This season is what I’ve dreamed of since we started building our house. I love fall. I couldn’t wait for crisp fall evenings, for sitting on the patio with a blanket and a hot tea and watching the sunset. My favorite season is finally here and I’m loving every minute of it.
This month also marks nine months since we moved into our house and started working on our little farm. Here’s what’s going on now…
Home:
A few months ago, a friend made us this gorgeous custom farmhouse table. I finally found the chairs I wanted to go with it and got a few final details added. My dining room is done!
I’ve been adding curtains to the house room by room. I finally found some that my husband and I both loved for the master bedroom. I also picked up some new pillows to bring a little more color into the room.
We started our landscaping just a couple of weeks ago. We decided to with Indian Hawthorn bushes in the back (a favorite of ours that we’re familiar with from our last home) and smaller bushes in the in the front. We still need to add more but we’re going to let these grow a bit before we do.
Farm:
In September, our girls’ combs and wattles started really growing in. We were hoping for eggs as soon as mid-October, so in late September we opened their nesting boxes to give them time to get used to them. As of this post, they still aren’t laying, but Bielefelders do tend to be late layers – I’ve been told six to seven months, sometimes even later.
The chicken run got an upgrade when my husband and youngest added roosts on the east side of the run. The chickens love to hang out on that side in the evening! They also love to come “visit” with us when we’re outside the run.
We also did our first big coop clean out in early October. We use the deep fill method in our coop, so we only have to do a big clean out a couple of times a year. All I can say is thank goodness, because it was a long, hard, miserable day. At least we have several months before the next one!
A fish stocking company comes to our local famer’s co-op store periodically. We used them to stock our band with crappie, catfish, and blue gill. We’ll also add some bass in the near future. My boys both love to fish, so they’re looking forward to next year, when our fish are big enough to catch and eat.
While this isn’t technically “on the farm,” it’s deer hunting season in Oklahoma, and it’s a big deal in our family. My husband and my youngest are both avid hunters. Bow season started October 1st, and so far my youngest has gotten one.
Planning ahead:
(1) Pigs: We want to be ready for pigs in the spring, so once we find what we’re looking for, we can pick them up immediately. My husband and boys are planning to build a shelter and pen close to our chicken coop.
(2) Quail: We’re going to use a portion of the shed that houses chicken coop for our quail. My husband builds most of what we need, but I think we’re going to buy our quail cages. We want to get our pigs first, so I’m not sure if we’ll get our quail this summer or maybe even later.
(3) Fencing: This is going to be a huge project but we hope to get to it soon. Our design plan included white fencing down our driveway, and we want to finish that out for aesthetics. But we also need good fencing before we move ahead with getting sheep. There are a lot of coyotes around here, so we need really strong fencing and a good livestock guardian dog. We’re also planning to give our existing fence a fresh coat of paint.
(4) Small garden: I’m thinking really seriously about planting a small garden come spring. It will probably need to be a raised bed garden because our soil has a lot of clay in it. I’m thinking of planting a few easy, basic things like tomatoes, zucchini, squash, and peppers. I may start a small container herb garden as well.
What fall projects are you working on?
Amanda Holland 