of our barn.
Saturday evening, the campground (where all of our wonderful neighbors live) hosted a music festival and we were invited! The bands were good, the food was good, and everyone was so nice. So many of them were glad we’d purchased the farm across the street, and some of them even said they wished they could’ve purchased the farm. We are honorary members of the campground now and have been invited to all their events. And I have a feeling we’ll be hosting a party or two of our own for our neighbors.
Delicious food!!!
Since we hung out at the campground into the evening hours on Saturday, we finally got to see our farm at dusk! All the sounds, the smells; it was so peaceful. Just a few more weeks until this is home for good!
Taken from the driveway, looking over the foundation toward the north field.
When Jim made chili for us yesterday (it was so good!), we stood in the driveway with Will and Alli and Jim, just talking and eating. It’s like we’d all known each other forever. We talked about tractors and the weather and our plans for the farm next year. It just felt so right…we both felt it. Like we’ve said before, we can’t imagine being anywhere else. Our tiny little town of 250 people is right where we’re meant be… AND WE LOVE IT!
This past week was a flurry of activity. It’s really exciting to see things happening at the farm. Since we are putting a temporary home on the property, all the utilities have to be run to where that home is going to sit. And since our trailer is going to sit where our future barn will be built, all the utilities need to be permanent. The week started with a call to Holey Moley (the call-before-you-dig number; in Indiana it’s 811). As we expected, the only public utilities on our property are internet and electricity.
That little orange flag is a big deal for us. Internet availability was actually one of the first things we checked before making an offer on the property. With both of us working from home (and soon running a business from home), high-speed internet is a must. Most rural areas are last on the list for fiber; thankfully our area was one of the first.
Since septic and geothermal are private utilities, we had to call a private locate company to come out to mark those lines. And just as Murphy’s Law would have it, neither our septic nor geothermal had any sort of metal line the tech could hook onto with his EM reader. However, our tech ‘witched’ them. I know water can be witched, but had no idea you could witch anything else. It was the coolest/weirdest/freakiest thing I have ever seen! Witching is not 100% accurate, but it at least gave us a basic idea of where the lines are so the other utility companies don’t bore through them.
Those pink flags mark our septic line. I told the technician we only needed about 40 feet of line marked out from the tank; just enough the well guy wouldn’t cut it when trenching our new water line. I didn’t tell the tech where the line led, just that it ended about 150 feet out into our field. When he finished marking it, I walked the line he had ‘witched’… and it ended right at our distribution box. We know where the box is located because we have the diagram from when it was installed, but our tech had no way of knowing that. Pretty freakin’ cool.
We were told by the previous owner, the geothermal loop was under the loop in the driveway. We assumed it was under the middle of the driveway loop. Nope! Our driveway makes a big loop in front of the house… and the geothermal lines follow that same path! Who knew? Yes, we told the tech to spray paint on the driveway…the driveway will be sealed next year after construction is finished so the pink is only there temporarily.
The biggest thing that happened this week was our meeting with the engineers from SCI REMC (our power co-op) to figure out how to get power from the transformer to the trailer/barn location. Initially, we were told it was considered a reconnect, because there had previously been power at the property. Our co-op charges $10 a foot to trench and lay line. Which was going to cost us nearly $2000. Power is a necessity, so we were prepared to shell out the money. The engineers left to go eat lunch while the utility tech finished marking the geothermal loop (since their line will go right through that loop). But, when they got back, they had the best news…. our power is going to be run FOR FREE!!! Because we are new customers and there is currently no power on the property (and hasn’t been for over 2 years), Dillon and Carey (the engineers) had gotten their boss’s permission to set up our service as a new service instead of a reconnect…meaning we get 240 feet of line at no charge. Y’all these guys went out of there way, at lunchtime no less, to save us major money. We are so incredibly thankful for them! We will have to pay for the meter base, which is a little pricy since we’re running 400amp service, but that’s it! HUGE RELIEF!!
