Introduction (from Ohio)

Hello everyone, just wanted to post an introduction and show some of the things I'm doing around my property.

I've been listening to the podcasts for a few months now, I really enjoy them for those times when I need to be doing something like driving or repairing #@&**! lawnmowers.


First off my little animal shed. The previous owner of my property worked at a billboard advertising agency, so he built this little shed out of sign poles and sheetmetal from signs. The paper peels off and hangs down, but it's water tight for the most part. The tractor was my grampas, I'm just maintaining it to pass down to my grandkids. I built the little pen to house our 2 Kiko-boer goats completely out of wood I found laying around the property from past projects.


Our ~1 acre pasture. I collected some field stone for the goats to play on, I'm not sure they have it figured out yet. As far as you know, the couple sticks near the fence just naturally fell there and I didn't accidentally fall a tree directly onto my fence (again).



It's had to tell in pictures, but I am trying to show that I did some thinning in the pine woods around our place. I would say every third tree was dead and of those that are left, another third were stunted due to being too close together. Long-term, I'd like to encourage hardwoods in the area; the pines are great for privacy, but they keep the ground overly wet by blocking so much sun. The soil is very heavy and all the mud puddles lead to mosquitoes come summertime. Yes, a few bat houses are in the works!


A shot of the little creek bottom. Many of the trees are ash and infected by the Emerald Ash Borer. I'd like to get some fruit and nut trees started in this area as the ashes die off. The deer have some pretty major highways in this area, which is ok by me. The dogs keep them away from the garden pretty well.



This is my first "real" garden. I did put some rotting pine under the raised beds when I built them and a mix of goat, horse and hog manure to help out the clay soil. The potatoes are making a good start, and the pumpkins are just ok. I started a bunch of other plants indoors, we aren't 100% frost free just yet.

Looking forward, I'm planning on adding a lean-to off of my animal shed, adding a beef steer and chickens in the pasture, planting quite a few more veggies, continuing to thin my pines (6 truckloads of wood bartered in three days!), and planting some fruit and nut trees.

Thanks for having me, and I look forward to hearing suggestions and feedback.

Andrew, welcome to the world of overachievers. Looks like you'll do just fine. Good luck!

Welcome aboard!

Looks like you got a nice place, where are you located?

I'm in North Central Ohio on about 8 acres.

Nice. I'm in SE MI and was thinking, hmm that looks a lot like around here. So is that zone 6?

Yep, I guess we are in zone 6. Depending on who is telling the story, it used to be a field or a Christmas tree farm. Maybe it was both?

My property is a little odd for the area. We have a little slope and a creek bottom on our property where most everything else is as flat as a pancake. Also the pine trees had to have been planted, I've not seen many growing elsewhere in the area except as landscaping. I can say without a doubt, my wife and I, our dogs and the neighbors are much happier to be out in the country again!

Great looking property. Plant some rhubarb for me O.K.? I love the south but do miss my rhubarb and lilacs. Can't have them here.