A Walk Down the New Fence Line (Three More Acres)

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When we started our little homestead one of the things we decided was to just start with a couple of acres. We knew it would take us some time to really put those two acres to use and nearly five years later that was one of the few things we were actually right about.

Those two acres rapidly filled with three more children, a growing flock of laying hens, three garden areas, a chicken coop, and a food forest and orchard area. Also occupying space are the three ponds we dug, the nearly 700 square foot house the seven of us reside in, and the 300 square foot structure we used to call home. It took nearly five years to sort of meander our way through those projects and still we have so much more food to grow. But we needed to start thinking about more animals going forward.

When we were deciding what came next, the most logical step was dairy goats. One thing we wanted to try was pasturing the goats and whatever other animals we might end up with someday. When our neighbor offered us the option of purchasing three adjoining acres we began making payments. Abby and Daisy have been picketed on “the pasture” since they came home with us as we awaited the fence project to make it to the top of the to-do list. In May the community helped to put this stretch of fencing up along the dirt road and the video you saw here was the work Stewart and the boys did on the corner posts.

On days when Daddy is not working on the computer and we can’t find him in the garden, the fence is our next best bet. My littlest helpers and I head out the gate and walk (like we mean it, in Ruthie’s case) down the three acres of barbed wire next to the road. Eventually we find Daddy and his helpers digging post holes or pouring concrete or standing back while Daddy works with the wire.

The girls plop down in the road and play in the sand and I ask Stewart what he’d like for supper. Joshua gets some sunshine and his big brothers come over and say “Hello little boy!” and show him what they’ve been working on. And then we walk back on that dirt road, passing cedar and mesquite and eventually the goats… who are probably as excited about the pasture as we are.

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4 Comments

  1. Belated congratulations on the added acreage. Your family is just beautiful, and I totally enjoy the photos and updates.

  2. I have a lived my 2 acres for over 20 years When my husband of 40 years died of esophageal cancer, I decided to get chickens we had lived all over the world for 20 years while he was in the Air Force. When we got this forever home, in 1992 the first thing I wanted to do was get some farm animals my husband is not so when the cancer was getting really bad I would pour over the Internet looking at farm animals I would really like to build some ponds on my property. It will be great for the goats . I have gotten five goats now for doe’s and a buck. And run between 150 to 200 chickens is there any tutorial that you have on making a pond and how to keep it from leaking out the water? I am 62 and do most everything myself but I do have some farmer friends that could bring in a backhoe.

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