So we slacked off a little bit. Due to fighting illness, weather, taking trips, and doing some serious music playing, our amount of farm labor has diminished considerably the last month. But, spring is around the corner, and we are in full anticipation mode. Here's a quick update of what we have done, and some of what is to come.

We've continued to pull brush out of corners as we go along, and our brush pile is almost out of control. Somewhere along the line we'll have a fine bonfire. We also cleaned a portion under the barn shed for the pigs to move into when they arrive in the next month or so. Unfortunately, I couldn't be around to help with that project, so I let the other team members take care of it. Outstanding job, guys, really.

We've also been getting around 9 eggs a day from our hens. We let them out in the yard to forage whenever we're home, and they love it. When they see the gate has been left open for them, they make it a point to run to the yard and the nearest leaf litter. You've never seen happier chickens in all your days. If chickens could smile, ours would never frown. March 30th we have another 25 chicks on their way to the farm. We placed an order for 5 Black Sex Links, 5 Rhode Island Reds, 5 Buff Orpingtons, and 10 Jumbo Cornish Cross (for meat). Chicken from the store is good, but I don't think there will be anything quite like raising our own yard birds for the oven and grill.

 

 

Another project we've been working on is bees. Clint and I purchased a couple of hives from The Feed Store in Crossville. Clint has worked with bees before, but I never have, and I'm quickly finding out it's a lot more work than it first appears. There's no pictures of the hives yet, but we'll get something up eventually. The bees are coming in May. We ordered two nucs (nucleus - composed of approximately 3lbs of bees and 5 frames) of Hygenic Carnolian bees. If that doesn't make sense to you, don't worry, me either. All you need to know is they are honey bees, and hopefully we'll be able to get our first crop of honey this summer!

 

We've been trying to find a time to till up the garden, but there's been so much wet weather it's been impossible. That's on our urgent list at the moment. Brent is ordering our seeds right now, so seeds will be here in a week or two. We're using as much heirloom as possible to keep the variety high. Whatever we don't order through outside companies we'll pick up from The Feed Store and local gardeners closer to planting time.

Chickens

Saturday we set a post and gate in the barnyard between the barn and chicken yard. It's one of our final steps to having the place pig and goat ready. Across the lot we set another post and stretched some barbwire along the top of the fence. All we lack now is setting one more post, hanging a gate, and running polywire across the top and bottome of the fence. Then we're all set! Hopefully! Brent finished repairing the gate to the chicken yard, and Clint and I made a roost, so now all that's left is adding a few nesting boxes, and we'll be done with that project as well. I love it when things start to come together. If only we could get some of that trash to move itself out of the yard...



We got a good deal on some chickens that we just couldn't pass up. A friend, Joann Hoskins, offered us some of her chickens to a good home, so we obliged and went and picked them up! We ended up with 10 hens and a rooster named Bubba. The dogs didn't immediately kill the chickens, and the chickens didn't immediately kill the dogs, and after having spent the night together no one was missing any feathers or fur, so it's looking very hopeful.

The dogs still felt they had to chase down a few hens. All good clean fun.

Good news! We now have internet at the farm so posts should become more regular.

All in a Days Work

We've been holding off on you for a week now so you'd be good and ready for the next post. Here it is.

Thursday night we worked on cleaning out our chicken coop. After spending years on the farm, I never even realized it's full capabilities. It's always just been another shed to pile stuff in that's not being used. According to our photographer, David Hatfield, it would have been good for that TV show Hoarders. After the first 10 minutes of pulling out random things, we all agreed wholeheartedly.

So after about an hour and a half, we successfully moved everything from the shed to the yard, which is where it sits to this day because we haven't felt like looking at it since. The ground inside had been torn to pieces by groundhogs so me, Brent, and Clint shoveled some dirt around for another 30 minutes just to get the floor somewhat level again. It turns out that shed has wiring, thermostatically controlled brooder boxes with removable dropping catch pans, heated waterers, cages for different birds, and light sockets for all the lighting you could ask for. Of course it all has to be looked at and mostly redone, but it's still there to be utilized.

Saturday we spent the whole day working in the snow. When I say we, I mean me and Brent. Clint and Katie were only around a couple of hours before they went off on a little errand which I'm getting to. We cut out problem trees that morning and flung them on our ever growing bonfire pile. With a dull chainsaw that would hardly cut butter, and an old cross-cut saw that was hanging in the storage building, it was slow going. The chain was beyond sharpening, and who wants to drive all the way into town for a new one when there is snow flying and plenty of work to be done with too little time to do it? Certainly not me, and no one else was volunteering, so we cut with a dull saw.

