Our Journey

Lick Creek divides the property from the East to West and then runs along the western border to the south.  With old and beaten timber roads, miles of trails, more than 10 green fields, acres of Pine and hardwood trees, caves, a waterfall, and more, there is much to explore.

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I've fielded several questions about how we found our remote property so I'll explain a bit here.  I had been looking mostly on Zillow, but the property wasn’t actually listed there.  Instead, I accidentally found the listing through Google searches.  The property was previously owned by a timber company.  Timber company A sold grouped tracts to timber company B.  Those tracts might consist of several properties and may include up to 25,000 acres.  Timber company B ensured each property has an easement entrance for property access and assessed each property to determine whether it is a better fit as a residential or commercial property.  Timber company B may get a timber cut off the land, and then they market and sell it.

 

Our property was actually set up to be two separate listings, I believe, because it consists of four lots and they added two 20’ wide easement entrances, one to the Northern portion of the property and another to the Northeastern corner.  For one entrance, Timber company B traded a neighbor an acre for the right of way entrance.  I’m not sure how the other was added. 

 

Our property did not have grid power or water, and some of the southern terrain is more difficult to access across the creek.  The benefit is that the per acre cost is much, much lower - less than a third per acre than a nearby 30 acre lot we considered.  The drawback is that the cost to add utilities is substantial.  After considering our options and for a variety of reasons, we added a solar system and drilled a well while we are building our small farm.

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Faced with the pandemic (now behind us!), a challenged economy,  interrupted supply chains, and food shortages, we felt it worthwhile to improve our self sufficiency.  We started with a few goats and three Livestock Guarding Dogs, eventually split our small but growing herd into two paddocks, and added a bred sow to the third paddock.  In 2022, one of our goats gifted us with two kids, another goat birthed a kid, and our sow birthed six adorable piglets.  In 2023, so far, our does have had four kids, and Alaska, our Great Pyrenees, birthed a litter of eight healthy pups; they've turned out absolutely amazing.  In September 2023, we added another litter of nine piglets!

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In addition to fencing acres of paddocks to provide our animals the space and opportunity to grow and feed upon bountiful forage in their natural habitat, we built portable goat sheds, hay feeders, feeding troughs, pig shed, and a site for the sawmill. We've added more than 400 tons of gravel to improve the entrance driveway and will continue to improve upon the infrastructure.  We built our pumphouse, completed our well, and completed our water filtration package.  We installed our solar system and are well on our way to developing a robust infrastructure for the property. 

 

In 2023, we added the chicken coop.  In January, we started with a batch of new chicks and added to the crew a few times through February; our head count is now stable at 42 and consists of a variety of egg layers. We completed building the chicken coop and the exterior fenced area (fenced and covered with hardware cloth) - over 1000 square feet.  I've read we should target 10 square feet per chicken so this outdoor space will provide more than sufficient space for the flock to grow.  Once we complete the outdoor fenced area, I'll build the nest boxes and call it a job complete!!

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We're also excited to complete the water filtration and storage in the pumphouse this month.  We currently have two connected interior IBC totes but will join them (after filtration) to the two exterior IBC totes which harvests the rain water.  The water flows through a sediment filter and water softener before it gets stored in the IBC totes.  There, it circulates between the two tanks so it doesn't get stagnant and also flows through a UV filter.  Coming out of the IBC totes, a submersible pump moves the water to the pressure tank where it pressurizes for distribution throughout the property.  We added a PumpSaver to protect the well's submersible pump when the water in the pipes drain and causes lower pressure.  We added a timer to the well pump setup so the well will only fill the IBC totes during daylight hours to minimize the draw on our solar battery storage.  Lastly, we added a float valve to the IBC totes to engage the well pump when the water level falls below a prescribed level.

 

However, as much as we've accomplished, there is lots more to do.

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In the coming months and years, we look forward to adding more paddocks in our pursuit of rotational grazing, expanding our goat herd, and breeding the pigs in our pursuit of premium product.