| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Whimsy_girl |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 11:01:30 AM
Hal went to the title company and took care of the money end of everything today, all that is left is for me to get my signature noterized on the whole deal, then we can say officially that it belongs to us..
What a long road we are embarking on.. we were able to buy this acre for a steal but there is going to be a lot of sweat equity involved. It's got so much junk on it that needs to be hauled off. Tons of old junked cars sitting around, 2 dead school busses full of boxes of old stuff.. old empty storage barrels, lots of weathered broken porch parts from a place that was torn down in the next lot.. and for some reason like 5 broken fishtanks that weeds have grown up through... Eventually this junkyard is supposed to become our new homestead.. far cry from what we left but I look forward to the transformation.. if we can pull this off there will be such a sense of accomplishment.
Once we get done with the clean up, we have to put in a well and septic system, and finally after THAT we can put a house on it. Hal just wants to buy a manufactured home so we can move in sooner, but I'd rather build, we've agreed to stop arguing over it until after the clean up is done. I have no idea how long all this will take.. either way. It's actually kind of overwhelming at this point.. If we can establish the locations for the well and septic ahead of time I may start creating my raised beds before anything else so I have something nice to look at while we are dealing with all this garbage.. Thats probably pretty stupid if we don't even have anything on it but a couple of raised beds among a bunch of yucky junk.
I'm a little scared we have taken on too much... but at least we own something again.
Bobbi.
Trying to stay positive :)
you can be oh so smart, or you can be oh so positive. I wasted a lot of time being smart I prefer being positive. |
| 14 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 26 2006 : 5:49:04 PM
bobbi .. i bet you will look back at all the sweat and tears (hopefully no blood!) with fond remembrance .. especially when you are snuggled in on your little farm and are so proud of what you have accomplished. lots of good wishes for good memories! xo
True Friends, Frannie
My KENTUCKY RAMBLINGS 'blog':
http://cabincreekfarm-kentucky.blogspot.com/ |
| Lazycreek |
Posted - Jun 25 2006 : 12:42:26 PM
Junk metal of any kind is going for a lot of money.
Charlee
Believe in the power of your dreams |
| Buttercup |
Posted - Jun 24 2006 : 02:49:59 AM
Diane, what wonderful pictures! I think it is wonderful what you have done and I love your advice on before and after pictures!
Bobbi,
When I was 10 my family moved to a run down farmette. My mother and I were so excited! We are both farm girls at heart! Anyway, the house was in horrible shape, the well was bad so our water came out complete with sand and due to the old pipes red in color. The garden area we discovered had an old foundation of brick which we had to dig up and break apart with care(they ended up the floor and wall protection behind our wood stove and were beautiful!) and I don't know how much garbage we hauled, buildings we tore down and snakes we almost got bitten by. I had so many blisters and bruises...but in the end it was the neatess place ever and we loved it dearly!
So hang in there! One day soon you are going to be the happiest and proudest gal ever! Best of luck!
"If we could maintain the wonder of childhood and at the same time grasp the wisdom of age, what wonder,what wisdom,what life would be ours" |
| Whimsy_girl |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 3:07:31 PM
What great common sense Diane! I thouht my husband would be a weenie about it with it being his own dad and all, and I mentioned that to him on his break and he said that it sounded more than fair. (Sometimes I don't give him enough credit.. he rocks though!) He said that if no one comes and claims the junk they say they want then we're going to fill up old blue (the dumptruck) and haul it off. He plans to get a guy to come out and make sure blue is in tip top shape right after we get back from farm fair... so that will even save us on the bins!
I'm so glad I started this topic. Not only did it inspire me to open my mouth and say something to him about my concerns, it also got me really excited about the work that stands before us!
Thanks alot to all of you for the experianced advice, and to Diane for sharing those inspirational pictures.
you can be oh so smart, or you can be oh so positive. I wasted a lot of time being smart I prefer being positive. |
| santa_gertrudis_gal |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 1:54:56 PM
LOL, Bobbi I have the same thing at the ranch. In places it is not the beautiful pristine paradise I love. The previous owner owns a well head manufacturing company. So alot of the junk actually has value as scrap metal. We had on piece of stainless that my husband allowed his brother to take. I know he got a hefty price at a scrap yard for that one as it was 10" inch in diameter and about 12" long. The cars and buses are the same thing. They can be hauled off for a few dollars. The rest, sort what can be recycled, what can be sold. You might be surprised at how much you can make.
