We are movin' to the country!

[Tara Brown]

I am very excited to be joining this forum! My husband and i are moving to the country. Owen Sound, Ontario Canada to be exact. We just bought a house on two acres and are so pumped about growing our own food!

We are very eager to have livestock - we just want to raise everything! However, with only two acres we will have to be selective.

Here is a look at our house and property:

(the black line is a little off, but you get the picture)

As you can see we have lots of room - 2 acres - of very usable land. You can also see the huge garden already started for us!

I would love to see different overlays on it with ideas of what to build.

We would like to start out with chickens and rabbits, both free-run in a paddock but with their own coop/shed.

We are also thinking goats or sheep and a couple pigs.

I have lots of questions about everything and will post them in the different subcategories. Does anyone have ideas about where to build fences and so on? How many animals could we have here?

FYI the two roads are very quiet, they dont lead anywhere except to a few other farms.

Looking forward to learning a lot!!

[tinknal]

Welcome! With the limited space I would be thinking about goats and sheep rather than cattle and horses.

[Rain]

Hi Tara! Congratulations! Owen Sound is such a lovely area, I spent some time there a few summers ago! Looks like a nice acreage!

[Rustaholic]

Congratulations, Tara.
Around here in NW lower Michigan in this township we must have at least four acres to have critters.
On any small lot we can get away with hens and rabbits though.

If you like it and will eat it perenials like rhubarb and asparagus are things you should plant ASAP in the Spring.
I am going on 14 years now harvesting asparagus in my patch.
It is so much more yummy fresh out of the garden.

[Tara Brown]

Originally Posted by Rustaholic

Congratulations, Tara.
Around here in NW lower Michigan in this township we must have at least four acres to have critters.
On any small lot we can get away with hens and rabbits though.

If you like it and will eat it perenials like rhubarb and asparagus are things you should plant ASAP in the Spring.
I am going on 14 years now harvesting asparagus in my patch.
It is so much more yummy fresh out of the garden.

That is good to know - we are zoned rural/agricultural in our area.

And, excitingly, there are already established rhubarb and asparagus patches!

[shanzone2001]

Congratulations!!! Welcome to the forum!!!

[therunbunch]

You're going to have so much fun here! WELCOME! I'm so jealous, you've got a beautiful place from the looks of it! We moved from the city onto 20 acres.. then had to move to MA.. back in the city but we're doing the best we can to "bloom where we were planted"! Glad to have ya!

[Windy in Kansas]

Welcome to the forums.

[salmonslayer]

Looks like you have a fine place. You might think of starting by building your perimiter fence and planting some windbreaks/shade trees which may even be available through your Provincial natural resources office.

You can also start into chicken and maybe even a couple goats by buying enclosed chain link dog runs and modifying them as needed. It would allow you to start while you improve your infrastructure and land.

[Tricky Grama]

Welcome, good luck w/adventures.

Patty

[tammy8701]

hi l dont live to far from you l am in beaverton ontario canada

[julieq]

Welcome to the forum and hearty congratulations!

[Callieslamb]

Welcome. Looks like you will be very busy planning with such a clean slate to start with! Congratulations!

[SparkyMaine]

I would suggest putting in a few fruit trees hardy to the area. Best to get them in as soon as possible so you can start reaping the benefits. My wife and I will be planting our first fruit trees this spring. If we had only planted them when we moved in almost four years ago...

[lmrose]

Congratulations on moving to the country! The layout looks good of what is seen from the picture. Two good acres minus the land the house and buildings set on should be room enough, for chickens, a few goats, vegetable gardens, fruit trees , fruit bearing bushes, and beds for herbs, rhubarb, asparagus, artichokes and compost piles. Managed right you could have vegetables, fruit, chickens, eggs, goat meat[chevon], milk, yogurt, cheese and be almost totally food self-efficient! Happy days ahead!

[Gymno]

Brings back so many memories when we lived in Colorado on 2 1/2 acres. First thing i did was fence the entire perimeter. That way if i had any critters they would be contained if they got out of their own area. You can do sooooo much on that amount of land. I would reccomend that you do a master plan, which could be a glorified sketch showing how you would like to see the place in 10 years. Then you can start ! Like Sparky Maine i am putting in fruit trees in our new homestead in the good ol Pacific Northwest. Give em time to grow! Great life eh?

[pookshollow]

Ooooh, hope you like snow! Owen Sound is pretty in the summer, not sure I'd want to live there in the winter.

I'm in the banana belt, south of Brantford. We have 10 acres here. When we were in Cambridge, we had just over an acre, and had goats, chickens, ducks and geese there. Now we have about 40 goats, 5 sheep, 4 horses, rabbits and poultry. We do rent the properties on either side of us, so probably 26 acres total.

[Tara Brown]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone!

We are so excited! I am already having trouble sleeping! And we dont move until the end of March! Living in the country raising animals has been my dream since i was little - i grew up in Toronto (huge city) and always longed for the country.

I am so excited about raising my own animals - my husband is the gardener!

Lucky us, the house has established berry bushes, 3 apple trees and an establish rhubarb and asparagus patch!

Fencing and trees are our first priority!

[oregon woodsmok]

It looks lovely and all usable. You are moving there at the perfect time to start planting your fruit trees and berries, and soon after that the veggie garden.

Nice head start that someone else has made the veggie garden and planted a few perennial plants for you.

[ronbre]

before you start designing may I suggest reading
Gaia's Garden by Hemenway
and if you have the time afterwards read
Edible forest Gardens by Dave Jacke (I'm reading vol 1 of 2 vol set right now, borrowed from library)
but Gaia's garden will help you to do it best for your property and your family