A big THANK YOU to everyone who has sent in their photographs and stories. I hope by sharing other peoples pictures and stories here on One Hundred Dollars a Month we can all have a rock star garden this summer. Keep them coming!
~Mavis
Hi Mavis!
My name is Krista and I adore your website/blog. You have helped to save me and my family save some money this year.
We wanted to share some pictures of our new place we purchased just this past September. Our last place was just barely over a half an acre and it was stuffed with every kind of plant, animal, and veggie we could fit. Now we have right 11 acres and couldn’t be happier. There’s a lot of work to do, but we are quickly getting this mini farm online. Currently, the goat hut is under construction along with the pen.
Chickens and goats are our favorite farm buddies. Like yourself, we have honed the art of “bartering” and managed to pick up a few free hens and a rooster along the way to add to our flock of four Golden Comets. Yesterday, we purchased our first two goats, Bonnie and Clyde. Let’s hope they like each other enough that they produce some “kids.”
It’s been a short seven months since our move to the “Farm” and a lot has been done, but more is needed to reach our goals. Shelby, my stepdaughter, with the assistance of a John Deere tractor, helped me gather field stone from the land to construct our garden beds. God bless the tractor maker, or there would have been no time to email you today, for I would still be inching my way up the back hills pushing my trusty wheelbarrow full of rocks. My wheelbarrow and I have had a long loving relationship, but for the big girl jobs I like my JD tractor.
The property came with many blessings. A free standing shack that appears to be an old outhouse has been converted into our chicken house. There’s also a workshop wired with electricity so I can woodwork until my heart turns to oak. Mature apple and pear trees were also a bonus. We added 4 blueberry bushes and 2 figs trees to our new fruit orchard.
We love the house. It used to be an old hunting cabin on stilts. The owners did a beautiful addition by closing in the bottom portion. The floor plan is like no other and we love it! Right now, it is yellow in color and in need of a paint job. Our plan is to paint it Barnyard Red.
Enjoy the pictures. Thanks again for sharing your freezer meals and other frugal living tips.
Happy Frugaling!
Krista
Franklin, Georgia
If you would like to have your garden, chicken coop or something you’ve made featured on One Hundred Dollars a Month, here’s what I’m looking for:
- Your Garden Pictures and Tips – I’d especially like to see your garden set ups, growing areas, and know if you are starting seeds indoors this year. If so, show me some picture of how you are going about it.
- Your Chicken and Chicken Related Stories – Coops, Chicks, Hen’s, Roosters, Eggs, you name it. If it clucks, send us some pictures to share with the world.
- Cool Arts & Crafts – Made from your very own hands with detailed {and well photographed} pictures and instructions.
- Your pictures and stories about your pets. The more pictures and details the better.
- Garage Sale, Thrift Store and Dumpster Diving pictures and the stories behind the treasures you found including how much you paid for them.
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Lisa Millar says
What fun to develop 11 acres!
Those stone garden beds look amazing. Lot of work in that!!
Are the goats for milk ?
Fantastic area – by summer you are going to be swimming in food!
Krista says
Howdy Lisa,
Thank you for the compliment. This year they look even better. Thank God for John Deere tractors or I would still be pushing those field stones up the hill. LOL We have had fun and there is still a lot more work to do.
Lisa, it is a fantastic area. It’s pretty much undisturbed minus where the timber companies work. It is amazing when to see deer standing in my driveway sometimes when I come home from work. We live in what’s called a “conservation” area. The land surrounding us is for timber harvest. There are good and bad things with that. The good being is that our taxes are very, very, very, low. There is virtually no traffic up and down are road. Very few neighbors, which might be bad for some, but we like the seclusion. Bad-well…it can get ugly when they cut down the trees for harvest, of course you don’t have to worry with them coming back for another 20 plus years after the mature trees are grown! Oh yeah, the road is dirt, but the county is really great about keeping it fit for travel.
Nope, the goats aren’t for milking. They are Boer goats (A.K.A. meat goats). We thought you could milk’um all! LOL It’s been a total learning curve for us! LOL Goats are so funny. I always kind of thought of them as aluminum can eating-chewing the siding off the house kind of animals! This is so far from the truth. I know people that actually have them in their backyards in subdivisions! LOL Now, I will say this, they do poop alot….That’s a lot of poop to clean up if your yard is less than a 1/2 an acre, but they make great backyard animals if you keep the ratio of goats to acreage in proportion.
As far as the stones, we were very lucky. There are so many out there that Shelby and I are planning to make a few more beds exclusively for an herb garden. This year we are hoping to to do even better because we have been using the chicken pooh and compost to amend our garden bed soil. We are going all heirloom this year. I have a wonderful resource, she is my coworker, and she is a certified organic farmer, so I have manged to get some great tips on how to prevent pests organically. Our plan is to not use any harsh chemicals this year. Please wish us luck.
Do you garden or have farm animals?
Take care and thanks for the reply.
Krista
Lisa Millar says
Hello!
Was good to read your reply and check out your post again!
You will have to do a follow up story sometime! Would be great to see the progress!
Sounds like such a great area and you are really having fun with it!
Good for you finding alternatives to chemicals. Its one area we can really control what we ingest and know what we are eating! That’s the best thing about your own garden or meat.
I take for granted I will lose a bit of produce to pests, but if I can keep it all mostly under control naturally then its a small price to pay. There are some really good ways out there to naturally control pests.
We have about 3/4 of an acre and it produces really well for us. We got water this year which was awesome!! We have been surviving on tank water for 4 seasons… this year was incredibly dry so we dug a bore! Amazing! The garden has been loving it!
You will love your herb gardens! They look and smell divine!