The electric line is going to be trenched along the edge of our driveway in front of the house, then bored under the driveway to the edge of the south field where our trailer (and future barn) will be located. Since the geothermal lines from the loop into the house cross that trench, we had to dig down 24″ on top of the geothermal lines to show they would not interfere with the electric line (and so the power company didn’t risk hitting them with the trencher). Let me tell you something… our soil sucks. It is heavy, heavy clay. We’ve not had rain in over a month and it was like digging up concrete. We had to stop after about 8″ and run into town to buy a pick axe. Nevertheless, we prevailed, and 4 hours later we had a large pile of crappy dirt in our driveway and a large 2-foot-deep trench in front of the bushes.
It doesn’t look like much, but damn it was a pain in the butt! The good news is, we didn’t find the geothermal lines. They’re supposed to be 4-6 feet down, so it’s good to know they were installed correctly.
Since the spray paint was hard to see, I put pinks dots over the top of it on the picture. Those dots are the geothermal lines running from the loops in the driveway to the basement. And that’s our lovely trench in front of them.
No, those are not rocks. That’s our soil. And under my hand… also not rocks. Soil. Good old Owen County clay. Farming this is going to be a real treat.
Now that we have a game plan with the power company, we have to get our pedestal installed. The electrician will be out Wednesday to take care of that. Then the pedestal has to be inspected and green-tagged by the building inspector. Once the green tag is on, the power company will come back out and put in the line…hopefully by the end of next week. Internet is going to be run in 2 weeks as well. We’re waiting on a call back from the well guy to see if he wants to wait until power is hooked up before he runs our new water lines. Once there is water, we can get the excavator out to trench in our new septic line. Our October 27th deadline is quickly approaching, but I think we’ll get it all done.
In addition to all the exciting (and expensive) stuff, we’ve continued to clean up the property. This weekend we tackled an area near the patio. I’m not really sure why it was all overgrown like it was, maybe because the hayfield didn’t follow the tree line through there, but it needed to be cleaned up. There were several more black locust trees (or as we call them, demon trees) and weeds that were taller than me. It wasn’t a big area, but the difference is astounding.
Now your see it…
…Now you don’t!
Next weekend, we are going to focus our efforts on the overgrowth along the creek and tree line. As things start to die back in the Fall, it will be easier to remove them…and also make for less work in the Spring. The creek area is a total disaster; I bet those before and after pictures will be pretty spectacular.
We will be sure to keep y’all up-to-date on the electrician/pedestal situation. It should be done this week, but we live by Murphy’s Law, so you just never know. The tentative moving date for the trailer is October 5th. Y’all, we could have our temporary house out there in a week! The actual move date should be firmed up by the weekend. As of today (September 28th) we’ve owned the property for a month. This past week is the first time it’s really felt like things are moving along. Power, internet, moving date. We can only imagine how different it’s going to be a month from now when we’re actually living here!!!
Well, we promised to show you everything about our journey, good or bad. This week is a little bit of bad. It’s not terrible, but it was irritating. When we got out to the farm on Saturday morning, we discovered some new artwork on one of our basement walls. Initially we were pretty miffed. There has been no vandalism to the property in the 2+ years it sat vacant, but within 4 weeks of us owning it, someone graffitis our basement. We did make a police report…not with the intention of catching the culprit, more as an FYI in case there are additional incidents. Soon, there will be construction equipment and materials on site, and we don’t want any of those to come up missing or damaged. After the initial anger wore off, we did kind of have to laugh about it. It is tree marking paint, so it’s easier to clean that regular spray paint. The area that’s painted is not somewhere visible from the road. And let’s be honest, male genitalia is pretty funny.
This is the Weiner Wall! LMAO It will be cleaned up next weekend, but it has given us a bit of a chuckle (after the anger wore off).
