Things are quiet at the farm right now. Aaron and I have been driving out every weekend to feed the several feral cats that live there to keep the mouse population under control. We bought a big auto-feed container that dispenses food as it gets eaten – it’s always gone when we check in, so either the cats are eating it or something else is! Hopefully the cats. When we were there yesterday, we saw one of them… a pretty, small, black cat who was very skittish and ran off as soon as she saw Fen. Fen was so funny… barking and growling with her hackles up. She thinks she’s Queen of the Farm.
Aaron is working away today on a foam board model of the farmhouse. We appreciate my mom who’s spent many hours creating multiple versions of drawings and layouts for us to consider! The 3D model should also help us figure out exactly what we want so that we can get plans nailed down. Aaron is working with an architect and engineer who will be coming out to see the farm soon to help us draw up the formal plans that will be approved by the city. We’re hoping to get moving on that sooner than later, as we’re sure that things will pick up for contractors in the spring.
During our visit yesterday, we spent about an hour walking around and thinking of ideas for things… we are looking at perhaps doing solar tiles for the roof (Aaron found out that Elon Musk is putting out new, less expensive tiles this spring – Aaron loves what they do, and I like how they look compared to solar panels, even though I find myself pulled back to the idea of a corrugated tin roof), painting two of the currently red outbuildings a pretty charcoal grey, maybe doing a circular driveway, and putting together some big planter boxes for vegetable gardening.
We continue to be daunted by the amount of junk around the farm… yesterday, we noticed a set of lawn chairs and a grill almost completely covered by grape vines in the front yard! Both Aaron and I have some time off in January and we may try to devote a good chunk of that to hauling things to recycling and the dump. We mentioned again yesterday how thankful we are for good family who came to help us do a very successful demo day a month or two ago.