The rest of the day, while Katie and Clint were away, Brent and I moved some old shelving and railroad bridge timbers in the barnyard. The shelving we used as a sort of second fence to the existing one. It covered an area about 50x3x3. It won't keep any goats from getting out, but it will sure keep a hog from rooting under. We only moved six of the railroad timbers before we were played out, so we finally called it a day and went inside to have a cup of something warm to drink, and sit on the couch.

Katie and Clint came back with trouble. Times two. They brought in two of the ugliest mongrels I have ever laid eyes on.

 

Okay. So maybe ugly mongrel was a bit extreme, but aren't they painful to look at? To quote Agnes from Despicable Me, they're "so fluffy I could die!" Anyway, this is Juneau, and Kintla. Juneau is on the left.... I think. They are the new guard dogs for our future chicken flock. Right now they're not much more than bottomless stomachs and bundles of fur that disappear every time they get in the snow.

And that brings you back up to date. There's not been a whole lot done around here because of the cold temps and the snow, but it's pulling together. Maybe one day, maybe, it will start shaping up into something we can use. Until then we're trying not to freeze, and working as hard as we can on as many projects as possible to whip it back into shape.

Summer Veg

     My brother remembered he had these pictures on his phone from this summer. These are pictures of the yard in front of the chicken shed, and the lot beside the barn. That's how grown up it gets, and that's what Clint cleared out this fall.

The Legend Of Maverick

    
     Maverick was our "free" blue heeler. He was a good boy, although slightly wall-eyed, and loved to go walking with us on the farm. He was pretty smart and could usually follow any examples you set. His only set back was his extreme affinity for affection. I mean, he really loved to be loved on, and he would pester the hound out of you until you petted him. He usually would be waiting on us whenever we pulled into the drive, whining with the pent up anticipation of getting to see us. One day Clint and I returned from town to an empty front step. We didn't think too much about it at the time only because sometimes he was still out scouting the neighborhood.

     Later that night, around 11pm, Clint and I both got calls from a strange number, and i got a voicemail from a lady who had found our dog in front of our house. He was dead, run over earlier in the day before we ever got home. At least she had the decency to tell us he was there, even if the person who ran him over didn't. We buried him beside the storage building in a nice comfortable corner not too far from the house.

      Here's where the story gets a bit murky, and not even we know all the details. The story goes that once in a while Maverick rises from his grave and hunts down the largest critter on the farm, and brings its dead body back to his grave. Maybe it's a peace offering to us for being such good owners, we don't really know, but we appreciate it all the same. Well, we thought we'd show you the first kill and the proof of this legend. This picture is legit, exactly how we found the biggest possum any of us have ever seen, right on top of Maverick's grave. I couldn't make this up if I tried.

Gotta Start Somewhere

     Here's what we've been up to so far. This is our chicken shed and yard, and as you can see, it's somewhat trashy. Clint cleaned up the yard this past fall, which was completely overgrown with weeds up to your eyeballs. That was before we even thought about this project so we don't have a picture of what that looked like, but he assures us he "spent 8 hours one day hackin' away." Unfortunately we didn't have a camera the day we cleaned out the shed either, so there is no before picture to show you just exactly what we started with. I'll tell you. Inside we scraped out two truck loads of manure, and all that junk you see in the second picture was in there also. Next we dug out in front of the shed to keep water from running in the front door as it has a tendency to do when it rains a lot.

     After work today (aka - our day jobs) we came home and put down geo-textile in the hole we created, and then filled it with 3/4 inch limestone. It still needs another scoop to be complete, but we're headed in the right direction. The only thing left is to critter-proof the building, and make a new gate to the yard.

     Nothing like a job well done. Real men at work.

     Soon we'll have pictures up of the rest of the farm in its current condition. I'm sure you all can't wait to see the true magnitude of this project! Don't worry, it's not our style to disappoint.

20 Years of Neglect...

     Welcome to Open Range Farm. Once a working farm, the premises has become a place of seemingly never ending projects of rejuvenation. The property has seen its share of gardens, cows, pigs, chickens, goats, and even a few horses in years past, but since the children of the owners grew up and moved on, and the owners themselves were no longer capable of upkeep, mother nature slowly has had her way. The original owners were my grandparents, and now that they have passed on, I, Aaron Ingram, live on the property and take care of the land.
     Just recently I, along with my friends, Brent and Katie England, and Clint Ulmer, have decided to dedicate this year to overhauling the farm. Our plan is to bring the place back from its current state of abandonment and neglect little by little to make it what it once was, and more. This includes everything from repairing fences and reintroducing livestock, to implementing a fully natural "market" garden, as well as managing the land for its fullest potential.
     The purpose for this blog is so that you, the wonderful viewer, are able to come along with us on this venture. We hope that through our mistakes, or possible genius discoveries, we might save you some trouble in the future. Not to mention we would like to entertain you, and share our pride in our accomplishments. So, since we will be doing our best to keep you informed and entertained, please humor us and comment every once in a while.