Peter K.

DO NOT CONTACT ANIMAL CONTROL! In fact the less the authorities know about what you are doing the better.

Simply put do the animals fall into the pet or livestock category? If there is nothing specific in the city ordnances stating this type of animal is considered a pet (for example dogs and cats are pets but rabbits may have nothing calling them pets or livestock) then they can say if you are raising it as livestock by default it is. Be very careful with this because most cities do not allow livestock. I know a local town that a few years back decided to enforce this law with potbelly pigs because pigs are livestock yet folks kept them in their homes like a dog causing an uproar including a local elementary school having to send it's school pet to the farm. In other words it's a gray area compounded even more by folks who have snakes breeding and feeding them live (or recently dispatched) rabbits and other things.

In case you missed it what you need to do is look up the city ordnances/laws on both keeping pets and livestock. In some cases this can be done online but in others you actually have to go to city hall and look it up. While you are at it you also need to look at the same things for county and even state. Keep in mind that county or state laws can be enforced within city limits even if the city does not have a law superseding it. There may be a county wide ordnance restricting the number of animals per acre or part thereof. The city may not have anything but if the county does you are still going to be held responsible. The reverse may be true as well and usually is. Cities are usually more strict on number of animals as it discourages breeders and hoarders.

BTW I discussed possession rather than butchering because if they are not specifically called pets then you can butcher them just like a hunter can hang and butcher a deer in his backyard. Please be considerate of your neighbors and do this as humanely and secretly as possible. I know someone who once had the law called on them for performing "rituals" and all they were doing was slaughtering and butchering a goat for Saturday's BBQ. Of course the smoke from the pit and them being from Jamaica and thus suspicious in the backward southern mentality also led to the misunderstanding.

Jeff I was an only child in the middle of nowhere and we moved out there when I was 6. I did however got to a public school with kids my age and participated in many activities, birthday parties and such. I also ever so often went over to my friends or my friends came over for the day (and when that happened the bonus was we all went into the woods to check my minnow traps and run wild). This is much the same way we raised our 2 girls although even more difficult as they went and are going to a magnet school outside the area they live in so their friends are from all over the county and not a few miles away. It is difficult on children (even with 2 they don't always play well together) not having someone to play with on demand however having woods and such to run (especially for a boy) and room to have special places to play unlike the city (my girls loved having room to run) makes up for it. Looking back on my life which mirrors the situation you are talking about I would not have traded where and how I was raised for a life surrounded with kids every day. In fact I think living how I did and having to entertain myself versus having others to have fun with has helped me be a lot more creative in solving problems than others raised in town or the city. Now today is not the same as it was when I was growing up and people across the world connect with each other on a daily basis. Looking at my girls' case they have the internet (which I did not) and are able to interact with their friends from school daily after school and weekends. In fact the other day my oldest was playing a game with her best friend who lives like 20 miles away. They had voice chat going and were talking and laughing with each other as they played which in truth is more than I see them do when together in real life. In fact they are somewhat reserved, shy, and quiet in person. She also the same weekend drove to meet her boyfriend (about 25 miles) and went shopping and to the movies (which is similar to doing the same with friend when she was younger although we provided transportation back then). It is a bit harder living out here on my youngest because she is somewhat a social butterfly however she even says she would not trade having friends around her for the simple joys of living out here and having her chickens, ducks, garden, and wildlife.

The key is providing chances for your child to interact with other children while at the same time them knowing this is not an everyday thing because we do not live close to them. You also must provide things (not I did not say toys) to do to keep themselves entertained. When my girls were younger I put lag bolts into a big oak tree like stairs and hung a rope so they could climb into the branches. The oldest built her a "nest" one summer and spent a lot of time reading and enjoying nature in it. The youngest preferred being in her hidden "garden" under the bushes. Both relied heavily for entertainment on something I think a lot of kids these days do not use and that is their imagination.

I will say it is going to be a big adjustment but he is still young and able to make it and in fact will most likely love it. If he were say 11 or 12 it might be harder especially being the new kid at school.

Have fan, screening, and magnets will be building one of these. Thanks for posting this.

BTW I have just heard wax myrtle rubbed on you works to repel them and I have several in the yard. I will be trying that and report later as this year around here has been bad with them.

Oh and another thing after watching the whole video this might be a good protien source for your chickens or to raise chicks on depending on how many you have of both birds and sketers.

Snake a wickiup and many other natural material survival shelters should be easy to build out of natural materials on site within a day or two and improve over time with maintenance. By the same token they also revert to the soil from whence they came without that maintenance (how fast varies with materials and location). I cannot see the need to build several in advance in different areas unless you are on the move and hiding from something. If you are going to build something that you plan to come back to months later you need to think more stabilized construction. Even then building something a lot less permanent on the fly might be a better option. If you must have several "permanent" shelters build them and improve them as you visit but do not take too long between visits.  Personally if I planned to stay a while and then move I would either have a camper like you are suggesting or a thick canvas cabin or military style tent.