We have so much metal it is unbelievable as well as rotten crane matts, hot water heaters, dead lawn mowers, and the list goes on. It's scattered over about 50 acres out of 276. It isn't in heaping piles though thank goodness, just scattered.
Kim
Heaven is a day at the ranch with my Santa Gertrudis! |
| DaisyFarm |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 1:36:13 PM
What if you just handled it as nicely as possible and try to get them to understand what your goals/dreams are for your property that you are just so excited about? Like "right there where such and such is, is where my new garden will be"...hint hint!!! This will be your home. If all else fails, 30 days notice?? lol
Di |
| Whimsy_girl |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 1:26:24 PM
I really appriciate your encouragement! Diane you have made a huge difference with your yard! That inspires me a lot! The bins are a great idea and the idea you mentioned about the pits is a good one too.. I could see us putting some of the glass and things you mentioned in the hole under where we plan to pour our foundation so it will never turn up to bother anyone again.
Now I hate when people add like 15 reasons to shoot down someones advice and thats not what I am trying to do.. but what if the junk in question actually BELONGS to someone you know, who perhaps can't bear to throw anything away ever.. including busses, an entire outbuilding of misc. weird dirty stuff and every junker car they were going fix up from the age of 14? On one hand it's on our land so we could get away with disposing of it, but my husband would never agree to throw away something that someone had an attatchement to.
We bought the land from my husbands Uncle who was using it to store his building supplies.. the supplies aren't a big deal because they have a function, they can be moved to the furthest corner of the yard and we have the option to buy some of them for a fraction of costfor when we build, but he also allowed his brother, (my husbands dad) to use it to store all the above mentioned stuff.. after a while his daughtor, (DH's Sister) and a few other family members started storing stuff there too.. so everyone has stuff on the land that by this time really should have just been thrown away because it's been there for years some of it more exposed to the elements than others but all in rough shape. It looks SO much like Dianes picture of the storage building.. When this started I had intended to just toss all the garbage because thats what it looked like to me, and no one had mentioned sentmental attatchment to any of it.. I was just approached by the sister asking "We can still keep our stuff in the outbuilding right?" I just said that it depends on what it is, where it is, and if we have room for our own stuff and if it's taking over the space we plan to turn into a greenhouse.
Does anyone remember the Jim Hensen movie Laberynth? with the creepy little muppet woman who lived with a bunch of trash on her back and surrounded by it? Thats what I am associating this with. I don't want to be that muppet!
My husband is saying to be patient because we got such a good deal we can't be jerks about the stuff.. but at the same time these people know we bought this to live on, not to run a free ministorage/wildlife preserve for rodents, snakes and feral cats.
Compounded by the fact that I am an inlaw it puts me in an awkward position if I just start hucking stuff even if it has been left to rot.
I'm sorry I have complicated this horribly, but I will take some before pics just the same, and I don't mean to totally unload here..
I feel like I am being forced to cool my heels and just let these folks leave their stuff.. but it didn't even become an issue until we started signing papers... His family is otherwise just awesome so I hate to pick a fight with them, but we CAN'T just let things sit if we are trying to make a life there.
I'm trying to make this black and white.. anyone who responded before, or anyone else who wants to kick in extra feed back, that would be delightful!
you can be oh so smart, or you can be oh so positive. I wasted a lot of time being smart I prefer being positive. |
| Mumof3 |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 12:32:33 PM
Diane- You are a wonder!!
Bobbi- I'm sure you will be able to do this!! Just some elbow grease and a lot of determination will get you through. I think you are right about the raised beds- give you some promise that there is a bright future! Just keep thinking about the "Big Picture."
Good luck.
Karin |
| Hideaway Farmgirl |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 12:17:15 PM
Wow, Diane - you are an inspiration to us all! I simply cannot believe the before and after pictures on your blog. What a lot of hard work!
Bobbi; hope this gives you lots of ideas and motivation, and do take pictures for us.
Jo |
| DaisyFarm |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 12:10:29 PM
Oh boy Bobbi, can I relate to what you're up against. Have a look at my blog and you'll see my before and after. The people we bought this place off of had lived here 35 yrs and never thrown out a thing. Her late husband was in supply & services in the navy and brought home everything that was decommissioned (and probably a lot that wasn't!). Can somebody explain to me why you would pile 24 toilet seats in front of your house??? Or keep 200+ jars of canning that we played "guess the food group" with...yik!
