Walkabout the Homestead

When we moved here an old blue shed stood on the site where the new goat shed now rests. The property has 10 acres all of which were heavily wooded.

This shot is taken from the current end of the fence line toward the goat shed. The land between here and the goats is low and wet normally until August. The Commander ran this fence line as his last project before winter so he could start again in the spring on dry land.

Same spot but looking 90 degrees to the East looking at the sheep barn. The ground is higher by the sheep barn. This is what it looked like prior to the sheep barn going up, thick, thick woods!

A shot across an old drainage ditch toward the sheep barn, this really looks different.

The drainage ditch. We would like to clear this up and then build a bridge across it, that would look wonderful.

The Commander has a lot of brush to clear this year, too bad he wore out his chipper.

You can barely see the sheep barn through all the saplings.

The only trees the Commander doesn't cut down are the birch. We have some huge old birch trees mingled in amongst the forest and they are just majestic.

I love how they look, especially when they stand alone.

The Commander calls this "Kissing Rock" (I swear I have no idea why). The rock is huge, I guess it shows how much Molly has grown. Every time we go past the rock Molly jumps up and poses, I wonder if she wants a kiss? The plan is to have a path cut to the rock this year (to make it easier to get to?).

The woods are really thick so it is easier to do some cutting while snow is on the ground to avoid the ticks and mosquitoes.

A shot from the fence line behind the sheep barn. This was thick forest last year, the Commander has a lot of cleaning up to do this spring and summer.

Brush piled up all along the fence, too bad the chipper is dead. The hope is that there will be more snow next year to allow for controlled burning. Can you see Sara and Molly?  Note the ram shed in the distance.

The Commander left many of the larger trees to prevent eagle attacks on the sheep, goats, and chickens. The shade will not help the pasture but the leaves are good to eat in the fall.

The ram shed from the back fence line.

One of the ram pasture areas, a lot of work to do here as well.

All the trees were cut down by the Commander using his chainsaw(s), the saplings and branches were at first chipped into mulch and once that broke burn piles were set up. Homestead from Scratch is more than just a name, it is the journey.

Headed back now and a view from the other side of the drainage ditch. The sheep barn is off to the right.

Same spot as above but turned toward the house.  Note the goat barn in the distance, all the sapling nubs may be able to be broken off this spring to make the pasture look better.

The Commander rolled this fencing into the goat area and up to the fence. We are going to muscle this over the fence and take it back to the end of the fence line (as seen in the first picture) before the spring melt sets in, otherwise the ground will be too wet to traverse.