Make Farming Cool Again!

Hello all!

We made it back from South Carolina.  Myrtle Beach was pretty fun.  It was the first time I have seen the Atlantic Ocean.  I have to say, it really looked like the Pacific Ocean.  

It was fun to hang out with Rick and Lisa and Chris, Kara and Sammy on the beach.  We boogie boarded and relaxed in the sand.  It is definitely way more humid down there compared to the west coast.  I have gotten used to it since we arrived earlier this summer.  It's hard to believe Fall is creeping up on us already.

Right before we left on our vacation with the family, we got serious about buying a home.  Our house had 3 offers immediately and sold for more than I ever expected it to sell for.  It closed a couple weeks ago right before we left for Myrtle Beach.  

Laura and I made a strong decision to commit to buying the farmhouse in Munnsville New York.  Munnsville is located just south of Oneida, about 5 minutes or so away from Rick and Lisa.  The property is the 17 acre farm I spoke of in my last post.  We decided that we are very good at home remodels and that Henry would have a bright future growing up on a farm.  It is so very exciting to take on this new chapter of life.  The property is beautiful and we are in the planning stage of how to restore it without going broke doing so.  Laura's family owns the farm currently.  It was her great uncles farm and her second cousins (Lisa's 1st cousins) grew up there.  Their stories of growing up there are so genuine and inspiring for us to raise Henry on an active farm.  To be the third owners of a 100 year old farm, is a real honor.  In just a few weeks, this dream will become our reality.

This Fall and Winter, we are going to focus on the interior of the house.  Our plan is to take a few walls down and put up support beams which will open the front of the house up.  We are putting in wood flooring and have decided to use 8 inch wide compressed plywood.  It is an inexpensive way to have wood floors and is durable after you coat it with layers of polyurethane.  The goal is to keep the farmhouse charm that it has but to modernize it, similar to our remodel we did in Boise.  Darker wood floors, white trim and earth tone walls will make the farmhouse feel relaxing.  The room we plan to form into an entertainment room is currently a bedroom adjacent to the living room.  It used to be the front of the house originally and will require load bearing support beams to open it up.  This will be started immediately after we remove the carpet in the house.   

The kitchen will also require some love.  We want to create an open floor plan that has a long plank style work area and seating in the middle of the kitchen.  All cabinets will be removed and old appliances will be re-homed.  Currently, we are trying to find the best style with our overall plan for the look of the house for appliances.  We are going to go with an open shelving system with no cabinets on the walls.  It'll feel like a commercial kitchen with dishes and utensils exposed for easy use but rustic.  Here are some of the ideas.

In the Spring, we will set our focus on the outside.  Plans to grow hops on a few acres have been discussed and chickens are a definite.  The barn that stands needs a lot of work.  It used to function as a cattle barn and over the years from not being used, the concrete has beveled and the walls have bowed a bit.  The siding needs to be replaced with metal and the floor needs a couple days to replace it.  I would like to convert it into a small scale brewery.  It has two floors and has a lot of potential.  I can see having the brewing system on the second floor and gravity feed it to the fermenters below.  The top floor used to function as a place to store hay for the animals, so it would be accessible from the front top doors for loading grain for the mash process.  I would need to figure out a way to either tie into the current drain field for waste water or create a new one off the east side of the barn.  I'll figure that out!

The other project is to build a pole barn that will house the equipment to run the farm (i.e., tractor, mower, storage etc.).  If we make it a commercial venture, we will need to have parking and seating for patrons.  This will likely face north, away from our house.  The land is big enough to also create a Nordic skiing course.  I've looked into this as well for the winter of 2022.  To do this, I would need to build a few bridges over the creek that flows through the property.  Mud Creek flows from the front of the property heading east.  It cuts north to the end of the property and juts west into Native American land adjacent to ours.  In the past, the fields between the house and the north side of the property were alfalfa.  Laura's uncle Bob brush hogged it down for the winter and in the spring, it'll be ready for structural changes.

Our goal to leave Idaho was to venture into a farm life.  To Make Farming Cool Again!  In Idaho, the day-to-day struggles were very real for me particularly.  I lacked balance and lost my motivation and needed help from a new staff to carry on my vision for the clinic, of which, I have found.  I chalk it up to being dealt a lot of personal loss and hardship in a short period of time.  My good friend Megan took her life.  My father passed away unexpectedly and my grandfather passed as well.  COVID was the final nail that made me re-work life into a new realm, particularly after my personal losses and a few years of growing pains at the clinic.  

When Henry arrived in November, I was finally ready to make the hard decisions to open a new chapter.  I have to say, I haven't been this happy in many, many years.  To leave Idaho, I wanted a new vision to head toward versus simply recreating Boise in New York.  I am not sure if I'll open a practice here or if I'll work for an established doctor in town.  I'll figure it out.

For now, the focus is to get our house dialed in and create a nice home base to live in.  

In the coming weeks, I will post pictures of our progress.

Thanks for reading,

Nate