The Zoo over Ambuscade Street

I made a decision last night.

My house is situated on 11 acres, which appear to have been clearcut (but not cleared) about three years ago. With the looming threat of dollar instability, I need to do something to prepare for the future, now, not three or five years from now, which was the original plan.

Within one calendar year, I want to be able to qualify as a farm for tax purposes. Right now I don't know what the Virginia thresholds for acreage, sales, etc are, or if you need a business license, what to do about sales tax, etc, so I've got a good amount of research to do.

The weather's finally improved to the point where we can get my father-in-law out with the bobcats to clear out some of the land and get rid of the nasty snake-infested wood piles that have been sitting there for at least three years. Once we start getting the land cleared, I can put up a 20x20 (or larger, I'm undecided) chain link fence (to keep out deer) and start a decent vegetable garden.

We'll work on fencing in the back 7-8 acres, quartering it off, and planting clover (with a good mix of wildflowers outside the fence, along the edge of the road, and other places on our property), which will give us the necessary infrastructure for both the planned 2-6 alpacas with attack llama, and at least one bee hive. The bee hive won't happen this year - next year at the earliest, and the alpacas are farther off than that (About $1500-3000 for two alpacas, plus the guard llama).

Once the hive is in place we'll be able to jar honey (note to self: kidnap mom's canning equipment, it looks like I'll need it more than she will, and I don't think she's used it for at least eight years) and, if he ever gets started on it, we'll be able to use our own honey for Erik's mead. A meadery really doesn't take up much room, so if things work out we'll be able to scale up, and perhaps even sell commercially. If Erik doesn't start up the mead, I just might, because the idea really appeals to me.

Once we get the alpacas, we'll be able to sell the wool each year. I'll need to learn to spin, but that's not really all that difficult. I can sell the yarn dyed (I took an entire college course on it, after all) or undyed - either way, that's going to fairly easy overall.

The hard parts are going to be the up-front costs for the livestock, the apiary supplies and bees, and general maintenance. Lots of work - Erik's going to have to be less lazy if he wants this to work, since he gets half the month off. I need to be less lazy, too, but I don't have as much time off as he does. If we start pimping out Spur I'd like to dump the stud fees into a separate account and use that to fund livestock purchases.

We'll need a truck and trailer. This annoys me. Right now, we can keep depending on family, but that's not sustainable long-term. It doesn't have to be a new (or even gently used) truck, just one that we can use to haul around animals. However, we don't need a truck and trailer this year. Or, possibly, next. Maybe Grandpa Richard will sell us his for cheap, since he doesn't use it...

You know, at one point my mother fully expcted me to move to DC and live happily in a large city. I live to defy expectations, although I never anticipated having a farm. This could be fun!