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Moved w/ Update, Some Pics

mytfarms

mytfarms

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 8, 2008
Messages
1,488
Location
Where I Am
Hello Ranchers family.

The Mrs. MYT and I have turned loose rather grudgingly of our growing Texas roots to return to the windswept, high plains of Eastern Colorado where MYT got his start.

We are fixing up an old ranch house that is older than the both of us added together times 3. Formerly a bunkhouse and later added onto for larger accommodations, it sits in a nice little wet valley where my folks keep penned stock and hay on leased ground. Neat old headquarters surround us and have me excited for new projects. We recently added its very first sewer system and are nearly finished renovating the interior. Pictures of that project to follow.

The Mrs. is working in town with a travel agency planning destination weddings and romantic getaways to Mexico and such warm, watery destinations. I, like always, prefer to be home growing or raising something. Cows are still the main item, I've added back some chickens, and am looking to expand poultry operations to include game birds and other fowl. Also attempting to sell pork and beef to my town neighbors if the business kickstart and expansion permits. Experience on those matters is always welcome to be shared.

I also am looking about for some law experience given my proclivity to large words, political conundrums, and somewhat argumentative personality. Surely the world could use another honest lawyer, if those ranks indeed exist. In the meantime, enjoy a few meager photographs and look for more to follow.

A photo taken by Mrs. MYT of Mr. MYT and a fine little Angus cow over alfalfa this morning.


Pikes Peak upon sundown.


A daylight view from the machine barn at Ma and Pa's homestead.


Bulls enjoying a bit of hay in the yard.


Our elderly neighbor who is a former rancher and backhoe aficionado. He came to dig the septic.


The front of our new abode.


Fresh carpet throughout the joint. My first solo carpet installation experience. Much ventured, a decent floor gained.


Finally, Mrs. MYT working on her "farmhouse cabinet" project. Upon a fresh finish and new hardware, they should look rather charming. Mr. MYT's new fake wood flooring project is underfoot.


More to follow in the near future!
 
Well done young man. Congratulations to you both. As for marketing, we've always found farmers markets and other public venues are the gateway drug to get people to know you, like your food products and trust you as "their farmer". Once you have that relationship you want to get them on email lists as soon as possible. It saves you tons of time when you can send one blanket email to hundreds or thousands of customers letting them know weekly or monthly what you have for sale, where you're going to be delivering, etc, etc. Some great videos to watch are by Charlotte Smith of 3 Cow Marketing. She has a raw milk dairy in Oregon and markets beef, chicken and eggs to her milk clients. She's very good at marketing with lots of advice, tips and tricks. Best of luck
 
You will never forget your first home, even if you wind up in a mansion later. When you put your blood, sweat and tears into something, you just always remember it fondly. My parents fixed up a chicken house as their first home and they never forgot that. I look back and some of our best memories are of the old ranch house we lived in. The first winter, I lived in the kitchen with my baby daughter because the rest of the old house was so cold. We fixed it up so we didn't have to do that again, but I so well remember that time. I firmly believe when you are making your first home, it is the best of times.

Good luck to you; I have no doubt you will do well.
 
Thank you all for the kind words, they are much appreciated. PC, I will do some internet searching on that outfit and see what learnin' I can pick up.

We have really enjoyed the housing project. As it ought to be, I took care of the big tearing apart and cleaning up, and the Mrs. is putting the woman's touch on things. Dad volunteered a great deal of time to the foundation and insulating walls and ceiling. Soon I will have a photo of our roaring kitchen stove. I believe it is a pre Depression era piece of cast iron built in Colorado Springs. Neat history in that little shack. That sucker really puts some heat on the place. I believe dimensions are 11 feet 6 inches wide, with about 2 inches of variation either side of that measurement, and 35 feet long. Plenty room for us two!
 
Best wishes for great success in your exciting new venture, Mr. and Mrs. MYT! Looks as if you stirred up memories of early married life for some of us on this site. The photo's of your scenery with that mountain off in the distance to greet you each day, and returning to familiar and historic buildings, with the opportunity to breathe new life into an old house being the 'icing on the cake'.

