Tear Down a Parking Lot

When we moved to our farm a few years ago, there was a huge parking area in front of the house as well as a smaller parking area behind the house that added up to regular parking for 11 cars... for 2 people.

If we were having a party, and wanted to park cars several deep, I bet we could fit 21 cars (7 wide x 3 deep) just in front of the house and still not block the road.

Every time I went out front, I heard Joni Mitchell...

It apparently looked like a cul-de-sac to everyone who thought they could get to the neighborhood to the north of us even-though there's a "no outlet" sign at the entrance of the road.

It's hot and miserable on summer afternoons and pretty much only grew puncture vine, which is not nice to puppy paws, wheelchair tires or even bare feet when the seeds make it into the house. ouch.

This parking area was one of the things we would address later and later is finally here.  :-D

I called a 800-number that our state has set up, told them what our plans were and they coordinated the marking of all of the potentially buried lines in the area.  It only took a few days to get everything marked.

Hubba hired a contractor who agreed to come over and scrape off the top 2 inches and haul it away, then break up the soil to about 12-inches deep and till in our alpaca manure.

He got started last Tuesday.

Yes, that's smoke from another wild fire in the background. :-(

They found a concrete wall buried in the middle of the space, so we made plans to jack-hammer it out.

Then got stopped for a few days due to rain and snow.  Not too much as far as either was concerned, but enough to make the work very difficult.

Our contractor decided to clear out around the concrete wall to make sure he knew what he was up against before starting the jack-hammering, only to discover a U-shaped foundation with a concrete floor that had been filled with concrete pieces.  Then directly to the East (to the right in the below photo) another rectangular shaped foundation full of more concrete pieces.

Our contractor thinks that they must have used this space to wash out the concrete trucks when they were building the neighborhood to the south of us.  All of the houses were built in the 1970's, as was our house, and I have heard that all of the land around here used to belong to the same family ranch.  So, I suppose it's possible... but seriously, what were they doing?  If they were just planning to bury waste concrete, why would they go through the effort of building two separate foundations?

He brought in 2 loads of top soil and then tilled that in with our manure.  I didn't get a photo, but the tilling attachment on the skid steer is pretty awesome.  It's now on my To Acquire list.

I put in a few T-Posts with baling twine to keep people and their cars off our our freshly tilled garden until we can get to a more permanent fence.  I had planned to put the raised beds for the berry bushes along the road, but am now going to put them over the newly discovered foundations.

I am so happy to have the bulk of this project done.

Garden: Lessons from v2.0

This year's garden was my second in Colorado and I have learned a few things, as I suspect I always will.

1. Soil fortified with Alpaca Manure grows massive plants.
2. Thanks to #1, Tomato Cages are woefully insufficient for keeping tomatoes off the ground.
3. Rabbits LOVE Bean and Pea Sprouts.
4. Hanging CD's in Fruit Trees protects the Fruit from Birds.
5. If I don't plant enough Roma Tomatoes, I will be unhappy.
6. It's worth paying attention to the seed spacing recommended on the pouch.

I've been thinking about next year's garden and tossing around the idea of year-round gardening.  I've been inspired by several blogs based in the Southern Hemisphere, but especially the City Garden, Country Garden.  She grew 75% of the produce they ate in August which would be like me growing food in February.  I think that's amazing.  You only have to know it's possible in order to achieve it.  Right?

In the meantime, our second garden is under construction which should give us plenty of space for rotating crops and keeping winter vegetables, I have drafted a planting plan for next year and my Seeds of Change Catalog has arrived.

Happy Planning. :-)

Fiber Arts Friday: Wingspan, part 6

A few rows while waiting at the DMV, a few more while waiting at the airport, a few more on a couple of long car rids and a little bit more here and there... and I have 5 1/2 of 8 wedges completed.

... only one more than last time.  Darn it, I thought I had made more progress than that.  At this rate Maybe I'll be finished in January.  ;-)

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Four Years

I realized earlier this week that right about now, four years ago, my life would begin undergoing a significant transformation.

Four years ago I was in the process of being outsourced.  As in, my job would be the same, my desk would be the same, but I would cease being an employee and begin being an outsourced serviced provider.

I was starting to realize that with this new outsourced situation there was no professional reason to stay in New Mexico.  The job I had did not require me to physically be in the office, most of the time.  So Hubba and I realized that we could think seriously about moving back to Colorado.  Something we had talked about doing "someday" for many, many years.

