Year End Report

MEMO

Fm:  Frodo @ Sunset Meadows Farm

To: Everyone

RE:  What happened to 2012???  We thought you were dead!

I haven't posted since May, which in Canada is just about the primetime of spring.  Alas, the warm weather left us too soon this year, we got our first major snowfall on October 12th, and temperatures dropped like 99 luft balloons to car-not-starting-ly cold.

There was no garden this year.  There were no chickens.  I focused this year on curing some debt woes, and the fix is just about in!  Ever since the "credit-crisis" struck the world in 2008, getting a loan refinanced, even on real-estate, has been quite difficult.  We needed all of our debt rolled into the mortgage, but the bank wasn't going for it.  Until now, that is.  Once we've completed the refinance, we will be shaving $1,400 in interest payments off our monthly budget.  That's $1,400 that can be used for savings, car repairs, home renos, and buying things that are on my prepping wish list.  Here's my list, just for fun!

1.  More solar - I can now buy solar panels for less than $1/watt, but I need to invest in the mounting hardware too!  #70mphwinddestroysthings

2.  Wind turbine - Nothing from the ChinEsebay collection.

3.  Landscaping - I need a bunch of permanent planting beds (wooden, 2.5 feet high), surrounded by gravel, and filled with soil.  I never want to fill a planting bed by hand ever again.  The wife wants it to look good, which I am on-board with. #IheartBobcat

4.  Fencing - To pasture animals efficiently, one must be able to move them from paddock to paddock.

5.  Water collection/storage - I need at least 10,000 gal of storage that's connected to the house, and buried underground.  That means cinder blocks, and a way to divert the roof water into it.  I've got 2,500 gal of storage now, about 1.5 months worth.

6.  Trees, trees, bushes, and more trees - And more trees.  Big fast growing poplars, mulched, with automatic watering devices of some kind.

7.  Watering system - For plants and animals.  Either ponds that stay filled year round (difficult), or piping to send water to distant areas underground (expensive)

8.  Greenhouse - Nothing less than 1,000 sq feet of almost year round growing space will do.  I would prefer more like 3,000 sq feet, but I am will to start small.  #motherofallgreenhouses

9.  Batteries - A brand new bank that can store 3 days worth of power.  Very costly, but necessary!

I haven't abandoned my dreams, but I did get reaaaaally distracted this year!  The fallout will last another year, and then we can really start to grow!  I am very excited to imagine the future out here, and the great things that can happen, not just on the land, but in my own family's lives as well!  Stay tuned, good things are en-route...