Started re-reading Joel Salatin’s You Can Farm book… awesome book. One the first books I read a while back that really laid out small farming with some wonderful innovative ideas and with a blunt “here’s how it’s done” sort of attitude that you rarely see in farming and homesteading books. Most are ALL positive and happy, and make it seem super easy. Salatin’s book is positive but he also is a realist and he lays it down bluntly for you. Both sides of the coin, so to speak.

One of the biggest things that has been on my mind is fencing. Yes, fencing.

With three acres and plans for hooved stock as well as keeping our canines safe… this is a big thing. There is very little fencing on the property. Most is in disrepair. And the house is only about 20 feet from the road. Part of me thinks that is just fine… you don’t have a 200 foot long driveway to plow to get to the main road. But another part of me worries about the dogs mainly. Part of moving to the country is to give our dogs a chance to run and be off leash, enjoy their lives fully. And especially with goof ball pup Evee, that means fencing.

We will adopting our old boy DIngo back to the fold. He’s living now with the girls’ father, but he needs to come back with us, since Steve has been working a ton overtime and moving soon to an apartment or renting a room, downsizing again in his life. That’s fine, but that does mean a few changes. DIngo is an elderly Texas Heeler… basically a mix of Australian Blue Heeler and Border Collie. He’s a gem off leash, and I am not worried about him. Gypsy is an elderly Belgian Sheep Dog, and she’s pretty good off leash, not really a fast mover anymore. And she’s pretty good at sticking around. Every so often she goes on a bit of a walk about if you’re not watching her, but she moves pretty slow and has never been one for going near roads and cars.

But Evee as a year old young gal, she’s strong and fast and not used to being off leash, so she’s very much a goof on those rare occasions she has been off the leash. We will definitely need an enclosed area for her to run.

So I’ve been really learning and educating myself on fencing options. I made the mistake of calling a local fencing place and apparently I was using my rich person voice because the gentleman informed me that enclosing our 1,260 linear feet of perimeter fence would be over $21,000 US dollars… Close to $16.00 a FOOT! Considering the farm only cost $12,000, I think that we can effectively rule that quote out.

I’ve been doing a lot of online research and have a few good catalogs on the way here. And I’ve been reading a lot online from county extension publications… wow there is a lot of good stuff out there!

I think we’re going to be doing a mixture of fencing, from something nice right in the front, probably post and rail with a stock fence stapled to the back of it that is very common around here. Fairly inexpensive and easy enough for us to put up. About a half to three quarters of the perimeter of the property has a brambling hedgerow in the works. A lot of young trees, a slight ditch and thickets of weeds. I think what we might do is use a wire stock fence and weave it in and around the small trees and attach with wire that will grow with the hedgerow. At about $70 for 330 feet, that is pretty reasonable. It would most likely even work for sheep, though I know goats are very good escape artists. Horses, cattle, well, might have to add a electric wire to keep them away from it. But that is a while off and right now, I just want to slow down the dogs and keep them on the property. We would have to walk the property line often and make sure there are no gaps as the plant materials grow. We want to plant more cane fruits as well as willow and other natural materials in this beltway around the place as well as use it for all our fallen brush and tree trimmings and such. Just keep building it up. I’ve always admired hedgerows in the United Kingdom and I’m not sure why we don’t use those methods here as green living fences as well as nature refuges. We’re going to give them a try, especially since we’re already half the way there.

Spent some time at the Tractor Supply Company and they had baby chicks!!! Oh my… it took all my will power not to bring home a dozen! But we don’t have time right now to babysit baby chicks. Yes, getting our own flock up and running is going to be one of our top priorities after moving in permanently, but taking care of chicks and everything else, a little too much right now. I did get Jenna Woginrich’s new book Chick Days for Maggie and I to read and absorb and I must tell you, it’s a FANTASTIC book for total beginners to the world of laying hens! Our coop and chick yard is in great shape, just needs a little TLC and a good weed whacking… But I suspect we will be starting with mature hens for our beginning flock. Lots of people around here have hens for sale, at $3 to $5 a bird, already started. We’re hoping to go to the Shipshewanna Good Friday Amish Livestock Auction in Indiana, only about 40 miles from us!!! Can’t wait!!! Its at the end of April and we JUST might be ready for our girls then…

Picked up a catalog as well, so we can start seeing what it out there and the prices and such. We are planning to use Craigslist as much as possible and Ebay, but it really helps to have a handle on the prices new, so that you can get a good deal. So we’re bulking up on great catalogs right now!

It’s been a little hard to sleep at night… our brains are busy with all the possibilities and anticipation! Still can’t believe it’s happening… just seems a little surreal! We’ve got to raise about a thousand more dollars before closing… for final costs and the first basic budget for utilities and also paint, etc. We’re trying to avoid spending ANYTHING right now, and are working to eat through out pantry stores and such. We can save money AND have less to move! Sounds like a win win situation.

Only 17 more days till closing….