Certainly there were lots of personal reasons to stay, but we were no longer tied to a location because of the jobs we had.  Hubba had become location independent several years earlier and I was soon to be as well.

The outsourcing was official on Halloween, President Obama was elected a few days later then Hubba and I took what turned out to be the last vacation we would have... at least so far.

A couple of weeks after that was Thanksgiving and the time that we officially made our decision to return to Colorado.

We went through all of the steps to ensure our house was ready to go on the market by spring.  It sold rather quickly.

In the meantime I was layed off.  A couple of job changes later and I have now been with my current company and client for 3 1/2 years.  I have spent a lot of time on the road for them, but not much this year.  Which has been really nice.

Day job stuff aside, the reason we came back to Colorado is that we love it here, one of the best veterinary schools in the country is here, the training opportunities for Hubba are extensive and we have family and friends nearby.

For the farm, the first step was to find it.  Then to get the alpacas here. Then to actually raise, birth and breed alpacas as the farmer, not the agistor (boarder) and to get our guardian dogs in place.  The next step now is start bringing in some income.

Right around this time, four years ago, when we were embarking upon our path back to Colorado, the economy was in a bad state.  A lot of people blame it on the current President, but jobs were already difficult to find (I had been looking),  housing prices had already dropped (people said we were crazy to sell at that time) and since alpacas are really a luxury item, their price was down as well.

We have not tried to sell any alpacas, but we have not bought any since then either.  We have been focused on growing our herd slowly and organically.  With the blessing of our 3 girls this year, I feel that starting in mid-2014 we will be able to offer more than just males for sale.  Hopefully by then the price of and demand for alpacas will have recovered somewhat.

I think that once we are able to start selling our livestock, we will be able to fund some of the infrastructure improvements that are required in order for us to grow at a faster rate.

Also in early 2014 we expect to have our first litter of Tibetan Mastiff puppies available for sale.

I have been working on my shearing skills.  I have a small group of regular clients.  While I haven't been actively marketing my shearing services, I did gain a few clients last spring and am hopeful that I will gain a few more this spring.  I have also made some contacts so I am now able to refer clients to other qualified shearers if I am unable to meet their needs.

Over much of this year we have been working on an upgrade to our website.  It really is "this" close to being ready.  I can hardly wait to share it. :-)

The next task, I think, is to prepare our fiber.  It's one thing that I have a lot of but all of it is still raw and not yet ready for sale.  I have a relatively local mill that I'm anxious to try... and with my not travelling as much, I might actually be able to fill orders when they come in.

It's been a long and expensive road so far.  We have a ways to go before the farm is supporting us.  But we have learned a lot, invested a lot and each year we get a little closer to living our dream full-time.

Time for a Baby Update

Wasabi is fitting in nicely.

She and the other dogs all get along very well.  She has learned very quickly that cria are not for chasing and is following the lead of the other girls for what's worth barking at.  She is a collector of things... big sticks, little sticks, half-eaten apples the squirrels have left behind.  It seems there isn't much she doesn't want to carry around.

I spied Willow snoozing on Sunday...

She sat like that for quite a long time.  I'm not sure if she looks comfortable, but she was certainly content.

Pearl was snoozing too, but Holly was watching my every move...

The little girls are gaining weight and chase each other around the corral most of the time.

The other day a coworker asked me what I do with the cria and I had to tell her that I just sit, watch them and giggle.

They're so funny, have very different personalities and are clearly very good friends.

Wrapping it Up

I spent much of the weekend doing the final tasks to get the garden ready for winter.

I pulled the remaining weeds from the veggie garden and put the stakes, labels, row-markers and patio furniture away.

We have a man coming this week to help us turn the front parking area into a second veggie garden including incorporating all of the alpaca manure we have stocked up.

After that the only thing I have left to do is wrap the young trees when it gets a little cooler and pick up the leaves once they've finished falling.

Then I think I am ready for winter. :-)

Fiber Arts Friday: For Me is Finished!

There's something pretty great about thick yarn and a simple pattern.  Even with "not much time" for knitting, I finished my Alpaca London Beanie in a couple of weeks.

I wish I had made it just a little tighter and just a little deeper... perhaps there will be another one coming soon.  ;-)

Happy Fiber Arts Friday.