Changing goals and speed

[AClark]

I'll preface this with being that my husband and I both grew up in the country, so we're just trying to get back "home".

1. What state/province/country are you in and what is your climate like?
As far west TX as you can get without being in New Mexico. Mild winters, hotter than the pits of Haydes summers, with really windy sandstormy spring.
2. How many people are in your family? Marital status?
Married, there will be 7 of us starting next year in the house.
3. How would you define your farm?
An urban disaster. Right now we're limited to rabbits that have to be kept indoors

4. What would you do with your spare time if you had any resources you needed?
Spare time, what's that? My husband works full time, and with our family, spare time just means there's something that isn't getting done.
5. Have you ever built a house, barn , or other types of building? Do you want to?
I can't build for crap, hubby can, so I expect he'll build some structures when we find "home"

6. Can you weld? Steel, aluminum, MiG, TiG, stick, Oxy-Acet?
I can, I do well with steel and can do MiG (I have a MiG welder) and Arc. I never quite got the hang of Oxy-Ace, but I can cut with it.
7. Who or what inspired you to be a farmer/rancher, hobby farmer?
My family, I grew up on a ranch. Hubby grew up farming.
8 Is it a hobby or an occupation?
Starting as a hobby, hoping for occupation.

9. In what areas are you knowledgeable and in what areas would you like to learn more?
I'm knowledgeable about horses, fencing, feeding, gardening, canning - would like to know more about rabbits, goats, and pigs
10. In what types of farming will you never choose to do?
Sheep/Alpacas, I don't want to mess with anything I need to shear
11. Are you interested in providing more of your own food supply?
Yes, that's goal #1
12. Where do you end up when you sink into yourself, away from the outside world?
Reading about my future endeavors
13. Can you drive a farm tractor or a semi?
Both, including a brownie transmission tractor, also a backhoe and a forklift. If it has wheels and uses fuel, I can probably drive it
14. Do you make crafts or useful items? Would you want to teach others how to do these?
Yes to both. I sew, knit, crochet, I also do canning.
15. Can you legally have all forms of livestock where you are at? Do you have any? What kinds?
No, chickens and poultry you need a permit for here and it's expensive, any other livestock is prohibited.
16. Can you operate a lathe? Metal, wood?
No, my uncle is a machinist so if I ever had the need I have someone to teach me though
17. Do you like to garden? If so, what do you enjoy growing?
I love gardening. I grow lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, and lots of others, I like veggies
18. Do you fish? Bait or explosives?
Car battery, duh, doesn't get everyones attention like explosives do. But no, I love fishing, legally.
19. How much space/land do you have or rent? City farm? Country?
Right now, basically none, soon we're looking at 3+ acres though
20. Are you a Novice, Technician, degreed?
Technician, degree finishes next year.
21. What is your farm specialty? Or what one would you like to learn?
Mechanic ability, I'm a pretty good diesel mechanic and an excellent gas motor mechanic.
22. If you could create a degree and curriculum, what would you major in and what classes would you take?
I don't know, my degree has nothing to do with farming at all.
23. Do you do wood work? framing, finish, cabinet?
LOL, noooo, a carpenter I am not
24. Are you interested in herbal animal medicine?
Yes, it goes along with my regular job
25. If you could live any place you chose, where would it be?
Hard call, I've lived all over, AZ, CO, NY, TX - I definitely prefer to be out west
26. Do you use a wood stove for heating or cooking?
No
27. What would your ideal super hero/villain be?
I prefer the villains, the wicked witch from Wizard of Oz comes to mind. She can borrow my broom any time
28. Are your family or friends also interested in animals?
Yes
29. Do you like to cook? Are you interested in whole foods and natural foods? raw milk? farm fresh eggs?
Yes, I love cooking and believe the best foods come from the best ingredients. Not much beats farm fresh anything.
30. What was your best animal experience? Worst?
Best, helping a newborn foal out of the sac, it was really rewarding. Worst: putting my old horse down...myself.
31. Do you forage or hunt for part of your food needs?
We're both avid hunters but it isn't easy in TX, no BLM land, and I dont' know anyone to lease from.
32. What skills do you have that help you be more a self sufficient farm?
We both work hard and have zero problems with getting dirty, and if we don't know something, we will research and learn.
33. Do you process your own meat? Can or preserve?
I can everything from meat to jam, I plan on processing my own rabbits. I've processed lots of wild game so this shouldn't be hard.
34. Do you use alternative energy sources on your farm? Would you like to?
I'd like to when we buy, solar power is really nice when you live somewhere sunny
35 What is on your to do list?
Find property before we move.
36. Have you ever lived completely off what you produce? Would you like to?
No, and yes I would like to.
37. In what do you trust?
I trust that hard work will get you through
38. Do you make and fix things yourself to save money?
We fix everything, from the trucks to electronics. Nothing that can be repaired sufficiently goes in the trash.
39. Has the experience with animals changed your attitude or habits?
I've had to learn that you can't buy based on "cute" - I got a really obnoxious dog that way. Sure, she's really pretty, but she also has lots of bad manners that we can't seem to break.

