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Hard to believe it’s been a year since all the Carter family moved to the green hills of Tennessee. Although we all started out in the family popup camper, everyone has worked hard to get us into the house. Now, while still a work zone, we are all living in the house. One thing that is an ongoing process is livestock care. All our animals are working animals. Whether it’s clearing brush by the goat herd or clearing the property of rodents by our cats, everyone has a purpose. To make sure all livestock get fed as well as doing their job (the same thing in most cases), we have them set up on a rotational paddock schedule. The popularity of solar powered electric fences make putting up portable paddocks fairly quick & easy. Using this method, we can put the animals where the forage is most plentiful or the areas that need the most brush control. during the winter, this is a monthly undertaking, but the summer lushness make moving them a much more leisurely affair. Due to Covid concerns, our plans for the Phase Two project regarding the bunkhouse have been slowed to a crawl. At least two work crews scheduled for this summer have had to cancel for safety’s sake. This means some demolition work is going on, but no real building. Hopefully, if there’s not a significant resurgence, we can begin serious fundraising and construction in the fall. Because the structure is now sound, the Carters are starting to work a room by room checklist. This means, we compile a list of things needing to be done for each room in the house for it to be considered finished. This may entail framing window, painting existing projects, or building pieces for the room (like the barn door Gil built). The foyer is complete except for the baseboards which are waiting on floor staining and sealing. Our current room where we’re working is the living room. Having completed the built-in bookcases, we’re now sealing the walls around those and securing the electrical wiring. Next comes the big job of drywalling and paneling the vaulted ceiling over our dining area which shares the living room space. Whew! As a way to have some income coming in to offset the funds going out, we registered as a Hipcamp facility. Hipcamp is like AirBnB for camping. Since registering, we’ve had a succession of great campers come out and enjoy the sites we cleared along our creekside. They sign up with Hipcamp online and the service lets us know when they’ll be coming out and which sites they prefer. Most of our campers have gotten a dozen farm fresh eggs to take home as well. We’ve enjoyed the interaction (at a distance) and the campers have hiked our trails, played in the creek, and fed/interacted our livestock. It’s been a win/win scenario of everyone! 
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AuthorHusband, father, missionary, farmer, and nerd. Archives
November 2021
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