Tiny House Living in a 3,000 sq ft Home

Thing Two has a pretty bad sore throat. This morning, I was making her some tea with honey and brought her a paper towel to put her tea bag on when she's finished with it.
"Hey! I have small dishes I bought just for that purpose! I wonder which box they are in?"

For the past two years we have been living between two states. The bulk of my time has been spent in Missouri living with my parents on their farm where we are building our barn house. Chris has been mostly living and working in California, where he stayed with his folks in their two bedroom apartment. The girls (Thing One and Thing Two) are homeschooled and have been able to split their time between the two states.

Chris and I are fascinated by the tiny house movement. The minimalist lifestyle, low cost of living, and low environmental impact are fantastic. We considered tiny house living. Then Chris, who is 6'6" and pretty much the definition of big AND tall, spent two years living in a tiny apartment. He discovered he's not a tiny guy. Plus, we have stuff. So, no tiny house for us.


We designed our house, The Big Red Barn, based on some floor plans we saw online, only bigger. If we were going to build this home, we wanted it to be comfortable for many years to come. So ceilings were raised to 10' downstairs and 9' upstairs. Doorways were all widened to 36 inches. The garage was added, along with a shop, and an above ground tornado shelter big enough to house cots and emergency supplies.

We are building debt free which means we don't have a mortgage and are paying cash as we go. In addition, we are doing as much of the work ourselves as possible. So although we have been working on the house for over a year, it's nowhere near completion. Click here to watch our house being built week by week.

In our Big Red Barn house, we have a 530' sq area over the garage that was designated for storage, with hopes of turning it into an efficiency apartment at some later date. We are tired of sharing space. We are ready to be living in our own home. And so we turned that storage space into a little apartment and worked on the upstairs bathroom enough to make it functional.



While it's not true tiny house living, it does feel like it. It's a cozy little space where our family can be together. I do admit though, sometimes the walk to the bathroom at night through the uninsulated part of the house is a bit cold.

"I wonder which box _____ is in" is a frequently heard phrase around here. It's usually followed by, "Are you sure we kept that when we moved?" We are looking forward to making a lot of progress on the house this year, and getting into the rest of our boxes. I think when we finally start unpacking for real, two things will happen. One is that it will feel like Christmas. I've got things I love that I've forgotten I even have, such as the tiny plates on which to put one's teabag. The second is that I am going to scrutinize every item coming out of a box. Do we actually love or need that item? If we've lived without it for two years is it actually necessary to keep it?

In the meantime I am content because my family is finally all together in one state.

What would your dream house look like? Are you a tiny house person or would you rather live large?

Tough Decisions on the Farmstead

This week we had a bit of a scare with Scar the Goat.

Our Pretty Girl. #ScarTheGoat #farmstead #homestead #milkgoat #missouri #ozarks

A photo posted by Lorella & Chris (@planbeeorchardandfarm) on May 13, 2015 at 11:03am PDT

Like cows, goats are bred for either milk or meat. I want to have milk goats. Correction. I want to have goat's milk. And goat cheese. Especially goat cheese. In June of 2014 I purchased a doe kid with the intention of having her bred so I can milk her.  Scar the Goat is is a sweet little mix of kiko and nubian, so she's a meat/milk cross.
This fall I took her to a friend's farm to hang out with her boyfriend for a couple weeks. I didn't have her vet tested, and wasn't sure whether she was pregnant. We found out that she was when she miscarried earlier this week. A goat's pregnancy is 5 months, so she was mid term. It was quite sad.
We took care of Scar as best we could. I donned medical gloves and pulled the afterbirth and felt inside of her to see whether there was a twin that needed to be pulled. I couldn't tell.
We provided her with water, fresh bedding, and a heat lamp. We gave her vitamin shots and a special feed called Calf Manna. We put Apple Cider Vinegar in her water. Then we watched and waited. And we discussed our options.
Our farm animals are livestock, not pets. The cost of having a vet treat her would easily have cost more than twice what it cost to purchase her. Since Chris has left his city job and moved here full time our budget is extremely tight. We had to decide how much we would be willing to pay to save her life if infection set in or if indeed there was another baby inside her.
Farmers make really hard decisions like this on a daily basis.
I recently was part of a conversation with a farmer who had spent hundreds on a weak calf trying to restore it's health. He said, "I finally decided I couldn't spend anymore and the calf would have to either make it or not."
In both his case, and ours, there were happy endings; his calf lived, and Scar seems to be doing well. I'm still keeping a close eye on her.
Her buddy Timon is also sticking close.