 

[Latestarter]

Maybe you should consider the "other" side of TX? You know, over where they get a decent amount of moisture? There's a good group over that side, and I will most likely be joining them next month.

 

[Baymule]

Yeah, come on over to east Texas! Still jot in the summer, but at least we have lots of nice green trees!

 

[AClark]

I don't really get a choice in our move. We are moving to Oklahoma (Fort Sill) in January. This is pretty close to what I'm used to, I'm originally from Arizona. I'm not looking forward to tornadoes or their winters - I detest the cold. I lived in far upstate NY (40 minutes from Canada) for 4 years and yeah, those folks can have that part of the US!

Oh heck @Latestarter, you're retired Navy. You get it then. My husband is still active duty Army. I won't say how long he's been in, but he has deployed to Bosnia...that should give you an idea, lol.

 

[Latestarter]

OH shoot, that's right, I forgot you folks are still active duty... You don't really get to "pick" your location aside from the dream sheet for potential stationing... I WAS in for 24 years and ended pretty much as an instructor. Pretty embarrassing when you're telling sea stories to a class and start out "Remember when..."? only to realize 1/2 way through that most in the class weren't even born when you experienced that... I was there for the Iranian hostages, Panama, Grenada, Bosnia and the Balkans, the "fall of the iron curtain and the communist Soviet state", the start of the middle east issues we're STILL screwing around in/with (WHY?!?!)... Long time ago now.

 

[AClark]

Exactly the same plan here, my husband got assigned as an instructor. We probably won't move from there unless it's to move home after he retires. It's a great time for us to get settled with my oldest boy going into high school next year. It's hard on the kids to be dragged all over the place every couple of years for sure.

 

[Mike CHS]

It's a good thing to come up with a plan now if you can. I retired from the Navy in '91 but stayed in the same field as a contractor until a couple of months ago. My only regret is waiting as long as I did but it made the $$ better for what we are doing.

 

[Bruce]

"34. Do you use alternative energy sources on your farm? Would you like to?
I'd like to when we buy, solar power is really nice when you live somewhere sunny"

Doesn't have to be sunny! We had 2 ground mounted arrays (*) put in last December. They still produce on a day when it is raining ALL day. Not anywhere close to what they put out on a full sun day of course. And they do better if you remember to brush the snow off in the winter

One thing to consider is they do better in COLD than in HOT climates. The panel output rating is based on something like 70F ambient temp. Less output when it is hotter, more when it is colder. Electricity flows better in cold.

Where I live the % of possible sun averaged over time is 49% (Portland OR is 48%, Seattle is 43%, Oklahoma City is 68%, 90% in Yuma). I don't know what we have averaged since the arrays went in but they have produced over 6 Megawatts since Dec 9.

* total potential output is 6.6 kWh if everything is perfect which, of course, never happens.

 

[AClark]

I'm going to be living about an hour from OKC, where I live now is 84% according to NOAA. I didn't know that the output varied depending on the heat, that has a potential to be a problem here and where we're moving, as it's hot at both. Snow? What's that? I haven't seen much of that since we moved back out west. We had lots in Watertown, NY, and I know VT gets a lot of it, my husband is from the Plattsburg NY area.
My guess then out here is that it would work more efficiently in the winter than the summer due to temperatures. I don't know much about it, but we've toyed with the idea of solar power to help with the electric bill. They use solar panels on a lot of the houses here, though I'm not sure of the difference since ours don't have them.

 

[AClark]

Being in the same field doesn't give him basically, any options. There's not much civilian call for field artillery, unless we stay in OK at Sill where contractors do basically what he'll be doing, instructing. They send civi's from Sill here to do training for some of the goodies like the Excalibur round - actually they were just here 2 weeks ago.
My line of work can go anywhere (medical) so if he decides he wants to just chill at home after he retires, I think he's earned it.