Dirt Garden Expanded & Experiments w/Raising Soldier Fly Larvae 5/2010

Our Second Barrelponic System - 4/2010

2007- 2009

Our very first animals, Black Sex Link Chicks - photo taken April 07

Our first attempt at gardening - May 07

November 07 - K shows off his chicken.

We fenced in our garden spot in the early spring of 2008 - not sure where the pictures are of this project but you can see the fencing behind the boys in this July 2008 photo.

August 2008 D built our first Barrelponics System.  He downloaded the manuel and built it with the step by step instructions, we stocked it with goldfish that year.

A year later, Jan 09',  Shiro joins Farrago Acres and is the fullfillment of a Keishon's hopes and dreams.  Keishon has hoped and prayed for a  German Shepherd Dog for at least two years.

A Craigslist find, Shiro is our compromise and is half Broad Shouldered German Shepherd Police Dog/ Half Pure White Wolf.

April 2009

Built largely from reclaimed wood and sided with cypress seconds. Photo below taken June 2009

We are now serious about sustainable technology and making a lot of changes, slowly but surely. 2010 is where things start to get interesting, and crazy.

Farrago Acres is Born 2004-2006

The saga of Farago Acres begins with our first land purchase in Aug 2004, and absolutely no intentions of farming. 

 Sept 2004  - a lane is carved from the wooded lot 

and a space for our "temporary housing" has been cleared.

Temporary, because we will build our home soon.

SURPRISE!.... seven years later, temporary has somehow morphed into a rather permanent home.

One day we will build, .........one day, Lord willing.

November 2004 finds our"temporary" (or not so temporary) housing is in place.
A second hand 24x50 mobile home. Septic system and well drilling are complete and we are just waiting on occupancy permits.  You can see the heap of dirt from the well drilling on the right side behind the house.

We moved in two weeks before Christmas 2004....behold the mud.

Feb 2005 the County scrapped the sides of all the main roads near us.  They dumped eleven dump truck loads of these "scrappings" in our front yard.  They were happy to get rid of this refuse and we were happy for Free "topsoil".  Though we did pick up tin cans and glass bottles for the next five years as they emerged from their various hiding spots in the ground.

The following month (March) we hired our friend Matt to come over one Saturday morning with his bobcat and spread these piles around. This would become our lawn.  We never seeded anything, but left it grow from whatever roots and seeds were already present.  The lawn we have today is from this project.

It was amazing how fast grass started to grow, by mid April the beginnings of a yard were easily visible, and you can see the full result in the last picture, taken in September 06

Our goals in those years were quite simplistic, "A nice country spot where we could raise our boys, with plenty of room for them to roam, play and learn."