Independence

The kids like decorating the cattle guard for the holidays.  The few neighbors that drive the road enjoy it too.  So they say.

Gone fishing

While mom is away for a work conference  I took the kiddos up to the country for some sunshine and no tv.  Spring has finally arrived and they could do country things without being bundled up.

Orchard beginnings

 Here is a nifty panorama from a neighboring parcel, looking down onto the bulk of our boring pastureland

 And here is the beginnings of our orchard.  So far we have 29 trees in, and space for 50.  Unfortunately, the spigot you see in the bottom of the picture doesn't have a lot of water pressure, so I probably will be adding a pressure booster soon.

And here is what a late winter sunset look like looking north-ish from the barn.  The dead trees have been burned in the fire pit now.

Fence work

This post is more to remind me why I'm tired when I get back to work...

Laying out the tposts...

Using the pneumatic post driver that came with the place.  The gator is so usefull - generator and air compressor in the back with a 50' air hose made life bearable.

Free labor...  well, actually, terribly expensive labor.

Turns out they are good for something.  We had them clip the barbed wire to the posts.

 A boy and cow driving tools.

Driving the cattle onto parcel 12.

 Cattle around the new fence.

Long time, no posts....

So what happened this year?  After we moved out trailer up we spent a few weekends, but the kids always seemed to have kid and school events, then I went on a month long business trip.  By the time I got back the heat of summer was in full blast so there wasn't much to be done.

The solar power batteries are all shot - who knows why - and the well doesn't seem to like a float switch, so there are lots of projects to be done.  Nothing was working "just right", so every time we head up it's an adventure.

The one thing we did get done was putting up some fence and finding a cowboy to lease the land too.  This years lease money went right into the fence.

The plan for the spring is to hopefully put some fruit trees in the two acres that are fenced around the barn.

Until then, here are some pictures.

 The road in the heat of summer.

The stream in the winter.

 An indian grinding rock.

The pond when it's full.

Some more pictures

 Here is a view looking down on the barn from the neighbors parcel, right above a cattle cistern (the hill is steeper than it looks!)

 

The new-to-me Kubota after being cleaned up.  I have to take it to the dealer since there is something wrong with the PTO clutch.  The disadvantage of not looking a gift horse in the mouth I suppose.

 Here is a picture looking south along the seasonal stream near the "front" of the property.

And this is what you see when looking up towards the barn from the fancy paved road.

 This view is from a nighbors place up the hill looking into the valley.  On the right hand side towards the middle, framed by the tree branches, is a white building - that's our barn. 

Needs more cowbell!

We closed Friday, and headed up Saturday to spend the night.  Here are some pics for those of you who have been hearing us talk about it.

The shop/barn

The shop and solar panels

Looking west towards the shop from near the pond

Boy at "frog pond"

Boy squinting into the early sun

kids on the rocks

Looking south from the barn

Looking towards the barn form near the well

The well and cisterns (from the same spot)

More rocks.  Closest thing we have to interesting landforms.

My own Kubota!