Cinebar McCoy

pa_friendly_guy wrote:
and make sure that you do not have a pre-payment penalty. 

Yes!  That was another thing that I was adamant about!  Because my seller was willing to stretch the "loan" out for so long (30 years), my payments are low enough that I am able to pay extra each month.  I'm currently paying an extra $200.00 a month and hope to kick that up another notch with the next payment.

I am hoping to eventually have this place paid off.....and not take thirty years to do it!  Even if that means eventually shopping around for a lower interest rate (I currently pay 8%, a little high, IMO), refinancing at a lower rate and payment and paying off the original seller, and hopefully, have a payment so low that I will be able to double the payments and get it paid off free and clear.

I bought my place five years ago from a very motivated seller.  He lives in Missouri, the property is in Washington, and he was tired of dealing with deadbeat renters while living so far away.

Each time I spoke with him, he dropped the price a thousand dollars (stopping at $6,000 off his original asking price).  He pretty much let me name my terms and even put it on a thirty year contract (apparently he has a much younger wife  ).

My payment for my home and five hillside acres is less than my son and his wife pay for a one bedroom apartment in town.

Granted, I was lucky (right place at the right time and all that), but I would think with the housing market the way it is now, you can find some desperate sellers.  Just remember, though, that if you find a place that's listed with a real estate agent, your down payment is more than likely going to have to be enough to at least cover the commission.  My place was a "for sale by owner" - no real estate agents, no bank.  Everything was done by a title company.

One thing I did (and which I highly recommend) is to assign the collection to a bank.  For $100.00 initial fee (which I gladly paid) and a small handling charge each month (I also willingly pay), I make my payments to a bank.  They process it, record it, compute interest, etc. and cut a check to the seller.  No questions about payments being made or received.

After a six or seven year break, I've recently gotten back into milking (I bought a nice first freshener LaMancha in September).

In my previous goat-milking life, I had never heard of these little hand-held milkers.  Now, I see people (including the woman I bought my new doe from) swearing by them.  But I'm of the same opinion already mentioned - that having to squeeze the milker by hand would be just as hard (if not harder) on the hand than regular milking would be.

I am a one-handed milker (a work injury left my right hand virtually useless), and I have arthritis in my left hand, and it only takes me a few minutes to milk my doe out by hand.

Certainly for goats, if you're only hauling one or two at a time, a car would be adequate.  I have a station wagon and I just fold down the back seat and lay a tarp down when I need to haul a goat (such as a doe to a buck).

Even a tarp spread over the back seat of a sedan would be fine for one or two.  I would not haul a smelly buck that way, though.  Ugh.  You'd probably never get that smell out of the car.

And, of course, if you're hauling a herd, a car wouldn't do.

If you have access to someone with a truck with a canopy that encloses completely, that would work well, too.  That's how I hauled 21 goats (in two loads) when I moved five years ago.

I would never haul a goat (even tied) in the open bed of a truck, but that's just me.

I don't know about sheep.  It would probably depend a lot on how tame it/they is/are.

As for the donkeys, I would check Craigslist.  I often see people offering to haul livestock.  Unless you're planning on doing a lot of transporting of your donkeys (showing or whatever people with donkeys do with them), I wouldn't think investing in a stock trailer would make much sense.  Hiring someone with the proper equipment (or renting it yourself, which was already mentioned) makes more sense to me.

Edited to add: You could also check with your local 4-H, FFA, pony clubs.  Sometimes older 4-H/FFA, etc. members are looking for ways to earn money and may be available to haul animals.  Insurance may be an issue, though.  To get names of 4-H leaders, contact your local county extension office.

I like your idea about the catnip mice; once again, if people come to pick up berries or other produce, I could see if you had some unique items sitting out in a an interesting display, the "impulse" buyer could be your best customer.

How about lavender?  Dried lavender stalks make for nice additions to dried arrangements.  A friend of mine's mother (long since passed away) sold dried baby's breath.

Do you have peacocks?  I used to have peacocks and also worked at a feed store.  I would sometimes pick up peacock feathers, take them to work with me nicely displayed in an antique half-gallon canning jar, set the jar by the cash ,and sell them for 50 cents a piece.

Around here, in the early spring, the nurseries sell rhubarb crowns........and they disappear fast.  (I wanted to add another plant or two this year but missed out because I was too late.)

Just sayin'......................

I have chickens and ducks (Muscovies) happily co-existing.

I don't use tractor systems (it would be impossible on my hillside) but I do have a large pen (between 500 and 600 square feet).  Everyone seems to get along fine, with a few minor skirmishes now and again but that happens even among the same species members, too.

My coop is too small for the number of birds I have but the ducks don't seem too inclined to spend that much time inside anyway.  Even in the snow we got so much of last year and in all the rain that is so typical here, the ducks spend more time outside than they do inside.

I have a chicken waterer in there that the ducks can't get in and make a mess out of.  I also have a plastic kiddie pool for them which I change daily; a couple of times a week, I scoop out the yucky water and use it on my plants.

As far as coop floors, I much prefer plain old dirt with wood shavings.  I used to do animal sitting and one of my clients had wooden floors in her several coops (she had a lot of birds!) and the ammonia smell was overwhelming.  Whew!  Really, really bad on a hot summer day!

As far as food, my ducks get the same thing my chickens do: 16% layer pellets and scratch.  Ducklings can have chick starter but are not supposed to have the type labeled as "medicated."

Brenda Groth wrote:
..don't know if at the end of the drive would work as we don't get a lot of traffice of the kind of people that would buy flowers.

I don't know......

If you would be selling berries directly from your home, what if you set out some bouquets of cut flowers on a table?  I could see an "impulse" market there: somebody picking up berries and then they see a nice, colorful flower bouquet sitting there.

How often have we all seen vases at garage sales and thrift stores for next to nothing?  I've even seen them in "free" boxes.  For an additional 25-50 cent investment (or less), you could take it a step further and offer your bouquets in vases (or not).

How about cut flowers?

There are some people who live down the highway from me who have a huge cut flower business.  She sells at a farmer's market, as well as doing custom work for weddings, etc.

Their business has been profitable enough for them to have put in an enormous greenhouse last winter.

I know that's not the level you're looking to do, but........she also has an "honor cart" at the end of her driveway (on the highway) where people can pick up a bouquet of flowers, stick $5.00 in the can, and be on their way.

I don't know about you, but even if I sold ten bucks' worth of flowers a day, that would make a big difference in my finances.  $10.00 a day X 30  is an additional $300.00 a month.

That, and your raspberries, and dried and/or fresh herbs (potpourri's?), could make for a nice little seasonal income.

I used to raise my meat birds with extra milk, too.

One year, when I had a lot of extra milk and was raising a large number of turkeys for sale, I had some very happy customers.  The turkeys came out wonderfully moist and tender.

They loved the milk and their heads would disappear into it!

I've only raised the productions - the whites and bronze - but I'm planning on getting into the Bourbon Reds eventually.  My son's cross country coach told me last night there is a guy around here who raises them; before that, I thought I was going to have to travel several counties to the north to get some.

A month or so ago, at the small livestock sale, a full-grown B.R. tom went for ten bucks!  I wanted him so bad but I'm not set up yet for my turkeys - especially an adult.