Hide Site/Bug Out Location Construction, Part 7

[Atkinsmatt]

You talked about destroying a portion of the world with the skid steer and cutting head as a business opportunity.  Are you still thinking that way or will it be gone as well?

[KensAuto]

You talked about destroying a portion of the world with the skid steer and cutting head as a business opportunity.  Are you still thinking that way or will it be gone as well?

Good question, but let me answer for Don. He's on the road to Arizona, or Idaho, to drop off the kabota.
He decided to donate it to me because I admitted that I would be destroying his machine, instead of "parking" it.

More importantly, my name isn't Dave.

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[Sammconn]

You talked about destroying a portion of the world with the skid steer and cutting head as a business opportunity.  Are you still thinking that way or will it be gone as well?

Good question, but let me answer for Don. He's on the road to Arizona, or Idaho, to drop off the kabota.
He decided to donate it to me because I admitted that I would be destroying his machine, instead of "parking" it.

More importantly, my name isn't Dave.

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Sorry Ken, you must have missed the memo.
He’s headed waaaay north to deliver for some cold weather testing.

Also not named Dave…

[Flyin6]

You talked about destroying a portion of the world with the skid steer and cutting head as a business opportunity.  Are you still thinking that way or will it be gone as well?

Well, just before my wife and I talked about the farm and its future, I put an ad out there and just a ton of jobs came in. They number somewhere between 10 and 20. Some are multi day jobs like one clearing a 700 meter long road, to cutting a 25 acre over grown field. I am pricing the small cutter at $150 an hour and the big one @ $200/hr and there is no way I can do all the work that is coming in.
Now I had planned to sell all the equipment after the sell the farm decision, so all that would be gone,

but

Today, my son came to me and made a passionate plea to keep the place. Listening to him, I could see just how emotionally deep the connection runs for the both of them.

So...

[Flyin6]

Notice just how fast these people run away from that namesake, "Dave!"

Spotty a name as it is with all the crazy and nonsensical junk that comes from people bearing it, some have learned to keep a safe distance

This is learning

This is wise

I think I'll reward this basic, common sense behavior with one, "get outta bein' fired" certificate each

Good work menses!

[Flyin6]

Well, to tidy up this thread, Chris had a good talk to me and framed up the reasons I should not sell the farm.

I saw the logic, caring, and maturity in his words.

I told him, "OK, I'll keep it."

But I think instead of rolling all the way back to the plan to move down there, I'll just build a nice cabin that we can stay at for extended periods and continue living in this big castle. I think this house went well over a million some time ago. USAA replacement costs have been north of seven figures for nearly two years.

[JR]

Sounds like sound advice, young or not. 

[Bob Smith]

Me thinks if your plan was to live at the farm then move forward.  Start making needed repairs to the in neighborhood home but after building out the farm home get the neighborhood home on the market for sure.

[Flyin6]

Well, it's been a long time since I posted here

The reason is that from early last summer, my back went out in a big way, which led to surgery. That happened in the autum and I have been slowly recovering ever since. Slow at first, but picking up the pace lately, I have been good this time and actually followed the doctor's advice/orders. All that culminated with a visit to his office Wednesday when he told me I am back 100% and I can now do anything I did before the operation.

With that in mind, I started back on the farm today, Saturday.

First up (no pics) we had discovered a faulty main breaker in the panel that in the end was only allowing 8.2 volts to pass from the 220 that was supplied. Today we pulled the meter base, then disassembled the panel and removed the faulty breaker. It had definitely failed as post removal test indicated.

The new breaker will be available for re-installation this coming week!

While Mark was doing that, I installed a new case drain hose onto the severe-duty Blue Diamond cutter head which brought that piece of equipment back to being serviceable.

I found a leak in one of the 3,000 gal water tanks and did a temp repair on that. Unfortunately, the full repair will involve draining the tank completely, but with the ability to isolate it, I'll just wait until spring to get that and use the other 3K of water to wash my equipment once the electricity is restored.

[Flyin6]

Speaking of water, the farm has been getting a bunch of it! California is not the only place to get a ton of rainfall!

You'll notice the pond is well up and over the eastern bank.

plenty of signs of critters utilizing it still.

[Bigdave_185]

Did pound update on the fish? Did they make it through the summer?


Noted a barn in the photo with a less then straight roof line, that isn’t your barn?

Like others I’m sure have a vision of the whole place and in my mind there were no other structures in view except the ones you have made?

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[JR]

Great your back up (ha ha), looks good so far.

[Flyin6]

Did pound update on the fish? Did they make it through the summer?


Noted a barn in the photo with a less then straight roof line, that isn’t your barn?

Like others I’m sure have a vision of the whole place and in my mind there were no other structures in view except the ones you have made?

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Neighbor has that barn on my southern fence line. It's about 500 yards away from where my shed is situated.

I saw fish in there in the fall, along with a ton of frye. Hard to believe they could have reproduced already, but thousands of them, all sub-minnow size. I might wet a hook in the spring to see what size they are getting to be.

[Nate]

Theres a void there .... didnt you have a camper down there?

[stlaser]

Time’s a wasting, glad you’re back at it. 

[Flyin6]

Theres a void there .... didnt you have a camper down there?

Yessir, I did.

Sold it

Thinking: Forces me to start building something habital out of the "Shed."

Good memory!

[Flyin6]

Second day in a row down at the hide.

Felt great. I rode around in circles all day on that tracked zero-turn mower. The fields are in good enough shape that you can actually mow them like your lawn.

