Misc. Pics.

It didn't come out very good in the photo but the fall colors on the mountains were beautiful.  The clouds are nice though.  The picture is from the back of the city lot looking south over what we call the front 8 acre pasture.  The 1000 lb. bails are from the 4 feet tall rye grass that was there.

A little Horn Toad

This could be Grandma Joan

It seems like every evening is a beautiful sunset.

More pretty clouds.

I need to get one of these.

Wrapping Up The Bridge

The concrete was previously stained, now rolling on the sealer.

Placing the road base material for the ramps.  In the future I will cover the base with a more decorative fractured rock.  I don't think the word decorative is used very often in the farming community.

                                                                         With the front ramp compete, we can now perform the first drive on test of the bridge and complete the back ramp.

Installing the curbs.  I decided to use treated 2x6 vs 6x6 so that the curbs would follow the curve or camber of the bridge.

Water & Trees

Before any more work could be done to the bridge, the concrete needed to cure for approx. one month.  This allowed me to get to our main focus and goal from the beginning which was to get some trees planted.  We love trees and we all know how long they take to grow.  But like all projects, there is always something that needs to be done first.  To plant tree we need water.  Agonizing a little over cost and future plans, I decided to run a 2 inch water line (vs a 1 in.) from the city water meter up the length of the lot.  This will allow me in the future to continue the water line all the way to near the back of the property (nearly 1000 ft.) with out loosing to much flow/pressure.  Thus, fulfilling any culinary water needs that may be needed in other locations of the property. 

The property to the west has what we might call some visual history, so we decided to plant some evergreens (Austrian Pine) along that property line.

We also added some poplars (Siouxland Cottonwood) with the evergreens for variety and they grow faster.

 

The overall plan includes a tree lined drive, so we got started on that with Shadmaster Honeylocust and Skyline Honeylocust alternated with Autumn Purple Ash.

Not pictured, we planted some fruit trees.  A Liberty Apple, Mormon Apricot, Lapins Cherry and Satsumc Plum.  Also planted were Globe Willows, Weeping Willows, Cottonwoods and a Autumn Blaze Maple.  Total trees planted in the fall of 2011 (54).

The Bridge

After getting the front lot cleaned up, the next project was to build a bridge.  Between the front lot and the city street is the approx. 18 foot wide creek / irrigation ditch / flood control ditch.  The original creek was widened and concreted back in the mid 1980s after a couple of wet winters and some minor spring flooding did a little damage in town.  Without the bridge we were able to access the property via the neighbors bridge and also there is access to and through the back of the farm by way of a separate county road.  We were thinking because of cost that we would wait to put in the bridge until a later date.  But, after realizing that the ditch is dry in late summer because of heavy irrigation use else where around town, we decided to take advantage of that fact and build the bridge now instead of waiting a full year.  So, I talked Brian into coming up and helping me for three days and on Sept. 13, we began.

I designed the forming system (the lumber to contain the wet concrete) to be material that I will use later in the construction of the first barn.

Brian tieing the first mat of rebar.  I could not have built the bridge without his help.

After a second mat of rebar, it is ready for concrete. You can also see a little view of 200 East (the outskirts of town).

While discussing the idea of building a bridge, Lorraine asked if it would be a nice bridge or just a plane concrete ugly bridge.  So I decided to stamp the concrete with a wood gain texture, stain it brown and hopefully give it a little bit of a custom country look.

                     A week later I came back, and cleaned up the deck to reveal the finished look.  I will be back at a future date to remove the wood forms and to install wood curbs.

The Work Begins

Shortly after closing on the property on July 11, 2011, we began to do a little clean up.  The front portion of the nearly 17 acre property is a 2/3 acre city lot.  One of the neighbors, who is about my age, remembers at the age of around 10, having a friend that lived there on that city lot.  There used to be a little house that his friend lived in.  He remembers that back then, about 40 years ago, that the little house that was there was very, very old.  He remembered after playing with and getting very dirty with his friend one day that they had to take a bath.  He remembers the family living there only having empty flour bags as towels.  He also remembered that the walnut trees in the front yard were also very old and mostly dead, even back then.  At any rate, when we bought the property, the house was already gone and we needed to begin a little clean up.  We started by removing the two standing, and one fallen, 100 year old black walnut trees.  There was also a very old concrete walkway leading from the front gate that is still standing.  We removed the old concrete but, think we are going to leave the gate in place to remind us of the past and our place in the present.

Of course after doing a little work, we took some time to play in the nearby creek.

The Beginning

So we have a farm.  A lot of people, well everyone we talk to, asks why we went and bought a farm.  We had a lot of reasons.  First of all, Dan has ALWAYS wanted to be a farmer/rancher.  He has always driven by fields of alfalfa with a little tear in his eye.  A herd of cows is incredibly interesting to him.  A little white-faced calf gets him all choked up.  So, I wasn't surprised when last year he started taking me on drives all around the state of Utah to look at one piece of property after another.  He wanted to find a place where we could fulfill the desire to live a more self-sufficient lifestyle.  One where we could provide for our family if we had to or wanted to.  A place where our family can all be together and play and fish and work as a big group.

We looked all over, but a few times we drove through a little town just off of I-15 called Kanosh.  It's exactly two hours north of us, right in the middle of the state.  We were drawn there time and time again.  It is the smallest town in the world, just at the bottom of a little canyon with a creek that has fish in it and is full of the nicest people.  All 500 of them.  Now there are 502 of us.
Also, we have recently become empty-nesters and no longer have anyone here to talk to or about.  There are no more discussions of how the basketball team is going to do this year, how plans for the big date are going or who is supposed to empty the dishwasher this time.  So now, our conversations are all farm, all the time.  We endlessly discuss the types of trees to line the drive with, the kinds of goats we will raise; Boers or Oberhasli's, or maybe the Dorper sheep we will attempt, or the Lowline Angus we will breed.  We love it. 

We also talk about what should we build first: the cabarn (combination cabin/barn) or the guest house so Jim and Joan can spend time in the country in their golden years?  Maybe we should spend all the money we don't have on fences to keep the dorpboerhasligus'?  Lots of options, no rush.  Those are the only two things we know for sure. 

We don't have any money, don't really know what we are doing and the only people who think we are funny are the two of us.  Woo hoo!  We are perfect farmer material.  We are excited to start a little project but we don't have to hurry for any reason.  The alfalfa is irrigated and grows well and maybe that is all we will do for now. 

We will post pictures and discuss the progress as we go along.  We will get the site up to the present time as soon as possible.  Here are some of the pictures form the beginning.