Anyway, we moreless did what Jo suggested. We sorted stuff into recyclables, burnables, stuff with a use, etc. etc. Here, the price of metal is really high right now, so you might even get some $$ for recycling some of it. We had a local company bring a bin and park it on the property...we put 6 tons (six tons!!) of scrap metal in it over a two week period. Our bill was only $12 after they took off the price of the metal. With the second bin, we actually received a cheque instead of a bill!
We also had a neighbor with a backhoe dig us two 8' deep pits. We buried anything non-toxic like glass that was just impossible to get rid of.
With lots of elbow grease and bleach and comet and soap, we turned this place into something we're proud of now (and not afraid to cook in..lol). You will have a wonderful sense of accomplishment when you are done. Do take lots of "before" pics so that when it all seems overwhelming, you can look at the pics and see what you've accomplished.
Di
http://www.daisyfarm.blogspot.com |
| Cindy Texas |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 11:29:28 AM
I am so happy for you and please don't be scared. I know that everything will work out and you and your husband are going to be so happy. I know how you feel because my husband and I are about to move to the country in fact I am going to move first so that the kids can start school and my husband is going to join me when the house sells. I am scared to death over moving to the country (which I have never lived in a small town before) and doing it with the kids and just me.I am also freaking out over all the things involved in trying to get our house sold here. I don't think I have slept all night in about three weeks. I am really excited and happy on the one hand and really scared on the other. One of our worries is that we are not sure if we are going to be able to make a living. There is a man in the town that has asked my husband to do some work with him but I am not sure if it will be enough. We are not going to buy right away we are just going to move into a small rent house. We are going to take the equity out of this house and our savings and hopefully it will hold us over until he starts to make some money. I am still more excited over finally moving to the country than I am scared. I have always wanted to garden and have chickens and I even want a clothes line. I just can't wait.
Cindy |
| serenity1652 |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 11:28:04 AM
Congrats Bobbi,
Dont look at it as junk. Look at it as the wrapping on the present. You throw away and haul off all of that wrapping and you have a wonderful gift under it.
God Bless you on your journey.
Fawn
"May all of your farm girl dreams come true...as mine has"
http://shallowcreekfarm.blogspot.com/ |
| Hideaway Farmgirl |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 11:21:14 AM
Bobbi, in re-reading your post, another thought occurred to me. I have seen people (usually FarmBoys) build their shed/barn/outbuilding(s) first, then get around to building the house. The people we bought our farm from did that; he built a four bay garage/barn building complete with a full bathroom. They lived in one end of the building using the bathroom, a laundry sink, washer and dryer, and huge closet - not sure how they cooked, but a microwave, crockpot, BBQ grill and campstove may work for the time being. That way you could spend more time at the property, too. We have to drive several hours between places and we feel we are wasting precious time in the mornings and evenings at our current home. We are both still working so we have to spend most of the workweek here, but we would love to be able to commute from the farm. Again, good luck and please, do stay positive.
Jo |
| Hideaway Farmgirl |
Posted - Jun 22 2006 : 11:14:39 AM
Hang in there, Bobbi! Start sorting the junk into piles and throw away or burn (if allowable in your area) piles of similar kinds of trash. Try clearing one area first, and as you sort through you will soon overtake the junkyness and see the piece of property as it really lays. I like your idea about starting some raised beds, etc. - anything to give you a little boost as you work away. You might find some "treasures" in the old boxes of stuff...but be careful of snakes and other critters that might not like you disrupting their home. I hope you have a friendly waste management/dump/recycling center that accepts a lot of trash like this - we helped some friends do similar hauling away earlier this year, and we were glad to get rid of lots of metal/wood structures that we broke down into manageable pieces (that would fit into the back of the pickup). Never leave the property without taking a load of trash with you if you can help it. By the time we got done, we felt like we should bake cookies for the guys who work at the recycling place since we got to be such good friends! The important thing is that you will have the land, and sweat equity never hurt anybody. I hope you also have some family or friends who will donate a day or two (or more) to help you haul stuff away. And buy marshmallows and hot dogs in bulk, so you can have lots of weenie roasts! Good luck, and Congratulations on your new adventure!
Jo |
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