Back to the beginning..Farm purchase fell apart!!

Yesterday was a really bad day. We received a phone call from the Real Estate Agent letting us know that the purchase that we have been waiting on has fallen apart. The acreage that we had truly fallen in love with will not be sold.

The Attorney that was working on the title search for us did some amazing work, but because of the age of the seller, and her family history there was very little documentation on past owners and possible heirs. They worked on this for almost 2 months to get us to a closing date. They utilized Ancestry.com and all kinds of other resources…they just couldn’t clear it up.

So…..that puts us back to the beginning of our journey, back to the search portion. It was really frustrating and disappointing. We both just spent the day in a foul mood and wanting to cry.

We’ll get where we are meant to be, of that we have no doubt. It’s going to take a little longer and a little more work, but we don’t give up. We’ve gone back to searching again for another parcel that we can buy…to find someone that wants our money. We will find it. The one that is meant for us will come along, and then it will be ours.

Meanwhile, we just keep working on our business and improving our selection and availability of wonderful hand made gifts.

Maria is a genius at sewing all sorts of items for gifts and practical use, even the practical use items are beautiful! I have been working a ton on a bunch of metal items. Keeping with my normal Blacksmithing and trying out some lost wax casting of brass. The brass hasn’t gone too well so far, but practice, practice, practice…

We’ve also applied for a small business grant through FedEx, they have created a series of grants for small business. If you are reading this, we’d appreciate your vote. There is no kind of sales obligation or cost to vote, We’d just really appreciate it, so that we can upgrade some equipment and streamline some processes.

http://smallbusinessgrant.fedex.com/Banner/Index/3158fd41-6892-48bb-8239-272459dce00e

http://smallbusinessgrant.fedex.com/Gallery/Detail/3158fd41-6892-48bb-8239-272459dce00e/?cmp=EMT-1003335-5-1-200-1111110-US-US-EN-SBGCENTRYAPPROV&ET_CID=29647&ET_RID=16673306&LINK=explore_center

Thank you to everyone who has read our blog so far. The journey continues as we continue to fight for our dream. Please vote on the FedEx grant contest, and feel free to share our link for it to anyone and everyone you know!!!

And always remember that if you are looking for wonderful hand made sewn or blacksmith items visit us: http://www.noharminfarmin.com  or https://www.etsy.com/shop/NoHarmInFarmin

If you don’t see exactly what you are looking for, please contact us and we’d be happy to make something custom for you. We hope that you all have a wonderful week.

Holding pattern for closing..trying to keep busy.

We were originally scheduled to close on the farm land last Wednesday. We were super excited and ready to get to work. I spent a lot of time sharpening tools and prepping everything we needed to get cracking with it. We had a 3 day weekend and figured we could be there all 3 days and really start to get things lined up.

But then….I checked in with the Attorney’s office on Wednesday and there was a problem.  They were trying to finish up the title search and realized that they had information that there had been a survey done in 1993, but the could not find it. It was not filed with the county, and they had no hard copy of it. Now we are waiting to see when another survey will be completed. That really put a damper on that 3 day weekend. We are a little disappointed that things got delayed, but at the same time we are impressed with the Attorney, they told us that anytime they complete a title search that they want it to be absolutely correct, and complete. That part was really reassuring. So, now what? Now what do we do to keep busy?

Maria and I have an online shop where we sell hand made gifts of all sorts. We have some crafting tendencies. We have to be working on something, making something, creating something…so that’s what we did. We worked on a few new projects this weekend to help keep our shop stocked and to keep occupied while we wait for our dream land purchase to be completed..

Maria has been making her own tie dyed fabric for a while now. She used some of that fabric to make several new bags. Wine bags, totes, and such. That material also makes some really cool journal/ notebook covers. She really is a genius.

I kept the forge running as much as I could. I finished up the knife pictured and got it listed. I have been working with metal for quite a while now, but have avoided making pattern welded (Damascus) steel. The thought of repeated making forge welds and shaping, and reshaping the same piece of metal just didn’t appeal to me much. I decided to try my hand at a high layer numbered piece. I have made a few with 14-20 layers. The wavy patterns were pretty cool, but I decided to shoot for 300+ layers.

I’ve been looking at the requirements to become certified by the American Bladesmith Society. The requirements and process to become first a Journeyman Bladesmith, and then a Master Bladesmith are really extensive. It will take several years to become certified. One of the requirements to become a Master Bladesmith is to create a blade with a minimum of 300 layers of Damascus…so I figured, why not give it a try!

It is very labor intensive, and can be quite fickle to make sure that those forge welds are done correctly, but WOW!! I even impressed myself some. The pattern of the different layers is absolutely amazing. The interesting thing I realized is that people see what they love in the pattern and it’s different for each person. I see the intricacies of the metal, Maria sees flowing water, and a friend of ours that does wood carving saw a wood grain pattern..how strange is it that everyone sees something different?

