At the Farm: Permits, Post Holes, and Pup Comes Home

We have a busy week with soil testing, deciding what to do with the old well, digging post holes for the goat yard and of course picking up Sophie from the breeder.

This trip began when Nick returned home from his CA business trip at 9 a.m. Saturday morning.  The car already packed, we returned his rental car to the airport and started on our way south at 10:30 a.m. not knowing what a long drive lay ahead of us.  Traffic was so heavy it created delays and the normally two hour drive through CT took four hours!  A few more delays along the route due to construction and we finally arrived at 12:30 a.m.

In the morning it was good to see the green fields and trees and wild flowers in bloom everywhere.

After a good rest, we spent Sunday planning our week and shopping for supplies.  At the top of the list was to get a post hole digger/auger.  After seeing how much work digging the post holes in the extremely hard earth was we decided it would be best to either rent or purchase a gas powered hole digger.  As it turned out it was much more cost effective to buy one of these one-man machines.

When Nick was able to dig six deep, post holes in less time than it took to dig just one by hand, we
knew we had a good thing.  Of course, digging the post holes had to wait until Tuesday because on Monday we had a day trip to collect our Great Pyranees pup, Sophie.

Sophie had grown to double her size since  we last saw her only three weeks ago.  Now, at 9 weeks she weighed at least 20 pounds.
 After sniffing my hand for a minute or two, she seemed to remember me as her tail began wagging and her whole body began wiggling in recognition.  After a short time in the car we knew she would be able to cope with the long drive to her new home.  She sat on my lap for the first hour, then we moved her to the back seat for the remainder of the trip, during which she slept most of the time.

As with most things there are rules that must be obeyed before doing just about anything.  And trying to the get electricity turned on at the farm means we first must get a permit.  In order to get the permit the farm must get the approval of the local Environmental Health Department.

It took most of the day on Wednesday, but we were able to meet with someone about drilling a new well and setting hydrants throughout the farm; met with someone at the Building Inspector's office to get the building permit process started; and met with the man at the Environmental Health dept. office to get all the answers to all our questions about the entire process which needed to be completed in order to get the electric power connected and turned on.

Nothing can happen at the farm until Environmental Health has been out to do a physical inspection of the septic system.  Once he is satisfied that the current system can or cannot be used, he will issue the necessary permits, if needed, for a new septic system and a new well in order for the building inspector to issue his permit to begin working on the house restoration and allow the power company to hook-up.

This all takes time, lots of time.  Time during which we cannot do any work on the house.

So, we work on preparations for the animals.  We laid out the goat yard area to receive a permanent

fence and started work boring post holes, setting posts and putting up cattle panel fencing.  The goat's new yard will be triple the area they currently have here in CT at a spacious 48' x 56' they will be in goat heaven.  In addition to the permanent yard, this is where they will spend their early mornings and late afternoons and will be able to come and go to their new barn at will, they will also have access to about 8 acres of foraging pasture.

Nick was able to get the post holes on 2 1/2 sides completed before the rain came on Friday morning, calling an end to our week.  However, on Friday morning we were able to put up a few of the cattle panels before the rain started mid-morning.

On Tuesday and Thursday, while Nick was working on the fence, I was busy cutting the grass that had regrown to be about a foot tall while we were away.  All that cut grass made a good start to a new compost pile.

So, at the end of the week, although there isn't much visibly accomplished, some important things were done:
1. got the permit process started
2. scheduled the septic system inspection
3. determined the location of the new well and hydrants with the drilling company
4. collected our new farm guard dog
5. set posts and panels for most of the new goat yard fence
6. cut grass, approximate 1 acre
7. met with Building Inspector and Environmental Health dept. agent
8. located, by digging, the septic field
9. arranged for water testing of the old well
10. created list of referred contractors to interview for restoration work

The weather was perfect until Friday when it rained.  I was able to get a good start to a summer tan, and also lose a few pounds by pushing a lawn-mower for a few hours each day.

In the morning we awaken to the sounds of all the birds of the woodland, the clean fresh morning air, and the soft light of the sun rising behind the treeline.  The pastures were filled with little white puff balls, the remnants of Dandelions, and large patches of yellow, lovely little Buttercups bring forward memories of childhood when we would hold one of the little flowers beneath our chins to learn if we liked butter.  If your chin showed yellow, you did.   It is such a beautiful way to begin a day.

We cooked our meals on the back porch using our camp-stove, and relaxed there in the evenings watching the sunset over one pasture, while the moon rose over the other and the sparkling lights of fire-flies flickered over the fields.

It never ceases to amaze how many more stars we can view when out in the country.



The next trip is planned for the end of May.  On that work list is to complete the goat yard, get the septic system inspected and hopefully get our permits, meet with contractors for the house restoration, and perhaps begin working at rebuilding the small barn for the goats.




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