Bald Eagles & Barn Swallows

Ahhh spring has arrived. One of my favorite parts of living here is the evening meeting of the barn swallows. They gather at dusk on the old electric line and excitedly "churt" at one another, it always sounds like an interesting conversation! Watching Dave mow the I saw the little beauties flying around, actually they were soaring with the strong south winds. Another avian friend was flying over head as well, a mature bald eagle! The white of its head and tail is such a dead give away. We watched it soar above the house and Dave was able to call to it so that it stuck around for a couple minutes. The first wild eagles I ever saw were here on this land, and I am still thrilled when I watch them fly. We have hopes that they will nest here somewhere, which wouldn't be to far fetched since there is a nest site not to far north from this land. Here's to hoping!

Soil & Wood

This weekend we picked up 12 long planks of hemlock from our local sawmill.  It was amazing to see the difference between what you would buy at a big box store compared to the boards we purchased.  Not only were they true length but they were also true width.  Each 12 foot long, 2 inch wide plank weighted a good 90 pounds!  We also had 14 square yards of composted cow manure delivered.  In the process of cleaning the farm up Dave found the old manure pile, so we have a ton of old crap to build these beds with.  A soon as the sod is cut out of the "garden" we will begin building and filling the beds. 

We also cut a lot of wood this weekend.  Over the years many elms have been taken down in the barn yard.  Many were already dead but some were green.  Piles of log length wood was left all over, 9 piles in total.  It took us about 5 hours to buck up 2 piles, load it onto a trailer and stack it near the wood pile.  This fall we will have to rent a splitter to split the elm, wow is that stuff hard!

The Start

It only makes sense that we would start our blog today.  One year ago the year flood came.  We had no idea at the time that the flood would turn historic and last for a total of 77 days.  An average year will bring a flooded road for just about 30 days, the water tends to be 3 feet over the road to our farm.  But last year we have 3 feet of water for about 17 days, then the real water came and the depth ways 5 feet over the road.  No longer could we wade in and out, we had to paddle. This year the water is not even close to coming over the road.

With that in mind we are thinking of turning our little caretakership into a full blown farm.  The land is beautiful, lovely and clay.  Sticky clay.  Our farm is at the end of a long 2 mile "driveway" that is often full of fisherman, hikers and some troublemakers.  We love this place, we love this land and we love the history of our home. 

Our plan is to farm, if not farm, homestead.  With the history of the land behind us I believe we will succeed!