RANDOM UPDATE

It has been over a week since my last post, and though it has been a busy time, there have not been any earth shattering developments here at HareBrainFarms.  Progress has been made on several long term projects, while maintenance and time with grandkids (the youngest only a couple of weeks old now) have taken up time here on the farm.

With my daughter and son-in-law living 2 hours away, a couple of trips to see them and the grandkids took time and money away from farm projects, but well worth it.  One must have priorities and spending time with my kids and grandkids pretty much tops my list.  I only wish they were closer so I could see them more.

Truck repair and maintenance has also taken a toll on the budget (both time and financial) recently.  The power steering pump has been on its way out for a couple of years and finally bit the dust.  There have also been a couple of tire replacements.  The truck being a necessary item, these things also end up high on the priority list.

On a more productive note, the deep canyon in part of my driveway, left over from the flood over a year ago, has received lots of rocks to fill the void.  Still a lot more work to finish the job but it is progressing.  I will make a post on it when it is finished, with photos and explanations.

Clearing of brush in some of the overgrown areas has been slowly happening, as well as necessary garden work and harvest (such as it is).  Hopefully next year will be a better year for the garden.

Cooking outside can be a hit and miss proposition in regards to the weather, so I have been working toward a shelter for my little cook area.  I recently traded for a portable garage, one of those that consists of a tubing frame with a covering stretched over it that they sell at Harbor Freight.  The cover is pretty worn but the frame is good and can be covered with a big tarp for my purposes, when the cover no longer keeps the rain out.  It has now been taken down and moved to my cook area and will soon be up and functional.  Another post with photos and explanation soon.

All in all, it has been a busy couple of weeks and though nothing significant got finished, several things are in the works.  Always plenty of things on the old to-do-list, but things are gradually being marked of and others added.

Also, I have finished retrieving all of my old posts which had originally been posted on another blog and will begin posting them here.  The first will be a 6 part series on self-sufficiency that I hope you will find informative and enjoyable.

WELCOME TO HARE BRAIN FARMS (lets start with a little history)

I purchased this little farm about 28 years ago.  Not a bad place, a bit grown up, fixer upper house and barn, 25 acres with road frontage.  It had some cleared ground, wooded hills and plenty of rocks.  At the time, it seemed reasonable to sell my place with the little, off-grid cabin that most people without four wheel drive didn't visit.  Why did I think this was a good idea??  Lets just say that I was younger, with less clear goals, and there was a woman involved, and we can leave it at that.

Since that time, I have worked toward turning this place into a self-sufficient, off-grid homestead.  Over the years, there has been some progress, some set backs, and lots and lots of distractions.

The house turned out to be one of those fixer uppers that needed (but didn't get), a bulldozer and new construction.  Instead, a lot of time and money that could have been used toward my goals for the place have been spent trying to fix up the house.

During the time here, there have been relationships and marriages, each one lending their own advances , lessons and delays.  Time out for a college degree and short career as a field biologist was also a big one.

In case anyone is wondering where the name came from, it is based on a hateful remark by a then wife, and my purely sarcastic reply.  I am, and always have been, on the search for small ventures which will bring in a little cash, while forwarding the dream of self- sufficiency.  I mentioned to said wife that I thought raising meat rabbits for the market might be a good one.  The reaction was her usual degrading, belittling tirade, none of which I now recall except the statement,"just another one of your hare brained schemes."  My reply was a quick and most sarcastic, "yes it is, and it sounds like a good name for the farm too".  The name stuck, and almost twenty years later, this is still Hare Brain Farms.

This is only a brief historical overview to bring us to the here and now, though I am certain historical perspective will pop up from time to time.  Now, my fiancee and I are moving forward to combine our farms and dreams, (and yes, she and I are on the same page).

Thank you for visiting and I look forward to your comments.