Tuesday, February 21, 2023

February 21, 2023 Quick Chess

Quick Chess
 I made a new game out of a very old one. In our first tries we found the game easy to learn, very quick to play and, relative to the Classic Chess Game, very fun to play. But this new game has not been explored sufficiently to know the problems or gauge response. So follow this link and let me know what you think.



Saturday, February 11, 2023

February 11, 2023 Five Years Seems a Long Time.

Today we celebrate another anniversary. Five full years of our living on Creekside Farm. But it seems like we've been here much longer.

We built our home here.
Five years ago today I built the frame for the first Greenhouse. This first attempt worked well that Summer, collapsed the next Winter, and then rebuilt twice. Eventually the Greenhouse was crushed by a tree-fall which nearly killed us both, but didn't, and there have been six such greenhouse structures built here since. Two are standing today.

Five years ago today we built our heated dog house in the temporary enclosure attached to the side of our still unfinished Tiny Home Cabin. Our indoor-sy dogs were destined to become outdoor-sy dogs so I built them a dog house and put a little electric heater in it. Our hounds decided it was pretty nice in there and soon quit complaining about sleeping outside.

Our Tiny Home Cabin on Day One 
Everything we were doing five years ago was supposed to last only a year as the Farmhouse was built and new Kennel completed. It turned out those things were a bit more difficult than expected. Our Farmhouse took just under four years start to finish and there's still a concrete porch floor to pour.
The Greenhouse is now heated, water supplied, air ventilated, and grow lights lit. Our Farm Plan was finished on time and early seed went into pots last week. The bigger open questions are about organic pest controls and the first shots in our War on Pestilence were fired last week. We got control of the weeds last year. This year will be controlling insects and small animals. If weather permits we will have produce in our Produce Stand in June.

The Tiny Home Cabin we moved into five years ago is now two-thirds remodeled. Our little Cabin was worn out by living in it for so long and we had planned a remodel after we moved out to make it ready for Air BnB rentals. It seems like we are on track. Our tiny home Cabin is producing a small rental income today and hopefully more as time goes on.

We've Come a Long Way

Our initial 2013 "ten year dream" (made ten years ago) and "five year goal" (begun five years ago) was to have a Farmhouse built and a Farm producing a profit. We did this, if only just slightly over the line.
Our ten year anniversary goal will come in February of 2028. The Farm ought to be fully open to the public by then, tiny homes and camper spaces booked, a Farm Store selling produce and products every day, and Café serving food to people coming here to wander through a peaceful retreat from city life or be married in a purpose built Chapel space. . . We're still "swinging for the stands".

Our Produce Stand
Let's see what happens.