Cisterns and house guests

Last weekend our trip to the farm included some visiting family. Brent's brother Bryan and his wife Janna stayed with us in Shawnee and we had the opportunity on Sunday to drive out to the farm to see the progress.

While we were there we did some work. It was fun work, though. Janna and I folded up blankets to represent the floor space that will be occupied by the living room furniture. We needed to find a good spot for an electrical outlet in the floor. This seemed a good way to make sure it wouldn't end up in an inconvenient (or unsightly) spot.

Janna and Bryan with placeholders for the living room furniture.

I had a lot of fun imagining sitting in that room with Brent, relaxing after a day of work on the farm :-) and enjoyed having Janna and Bryan there for a visit.

We also saw that some work had been done to install the cisterns. They have switched positions from those that were noted with spray paint. The 1000 gal. tank is on the West side and appears to be ready for back fill.

1000 gallon cistern placed just West of the house.

So the 2000 gallon tank that was originally going to be on the West side will now be on the East side. It hadn't been placed yet due to some wet weather.

Brent and Bryan standing next to the uninstalled 2000 gallon tank.

Excavated area just outside the Summer Kitchen door where the 2000 gallon cistern will be.

I am very excited to be able to capture 3000 gallons of rain water for irrigating our garden. It should help us minimize the expense of that very necessary resource.

In the photo above, you can see the pasture and farther out, just past the tree, is the spot where the lateral lines for our septic system are installed. It appears that area is nearly finished. And, after walking down to the draw, Brent and I noticed that both of the little pecans are still alive. One, unfortunately, was run over by the excavation equipment. But it was not excavated and was still green. I was very pleasantly surprised and now I'm hopeful that both trees will survive. So there's still a chance they will provide some pecans before I'm 60!

Septic system

The installation of the laterals for our septic system began yesterday. The laterals are just inside the fence to the pasture closest to the house.

Septic system positioned just outside the gate to the pasture

Placement of laterals and line that runs from the house

view from North to South

The initial placement looked as though it might block the drive through the gate. So the field for the laterals was moved a little to the South to clear the area where vehicles will pass into the pasture.

Much of our discussion yesterday focused on where to acquire the dirt to cover these lines. Our "perc" test indicated the need for better soil around the lines. Luckily, we have soil near the draw that is of the quality needed.

The soil that is removed to cover the laterals will be replaced by soil taken from the draw to form the small pond that we are installing. The coordination of those two tasks will help avoid leaving the soil exposed for an excessively long period. Taking soil from our own land will also save a lot of money and helps to offset the cost of the pond.

Rick will reseed the soil over the lateral lines and the area where we remove and replace the dirt near the draw with a prairie grass and wildflower mix. I suppose that will start to sprout this year if there is enough rain.

Hopefully all this new seed means that Spring will bring an even greater variety of starter plants for my native flower gardens. And these lateral fields will provide the indoor plumbing we all depend on for comfort :-)

Growing Growers workshop and a little farm update

This was another very busy week. Our days were full of stress at our day jobs, scheduling meetings with home construction contractors, barn builders and preparing for putting our Shawnee house on the market.

There were very few visible updates at the farm. But on my visit to meet with a potential contractor about the alpaca barn, I saw this…

Garage doors installed.

The garage doors are installed and there are temporary handles and locks on most of the doors. I hadn't anticipated encountering locked doors. It was nice to realize the structure is now a secure space capable of keeping things inside safe.

Saturday I attended another Growing Growers workshop. This was the sixth that I've attended. These workshops are intended for future farmers and, in addition to the workshops, have an apprenticeship component. Even though my full-time job doesn't allow time for apprentice work, the workshops have been very educational. My favorite part has been the farm tours and meeting with people in the business of growing plants.

The workshop on Saturday was at Powell Gardens and covered Small Fruit Production. We heard talks from Missouri experts with the University of Missouri Extension as well as from local growers like Dan Hoerz of Duncan's Berry Farm. After lunch we took a tour of the Heartland Harvest garden with the garden manager.

Here are some pictures from the tour:

Tomato and pepper garden - part of a patchwork quilt design/layout.

Beautiful elderberry outside a structure supporting kiwi vines.

A veggie garden with a nice Gothic arch that also support tomatoes.

One part of a large vineyard with many rows and arbors.

Lastly, we saw the high tunnel project.
These tunnels cover an acre of land - all planted with tomatoes.

Our busy week ended with a Father's Day celebration at home. Brent is a hard worker and, even on his celebration day/weekend, he was working constantly! Saturday he and Logan salvaged siding and roofing materials at the farm for use on farm outbuildings. Sunday the boys and I gave Brent another Festool power tool for his collection and we ate apple cake (a recipe from Brent's mom, the late Barbara Ragsdale). And we all worked to pack up our clutter to make our home look nice for potential buyers.

Slowly, our future as farmers is getting closer and closer :-)

Water lines and wonderful pasture

The weather in Eastern Kansas has been fabulous, perfect for growing beautiful tall grass in our pastures. So Brent and I had a little picnic Friday evening in the summer kitchen at the farm. We opened up the double doors and enjoyed the breeze and the quiet evening birdsongs. We even took a walk out to the draw to see if the pecan trees were alive.

Here's what we found:

Me (with a little wine) in the lush pasture.

And, yes, the 2 pecan trees are coming back.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we will have pecans before I'm 60.

It was a very beautiful evening. And on our walk we saw many flowers blooming in the pasture including: rudbeckia, yarrow, Deptford pink, and spider milkweed. Strangely we also noticed the blackberries on the west side of the draw that in previous years had been thick are now nearly gone. Hopefully they are still growing on the West side and in the fencerows.

The most exciting development we noticed in the construction of the house was the water lines. They have been installed and we have hydrants for the greenhouse and the barn. We also can see the placement of the cisterns for rainwater collection.

The water line enters the house on the West side (right behind where Brent is standing).
The orange rectangle is the placement of the 2000 gal. cistern.

This is the hydrant that will provide water for the greenhouse.

This orange rectangle marks the placement of the 1000 gal. cistern
where we will collect the run-off from the east side of the house.

And our septic tank was installed.
Unfortunately all the yuccas in the area were destroyed.
I wouldn't be surprised if I could revive them by simply sticking them in the ground.

This is the second hydrant we had installed. It will provide water to the barn.

Before we ended our very fun evening, Brent took this awesome picture. It's the view through one of the rectangular cut glass pieces in the sidelight by the front door. I'm hoping the front door, when it's installed, will have a few spots at my height so I can enjoy this view without a stool.

Two girls fishing from a paddle boat in the pond across the street to the West.

Rocks in the parking space

We drove out to the farm today with some family for a visit and we found this in the parking space:

The first load of rock for the retaining walls.

That was pretty exciting to see. Those rocks will be the beginnings of the beautiful native and edible gardens that will surround our home.

We also noticed that all the siding is finished - time to pick paint colors!

Here are pictures to show all the sides of the house.

West side (notice the shake singles in the peaks)

Southwest corner

South side

Southeast corner

East side (you can really see the shakes in this one)

Northeast corner

South side (with Jeremy - who enjoys being goofy - and Margaret and Brent in the background)