Le goats. Settling in. #goats #countrylife #farmstead #weedeater #midwest #homestead #missouri #farming #farm #nigeriandwarf #goatsofinstagram

A photo posted by Lorella & Chris (@planbeeorchardandfarm) on Jul 26, 2015 at 10:29am PDT

But now I have some more decisions to make. Will I have her bred again? What are the risks of a second miscarriage? Do I need to make any changes to her environment or care? She won't be ready to breed again until fall, so I have some time to research and make a plan, but I certainly don't want to do anything to risk the health of one of our animals.
The loss of an animal is just one example of the types of hardships homesteaders and farmers face every day. Another friend of ours came home to a dead sow with eighteen dead piglets inside her. Not only does this take an emotional toll, especially after one has done his best to care for an animal, it affects the finances of the family as well. Those piglets would have grown up to provide food for his family, and the rest would have been sold and provided income. I don't think I fully understood how hard that would be when I decided to leave city life and be a farmer. We read and watch videos and attend workshops and ask mentors, but there are still times unexpected realities happen.
At Plan Bee Orchard and Farm we aspire to lead a more organic life with close ties to our food and land while providing quality produce and products for our consumers.
Being a small farm and keeping such "close ties" means we feel the pain of loss when we lose an animal, but it also means we celebrate all the more when an animal is saved.
Last year my mom had a calf that "was down". This means the animal is so sick that it can no longer stand. Often times it's impossible to bring an animal back to health after it's down. I had been busy working on our house build and mom was busy caring for my dad, and neither of us realized the calf was malnourished. I worked with the calf every day. I rubbed his muscles. I fed him a special diet. I got car straps under him so we could lift him and make him walk and exercise.
And to end on a happy note, here is his story:

Hitch up your wagon!

Before I moved to Missouri, this was how I envisioned homesteading:

When Chris and I decided to leave the Los Angeles area, and move to the country, we had this crazy idea that we would like to support our family by growing and raising most of our own food, and by running agriculture based businesses from our own farm. This idea was inspired by friends of my cousin, whom we had never met, who left SoCal and moved to Colorado and are doing something similar. In so doing, we would be leading a more organic life, with close ties to our food and land, while providing quality produce and products for our consumers.

Turns out, it's a thing. And it has a name:

Homesteading.

The modern day homestead, sometimes called a farmstead, doesn't start out on a wagon at the sound of a gunshot. It starts when one decides to become more self-sufficient, and takes action towards that end. In our case, homesteading is a process. We are not attempting to go completely off grid from day one. While we will have our own well and septic system, we will rely on electricity from the power company at first. We will gradually build our orchard, kitchen garden, market garden, and increase our animal stock.

Our goal is to make fewer trips to town for supplies and to be able to depend on our own resources.

As we build zone by zone, we will keep you updated on the progress of our little homestead. It's an interesting journey from city life to country life. We are transforming the way we think about everything we consume as we try to live more simply. 

Have you made any decisions to become more self sufficient, simplify your life, or have a healthier lifestyle? What changes have you made? What challenges have you faced along the way? What would you like to know more about as we document our progress?

Pondering...

We are trying to come up with ways to earn money on the farm. Here are some ideas we have:

My ideas:
Honey
Lavender products
Goat's milk/cheese products

Carter's idea: rent the barn for weddings

Lesleigh's ideas:
Puppy breeding
raising chickens

Jason's idea: rent the farm for photo shoots

Chris would like to start an at home or online business. What should he do?
What else can we do? Please comment!!

Let the Crazy Ensue

This summer my family went on a road trip. While it was mostly vacation, we were also exploring the possibility of moving.  Moving. I didn't really want to move. I love my sunny SoCal life. It is seventy degrees and sunny year round here. I have a flip flop collection. There are palm trees and beaches and... sigh.
But yes, we are considering moving. There are a couple of reasons. One is to be nearer to my mother and father. While technology makes it easier to stay in touch, I'm just not able to give the kind of support I'd like to. Also, we are just done with the L.A. life and all the busy-ness that it entails.
Prior to the trip, we had planned to explore areas where we could stay in our current professions, and just relocate. However, that changed along the way. My cousin Valerie told me about her friend who is trying to bring back the idea of the 'gentleman farmer'. This is in reference to a farm that is  smaller than a commercial farm, but different than a hobby farm in that it supplies enough income to provide for the family. The idea intrigued me. A lot. I couldn't shake it.

What if we could pay cash for a small farm, and have no mortgage? Could we earn enough doing home-based/farm-based businesses to support the needs of our family? Could we leave the hustle and bustle of L.A. and take our kids (and the dog) across the country to a quieter, simpler life close to my parents? 

We began to dream and brainstorm. (There are plenty of miles for conversation on the way from Colorado to California.) We discussed the fact that the only plant I have successfully grown is lavender. Maybe I could have a lavender field with bee hives. And maybe I could have a few goats. Then maybe, just maybe, I could make a myriad of products, including goat cheese, soaps, honey, etc. 
It sounds like a fairly well thought out plan. Unless you know that I am SO Not A Farm Girl. I haven't any idea how to make soap or honey or goat cheese. I barely make breakfast. Although, I'm fairly certain the bees do most of the work with the honey. (At least I think they do.)  
Then I had another idea. What if we documented all of my experiences, whether success or failure and post it online? Would anyone care to read about it? We shall see, we shall see. And so, here we are.  

So Let The Crazy Begin...
Here's the plan: 
Save and scrimp for 6 months. 
Scale down, sell, give away, and pack our stuff.
Move to the country and pay cash for a small farm.
Document my experience on this blog and on YouTube.
Market my farm products online, and at farmers markets or in specialty stores.

You can help!
What do you want to see me try?
What should I make with my lavender bushes?
Any advice?
What resources are out there for me?
Where should I start?

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