Life on the Very Very Small Farm
We moved to this little acre on the prairie in 1987. Wow, that was a long time ago. Our son has grown up, and our daughter nearly so, while we've lived here. We never intended to stay on this small patch for so long, but that's life. Gods willing, we'll be moving to bigger pastures soon, but this has been a wonderful place in so many ways. As a place to raise kids, its only real flaw was the fact that it not only sits right next to a busy two-lane highway, it's surrounded by privately owned land. That means the kids couldn't just wander off and be kids; they had to do all their playing and imagining on this one little acre. When I was growing up in Nevada, my back door looked out on miles and miles of desert, all public land, mostly roadless, and free for the rambling. I miss that here, but there have been compensations.
Here we raise, or have raised, chickens, geese, turkeys, goats, and a medium-sized garden. We have, and have had, cats, all but a few of which have chosen us, rather than the other way 'round. We've had three dogs. The first, Partch, was a shepherd mix that liked to roam so much that he finally got himself killed. I'll never know whether he got hit on the highway or a neighbor shot him and then left him there. I never could find a humane way to keep that dog home. He just had to run. He's buried under the big Chinese elm that holds the kids' swing. Then, very briefly, there was Caleb, a beagle mix. He was too young and bumptious for our young son, so we had to give him away. Then there was a long dogless spell, and then we got Suki, a "Jack Rat" (Jack Russell/Rat terrier cross). She's seven now.
We provide homes for rats, mice, swallows, sparrows, rabbits, opossums, mourning doves, cardinals, bats, and occasionally squirrels, chickadees, and towhees. From time to time we'll hear a great horned owl at night, and we once had a beaver show up in the barn. Mink live in the area, as evidenced by roadkill, but we've never had one in the chicken coop—yet. There are lots of hawks, and bald eagles aren't rare—one flew across the road in front of me today, in fact. Lots of other wildlife visits occasionally, but these are the main players.
We have a couple of horses, but as they're both geldings, you wouldn't say we raise them. We just feed them and move the manure around.
If you want me to ramble on some more and show you pictures: Garden, Goats, Poultry, Projects, Local Color, Rural Recreation, Bigger Things.