170+ year old farm house
trooper4985
17 years ago
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mag77
17 years agochisue
17 years agoRelated Discussions
might build a home on old horse farm - lawn planting questions...
Comments (4)Livestock do not damage soil. Lack of livestock damages soil by stopping the nutrient cycle, allowing weeds to move in, and by not providing enough disturbance. Most tree huggers and even many ranchers do not understand that disturbance of the soil is a necessary requirement for continual renewal of the soil. It is required at least annually to keep a pasture in good condition for grazing. I would be much more concerned about the prolonged lack of animals than any possibility that a horse, or even a large herd of horses, might damage the soil. Livestock grazing and even stampeding is one of the best things you can do to plant seed. Mother Nature uses that as Her preferred method for replanting the prairies of the world. Farmers are learning the method, too. One rancher here in Texas borrowed a neighbor's 800 head of cattle to eat down an overgrown pasture of about 50 acres. If you know anything about cattle, it took about 24 hours before the land looked like the surface of the moon. Every plant was gone either eaten down or trampled down. He didn't do anything else and the grass started growing immediately. The next season started out with an abundance of fresh grass where once stood a mess of grass and browse. But anyway, if you do not have a ready supply of livestock located conveniently on the other side of one of your fences, then you will need some equipment to grade for your house and then regrade, after the builders leave, for your garden. The tool the graders will use is called a box blade and it sits on the back of a tractor. A good grader could grade 4 acres of pastureland in a morning if there are no obstacles. If there are buildings, concrete, sprinklers, roots, or other things in the way, it could take as long as 2 days to get the last details. Rule of thumb for trees: the roots will extend to the edge of the tree canopy. Some smaller roots may continue beyond the edge of the canopy. Do not turn the soil over. Mother Nature never turns the soil over. That is the worst thing you can do in preparation for anything you have planned. Definitely don't do it for under the house, and don't do it for the lawn. The box blade is all you need. If the driver feels the need to use the ripper bars on the box blade, at least that tool is under control. Other tools that dig or till the soil will cause an increasing bumpiness problem for three years. After that the soil will have settled and you can level it. Thank you for writing before you made any mistakes....See MoreShould Old Farm, Farm Table Be Finished?
Comments (6)Hello, All. Thanks for responding. I'm old and have a tough time letting go of things I've had or been around for years and years. It does help me to keep in mind that someone else might enjoy using and/or finishing it. For whatever its worth I call it the "knee buster", among other selected words. The table 29" high. The band that goes around the table is 6" high. That allows only 23" for the knee area. I guess you know why I call it that. Regards, Gene...See MoreNeed to replace HVAC in an old farm house: gas, geo, or electric?
Comments (1)I work for a geothermal air conditioning company in Florida and I would highly recommend the product. They can easily be retrofitted into older homes and will probably take up much less space than your current unit. They also are quieter, have better humidity control, cut the electric bill in half, and more. Also, there is a 30% tax credit based on the installed cost of a geothermal system, so when you couple that with the energy savings you actually will start making money off of it after about 5 years. Best of luck to you! Here is a link that might be useful: Egg Geothermal Systems...See MoreKitchen Help for 95 Year Old Farm House
Comments (6)What you want sounds like an unfitted or evolved kitchen. I would recommend Johnny Grey as well for ideas. I found his books to be very helpful. You won't have to tear everything out of your grandmother's kitchen to start again, if you don't want to. Johnny Grey's aunt was cooking writer Elizabeth David. Her kitchen, which he shows in one of his books, is a real inspiration. We live in an 1850's farmhouse and I decided I wanted a functional kitchen that looked like it had been collected by us and the previous owners sometime during the lifespan of the house. We have some separate pieces and some fixed cabinetry, some antiques, some reproductions, some old favourites from previous kitchens, some built or adapted for this one. We hid the DW and fridge behind cabinet panels and used a Heartland Legacy stove that looks like it is out of the 1940's. We used some paint and some natural pine for the cabinets, some wood and some soapstone for counters. We opened part of the wall into the family room to allow in more light. Between the two rooms we removed and reinstalled the old wainscotting under the breakfast bar. We created new wainscotting in the same style for the backsplashes and the raised cabinet beside the stove. Here are some thumbnails from our kitchen, click on them to see enlargements:...See Moremag77
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