Hello from Missouri

Although I've been a member of this forum since 2010, I realize I've never posted any kind of introduction.

I grew up in Wyoming with my time split between our home in a small town and my grandparent's ranch in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming..  Horses were my thing and I spend more time on the back of a horse than my own two legs when I was a kid.  It was 40 miles to town from the Ranch and neither my parents, no grandparents were overly burdened with money, so being self-reliant was just what we did.  I was lucky to learn about raising livestock for food and gardening from the time I was little.
The ranch was sold when I was in my early 20's.  There just wasn't any way to keep it without major family drama.  I still miss it to this day.

I got away from the lifestyle for a while as a college student, but came back to it in my 20's and 30's, still in Wyoming.  In my early 40's I bought some property off eBay, sight unseen.  My husband and I moved into a 5th wheel camper in the woods of the Ozarks.  I LOVED it!  My husband did not.  We ended up buying a very small house in the town of West Plains, Missouri.  Two years later, we were divorced and I was on my own.  

I embarked on learning to make the most of my 2 city lots and managed to make a small working homestead with chickens, rabbits, milk goats, and a mini horse.  I have a Youtube channel from those days (HalfPint Homestead).  It was nice.  

I remarried and decided to live another dream of mine.  In 2018 my husband, Tony, and I sold the house and converted a Sprinter van into a home.  We've traveled full time since then.  It's been great, but the last year or so, I've been missing my roots.  So I started looking for property.  We looked in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Missouri.  We did not consider Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, or Idaho since land is VERY expensive there and codes are pretty strict.  We found a place in east central Missouri.  3 1/2 acres of woods near the St. Francois river.  I bought it sight unseen.... there may be a pattern here.  This is another dream of mine...a little hobbit-like house in the woods.

Tony and I spent three months there this fall.  I love it.  It was very overgrown and it took a lot to get it so we could move around.  We discovered a circular driveway and building spot had been leveled under all those saplings.  After 3 months of hard work, we headed to Florida before it got too cold.  I'm discovering a few interesting things:

It's been 13 years since I did the "live in the woods" thing and I'm better prepared emotionally and financially.

I'm 13 years older and my body has definite ideas about what I should and shouldn't be doing.  I had a major flareup of arthritis, worse than ever before.

We may need to hire help to do the earthbag home we are planning if we want to get it done in a reasonable amount of time - but it will happen regardless!

What a great introduction of your background!

What an adventurous life. I hope you post about your property development adventures.

Timothy Norton wrote:What a great introduction of your background!

What an adventurous life. I hope you post about your property development adventures.

Thanks so much!  There's an intro to our plans on this post: https://permies.com/t/227200/Nomad-Earthbag-Home

It's going to be hard but fun!!

My biggest challenge will be to NOT get livestock before we have the setup for them.....

Hi, Sherry! I'm in Central MO, myself, and no building codes or restrictions definitely has its share of pros & cons, lol. It's awesome to be able to build whatever you need, as you need it, without... interference! It's also fun to watch, while others use their imaginations, and build their homes, barns & other outbuildings from pallets and other materials that most would consider 'waste'. We love that the only obstacles (other than our own physical limitations) to heating in a way that works for us is whether we can still get homeowners insurance... Anyway, good on ya, for chasing your dreams (and landing here!)

Carla Burke wrote:Hi, Sherry! I'm in Central MO, myself, and no building codes or restrictions definitely has its share of pros & cons, lol. It's awesome to be able to build whatever you need, as you need it, without... interference! It's also fun to watch, while others use their imaginations, and build their homes, barns & other outbuildings from pallets and other materials that most would consider 'waste'. We love that the only obstacles (other than our own physical limitations) to heating in a way that works for us is whether we can still get homeowners insurance... Anyway, good on ya, for chasing your dreams (and landing here!)

Thank you! I did have someone comment on my other post that the codes allow other's to build whatever and it may be an eyesore.  But I figure the freedom to do what I want is worth it and there are lots of trees here so we can hardly see anything anyway.

It looks like you're into a lot of the things I am.  Cheesemaking etc.  I really miss my critters!!