I’ve let this post run on a bit long. I can talk about Blacksmithing/ Bladesmithing for hours, LOL..

If you are interested in checking out our other creations, please feel free to visit our Etsy Shop:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/NoHarmInFarmin

Or our website that is still connected to our Etsy shop: http://www.noharminfarmin.com

All the proceeds from our shop are going toward the farm, with the hopes that we can fulfill our dream of being self supporting and feeding the needy with all of our surplus produce. Thanks for reading, and we hope that you have a wonderful day!

1 more day till closing: Dog wheelchairs and taking care of family.

It has become an emotional week for us. We have 1 more day to wait before the scheduled closing date on the farm. We are anxious and have been pacing for over a week. This purchase of the land for our homestead farm has been a dream that we have had and have worked towards for a few years now. The really hard part is that things don’t always go smoothly and life tends to throw some challenges at you. We believe that how you work through those challenges and how you come out on the other side is what matters.

Our little buddy, Fletcher, had an injury a few years ago that caused him to completely loose the use of his back legs. We thought that at that time he would never walk normally again. The vet said that the only chance he would have to walk again without surgery is if we made him stay in crate and not jump, or play, or pretty much do anything for a month or more. The vet said that he may or may not recover. We kept him crated when we weren’t home and watched him like a hawk when we were. He was miserable. When he needed to go outside we had to carry him, and to help him “go to the bathroom” we had to hold him up and push on strategic areas of his abdomen to cause him to go. And then, somehow he started to get some movement back in his legs. He started with little twitches, then he would flex and move his legs. Before long he was up and walking, and then running just as fast as he ever had. He was always fast, and he just got back into it.

Just a day or so ago we noticed that he was becoming very unsteady on those back legs again. He has been wobbling and falling down.  This is where the emotion came in.  Fletcher is 12 years old.  Normally, you would think that a 12 year old dog who can’t walk would be a prime candidate for euthanasia. But, we just couldn’t. He doesn’t have any other age related problems. His vision, hearing, appetite, mental sharpness are all really great. It’s just those two legs…and besides…he’s family.

As we entered into the final countdown to the dream farm, we just couldn’t start this without him. We know that he won’t last forever, but we just couldn’t start it without our little buddy. So, after a lot of worrying and tears today, we decided that we were going to get him a wheel chair. We’ve ordered one (a cool camo color of course!) and it should arrive before this weekend when we plan on being in the woods, on our land for the first weekend ever. Enough time to receive it and let him start to get used to it.

We knew it wasn’t time, he is full of piss and vinegar, and you can tell that he’s got a lot of life left to live. He just needs a little assistance. Just as we all do from time to time. Family is important to us, and Fletcher is family. He gets to enjoy the farm, just like we do because it’s his farm too.

 

Count down to closing…3 days!! Sharpening tools and being grateful.

As we get closer and closer to the closing date and knowing that this dream property will actually be ours, I’ve had some time to reflect.

Through life things sometimes (ok, most times) seem really hard and pointless. It seems that the harder you work the worse things get. But, then…somehow, someway, things start to fall into place.

That’s really how things are happening now. We had a good amount of debt a few years ago. We gained this debt by a couple of mistakes and some unfortunate incidents. We worked to eliminate that debt and starting saving. It seemed like we were swimming up stream and really weren’t getting anywhere. Then things started to climb. We were able to save some and build that nest egg. So it feels good, and feels right when things start to smooth out.

We are truly grateful for all that we have. We are grateful for each other, our health, the opportunities we’ve been given. This purchase of our farm land is one more great opportunity that we have been given and we could not be happier.

As I’ve been reflecting, I’ve also been getting ready. That brings us to the sharpening tools bit of this post.

I have sharpened, and polished, and prepped just about every tool we have to get ready for this incredible journey.  There really is something to being able to just work and let your mind wander into itself and learn things. I think that sometimes people need that. They need to be able to have time to just “mindlessly” work on something with their hands and allow their mind to wander to abstract things. I think that it helps keep you from becoming stressed over everyday, mundane things. We both still have our day jobs, and our Esty shop to run. Those things can be stressful, I think if we are able to just work and allow our minds to wander we will feel better more often.

It’s now, when we have 3 days left before the closing date on the property, that all the tools are sharpened, the truck windshield has been cleaned (don’t ask me why I felt that was necessary, LOL) and we are just waiting…waiting…waiting… that we are given yet another opportunity. The opportunity to be grateful, and thankful for what we have gained, and what we are soon going to be able to do. We hope that anyone reading this has a beautiful day. Find your way to let your mind wander today, you never know what you might learn.

