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Tuesday, April 6, 2010

We are on the market!

Our 1400 square foot .11 acre backyard farm is on the market! Our family of 6, dog, cat, bunny, and 5 chickens have outgrown our space. We are looking for something on about an acre or more so we can expand and have goats and bees. After reading Raw Milk Revolution, I think I might want a cow.

Would you like a tour?

Here she is...

Here is where the living happens.

Our sweet little kitchen...oops, one of our light bulbs burnt out.  Oh how I will miss this house once we are gone. My friend Nicol and I have mastered our own form of sign language to communicate through this kitchen window here.

And here is where the magic happens....now stop being gross, sleeping is magical. That bed spread looks a little lopsided. Why didn't I notice that for the pictures?

The boys room.
See those quilts there, those are the first quilts I've ever actually finished...all by myself.  Oh, and I just love those curtains.

And here is where the farming actually happens. 
From this picture it may look like a regular backyard, but let me give you a tour.
A. Where our 5 chickens are housed, if you look at the picture of the front of the house, on the right hand side you can see their red chicken coop.

B. Our garden (about 18'x6') and 5 garden boxes. Right above the arrow you can see our strawberry box, right next to that is the kids garden box and our compost bin. Our bunny is also over in this corner (we've got a lot going on in section B) Bunny poopies are great for the garden, it can go right into the garden without composting.

C. Our raspberry bushes and our failed attempt at asparagus. Also where we were planning on putting our bees, but our neighbors weren't big fans of that plan.

D. Where our rabbit cages are. I know, it is so ghetto. We used the bunny cages for our baby chicks until they are ready to be outside with the big girls. 

E. A large black bucket that we used for potatoes one year and for pumpkins last year. This winter the kids used it to make a snow fort. Disregard the deflated pool...why that didn't get properly put away last fall, nobody knows.

F. The window where all my little seedlings normally start. But, since having cluttered counters is frowned upon when trying to sell your house, I only have about 10 starts that can be easily moved.






15 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm impressed with what you've done on a small piece of land! But I understand the desire to move to more "suitable" space. At first I thought you had housed your chicks under the trampoline - only because I resorted to that when the construction of the Hen Hilton at our place fell behind schedule and the chicks needed more room! I put chicken wire all around the bottom of it and they lived there for quite a while (but we put them in the garage at night. (NOT recommended!).

Dale Johnson said...

Michael and Marisa,

Knowing how much you accomplished with your 0.11 acre backyard, I can't wait to see what you can do with an acre! I envision a Utopia where everyone has an acre to grow all their flowers, fruits, vegetables, eggs, chicken, honey, etc.

However, I caution you not to destroy your Utopia by subjugating yourself to the lordship of a cow. Milking a cow every cold snow winter morning is pure slavery.

By the way, there is a beautiful 3 1/2 acre Antietam Creek front property for sale at the end of Planters Lane across the road from us. The house is very cute. The kitchen is a designer kitchen with incredible tile work. There is a very nice barn for goats, sheep, and even a cow. The bottom land near the creek is rich loam soil for a garden. An adjacent property is a 4 acre wooded reserve. It is completely surrounded on 3 1/2 sides by the creek and woods. The other side faces a gorgeous bucolic pasture grazed by beautiful horses (my property). It is an incredible place to home school children with great 4H programs in the county to supplement the home schooling.

It is the most lovely irresistible property on earth, next to mine.

Twenty Six years ago the inner voice said to me, "Go east young man go east." I followed the voice and it has been a quarter century of adventure.

Laura said...

How exciting for you to be making this change in your life, and how fun it will be to go searching for your next home! I also want to say that I just love those quilts...you've reminded me to add quilting to my list of things to learn this year. :)

Jennifer said...

Dale, you crack me up.

"It is the most lovely irresistible property on earth, next to mine." Next -- in many senses.

Marisa, good luck to you. I never considered until now the advantage home schooling has when relocating. You don't have to worry about moving in the middle of the school year, nor must you worry yourself about school boundaries and supposed good districts. I mimic Dale about coming east, just not as far, and a little bit to the north. :)

I hope you find the property of your dreams! I'd love more land, too.

Unknown said...

Dale, you make a great case! Now, if you could just find Michael a great paying job!

Dog Trot Farm said...

My suggestion- move to Maine, it's a great state to raise children, smell the ocean air and freshly cut fields. Oh, we do have winter too!

Unknown said...

Dog Trot Farm,

I've seen the pictures you've taken, it seems so dreamy!

Suzanne said...

NNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!! Imagine me doing a dry heave throw up like Harry on Dumb and Dumber!! You are killing me!! My day is ruined! -Suzanne

Becky said...

Good luck! I hope it sells fast and you're able to find the piece of land of your farming dreams. That's exactly what we plan to do in a few years after the credit cards are done being paid off.
Lovely house and great job getting so much from so little space!

Unknown said...

Thanks Becky, we are going to need all the luck we can get with this market!

Suzanne,

We will always have twirling and Riverdance!

Christy said...

You should move out to Herriman! Good luck selling. I am glad we are done with all of that for a while. We have .34 acres of land and are excited to start a new backyard farm. I want to plant some fruit trees and berries! I just have to figure out how to deal with the deer and gardening. I am hoping they will stay out once we get a fence up. Has anyone out there had success with a garden in Herriman, Utah?

Katie said...

How much are you asking?

Karen said...

We have the same house! Well, not exactly but very similar. Ours is flipped with the garage on the left instead of the right. I think that's funny. Oh, and yours if decorated WAY better than mine. I'm sending selling thoughts your way!

Unknown said...

Katie,

We are asking $165k

Karen, thanks for the selling thoughts!

Jade said...

I can't believe you're moving! You've done so much with your house, it's so cute. Good luck on that bigger farm!