The girls and I are home sick today, so I figured why not take this opportunity to pull out some photoshop and update y'all on the happenings on the FarM. Believe it or not, we've made progress in the last couple of months. Briefly, here's a rundown:
1. We are not leasing the property for corn this year. As I am unable to reach the farmer who has planted it the past quite a few years to determine what the land has been treated with under his care, we will most likely let it sit for a year before planting. As if it has been treated with nasties, the land may repulse anything we plant on it this year anyway.
And please, if anyone with more experience in turning a corn field into pastureland is listening, jump in and speak up!
2. Two nice people have given us estimates for a driveway/2-track for access from the road to the field. We are discovering the positive side of keeping it local; the second person we spoke with lives right down the road, literally, owns an excavating company, and knows the Allegan County people we need firsthand. As in, has their personal numbers saved in his phone. Because of this, we have a quote we can afford, a permit for the driveway, and allowance from the county to use the road easement directly to our north to place the driveway at the top of the hill. This will be much safer than the bottom, which before was our only choice.
3. Trav and I, while staking out a path for where we thought the driveway might go, decided on a building spot. We are going to build at the edge of the woods - probably ending up half in and half out. It's going to be beautiful, we love it, and that's that.
Looking from the back of the property, it will look like this:
We're also getting quotes for modular homes, although we're still debating between stick built and modular. This also allows us to see many different home plans, and we've narrowed down our search considerably.
Barns and garages are always in our minds as well. We've received quotes for Coverall style barns, although we most likely will not act on constructing a barn until after the house.
Next up? Excavation of a driveway/2-track and purchasing a Tractor. We think. :)
I accompanied the above lil cherub while Trav watched Keely (at a restaurant watching Bball, no less) as she recovered from a cold.
I just had to show off Keagan. Isn't she growing into a beautiful young lady?
The luring of the ugly skeleton-turned-lighted-fish to shed light on the mask's address.
The dentist's Aquarium. See the hanging plastic sheet? That's the sides. Genius! They even had 2 skaters mirroring each other's movements on either side of the Aquarium to represent the fish that was quite close to her image in the movie. Took me a minute to get it, but I did.
And, of course, the cutie-patootie 'lil turtles. SO adorable!