I even keep things in there that I don’t actually use (like fennel) which looks and smells great! I am also letting several plants go to seed so I am collecting it all to replant next season or share the excess around.
We have chickens. Not much room for other animals… and we would need better fencing to manage goats!!
Cheers and hope to see an update soon!
Lisa
Cari says
Such a bonus to have those stones available on the property. They look fantastic, especially with the twig supports. It reminds me of an historical recreation or two that I have seen.
Krista says
Howdy Cari,
Cool name BTW, Thanks for the compliment. The twigs were for pole beans to climb up. I must admit we didn’t have good luck with them, but my certified organic farmer friend tells me that the soil has to be just right for them to thrive. Something about bacteria?? LOL We both work in a hospital lab together so this is really funny to us. BACTERIA to make something grow better! LOL We are fighting it all the time in the healthcare setting, but when she explained it to me it made total sense. “We must live in harmony with bacteria,” my farmer friend says. LOL
My other plants did GREAT, but the pole beans produced enough for one good pot. Urggh! Now, that one pot of green beans was pretty good. I won’t be planting them in the same spot this year because I also learned from my good farmer friend that these crops need to be rotated to other spots pretty regular. I plan to grow more heirloom veggies there this year. Last year our heirloom plants kept up with the hybrids, so NO more GMO’s for this gal. Heirlooms just take little more care, but God they taste so much better and different from hybrids. The first time I grew heirloom tomatoes I was bit “put off” by their looks. If you are used to grocery store tomatoes then an heirloom can look pretty darn ugly! LOL Outside of their appearance they are the tastiest tomatoes I have ever eaten.
I have asked this of everyone who has commented on my pictures, but I have to ask, “Do you garden or have backyard animals?” I am always looking for tips and ideas.
Thanks for the reply.
Sincerely,
Krista
Cari says
Yes! I have been gardening for over 15 years. We had a city size lot, but recently moved to two acres surrounded by large (mostly protected “forever”) farms. We also have family land nearby where we dabble in horticultural and agricultural projects as well as a huge remote garden. I blog about it here:
http://www.midwooddesign.com. None of it is as pretty as your gardens, but I am working on that part.
Lynne S. says
What are you planting in the teepee looking things?
Looks cool! We have a ton of rocks also.
Lynne
Krista says
Howdy Lynne,
That’s great to hear you have a bunch of rocks. They can be used for so many things. I hope my crude little garden gave you inspiration to do something with your rocks.
The “teepee” looking things are are homemade pole for my pole beans to climb, but like i was explaining to one of the other ladies they didn’t do so well this year. My organic farmer friend tells me it has something to do with the bacteria in the soil and the type of bean I used. The pole beans were given to me so I have no idea what breed or type they were, but this year I hope to do better. This whole farming thing is a learning curve, but I love it. I am so used to growing ornamental plants for landscaping. There’s a big difference, and I find it a bit more difficult to cultivate certain veggie plants. There are few “rules” to veggie growing, but once you learn them it is pretty easy for the most part.
What do you plan to do with your rock pile? I would love to know because I am always looking for more ideas. I’m thinking about making a pathway with some of the more flat sided stones, of course, that will take abit of digging and leveling. Lot’s of hard work, but what the “hay” it’s free!
Happy digging and rock gathering.
Sincerely,
Krista
Marcy says
Hi,
As a fellow Georgia girl, I’m thrilled to see Krista’s garden featured on your blog, Mavis.
I grew up on a mini farm in South GA and we, too, had goats as part of our livestock. I noticed in the photos that Krista’s goat is tethered rather than penned. We did this with one of our new goats and somehow the creature jumped wrong and broke its neck. we found out later that this not unheard of and is why tethering is not recommended for goats. Of course, the fact that they will also eat, or try to eat, whatever you use to tether them with is also a reason to pen rather than tether.
I hope Krista’s garden and farm continue to bring her much joy!
Marcy
Krista says
Howdy Marcy (my fellow Georgia Girl),
Our farm is going well! You are exactly right, goats have a drive to eat and to get at what ever they can, no matter what obstacle is involved.
We no longer tether our goats. This picture was from the first few days of ownership. We found out quickly (by accident thank God!) that our goats love to stay side by side with us and our dogs! A funny thing is that goats can be a lot like dogs in behavior. I let them free range when I am home because a co-worker (and awesome Georgia organic farmer BTW) told me that if they range there is less chance of parasites (worms). So everyday possible we let them out and pen them at night. Many times they will put themselves up. Funny huh? We just have to make sure the gate is closed so coyotes and foxes can’t get to them. We are covered up in coyotes here.
My organic farmer friend at work saw the same thing when I showed her pictures. She explained to me the potential dangers of tethering. Now, after having goats, we NEVER tether because we almost lost one. If you spend a lot of time with them they will not go far, in fact, we have found out that they can have major separation anxiety if you leave them alone.
We have a big pasture currently being constructed and our hopes are to have it completed by this spring, with the second one being finished by the same time next year. This will give them the opportunity to free range even more, plus give us the opportunity raise more goats.
I am glad to know that there are other people concerned for animals out there. There have been a lot of learning curves since the beginning of our goat/chicken farm.
This spring, we going for total heirlooms in the garden. No MORE GMO! Last year our heirloom plants kept up with the hybrids, so that left me thinking that heirlooms we just as hearty. Of course, I had some helpful advice from from my organic garden friend. She gave me some more tips on how to prevent pests this year without using harsh chemicals. I have been working hard to get my soil right by using the chicken pooh and compost.
Wish me luck on having just as good of a growing season as last year.
Do you have a garden or dabble in small backyard farm animals?
Take care and drop me a line any time.
Sincerely,
Krista