Conifer Creek Farm
Adventures in Southern Farm Life
Central Perch
We are now one step closer to adding chickens to our farm! We opted to purchase a used coop and give it a little TLC to start our flock. Yesterday, we borrowed our neighbor’s flatbed trailer and drove to a town north of Birmingham to collect this little coop. Believe it or not, this coop can house up to 12 birds!
It’s currently in it’s permanent location next to the barn, but as you can tell from the picture, the ground needs a bit of leveling. Additionally, we will replace the floor tray and some wood that broke during transport, plus clean out all the gook left from the previous birds and creepy crawlers.
And yes, the coop was named after our favorite fictional coffee shop: Central Perk.
More Goat Tools
Planning ahead for things we will need to do with the goats: hoof trimming, immunizations, milking…Noah made a goat stand. This stand is designed to gently trap the goats head whilst he/she enjoys a nice snack. There’s also and option to lasso the back legs to prevent them from jumping off the stand. Next step will be to shape their behavior around the stand and its use.
Meet Shasta
Meet the newest member of our herd: Shasta. Shasta is named for the mountain in California (again, goats like mountains). She’s much shier around humans than Billy and Corona, but hopefully that will change with time. She also may (or may not because it’s nearly impossible to tell without a blood test or ultrasound) be pregnant. We’ll find out one way or another in a few months. As like Billy and Cororna, Shasta is also a Nigerian Dwarf Goat. We don’t know exactly when she was born, but based on her horns she’s much younger than our other two.
Goats Like Mountains
To help make their pen fun, Noah took some old pallets left behind the barn to make what we have dubbed “Goat Mountain”. The mountain contains a “cave” for security, as well as stairs and a ramp for climbing. Hurricane was our quality control inspector.
I think the goats approve.
Goats!
We have our first livestock moving us into official farm status! As a surprise, and possibly an early anniversary present, two goats arrived at our farm this morning! These are Nigerian Dwarf Goats, and only in the 30-40 lbs range! Both goats are around 6/7-months old. We dubbed the male goat Billy, because why not. And the female is Corona, because she was born around the first peak of the Corona virus.
For now, they’re housed in backyards, first the guest house side yard and then the backyard for the main house, as we work on prepping their pen by the barn. (Ignore the debris in the background, as that was from a recent construction project on the guest house – more on that later).
The difference made by a coat of paint
One of the things I love about this house are the porches. The front porch is your quintessential Southern porch – deep and wide. The downside to the front porch is that the existing railing is raw wood. To better flow with the look of the house, and brighten up the space, our next reno project involves slathering the railings in white paint. What a difference! Below are a before and after (one coat), from opposite corners of the porch.
old house, new floors
When you’re married to a floor guy, one of the first things he’s going to notice is the state of the hardwood floors. In the case of our farmhouse, the main level floors are primarily a mix of oak hardwood and pine sub floor. Our first reno project is to refinish the floors before our furniture arrives next week. Stay tuned for the final results!
Mowing is no Longer a chore
As our farm has several acres of pasture, one or our first purchases was of course a riding mower! Our first users were Logan and Jake. Everyone fighting over who gets to mow next is the type of problem I’m okay having. There’s something satisfying about freshly cutting grass. Oh and that zero-turn radius? Mwah!
Move-In Day
(One of the septic tanks was being serviced, thus the large truck.)
We have arrived! After traveling over 1,300 miles, our convoy of vehicles have arrived! We left Colorado the morning of May 26, 2020, a little later than planned, but definitely before our mandated exit time. Our group consisted of my car, Noah in his truck pulling the 5er, Jake driving the U-HAUL truck towing the utility trailer, and Aaron in his car towing a U-HAUL trailer.
Day 1 (May 26): We made it to Wichita, Kansas (~535 miles); slumbered in a Walmart parking lot (thank the Lord this was still allowed during COVID restrictions!).
Day 2 (May 27): After another long day behind the wheel, we made it to our target location of Memphis, Tennessee (~577 miles). Thanks to Noah’s cousin we were able to locate another Walmart in a “good” part of town. This time we camped out behind the building, per the night manager’s recommendation to be left alone.
Day 3 (May 28): Happy birthday, Noah! We tend to move into homes on important dates. We moved into our home in Colorado on our 2nd wedding anniversary, and now we’ve moved into our home in Alabama on Noah’s birthday! I enjoyed teasing him that I was giving him a house for his birthday. Today was the shortest day of travel (~241 miles). The previous owner was at the property when we arrived and gave us her blessing to move-in even though we didn’t officially close on the house for another 24-hours. Even though we spent the night in our camper, it was nice to finally be home!
Welcome!
In the midst of a global pandemic, we decided to start a farm! Welcome to Conifer Creek Farm!
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