BTW not sure about the legality of this in Australia but here in the US what you are proposing by building permanent structures (of any sort) on public land (government owned) is illegal. In fact living in temporary shelters is in most places but I would bet you would get into less trouble with a temporary or natural shelter than say a cave or cargo container dug into the side of a hill.

I think you may have mistaken ground water table with potable water source. You may need to dig down a little more getting into and below the ground water table. In other words during the driest part of the year dig a hole and see at what point you get to wet material coming out the hole. With any luck you may even have water fill the hole. What it sounds like though is you have literally a very deep water table and are relying solely on rain/runoff to fill your ponds. In this case ponds that are 3' or even 8' deep are not very deep and can even if you had a waterproof liner they can simply dry out in the dry months of the year.

BTW while I hate to involve any government agency the Army Core of Engineers is not as big an evil as many other agencies. They can be hard to deal with but they also may be willing to assist you in many ways. Given as you only have 10 acres and it sounds like you are making less than 1 acre ponds though it would be best to keep them out of it.

Okay while I would love what you have as my lawn (in fact I mow around flowers and clover patches) I can suggest something that perhaps not many will. Mow as low as you can one time the raise your blade incrementally. What this will do is remove the "growing" part of the weeds and hopefully allow the grass which is not as harmed by mowing low to outcompete the weeds. Your whole goal should be harming the weeds without harming the grass as much. Also every flower you see is a potential bundle of seeds later. Also while it might be too late this season keep in mind flowers become seed heads and mowing to cut the flowers off might prevent the weeds from ever seeding. 

Just because a creek runs through your property does not mean you own it. My uncle after years of saying he wanted to build a pond and divert water from a creek on his property into it to fill it and of course once full overflow back into the creek. He decided to get a permit and in doing so opened up a whole can of worms because the county had recently decided that nothing could be built within 100 feet (I think it could be yards) either side of any free flowing creek. Of course I would think bridges might be an exception but he was told he could not even put in a walking trail or boardwalk of his own if he wanted to. This has nothing to do with wetland but "preservation" of the natural areas. He also found out through the grapevine that the county was considering through immiment domain putting in a walking/hiking trail along creeks such as the one in question. That motion was tabled for a later date (we are guessing economy). I said this to make sure you do your homework before you do any projects in or around the creek because you may find out there is a zone such as the one I mentioned or worse yet find out it is a certified wetland. Personally if there were regulations I felt I could not live with or would be too restrictive I would walk away and find another piece of land.

One big thing to consider (and it is not a deal breaker) is how high does the creek get during the rainy season and how long does it stay high once the rain stops. In other words where is the flood zone and how long does it stay wet. From the sounds of it there could be a wide floodzone which might limit plantings and be the reason for the highly erodable area as it could be a natural setteling point during high water. Now keeping all of this in mind my first thought would be propagate the willows along the creek. I would also make other plantings like rushes and reeds (or whatever grows in your area) to shore up the creek banks. Doing this will help with erosion as it creates a natural barrier to slow any run off and let the silt settle out before it gets dumped in the creek and washed away. Now this bottomland also sounds like a great place for crops assuming the rainy season and floods allow you time to plant and crops to grow without being drowned out.

If you look at it having that creek can be a blessing but also a curse. there is a lot you can do with water running through your property but there is also a lot of stuff potential regulations will not allow. Do your homework before you buy because there just may be a reason a piece of property with a creek (or any water) running through or bordering it is priced at a steal.

Okay my question is who will be minding the farm and tending the plants for the 2-6 months you will not be visiting the place? Despite for the most part being able to make plantings that tend themselves as it were anyone farming anything needs to keep an fairly close eye on it in case of unexpected things happening. Personally I would minimally check in once a week. The simple fact is for some plants if you plant it then come back in 2 months you may be catching harvest time (say 60 days) but if a herd of wild pigs came through and wiped out your initial planting when you come back after the 2 months there is no crop and you are too late in the season to replant. You need to either personally check your crops often or have someone you trust who knows about what you have planted do it for you.

Your ideas are basically sound however given the possibility you will be away from the land for months at a time I would suggest you consider going heavy on the trees. Things such as apples or pecans need little in the way of care from people and will grow or not regardless of us being there to monitor them (or whatever grows well with minimal care in your area keeping in mind while citrus may grow with 0 care a cold snap requires you cover and even add supplemental heat).  Another advantage to crops from trees is you can plan a harvest and know say on a certain weekend (or week) you will be harvesting and selling apples, pecans or whatever.

The problem you are facing and will have to decide how to balance it out to suit you is the size of the property does not lend itself to a large profitable orchard while the amount of time you have to spend farming is such other crops might be problematic.

Actually in my understanding if you own land in Canada (and yes a US citizen can purchase land there and just about any other country however you cannot live there full time unless on a visa) and decide to move to Canada and give up US citizenship it is a lot easier than if you were to reverse it and be Canadian moving to the US.

Kathleen being in the Southeast the only mustangs I have seen were ones people had purchased or adopted from out west and they were a bit small to be a draft horse. I don't doubt since mustangs are basically feral horses like wild pigs are feral pigs there are some that look like pure bred or a mix I have just bever seen or heard of any till now. I guess you learn something new everyday