What's better than a farm???

Two Farms!

Yes, two farms!  We have pretty much concluded our exhaustive search of the area we've chosen -- we even knocked on doors and left letters in people's mail boxes "hey, wanna sell this??", and have seen just about everything on offer, and nothing, on its own, was absolutely perfect.

But we have the perfect solution in combining two different properties -- one is ex-parkland where the zoning was changed to allow for only small non-intensive farming just last month, big and beautiful and completely untouched. The other is a small weekend retreat that has been cultivated lovingly for years, and has an orchard that makes my knees go weak. (little farm is the one in all the photos)

The little farm is about 1.5 acres, (6500sqm) and has a tiny little house with a big fireplace in the main room downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs, clean clear spring water creek, a small section of woods on a slope (goat heaven, but not for too many of them!), and mature fruit trees that are just amazing.  The previous owner was a real fruit gardening fanatic, and knew just what to do to make strong healthy trees.  There are pears, apples (4 or 5 different types), plums (about 4 different types), figs, cherries (sour and red), grapes, hazelnuts, walnuts, chestnuts -- there are so many chestnuts that in the fall you couldn't see the ground for all the chestnut casings, you have to plod through them about 3 or 4 deep...wow!  It is on the south facing slope of a beautiful valley just above Sabbio Chiese, about 3km from the town centre and 2.5 from Grandpa Angelo's house and restaurant.

The big farm is 8 acres (about 30,000sqm) about 2km on the other side of town from the little farm (so they are about 5km apart), and the school is an easy 2km bike ride away.  That's, like, closer than the YMCA camp from my house in Dunrobin...easy peasy! Actually, I have visions of taking the kids to school in a cart pulled by a donkey with a straw hat with a flower in it.  Every kid needs a donkey with a hat, don't you think? It backs on to a public park, and most of the land around is owned by the town and restricted against building or development, except for one neighbour who also raises goats and is totally happy that we are coming and we can pasture our herds together, take alternate days off!

The land itself is beautiful.  Mostly flat with some gently sloping areas and a cliff or two dropping down.  A river runs through it, big enough to have a name (Its called the "Reale") and to think seriously about putting in a little water mill, but small enough that most Canadians would call it a "crick" rather than a river.  The water from the river comes straight from Vallio Terme on the mountain above and behind us, a famous spring that sells its water for gobs per bottle (and has a health farm resort based on the spring where a 20 minute massage costs 120 euros. Ack!)  And we get it for free!   With all that running water, we will definitely be farming fish as well as the rest of the usual.

The great thing is that the land is completely empty, a tabularasa that we can use to build our dream precisely to our specifications.  The sucky thing about it is that the land is completely empty, we have to build everything from scratch and there are no plants to inherit, no fruit, no nuts, the ones that take a good 20 years before they start really producing.  But that's OK, cause we have the other farm!  So we have a space that we can use to start off with, big enough for 50 chickens or so, a couple of goats, and all our fruit and veg, but not much else.  Then, in the meantime, we build the homestead exactly as we want it to be, taking into account all of the new research and technology to build something that fully realises the ideas of permaculture. Probably about 2 years until we can move in...

The great thing about having the park nearby is that is brings lots of people around -- we won't have to lug all our cheeses to market on saturdays, because the people will come to us...they will be at the park anyway!  I picture a Salt Spring Island kind of scene, a handpainted sign saying "come get your fresh organic eggs and goat cheeses, just 50m up the road".

And the great thing about the surrounding land being all public is that it is open for use of all residents, unfenced but tended, so we can pasture our goats there and the town council thanks us for helping to keep the undergrowth clear and the land fertile.  The town is also interested in maybe doing some didactic activities with the local schools, teaching about permaculture and local varieties of plants and animals.

Now we are just waiting for the bank to come through with the money, and then we are off and running!  And we just got the news today, the mortgage was approved -- we can get started and get building without selling the house first, woohooo!


Sorry, its been ages since the last post, and we have been very busy -- mostly with regular work, and a long overdue upgrading to new software that took over a month of concentrated work, ugh!  But now that its done, and now that the bank money is here, we will get started in earnest and there will be more regular Blog posts.

There are 15 eggs of uncertain origin in the incubator that should hatch on friday...but I'm not counting!  So friday or saturday i will hopefully have tales to tell of newborn chicks!

Happy new year everyone!!