Now on to the weekly progress. Our main focus was to get a path cleared to the well. The path needed to be large enough to get a work truck through and broken down enough a trencher won’t get hung up in the brush. We got it done….and forgot to take an after picture! #fail We do have a before picture though.
Obviously you can’t see the well (don’t worry I marked it for you) in this picture. All the mess in front of it, which was primarily sticker bushes and buttonbush shrubs, is now gone…and the well is clearly visible (I might remember to get a picture next weekend). Since this picture was taken from a distance, it’s hard to tell just how deep the weeds and brush go, but it’s about 50 feet from the grass to the edge of the North field where the well sits.
We also started tackling the old tiles and tack strips left in the basement. It is all stuff that has to come out before construction can begin. The basement also needs to be power-washed, but that will have to wait until we have water access. After several hours of work (and some bloodshed), we didn’t get very far. Apparently, we need a floor scraper. In addition to everything else going on this week, it looks like a trip to Menard’s is in the plans.
This used to be a kitchen/bar area (or so we’re guessing). The tile has to go and the concrete has to be cleaned prior to the start of construction. Fingers are still crossed for a late-November construction start date.
This used to be a bathroom, and will probably be a bathroom for us when we decide to finish the basement. However, we have to start with a completely clean slate for the build.
I know it doesn’t look like we did much, but about half the bathroom tile and about half the kitchen tile have been removed (see the pile on the top left). The dirt will all have to be pressure washed and squeegeed off the slab. Hopefully next week’s after picture will have NO TILE in it!
As you know, a few weeks ago we bought a singlewide trailer to serve as our temporary housing while the main house is being built. On Friday, we got our building permit, which covers the proper install of the trailer and all the site electrical work. Today, we finalized the sale and have a tentative moving date! That is a HUGE relief! It will be torn down and prepared for transport next week with plans to move it the week of 10/5.
There is so much to get done this week. Existing electric and fiber are being marked today or tomorrow. Geothermal and septic are being marked on Friday. Holey Moley or 811 is for public utilities, which in our area is limited to electric, fiber, and phone. Geothermal, well, septic, propane, etc… are private utilities and can only be marked by private companies. For those of you curious, private utility location is going to cost us about $290 for an hour’s worth of work (that is using electromagnetic locating only; GPR is considerably more and would be useless for our needs). We’re also hoping to schedule a meeting with an engineer from the power company to decide how to run power from our existing transformer box to our trailer. The trailer is going where our barn will be built after the house is completed, so the electric line will need to be permanent. We’re also planning to use the pole for construction, so there will be no need for a temporary pole later. The straightest line from the box to the site is right through our geothermal field, which is not good (hence the $290 expenditure above…way better than $15K to replace a destroyed geothermal loop). We’re hoping the power company will foot most, if not all, of the bill for the line extension, since the amount of power we’re going to be using over the next 2.5 years could be pretty substantial. We’ll keep you posted on that whole process, since it was really difficult to find useful information online regarding existing electric line extension.
Well and septic hook-up will come after the trailer is in place. When the water line is run from the well to the trailer, a new water line will also be run from the well to the existing foundation (and capped off until ready to use) to save money. Even though it’s going to cost a little more up front, all the utilities being run for use with the trailer will be permanent. Since they will all be used later for the barn, it seemed ridiculous to pay for temporary service now, then pay to have it removed, only to pay to have it put in permanently later.
As you can see, the next few weeks are going to be pretty busy and result in MAJOR changes at the farm. We’ll keep you posted on everything and may even try to get a video up on our YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/channel/UCdoNNJ3ua-ug_DCL41tCI_Q).
