Exploring Our New Homestead

I got a bit behind in reporting the happenings of last week.  Guess I’ve been busy.  :)  But last Sunday (a week ago) we had an adventure to remember.  Since we moved to this new off-grid homestead four months ago we’ve been so focused on developing things right around our living area that we have not even looked at much of the rest of the property. 

We’ve been curious what the back eight acres looks like.  We had not hiked around that area since before we purchased the property.  This area will be divided into three paddocks so we can rotate the animals as needed.

Sunday was perfect for scouting around because it turned cold the night before and the snakes and chiggers were (hopefully) all stiff and non-threatening.  After lunch we headed out to see what we could see.  What a beautiful sunshiny day it was, and the oak trees in the woods looked friendly and inviting.

This is what we found.  There were lots of wooded areas with many oaks and a few pines.  Then there were clearings with lots of palmettos, as well as some sandy areas with a little grass.  We went along the perimeter fences a bit, but mostly wandered in a zig-zag. 

There is no perimeter fence on the north side, which is why we have not yet let our animals back there.  It was hard to determine where the line was, and once we realized we’d gone too far north, and the only way back was kicking our way through a huge patch of palmettos.  I was sure thankful for the cold weather that renders snakes unmovable.  Who knows how many we nearly stepped on unknowingly.  Shudder!

In the middle of the eight acres we found two interestingly shaped oak trees with several ancient-looking rolls of tar paper and scrap lumber lying beneath them.  A mystery.  Nearby was a third oak with one trunk growing along the ground and another growing straight up as normal.  Another mystery.  The children had fun climbing all over it, and we called it the “horse-back riding tree.”

Silver Oak found the surveyor’s stake at the back of the property and then marched straight east to the cross fence to see if he could determine where the property line was for sure.  He had to tromp through all kinds of brush and palmettos.  Again, I was thankful it was cold.

An area near the three interesting oak trees is such a beautiful location for a cabin.  Maybe someday.  After a few hours of exploring and relaxing, we came to the consensus that there was plenty of forage for the goats (since goats are forage animals vs. grazing animals) and enough cleared areas to plant grasses for pasture as well if we push some more palmettos out of the way.  That’s good to know.

We challenged Silver Oak to chop down this big palmetto patch with his machete. He did it in about two minutes!

Victory! The conqueror stands proudly where the palmettos once stood.

As for our other accomplishments last week, we got another piece of decking partially done, and another smaller tarp roof put up over that.  Silver Oak really wants to get the batteries and inverter out of the dust under the trailer.  They will, hopefully this week, be installed under this new section of deck.

On Saturday we pulled our second gas stove out of storage in the big shed, since there is now room for it on the deck.  It will be used for cooking when it is too hot to cook inside our tiny house.  We don’t want to be more dependent on air conditioning than necessary.  We’d bought it for $40 from someone cleaning out their old mobile home.  What a blessing!

Removing the stove from the shed was no small feat, as many things had been piled on and around it.  But once removed, it allowed us to do a much-needed reorganization of that end of the shed.  Once again we are able to walk from front to back without getting our legs twisted around each other or risking starting an avalanche.  And we can actually get to some things that have been unreachable.  That felt like a major accomplishment.

We also got our bug-out bags hung on hooks along the wall of the shed.  It is time for them to be reorganized as well.  The move got things a bit discombobulated.

Silver Oak and I had another planning meeting which reminds us that no matter how much we’ve done there is still sooooo much left to do in becoming more sustainable.  Forward ho!

Blessings,

Linked w/Frugally Sustainable , Barn Hop, Growing Home, Live Renewed, Our Simple Farm, A Rural Journal, Simple Lives Thursday, My Simple Country Living, Ole’ Saturday Homesteading Trading Post, and Seasonal Celebration Sunday.

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• Survival in Relationships