Backhoe Brent has been making progress

Brent by the earth from the greenhouse foundation excavation

That's a lot of shoveling! Brent has completed excavating both the west and east sides of the foundation. He digs a very neat trench and has a pretty detailed plan for using the salvaged cinder blocks from the house as the base of this greenhouse. It will be the first of the working structures on the farm - and my home-away-from (but still very close to) - home.

South side of garage showing "door" to greenhouse and foundation

I love being able to visualize the size of the space now that both sides are in. Brent has actually started the trench for the south wall of the greenhouse too. Lucky for me, he loves spending time out at the farm. And the fact that he also likes being productive - and is capable of designing and building - is about the most awesome thing ever! (Yes, I have to pinch myself often.)

So, even though the construction of the house is moving kind of slowly right now, rest assured that there are still things happening and growing at our little farm :-)

Water proofing and drainage

The pretty new foundation has a coating of water proofing and there are coils of tubing for the drainage. In addition, the extra concrete that was splashed into the area that will be the slab has been broken up and removed - all neat and tidy :-)

drainage tubing

water proofing on west foundation walls

view from east showing waterproofing (and the beautiful sky!)

 Not taking shape at lightening speed (yet) but it's progress and already it feels like a nice warm spot on a January day in Kansas.

Changes to the garden - before it even starts

We are getting to know our neighbors already and like them a lot. Community can be a little hard to find in a rural setting, but happily that isn't the case on our little stretch of road in Leavenworth County, KS.

Late last Summer, our neighbor Keith stopped by on his 4-wheeler to ask if we wanted to sign a petition to chip and seal the portion of 178th Street between Evans Road and Kansas Avenue. Currently our road is gravel with all the dust, noise and mud one might imagine. So paving (as in chip and seal) changes all of that. It will be a much better maintained road year-round.

Unfortunately, the change in road surface also means the county has access to more of our little acreage. They require an easement that will destroy a windbreak of mature (12 foot tall) cedar trees that borders the west edge of the area on our property where we will have our vegetable gardens.

You can see in this photo the cedars and the flag that marks where the easement will extend into our property. And all the cedars will need to go.

So, since the road project will happen in 2016 (I think), we have a little time to grow some new trees. We hope to start planting those in March. I know, it will take more than a couple of years to get them as tall as the trees we have now. But at least I won't be tempted to plant things too close to the road and there will be some visual screen that still makes it feel cozy :-)

Starting the greenhouse

Standing by while the house is being built is a very anxious time. We have a ton of faith in our builder, Rick Robson of Robson Custom Homes. Yet, it all takes time, and we can't wait to be out there!

For me, it's sometimes just best to keep my mind on other things - like plans for a barn and chicken coop, learning about alpacas and fiber, going to horticulture conferences and reading about perennial propagation. For Brent, it's good to have a different project to act on. 

Brent has started a BIG project that has me very excited - the greenhouse! 

This will be a roughly 16'X16' space on the south side of the old cinderblock garage. The two spaces (garage and greenhouse) will be connected by a small doorway that already exists in the middle of the south wall of the garage. The peak of the greenhouse roof will run south (perpendicular to) and level with the garage roof.

Here's my guy "Backhoe Brent" digging the trench for a foundation:

Brent sitting in the trench for the west side of greenhouse.

 He has finished the trench for the west wall. The dirt from the trench is piled to the left in these photos.

finished trench for west wall
and line marking the south wall of greenhouse

As much as possible Brent is building the structure with salvaged materials. The lumber he and our sons salvaged from the old house. He purchased a few large windows on Craigslist from a remodel and we have one salvaged sliding glass door from the old house. As the walls take shape, the remaining spaces will be filled by other various windows we salvaged from the old house. The big purchase for this project will be the transparent panels for the roof. We are hoping we can keep that price under $500.

We feel pretty good about using recycled materials for the majority of the project. And I can't wait to see it! This will be my sunny home away from home :-)

I think we have a logo!

Over the holiday break from our day jobs Brent and I found time to work on a logo for our new place. Here's what we came up with:

We think it represents the fun and adventure we envision having on the farm. Our farm's name is a dedication to Brent's daughter, Vivian Ragsdale, who passed away in 2010. She was Chinese and a rough translation of her Chinese name is Happy Apple.

Needless to say to those who know us, much of what we do is a testament to and legacy of all the people we love. So we are very happy to be able to have Vivian's name represent our new life on the farm.