Before we get into the progress made this weekend, we have to take a few minutes to brag on our neighbors. As many of you know, our main focus since buying our property has been clearing around the foundation so our drafter has full access to get precise measurements. Our yard (not to be confused with our fields) has been in desperate need of attention. It’s obvious it hasn’t seen a mower at all this year. Since we are not yet living at the farm, we have no equipment out there and discussed hiring a landscape company to bush hog our yard. It just hadn’t happened yet. Well….surprise! Our neighbors took care of it this past week! They knew it was on our to-do list, but we had more pressing things to take care of first. So they crossed it off our list for us. We offered to pay them, reimburse them, anything. The answer was simply ‘nah, that’s what we do out here.’ Y’all, how did we get so lucky??? So many, many, many thanks to our awesome neighbors!!!
Front yard, pulling in the driveway
Standing near the foundation, looking towards the road (and the awesome neighbor’s property). Last week, this was over knee high and thick and folded over.
With the grass all knocked down, it was so much easier for us to get around the sides and back of the foundation to remove all of the brush. The patio was completely surrounded by black locust trees. For those of you who don’t know about black locust, it is EXTREMELY invasive. It’s actually a member of the bean family (weird, right?), so it’s a great nitrogen fixer. However, it spreads very fast and is almost impossible to kill. And it has nasty thorns…both of us are covered in cuts from removing dozens of these stupid trees. Apparently, mature black locust trees are not nearly as thorny and are much sought after by woodworkers. There must be a mature tree along our creek since there were so many young trees around our foundation. In addition to the black locust, there were so many other plants and vines. We cut down everything and then realized some of the vines are black raspberry vines…so hopefully those come back next year. Prepare yourself for lots of pictures!
That’s our patio. When the house was standing, this was completely enclosed and used as a garden/tropical plant room (or so we’ve been told). It has plumbing and irrigation still in place. At some point down the road, we may put a roof over it and add a fireplace, but for now it will just be a nice, open patio.
Another view of the patio. This is looking towards the house… or what will be the house. The concrete block will be evened out and covered with stone, then a railing will be added around the perimeter.
I can’t even believe this is what the backyard looks like now! A week ago, everything was at least waist-high. The giant pile is all the black locust trees and brush we cleared out. This picture doesn’t begin to do it justice. Once it all dries out, it’ll be burned.
This is probably our favorite feature of the ‘house.’ It looks like a mess in the picture, but it looks a hundred times better than it did a couple days ago. Some of the top stones on the limestone retaining wall have shifted (probably by the demolition crew that tore down the house), so we’ll have to move those back into place. But we love the look of the brick from the original house and are hoping it can be incorporated into our new house.
After cutting back the vegetation last week, a lot of it is starting to die off. Now you can see the pond. We think the liner is still there, so we just need to reset some rocks.
This is the stream that flows from the pond. It definitely needs some stone work, but it’s nice to be able to see what we’re working with now.
With everything cut and dying back, the front porch is on full display. We are still unsure if we’re going to use the front porch; it mostly depends on what our drafter comes up with. If we don’t use it, we will try to use the stones for something else, as a little homage to the original house.
It’s been hard to see just how big the basement is because of all the vegetation growing in and around it. This picture was taken standing on the patio looking down into the basement. At some point before construction starts, we’ll have to sweep and power wash the basement floor and remove the old tile. There is existing plumbing for a full bathroom and a kitchen, as well as a sump pit and lift station for the septic.
We love seeing these pollinators already making themselves at home on our farm! They will be much needed next year. We haven’t seen many honey bees, but are hopeful we can attract them once we have some flowers in and around our fields.
We have skinks! They are insectivores and eat all sorts of pests…and have no interest in eating plants. Another great little creature to have on the farm. They really like to hide in our rocks and sun themselves on the patio.
We had a list of stuff to get done before the trailer arrives. We still don’t have a definite moving date for the trailer yet, but we’ve nearly finished our entire list. Last thing to do is clear out the creek bed over to the well, so we can get a water line run for the trailer. That does not mean there is nothing else to do, it just means the most pressing chores are done. Since those chores had the biggest visual impact, the next few blogs may not have many pictures (or at least not many pictures with a wow factor).
