Buying a Farm

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Okay, so it's not really a farm, but with four acres it's a lot more like a farm that any other house I've ever lived in.  I've always wanted to move somewhere rural with a lot of land, but I never thought we'd find a place with acreage that was close enough to the city to get to work easily. Alpine is only 20 miles from work and in a direction without much traffic.  It's really more like a suburb that being truly rural, with all the amenities that we could need, even a micro-brewery and a Starbucks. So, for a family used to the city and the suburbs, it won't be too different for us. With four acres we will have space for a few farm animals and some vegetables and fruit trees. The kids, particularly the girls, really want to raise some animals.

Right now, we are waiting for escrow to close. Hopefully nothing goes wrong and we get the house. I will use this blog to keep track of everything we learn about raising animals and growing vegetables. I think we have a lot to learn.

The first animals we will be getting are two dogs and a bunch of chickens. We can get the dogs right away, but we'll have to build a chicken coop before we can get the chickens. I think I'd like to get some goats, but we need to learn more about the types of goats to get. Apparently there are different breeds for meat and milk, and then there are always angora goats if we want to get some wool, but I'm not sure how much work goes into keeping the wool clean. Maybe we'll get sheep instead...

The house we are trying to buy has three horse stalls,  but we still have quite a bit if work to do before we get horses.  We will want to fence off an area for the horses to roam and maybe grow grass for them to do some grazing. The girls will need some riding lessons so they know how to handle horses and learn all the responsibilities that go with owning a horse, like feeding, brushing, cleaning the stalls...

As for gardening, there are currently a bunch of citrus trees and two fig trees. We will want to plant a vegetable garden and maybe more fruit trees. I am looking forward to fresh from the garden vegetables. We will have to learn all about keeping out gophers, squirrels and rabbits of course...

Like I said, lots to learn! Let's see which things we actually accomplish.