So, today, I started attacking the brushy overgrowth that moved in last year while I was down with the bad back awaiting surgery. I hade huge strides toward getting it "prettied up!"

Here are some before and after's:

[Flyin6]

Daffodils are coming up all over!

[Flyin6]

I'll be clearing all around the "Shed" as I begin to transform it into a proper cabin

[Flyin6]

It was a mess, but that machine makes quick work of almost everything

[Flyin6]

Trooper had a heck of a day running all over creation.

The ponds are all full. The water tanks are all full

The electricity all works.

There is some erosion damage and I need to clean up the area where the camper once sat, but overall I'm in great shape!

[Atkinsmatt]

Good days work.

[Nate]

Um .... where did the 3rd bldg come from, and whats its purpose?

[Farmer Jon]

That is a beautiful place. I love it in Kentucky.

[Flyin6]

Um .... where did the 3rd bldg come from, and whats its purpose?

Storage...
You have probably forgotten reading about it here. Built it in my basement in 4'X8' panels, then broke it down and reassembled it on site, maybe 5-6 years ago.

[Flyin6]

That is a beautiful place. I love it in Kentucky.

I was talking to my neighbor yesterday. He has a bunch of calves. I will be buying my starters from him. If you look at a field way down below the pond, that is where they will go into. Problem is, I haven't fenced it yet. I still have to cut the access/perimeter through the woods so the fencing machine can get access. Depending on what I hear from the KY ag dept, I may get that done this year. I missed last year. They will come alongside the farmer and pay half to 75% of the cost for fencing, but they allocate "X"-number of dollars and it runs out fast.
If I had the financing/grant, I'd have 5-6 cows on that field, enough to feed my entire family and extended family.

This brings up an interesting discussion

With building out a hide, which is a functioning farm, you have to work out how it will distribute/share with the community. I decided to do a CO-OP. If you want a cow, or maybe 1/4 of one, then you pay 25% of the cost of the calf. You pay as you go for 25% of vet fees, feed if there is any, and then when the cow is butchered, you pay for 25% of the cost and receive 25% of the meat. In a year to two, a 200-pound calf grows to 1000-1200 lab of which 800-900 is useable. On top of that, you pay me a small premium because you are using my land. I then share in others who have hogs and chickens or make sausage or whatever. For my portion, I will freeze hundreds of pounds and trade it for other goods. I am surrounded by Amish and Mennonite families. I get tired of looking at all the black pickups! I will trade with them too. They have lumber, any food you could want, firewood, beverages, butter, you name it.

If you were close by, I'd trade with you too!

When I get the veggie plots fenced in to keep the deer out, you will be allowed to raise your own veggies, and then share a third or so with me. You will tend the gardens yourself, with little to no help from me. I just provide the plot.

[JR]

Looks good Don. Had to turn off the VPN to see all the pics.

Heading up to my place tomorrow for the day, need to D/O all kinds off stuff.

[Flyin6]

A lot has happened since I last updated this thread.

I think it will be easiest to just fire up a part 8 and start again there.

Since I last posted our youngest grew up, graduated, and joined the Army. He was a big priority. I got sick and had a lot of downtime. I'm better now.

We had decided to sell everything and just about did. I sold off 75% of the implements but kept the most important things including the Compact track loader with cutter head, the other tractor and the fuel tank. I also kept the 17K dump trailer and all the small tools. And finally, the farm did not fetch the $539K I was asking, and looking at it now, that was a good thing.

She had decided we were not moving there so I just tossed in the towel. A year later, we can see that we really need to move there, especially considering how crazy the world is getting. So with all the sales contracts removed and a recovery plan shaping up, I will be getting back to creating a living space down there. We did do a cow, but on a more local farm. The guy we purchased from does 28 cows a year for folks like us and makes $65K doing it. We will be doing the same thing, although only 10-15 cows annually. We did harvest around 26 round bales of hay from half our farm on one cutting. Had we cut twice and the whole thing, I will be producing 100 round bales annually. I'll make $35 on half those, so that's another $1700 in income.

When I set up the new sawmill, I am going to set up a side business of selling 2" live edge oak/hickory/whatever slabs to sell on Marketplace. Additionally, I have a thousand or more landscaping boulders to sell to local folks. I plan to create a modest income stream and see if I can 100% build my cabin from native materials and money I made strictly at the farm.

I think I will also encourage some of the kids to move down there where I'll give each of them a piece of land to start their homes on. Finally, when the opportunity presents itself, I think I might try and put back together the entire original 400+ acre Mennonite farm and lock it all down in a trust.

Stay tuned for Part 8, it is about to start.

[Sammconn]

Well here’s a turn of events!

Glad you’re feeling better enough to get this goin chief.
Looking forward to this.

[Flyin6]

Well here’s a turn of events!

Glad you’re feeling better enough to get this goin chief.
Looking forward to this.

Thanks Sam!
I'll be starting the parade off with buying another Woodland Mills HM-130Max from the good folks down in Ontario.
The last one worked so well, I figure why mess with success?

[JR]

Glad you are doing better. Treaments or just taking better care of you?

[Flyin6]

Glad you are doing better. Treaments or just taking better care of you?

Medicine

Treating symptoms at the moment. That turns into treating the disease in time. I am taking the initial run of prescriptions at the moment. I am fully functional.

[oklawall]

That sounds like a much better plan for you. Looking forward to seeing part 8

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[Flyin6]

Go to Part 8 to see updates

Here's a link for the lazy,,,,,,,,,,,,,

http://real-man-truckworks-and-survival.com/index.php?topic=5350.msg133378#msg133378