On the drive home today, we were talking about how nearly everyone we’ve met has been so kind and genuine and welcoming, and how we can’t imagine living anywhere else. It’s hard to believe we skipped over this property several times and then had to visit it several times before deciding to buy it. Throughout the buying process there were so many things that had to go perfectly right for it to be ours. And we said then if everything went through without a hitch, we knew it was meant to be. Yet it seems every time we’re working at the farm we receive some little reaffirmation of our decision. Our community has accepted us and we’ve been presented with some possible business opportunities we never could’ve imagined. There is a peace that comes over us both when we’re there, and it already feels like home. We’re 100% sure we ended up right where we’re meant to be. So thanks to the big man upstairs for knowing exactly what we needed even when we didn’t.
We started out yesterday with a hefty to-do list. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans…A couple of hours into our day, it started raining. Which put the kabash on most of our plans. However, our main task was to get our mailbox installed, and we got that done!
The mailbox post is from Ace Hardware. It did require some basic assembly. The mailbox is from Menards.
Having both lived in neighborhoods where all the mailboxes were supplied and looked the same, we actually spent a fair amount of time picking out a mailbox. I know, it seems ridiculous. We opted for a cedar post to match the timber beams that will be on our front porch. And we both liked the gray mailbox, instead of the typical black mailboxes we’re used to. (Please note the awesome address numbers…courtesy of my Cricut skills! LOL) Since the mailbox is in, I spent a good chunk of time this afternoon placing all my 2021 seed catalog orders. It was pretty fun (and a little surreal) to put our new address on the order forms!
In addition to the mailbox, we were able to clear the area between the driveway and the patio before the skies opened up. This was a priority because it’s where our septic tanks are located. We are hoping to get the property bush hogged this coming weekend, and the tank lids need to be exposed to keep from getting run over. (Side note: For those of you that have no idea what bush hogging is, it’s pretty much just mowing really, really high grass. It uses a mowing deck that is designed to knock down the crazy tall stuff, as opposed to a finish mower that is used for typical lawn maintenance.) Unfortunately, I forgot to get a before picture, but I can assure you the picture below is a vast improvement!
We can finally see the patio! The big pile of brush is blocking the view of the concrete septic tank lids, but trust me, they are there…and would cause a lot of damage to the bush hog if they got run over.
Our goal was to get rid of all the giant shrubs all the way around the patio. Obviously, we didn’t get very far. Once it’s all cleared out, I’ll get better pictures of the patio (or at least that’s what we call it). It’s a very unique feature…It has water lines and drains and a very intricate pattern in the concrete. According to the neighbors, the previous owner used it as a garden room, with tons of plants and flowers. Since all of our plants will be on the outside, we really don’t have a need to enclose it. We’ve played around with a few ideas, but it seems best suited as a nice patio space for us (maybe with a hot tub?).
I apologize, this post is kinda boring and uneventful. I was hoping to have some awesome before and after pictures from clearing the entire west side of the house, but obviously that didn’t happen. I guess Mother Nature was giving us farmers a little reminder that no matter what our plans are, her plans always come first. At least we were able to get a few important items crossed off the list. Hopefully next weekend will be full of nice weather and the opportunity for lots more pictures!
We have been hard at work at the ranch. For now, you won’t see many (if any) pictures of our fields. The north field is currently in corn, and the south field is currently in hay. Both fields will be done for the season in the next 4-6 weeks. At that point, they will either be cover cropped or tarped in preparation for Spring planting. More on all that at a later date.
That being said, our main focus has been around the house…or should I say what used to be the house. Our property is a bit unique in that it has an existing foundation from a previous house. Long story short, the previous house was relatively new when it was struck by lightning and burned. The only thing left of the original house is the foundation, which consists of a stone front porch, full walkout basement, and 3-car garage slab. In the coming months, we plan to use that foundation for our new home. Don’t panic, the foundation has been signed off on by our structural engineer, so it is safe to use.