By the way, if you noticed that we skipped from Day 5 to Day 3 of our countdown then you are wicked smart. We skipped Day 4 because, well, there just wasn’t a lot going on except waiting.

 

As always, be sure to come visit us in our online shop at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/NoHarmInFarmin

When you need a unique, hand made gift…we’ve got you covered!

Count down to Closing…5 days!! Also known as the joy of wheelbarrow.

As we get closer and closer to the actual closing date on the property of our dreams, we find that it’s like waiting for Christmas morning. We are now a little restless and anxious.  We have been spending the last few days working on the tools and supplies we are going to need for the first big weekend of work.

The majority of the tools that we are initially going to need to clear the area for the house, barn, and garden have been acquired over the last few years. A good number of those themselves have been made in our Blacksmith shop. There is a great satisfaction in working your own land, with tools that you have created.

I’ve made a couple of axes, machetes, and some interesting stump pulling mechanisms, but the one thing I couldn’t make with any financial savings is a wheelbarrow. We obviously will need one, and decided to go buy one. Who knew that buying a wheelbarrow could be so much fun!!

As we shopped and looked around we found plenty of your standard, one wheeled barrows that were not that exciting….these generally went for about $100. BUT THEN…we see this beast of a job that has 2 wheels..super steady and a huge tub on it..for only $20 dollars more!!! So, of course we had to get the high speed, low drag one..

Now, while that doesn’t seem all that exciting in itself, it got a little better. Once we got it home we decided that we each needed a ride in it. Yes, in case you are wondering, we are a couple of big kids. This is a big part of our learning to just “BE”. Too many people are worried about appearances, and how they will be perceived. We love to just be, just be in the moment. We like to find the joy, and the fun in anything we are doing. On this day it was a wheelbarrow ride.

We hope that each and everyone out there finds their wheelbarrow ride today. Find joy in what you are doing and embrace the beauty of the world.

 

Remember, if you are looking for a wonderful, handmade gift please visit us at our Etsy shop….https://www.etsy.com/shop/NoHarmInFarmin

Beginning the Journey.

Hey everybody, and welcome to our new blog.  In this blog we will be documenting and following along our journey from working regular “day” jobs, and renting a house in a city to owning our own land and farming for self sustenance and to be able to give back to the world.

Our ultimate plan is to grow our own food, and to donate all of our surplus fruits and vegetables to the needy. We could not afford to buy an established farm and jump into this project wide open, so we are starting small and building from there. Much in the same manner as the pioneers and settlers before us.

A few years ago we decided that we could, and should do more good in the world. We also figured that if more people did at least one nice thing, then the world would gradually  become a more habitable and loving place. To that end, we want to feed people.

Neither one of us really are the normal “health nut” kind of people. We both grew up on the processed foods that have become the norm. But, within the last few years we started to eat a little healthier, just real food. We eat meat, and vegetables, and fruit, but we try to avoid the processed, packaged meal type of food. What we found from that was when we did eat better, we felt better. When we felt better we were happier and more productive as people.

So, with that knowledge and the desire to be in nature, we started to think about how we can pass this on to others. We started to think about a farm and that seemed to be the answer.

Here comes the problem and it’s probably a common problem for most folks…..the funds!! How in the world were we going to afford a farm when we both work civil service jobs and don’t make a ton of money? We sat down and figured out a plan that seemed to work. We scrimped and saved and worked to get ourselves almost completely debt free. We paid off credit cards and loans as quick as we could. We then started to save. We put a few dollars back here and there to build up some capital. We even started a Gofundme account, but we didn’t promote that much because we just felt that this should be earned and not given.

To help solve the problem of funding this project, we took our everyday hobby skills and started an online shop on Etsy.com. And while we haven’t been wildly successful, or made millions, we have definitely added to our savings and created a secondary business that will also help to fund our endeavors well into the future.

By creating well made, unique, hand made gifts from fabric, wood, and metal we have been able to express our creative side. It’s a pure joy to know that people around the world are viewing and buying our creations. It’s humbling, really it is.

So, once the funds started to build, we then began the biggest Easter egg hunt in the world…finding that perfect (for us) parcel of land that will work for us. We have spent countless hours searching, online, and in person to find that piece of land that feels like and will be “Home”. In April of this year we found it… Over the course of this month we will spend some time to get our readers up to speed with where we are now from the very beginning and then we will document through writing and photos, the beautiful journey that we have embarked on. We hope that you all join us for this journey and enjoy it vicariously through us.

Thank you for reading, and we hope that each and everyone of you has a wonderful day!

And if you happen to be in the market for some outstanding, beautifully crafted gift ideas come visit us on Etsy.com

https://www.etsy.com/shop/NoHarmInFarmin