Ray and Holly's Homestead in Kentucky

We are located on 30 acres somewhere west of Fort Knox, between there and Rough River.

We moved from 5 acres where we got our feet wet in homesteading, gardening, chickens.

We decided it was time for an upgrade from that 5 acres and a double wide, to 30 acres with a smallish brick house and basement. Its a fixer upper property.

Statistics:
2 tier pond, there is a dam creating a small pond, and below that dam is another larger dam creating a 2nd pond about 3 or 4 feet elevation below the first pond.

3-5 acres is top land usable for tilling, buildings, permaculture growies, etc. The remainder is south facing slope/hollar used for hunting, trapping, firewood, and tree felling for my sawmill.

House is a total 1500 sqft finished, 1500 sgft unfinished

300feet deep water well, hard water with no softener system.

No sewer, no septic. Has a poop chute running down the hill and empties into the woods. I plan to install a septic system.

3 out building. One 40x50 barn with concrete floors. One 40x24 lean-to building, one 30x15 lean-to building.

On electric grid. On propane for heat and cooking.

Internet...HIGH SPEED FIBER!!! We found a rural cheap setting in the middle of nowhere with FIBER internet connection. We both work from home now.

We are 1 hour 15 minutes for the closest large city, and 20-30 minutes from smaller little towns.

Deer and wildlife all over the place.

Plans:
Solar
Wood fired boiler for heat.
Install septic
Hire professional PDC for setting up the ecosystem.

Ray

Oh my, looks like you have a dream place there Ray!
My only query would be the septic system.  We're considering an Aquatron, or other composting system here (although our septic system does not cause problems, that's mainly because we don't look too hard!).  I assume your well is not likely to be limited, but it always seems a pity to mix shit and water.
I look forwards to your updates, good luck!

Nancy Reading wrote:Oh my, looks like you have a dream place there Ray!
My only query would be the septic system.  We're considering an Aquatron, or other composting system here (although our septic system does not cause problems, that's mainly because we don't look too hard!).  I assume your well is not likely to be limited, but it always seems a pity to mix shit and water.
I look forwards to your updates, good luck!

Nancy, the well head is 300feet deep and is located far away from the poop chute. I need the septic installed within 7 years, I had to get an ARM loan for the property because of the poop chute. Its a low fixed rate mortgage for 7 years, then it matures and can change after that. Ill have the septic installed this year and refinance soon afterward to get rid of the ARM loan.

We plan to grow and can food, but I am mostly nose to tail carnivore. I eat high protein high fat diet. So, hunting deer and raising meat is important to me. Anytime I try to eat anything other than meat, fish, liver, eggs I get very tired, and lose strength. I have to have low to NO sugar, and burn fat. Its just how im made. I tried vegan several years ago and was very sick and frail. Im a big guy, 6'4" tall and stay at about 200lbs. I cant survive on a little mans diet.

Im mostly interested in PDC's with animal expertise. If anyone wants to contact me about designing our property for meat production, please reach out.

One cool thing about this place is the previous owners left a lot of their stuff. I got a 2 row plow, grader box blade, hay spear, brush hog, carry-all, forks, rider mower, and a barn half full of old stuff, antiques, hardware, furniture etc etc.

The ladies who sold it to us inherited it from their mother who was I think in a nursing home for 10 years. Her husband I believe passed away several years ago also. The ladies must not have known what to do with all this stuff so they just left it.

Ray, congratulations on your new place! Sounds like a wonderful set-up. Nice about the equipment being left on the property!

Ray Cecil wrote:I need the septic installed within 7 years, I had to get an ARM loan for the property because of the poop chute. Its a low fixed rate mortgage for 7 years, then it matures and can change after that. Ill have the septic installed this year and refinance soon afterward to get rid of the ARM loan.

So the septic system was a condition of the lender? Or insurance company? I was going to suggest a composting toilet and greywater recycling system instead, but those things are sometimes difficult when someone else controls the reins.

Do keep us posted on your progress!

Does the whole district have high speed Internet, or did the previous own install it somehow?

John C Daley wrote:Does the whole district have high speed Internet, or did the previous own install it somehow?

Most of this area has fiber. Brandenburg Telephone Company. Located in Meade county KY. Im out in Breckenridge County, but they service this area. Its a lot of cows and corn out west of Fort Knox.

Okay, so we've been here a little over a week now.

Things ive discovered:
1. Hot water heater was built in 1987 and is kettling, which means it has significant deposits of lime and needs to just be replaced.