The area immediately around the ‘house’ has not seen a mower or weedeater since the house burned down 3 years ago. So our focus has been getting that area cleaned up. The flowerbeds around the old home were extensive, and clearing them out has been quite a chore. We’ve spent three solid days working on them, and there is still a ways to go. We haven’t even touched the yard yet (which, in some places, is chest high on me!). I have included a couple before pictures so you can see the mess we’ve been dealing with.
Front of the House. You can barely see the stone porch columns over the weeds.
Opposite view front of the house. You can barely see the stone column at the corner of the garage.
Middle of the Driveway Loop. There are some beautiful trees and shrubs in there… I promise!
The pictures don’t even begin to do it justice. It is a lot of hard work, but we’re enjoying it. There is something to be said about getting to live out your dream with your best friend and life partner. So yes, it may be hard work, but we’re together…and we know it’s just the beginning of a whole lot more hard work. Fear not, I have included a few progress pictures.
Looking toward the garage (That’s my truck parked in the garage!). There are a few plants we’ll be keeping here…the evergreen tree on the left, the low evergreen bush in the middle, and the large shrub on the right (for now).
View standing in the driveway looking toward the front porch. The previous owner had two big ponds and a stream that flowed between them. Initially, our plans were to level this whole area and start over, but now that we can actually see the ponds, we may keep them. The stone porch columns may or may not stay…depends on what our drafter comes up with.
I took this picture standing in front of my truck (on the garage slab), so this is our front yard. A week ago, it was so full of weeds and brush, I couldn’t even walk through here.
This is the loop in the driveway, but the picture is taken in the opposite direction from the ‘before’ picture. I actually took this picture before we cut down the large tree in the middle. The two large arborvitae are staying, as are the viburnum bushes (purple flowers in the back). The massive rosebush on the left is a maybe. We’re going to give it a haircut and see what it looks like in the Spring.
On the to-do list for tomorrow is installing our mailbox and knocking down all the brush around our septic tanks and patio. I will try to remember to take some before pictures. Over the next two weeks, we’ll have to clear a path to the well and to the electrical box, because…. our temporary house arrives the end of the month!!! We discussed many different options for housing while we waited for our house to be built. And we felt the best option was to live on the property during construction… that way we could watch over the job site after hours and be close by to see the progress each day. After kicking around several ideas, a manufactured home seemed to be the best choice. It’s fairly easy to get onto the property and should be fairly easy to sell and move off the property once the new house is finished. After several weeks of searching and having 2 trailers sold out from under us, we are happy to say we purchased one a few days ago!!! Here is a picture.
This is Casa del Murphy! The outside could use a good power washing and maybe a new paint job in the Spring. The inside has been completely redone, we’re just going to paint the walls since lavender isn’t our color.
To keep our expenses lower, we opted to go with a used one (new ones depreciate just like new cars). And the one we found is perfect for us! Yes it’s small, but it’s only temporary (and beats the hell out of an RV, because that was our back-up plan). I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures on moving day…we should have that date by the end of the week.
So much has happened in the past few weeks and so much more is going to be happening in the next few weeks. We spent several minutes this afternoon just sitting on our garage slab looking at what is now Murphy’s Law Ranch. It’s hard to believe this beautiful little piece of paradise is ours. We are so excited to share our journey with you! Stay tuned for more updates!
The 2021 season is going to be a big trial and research year for us. We are new to this property, so it’s going to take a while to turn it into the fully-functional, high-producing farm we know it can be (not to mention, we will also be building a house during this time!). Feel free to comment on our website and on our social media…we love to interact with our community, or even those who are just interested in farming in general. But keep it kind! We have zero tolerance for hatred, bullies, and trolls. Our farm is a place of love and acceptance, and our socials are as well. Please follow us on our journey as we grow Murphy’s Law Ranch into one of the premier sustainable ag farms in the state.