You stirred memories of our first home (1957) which had started life as two claim shacks which served families during the Homestead Era, which was about 1907 in this area. Luckily for us, they were larger than most, at about 12' by 18' feet. Put together end to end, with a 7' wide addition put along each side. A tiny bedroom was on one end of the front and the rest was a screened porch covered in vines. On the back was the kitchen, also 7'feet wide. There was a sink on a tiny cabinet at the end, and a door to a small back porch to fill out the rest of the length. One of the big rooms was a bedroom and the other was the living room. It had been used as granaries to store various feeds at some point in the history. My inlaws lived in it when they were married about 1930, and hired men had lived in it in between, as the inlaws had moved to town for school. When we moved in, there were very worn linoleums on the floors, wall paper on the walls AND the ceilings! Can't believe my 4' 8 mil was able to put wall paper on the walls, let alone the ceiling! I papered the walls a couple of times, then we had a friend coat them with a light plaster and painted. We had no running water, but did have a good cistern. Used a big wood burning parlor stove the first year, and had wonder of wonders, an electric kitchen range with a two burner wood stove on one end. That kept a small area of the kitchen almost warm! We got a propane space heater a year and a half later when our first child was scheduled to arrive in mid-Dec. With very limited insulation in the walls, it was always a challenge to heat, but we got by for a couple of years. Then my inlaws added a small basement, running water, furnace, and a new kitchen. It was wonderful to have running water for our second baby's six month birthday! We still lived in the old, cold house for a couple more years, then added a new house on the other side of the kitchen, later tearing down the homesteader house and a son built our present living room on that side of the kitchen. It seemed like it took forever, and now it seems so long ago and time flew! We will celebrate our 60th anniv. in May, and our four kids are getting OLD!!!

So, long story to tell you we did similar to what you are doing now, over a few years of improving things. Made some mistakes, but that is life. The quality of linoleum improved and made our floors much warmer, as it had a thin layer of foam , and refinishing old furniture found at local sales was fun, if hard work. We had some decent ancient wood floors and put that wood down in our 'porch' which serves sometimes as extra dining space, but mostly as pass through from garage to kitchen. I still have old furniture I'd like to refinish, but arthritic fingers sure don't want to do it!!! We did work together some on improvements, but I seemed to have more 'spare' time, not to mention patience. Still have some very inexpensive floor tiles I put down on our main bathroom ten years ago! It really needs to go, but doesn't look too bad. The bad thing about an old house,is after 50+ years most things need replaced! I do wish we could have salvaged the 'original house' but it was just too poorly built out of very poor quality wood and had rotted out underneath, being built barely above the soil. I think the guys were able to use some of the old wood for patching up some old out buildings, but it was a patch job from the start and at some point one has to decide not to put money into a lost cause.

Sure like your 'wood' floor. It will serve you well if it is anything like my 'fake' southwestern style tiles on dining room and kitchen floors. I did have that done professionally and don't regret it one bit. In fact, I'd like to replace some perfectly good carpet in the living room with something similar that would look like some of the slate on the fireplace. I also like your wifes' cabinet, so roomy! I skimped too much on that in my kitchen and it was a mistake, as I have to search out kettles and pans not used daily in a couple of other rooms. Takes time away from cooking. If Mrs. MYT is looking for ideas, I've been told Pinterest has lots of them! One of our grand dau-in-law has made lots of furnishings for their home from pallet wood, something in great supply on this ranch! She's made a couple of bench and boot bench/coat hook things for their girls, and a very nice fireplace surround for a little electric faux fireplace, which looks very real, heats the room a bit, and cost very little.

The two of you are not the only young people working on old houses to live in, either. One of our grandsons and his wife are embarked on a big job, and so is one of his friends. They have helped one another a time or two lately, mostly in the demolition and hauling out process. Our kids have a carpenter to help as it is a difficult situation and some carpentry puzzles to solve, but they are young and energetic, tho both do have full time jobs, so life is interesting!!!

Again, best wishes and Blessings on your efforts. Both in the house and with the decisions of new crops and direct sales.

mrj
 
FH, as you know, we millennials expect a rancher with basement upon graduation, so this is such a shock to our system! :wink:
Actually, the little place is in dang good shape considering and we're tickled to have it so cheap.

MRJ, awesome to hear the old stories! Time sure does seem to fly the further into life that I get. We are getting real close to buttoning up the project and getting settled in for a while. Then on to other projects!
 

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