Sherry Willis wrote:

Carla Burke wrote:Hi, Sherry! I'm in Central MO, myself, and no building codes or restrictions definitely has its share of pros & cons, lol. It's awesome to be able to build whatever you need, as you need it, without... interference! It's also fun to watch, while others use their imaginations, and build their homes, barns & other outbuildings from pallets and other materials that most would consider 'waste'. We love that the only obstacles (other than our own physical limitations) to heating in a way that works for us is whether we can still get homeowners insurance... Anyway, good on ya, for chasing your dreams (and landing here!)

Thank you! I did have someone comment on my other post that the codes allow other's to build whatever and it may be an eyesore.  But I figure the freedom to do what I want is worth it and there are lots of trees here so we can hardly see anything anyway.

It looks like you're into a lot of the things I am.  Cheesemaking etc.  I really miss my critters!!

I get it! Current critter count: 2 dogs, 2 sheep, 7 goats, 16 ducks, 21-ish chickens, and a give full of bees. Soonly-ish, 1 sheep (possibly, already) & 2 goats should be pregnant, with kidding to happen in early May, and the ewe, for all we know, could lamb as early as January. We just got the sheep a week or so ago, with the heads-up that she *might* already be expecting, but there was no witness, so...? In spring, we plan to add as many guineas as we can, and possibly get Muskovys again, and who knows if/ how many chicks & ducklings our girls will bless us with, this year - hopefully enough to fill the freezer!

LOL! With only 3 1/2 acres, I won't have space for that much.  My plans are 10 or so hens, 2 Lamancha milk goats, 1 mini horse (just because I want a horse, although he will haul wood, clean up what the goats won't eat, and make great compost), a few meat rabbits, honeybees and maybe some quail- and homing pigeons so the grandkids can send us messages from St. Louis.

Of course, all this has to wait until the barn is built, which has to wait until the house is built so we can stay on the place year-round.  I'd say animals are a couple of years out.  We got a lot done our first 3 months.  Cleared a lot of saplings and used them to build half of a wattle paddock.  Found a circle driveway already built and graveled as well as a level pad for the house.  We got a small cabin dried in so we'd have a place to keep our tools dry while we're gone for the winter.  We had a fence nline survey done and I planted about 1000 trifoliate orange seeds 3 foot apart along the property line for a very thorny living fence in the next couple of years.

Whew!!

What kind of goats do you have?  I had a jersey milk cow when I lived Wyoming.  Then I got goats in Missouri and have never looked back.  The only thing I miss about the cow is the BUTTER!

I'm raising and developing (as part of a movement) the Nigora breed of goats. We're working toward breed recognition for this dairy/fiber dual purpose breed. They're hardy, sturdy, flufffy & small - the bucks aren't supposed to be taller than 29" at the withers. The milk is rich & sweet, and they are very friendly - think puppies with horns, lol.

Carla Burke wrote:I'm raising and developing (as part of a movement) the Nigora breed of goats. We're working toward breed recognition for this dairy/fiber dual purpose breed. They're hardy, sturdy, flufffy & small - the bucks aren't supposed to be taller than 29" at the withers. The milk is rich & sweet, and they are very friendly - think puppies with horns, lol.

They sound amazing!  What is done with the fiber?  Is it like cashmere or more like Angora? I've had Nubians, Kinders, and Lamanchas.  Nubians are dramatic and loud, but can give quite a bit of good milk.  Kinders are nice, but hard to find.  Lamanchas are very chill and give a good amount of milk.  I've considered Nigerians for this new place, but I'm not sure they'd give enough milk for me.  I'd like something that can give me a gallon a day.  I know you can have more Nigerians in the same space, but milking more goats is more time consuming when you consider getting them on the stand, cleaning them up, etc....

I've used my saplings for this fence:  It's almost half done.  I should be able to finish it in the Spring.

The Nigora are similar to the Nigerians, in both production and quality of milk, which means only 1 in milk is good, for just the two of us. Also Like the ND, they cycle every 28 days, so they can be succession bred,  so you'll always have at least 1 in milk, even if you only keep a few.

The fiber varies between mohair and cashmere, and is often referred to as 'cashgora'. Here are my 3 oldest...

They are super cute!!