The past couple months have been a whirlwind of selling the house and buying our farm. The only word that comes to mind at the moment to describe that whole process is 'nightmare', but within the realm of possible realities everything went rather well. Ah, oh, except for the discovery of the crack in the chimney in our Ham lake home 2 days before closing, or the detection of carbon monoxide at the farm (from the old water softener) and some other annoyances. I could go on, but considering that the deal could have fallen through altogether we are just happy to be settled in our new home.We have a cozy little 1600 sq ft farm house (1925) with three bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The beauty of these 30 acres is the proximity of all of the outbuildings to the house and the number of buildings in excellent condition. The hoop barn has a new roof, has electricity and running water, and is big enough for a small homesteader such as myself. The pasture is set up with electric fencing and the 10 acres of woods is a short walk from the pasture. I'll be able to harvest wood for heating the house during the winter. The house has a dual heating system, one being the wood boiler and the other propane.
We live 7 minutes from Arlington and 4 minutes from Gaylord. Ironically, we are now closer to town living here in the country than we were to shopping areas in suburban Ham Lake where it would take us 10-15 minutes to get anywhere!
The above photo shows our farm from a distance. It looks rather bleak but we are tucked away in our wooded wind block. Our driveway is a quarter of a mile long (below) and I will have to plow this during the winter! I've already named the plow truck "ball and chain" and will undoubtably write some blogs on the subject in the near future.
We've had a recent snow covering but so far I haven't had to get out the Ball'nChain. When I bought the farm I purchased the owner's 1974 Ford truck with a snow plow on the front. It has chains on the tires and doesn't have any heat but it starts and runs good enough to push snow off of the driveway all winter.
Below is a photo of the chicken house which is located right next to the "tool shed". The chickens are already making themselves at home here and enjoying unhindered access to the pasture and grass. 
The lights and heating lamps are all ready to go. My friend Jennifer gave me one of her young laying hens so I'll have some eggs this winter. The other old girls are not in the mood for producing eggs anymore. Hmmm... anyone for chicken soup!
We have become well acquainted with the resident barn cat, Mathias. He has access to the milk room from a small opening in the wall. He is very friendly and we are trying to figure out how to make him a house cat without making Jota a raving, lunatic beast! All we need for that is for Mathias to give him a clawed mouthful and I think our Dane will turn into a wimp.
