ArmstrongAcresFarm

This week we filled the raised beds with sticks and logs, old leaves, manure, compost and lots of top soil. Can you guess how many tons of things Bryan had to shovel by hand? Bean also painted the last raised bed, and we built a fence to keep out the critters.

With spring around the corner and our desire to grow more of our food, this week we got several steps closer to having our gardens planted. Charlotte got the seeds started for most of the garden. I put the lead barrier paint on the raised beds, picked up the first two loads of material to fill the beds, as well bought and assembled two new composters.

This week we installed 825 gallons worth of rain catching totes. This will give us ample water to keep the garden hydrated. Eventually this will give us a source of pressurized water in the yard, something we haven't had since moving in. Dealing with illness, lack of materials, a broken camera, and crap weather, we still managed to get a a lot of work done.

Now that we finally have some garden beds made, we thought it would make sense to continue prepping the house for the growing season. This week we decided to add gutters so we can eventually catch rain to water the gardens. This will also help us determine if the water coming in the basement is due to a lack of gutters, or if French drains will need to be added later. Finally a week with a completed job and no major issues.

This week we took our first steps towards starting our homestead. Building gardens to grow our own food was vital. Also we are trying to follow the model of "Pap provides" and use things that we find around the farm to build what we need. It was nice to spend sometime outside for a change. Bean got to learn how to set an animal trap and impress Charlotte with how much dog poop she can pick up at one time.

Are you as tired of wiring as Bryan? Did he ever make it out of the basement? This has definitely not been his favorite project, and things went wrong at every turn. But come watch him finally finish up and ascend from the basement. I have more projects, glad to see this one done! -Charlotte

This week Charlotte sent me back to the basement for more hunch over work. Charlotte loves her some Mario Kart so I had to get to work updating the wiring in the living room. After finding that half the house was wired on a single circuit. I traced every line and split the circuit and updated the wire so our living room and Beans bedroom could support additional electronics. Man I hate working in that basement.

This week we replace the original basement stairs. Turns out that dry, decades old wood doesn't really hold up to grown up walking all over it day after day. After a few close calls of almost recreating scenes from Home Alone, we decided to swap out the old basement steps with some new wood. Attempting to take shortcuts made the job longer than we had hoped.

This week we brought in 8 tons of gravel to fill the mud pit where we park our trucks. We used our new square body truck to haul it in and a lot of sweat to unload it. With all the snow and rain we have been having, we needed four wheel drive to get out of the yard every morning. Now we have a space for all the trucks and a clean pathway to get into the house. It's a minor victory, but a welcome one! Daily Beetle by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1500025

In this episode we finally run power to the upstairs. Since we moved into the house back in October, our bedroom has been powered by an extension cord run to the kitchen. Now we have 4 functioning lights and 5 power outlets. Slowly bringing ourselves into the 21st century.

This week we went from sleeping in a closet sized bedroom with 2 inches of headroom to a proper master bedroom with space for us and the dogs. We still have a long way to go but we can sleep a little more comfortably.

This week we found antique chandeliers stuffed in a compartment of our 100 year old thresher. We spent time reclaiming a major portion of our yard by having multiple tons of trash and scrap removed. From broken washing machines, 50 year old cars and massage tables to 100 year old threshers. The property had decades of scrap that needed taken away. Thankfully we have a close friend that was able to help us clear a path!

You've been calling us out for weeks on our shoddy working conditions. So we're finally doing a half-a$$ job of making it easier to do these farm projects.

This week we decided to remove the 20 year old temporary front porch and replace it with another. We used some scraps we found in the barn to put a bigger and safer entrance on the front of the house. This will all be removed in the spring to make way for a proper porch. In the mean time, this makes our house a little less sketchy. Daily Beetle by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1500025 Whatdafunk by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Artist: http://audionautix.com/

It's our favorite time of year! Our first Christmas in the farmhouse. As with everything in our lives, it has it's share of ups and downs. From getting a tree to our truck breaking down, we aren't shy about showing how our Christmases always seem to go! We Wish you a Merry Christmas by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Artist: http://audionautix.com/ Jingle Bells by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100187 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100270 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Joy to the World by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Artist: http://audionautix.com/

In this chapter of Armstrong Acres Farm, we cleaned up the cellar, evicted spider families and progressed our CTE along quite nicely. As usual, we are charmingly hilarious, so come check out our progress and have a few chuckles along the way.

We've got one room completed in this old house of Pap's. It's made out of reclaimed wood from right here on the property, and it took way longer than expected. Did we learn anything along the way? Probably not.

We sold our big house and successful business in Dallas to buy a run down, over-grown, abandoned farm that's been in our family for generations. Come along on our journey while we attempt to restore it to its former glory.