Finally! After years of wrangling, Fern Dell Farm now belongs to us, Shermen and Kaaren, and the bank. Up until this point, not knowing what may happen, we have tried to keep our out-of-pocket investments in the farm and farm-house minimal. We have done what we could to make the old 1850's log-cabin farm-house more livable by tiling the bathroom and kitchen floors, painting and putting up temporary walls. We added a much needed corn burning furnace and ductwork to supplement the wood-stove heat. We threw tarp on the roof and weighed in down with cinder blocks and prayed during major storm action. We bought a new fridge when the one that was here started leaking inches deep puddles every day. We've lined the bathroom ceiling with pink styrofoam insulation, and squeezed "GreatStuff" into every nook and cranny to stop the arctic winter winds. Winter meant not seeing out the windows due to the heavy duty plastic wrap, and the base of the farm-house was lined hip high with hay bales. For the first couple years, we cooked AND canned on a camp stove and electric burner. Getting the old gas farm stove running this past spring was heavenly! Being able to boil water in under 1/2 an hour, yay!
We put in a nice veggie and flower garden, and had success (in spite of the stove situation) with canning pickles and beets. We've enjoyed the fruits of our labors during the cold winter months by pulling yummy eggplant pasta sauces out of the freezer and marvelled at the difference between home-grown and store-bought. We raised meat chickens...processed them ourselves the first year, letting them go too long so the only way you could eat the tough old birds was by cooking them all day in a crock pot. Year two, 2008, we processed them sooner (and paid to have it done,) resulting in delectable and tender chemical free, humanely raised chicken. We had a pair of turkeys, lovely Royal Palms, but they were immune to the electric fence, at the heads off all they beautiful tiger lilies, and were a nuisance in general...so they went the way of the meat chickens. We still have 3 of the original 6 lovely layer hens....Polla, Odette and Tyrina. 6 additional layers purchased in April of this year, 2008- not yet laying- and 3 little bantams. We also have 3 sheep- Eric the ram, and Hilda and Matilda, the ewes. The current flock is skittish to be petted, we are looking forward to bottle raising some lambs for pets.
In preparation for the wedding, Shermen put in a gorgeous patio area and waterfall, which Kaaren then prettified with flowers and plants.
We are learning about leaf rust, japanese beetles, excess nitrogen, why some cukes are so bitter they cannot be eaten, not to plant 100's of sunflowers under building eaves or the rain will knock them all down right when they are blooming....we have learned this year to just suck it up and start again when all your lovely flower seedlings are under water for days on end. We have learned that for some reason, Kaaren cannot grow lavender from seed. We have learned that while free tomato plants are great....(self-seeded romas) for some reason they dont taste all that great, and too many just rot on the ground. Little round cherry tomatos are not only the most flavorful, they dont split and they are easiest to freeze. Decorative gourds and pumpkins are cool, but take up a ton of room and pretty much just wound up rotting on the ground....so we skipped those this year. We have a ton of dried out birdhouse gourds ready to be turned into beautiful bird houses....but all these projects take time.
That, I believe, has been our greatest lesson thus far...time is pretty much the most precious commodity of all. Together, Shermen and I can do pretty much anything....we have a ton of wonderful ideas...ways to make life easier, ways to make life more beautiful, yummy things to grow and eat, fun things to build and create...fun ways to share our love of this farm with others...all of it takes time, (and money.) Now it's all about prioritizing. Which dreams can we make a reality? Which need to go on the backburner for a few years? Which for a few decades? We are having a big, beautiful wedding out here on Fern Dell Farm in a little over 3 weeks. At the same time, the farm house is going to be under major construction...once we finally decide which of the renovation projects we can afford, we've already decided which are necessity...roof, foundation, electric, windows....now which of our little dream projects can we have?
Up until now, we have been dipping our toes in the water of this major commitment...now we are ready to jump in...a wedding, a mortgage, a renovation...it's all becoming reality!!!
