September 8th, 2023 Summer Winding Down

 Summer is still with us for a few more weeks. Today it is a wonderful seventy-five degrees and clear skies. While this isn't very good for farming veggies, it is wonderful for working in. We have a lot to show for all the work this year. 

We got the Tiny Home Cabin(s) moved a few weeks ago. The project was planned years ago and there were some significant issues we needed to address to make things work out.  We needed to expand the electrical, water, and septic infrastructure to make the tiny home(s) usable once  we got them moved. 

On the left is the Tiny Home Cabin we moved to the Farm back in early Winter of 2018.
On the right is the same space (note the telephone pole in both pictures) as it is today.

Since we have a serious iron problem with our water we have built our water system with house water is very well filtered. This house water system had to be tapped into to provide good water the the Tiny Homes (now called the Guest House and Kennel). Then we had to expand the electrical system to provide power to the Guest House and Kennel as well.  While we did the electrical work we also included inlets, outlets, and switching to bring in generator power when it is needed. And finally we needed to put in piping to remove septic waste. Each of these projects was difficult to accomplish, even if not very expensive.  Once we got all the preliminary ground work done it was time to separate and move the two Tiny Homes to their permanent places behind the Farmhouse.

The new Farmhouse layout.

When we built the first trailer we did the work in the driveway of our home in North Plans and towed the thing out to the empty lot that would become the Farm (pictured above).  A few weeks later we built the second half, making ours a double wide Tiny Home Cabin. We lived in the Cabin for nearly four years as we cleared the land and built our new Home. Taking them apart was not the biggest part of our plans when we built them it took some work, as did moving the small garden and accumulated stuff added to the place after it was built.

Moving these two large trailers took an entire day using a large rented tractor. Towing them was a tricky proposition once they were separated. But once we got them moving it came down to jostling the two halves into their permanent places. This  proved to be the most difficult part of the job.

The Guest House eventually settled into a place where the front facing side ran parallel to the Farmhouse Porch. The Kennel side eventually came to rest immediately behind the Farmhouse on the back wall where there are no windows. Both buildings needed the eight foot pass through hole sealed up against the weather, so we are installing sliding glass doors to keep the rain out and the heat in. The piping and wiring were the easy parts and once we had the two trailers jacked up and level. Eventually, the end of the largest temporary part of our early plans for building our farm came yesterday, when we moved my brother's camp trailer to it's new place near the Utility Shed.

A Wooly Bear Caterpillar.
This one say it is going to
be a long, cold Winter.

So now the entire area in front of the Farmhouse is cleared out and cleaned up. We hadn't been able to see the front of the Farm from the Farmhouse until just yesterday. So this is a major change in how things look. Perhaps more importantly, the view of the Farmhouse from the Road is now much cleaner.  Now the place looks as it should. 

I remodeled the Guest House interior during the cold months last Winter. Putting the glass door on it allows me to finish the job and do some upgrades on the exterior, including a fresh coat of paint. Eventually I will put skirting on both buildings to keep animals from playing around underneath them and refinish the Kennel building to make it useful. We will also put in a fence to contain our tangle of hounds behind the Farmhouse and reduce noise a bit out front.  But for the present, the job is mostly done until Farming winds down and we settle into Winter month projects.

Farming this year has been quite good. We have been selling produce for many weeks and eating quite a lot of it ourselves. While we haven't  had the growth we wished for, we have done roughly ten times more planting than we did last year. No-till gardening is really a great way to grow things and our planting and pest control plans have all performed much as we expected they would. A few weeks ago we have our expected flea beetle infestation, but instead of them stressing our tomato and potato plants they attacked the Nasturtium plants we had planted as a pest attractor. We dusted the Nasturtiums and the problem was solved in a few days with little actual damage to our paying crops. And we got some really goods crops.

We planted three flights of potatoes this year, each a few weeks apart. The first flight came up easily and the spuds are absolutely wonderful to eat. Rich flavors, perfect flesh. Our cucumbers and tomatoes have thrived this year and we had put quite a lot more of them in the dirt. They are heavy with fruit  and sweet. Tomatoes are selling like hotcakes. The peppers haven't done as well as we expected, but our cool peppers are doing very well and selling out as quickly as we can pick them. The Corn crop has been disappointing. We put in so many and got so few ears out of it. The Corn cobs we did get is smallish, but the flavor is wonderful and we are enjoying eating it despite not being able to sell it.  Melons are doing very well and selling out for the most part. So the gardens are producing well even if we do need to make some changes next year. 

Lemonhead Lucy

We think Taffee is pregnant with our (planned for) Fall litter of pups, but we won't know for sure for a few weeks. This will be Taffee and ClarkeBar's last litter and they will be retired after this. We love having puppies around and are really looking forward to the work raising puppies brings.

Our newest addition to the kennel is Lemonhead Lucy, a wonderful little white and red female. She is well accepted to the Hound's social group and is quite well liked by everyone who she meets. Lucy is very chatty, with a great many expressive howls and barks that make her unique in our kennel.

We have had loads of visitors this Summer. Some coming for the produce, some just to visit. All are welcome. So if you find yourself on the Highway and looking for some place to stop by, think about stopping by and seeing all the changes at Creekside Farm. We are making constant improvements and it will be nice to have you see it all. We have plenty to keep us busy here as Summer begins to close down. We look forward to the change in seasons and are ready for whatever comes. 

In the middle of this image you will find the telephone pole seen in the upper images.
This is the place before we found it, taken from a real estate advertisement.
Taken from the Western edge of the property, where the Market Garden is today.

This is the same telephone pole.
This picture taken on the first day we came to the property, but from the back of the place.
This is approximately the angle seen from the Bathroom window of the Farmhouse.

This is the same telephone pole.
Just before we brought the first tiny home here.