2. Chicken Hawks everywhere. We have a good run setup against birds of prey, but if any foxes, weasels or minks get brave during the daytime, they are at risk.

3. Its so quiet out here, I can hear ringing in my ears.

4. The deer move into the yard between 7:45-8:15am every morning.

5. Previous owners never wiped down a wall, or cleaned the kitchen. Major project under way in there to restore floors, replace appliances and clean up the cabinets.

6. A mouse chewed the water line going to the dish washer, and they had the valve turned off. I didnt see the mouse chew, turned the valve on and thought all was good. Came back the next morning to find the cabinet soaked.wish they had mentioned that at closing!

7. Previous owner was a Ford employee and never threw away any mail, magazines, or medical bills. Ive found unopened mail from their previous address back to 1983.

8. Treasure trove of t-posts laying all over the property.

9. They loved to collect glass bottles, cups, mugs, china and hurricane lamps. Ive got a pretty good collection going and im not 1/2 way through the barn yet. Ive got several dozen vintage Sterling 1 quart beer bottles and a few vintage PBR 1 quart bottle with labels still in great shape.

10. Our cats have figured out theyd rather be i side cats now. For some reason, they dont want to go outside.

11. The basement will be a perfect root cellar.

12. Still havent met any neighbors. Weve seen a couple going on a walk, and one woman on a walk. I have made friends at the ACE hardware in the next town.

13. We found a red salamander in the downstairs toilet! Cute little turd burgler. Holly wasnt too happy about that.

14. Groceries arent too far, but they are a 25 minute drive. So, planning an entire 1 or 2 weeks ahead is a must.

15. Im not worried about politics, safety, or whats going on in the world out here. We are back off the road, armed, and staying out of thi gs we cant control. Weight lifted.

Ray,

Beautiful photo, nice place you got there. I am glad you hear you are having less worry, that is always good. Your plans seem very reasonable, one suggestion I would have is to make sure your deep well has a sufficiently sized and functioning bladder tank. Well pumps kicking on and off because the bladder tank is way to small or has failed can cause pumps to fail or break of debris that constantly clogs filters.

Sounds very sweet!  Envying the t-posts and the root cellar and your view in particular.  Congrats!

Sounds like a great find! Happy to have another Kentuckian on here. I know that kind of land well, spent many months tramping all over Ft Know, both during basic training and AIT, and later hunting and National Guard training. Great job finding something with at least a little flat area!

John Young wrote:Ray,

Beautiful photo, nice place you got there. I am glad you hear you are having less worry, that is always good. Your plans seem very reasonable, one suggestion I would have is to make sure your deep well has a sufficiently sized and functioning bladder tank. Well pumps kicking on and off because the bladder tank is way to small or has failed can cause pumps to fail or break of debris that constantly clogs filters.

John, thanks for the tip. It does have a large pressure tank. Not sure how many gallons, but judging by the size of a 55 gallon drum, id say its at least 55 gallons.

Joshua Rimmer wrote:Sounds like a great find! Happy to have another Kentuckian on here. I know that kind of land well, spent many months tramping all over Ft Know, both during basic training and AIT, and later hunting and National Guard training. Great job finding something with at least a little flat area!

Joshua, lots of knobs and plateaus around here. All the prime agricultural land to the west of fort knox is horded. I dont plan to have acres and acres of crops, nor dozens of head of cattle. Im just creating and maintaining a wildlife preserve, and doing a little permaculture to eat on.

We both work full time for now. But once this place is paid off, things will change and we will go full homesteaders.

Started digging through boxes in the barn. Here is some of the glass....

Some close ups of the glass they left.

Hi! We aren't too far from you. We are currently at Knox, moving just south of E-town in less than a month.  We are renting 20 acres that we are also sharing (?) with the landowners...but the landowners don't do anything with their land and gave us free range on it (along with anything that is on the property).

This is a great area. Sort of a not well know area for homesteading. I hope it stays a secret.

Well, we are 3 months in. A lot has changed, snow and ice storms, and now the nice spring weather is trying to break through the clouds.

We had a forestry mulcher out to clear the top of the property. He did a good job.

So far so good. Just trying to knock out 1 project at a time.

Ray

Wow, you’ve got your hands full, you seem to have a good handle on the priorities so I’ll keep it brief.
For septic I’d go with what’s called an infiltrator system, it’s simpler to install, less digging and it eliminates the multiple runs of pipe common in older systems.  
Your forestry mulcher was a good idea, I’d broadcast something like orchard grass to cover the area until you can fence it off and/or put it into food production, you’ll be amazed how fast Mother Nature will want to reclaim it!