God's Little (half) Acre

We have staked our claim and started a compost pile....yippee yahoo!  We went out to Ann's property about 2 weeks ago to measure out and position the 1/2 acre she is letting us cultivate for our garden/sharecropping project.

  It is so nice that she is excited about it too, actually had us move the garden closer to her house than we had originally planned.  And we are getting a bit more than 1/2 an acre....the garden will be 150x180ft. or 27,ooo sq. ft. (22,000 is half an acre).   Wow... that seems like a lot. 


Here is Steve staking the back left corner of the garden.... take a look at the panels on the red barn...

....we SO have solar envy :)

The dirt has not supported life for several years but was a plum orchard originally.  It will take a bit of amending and probably a few years to get the enriched soil we want. 




This is the front left corner, nearest the house, where the entry gate will eventually be.  Ann's property  extends to the trees, which are hers....she left them to provide a privacy barrier between her property and the neighbors.
 


Same corner looking towards house.  This house was originally in town and was going to be destroyed....Ann bought it and had it moved a mile and a half out to her property.

The official beginning of our farm project...aka Suburban Sharecroppers came this last week when we emptied all our leaves from the house to begin the process of composting.  Most probably we will be using this compost for the fall '09 garden....we don't think it will be ready by spring (especially since we won't be turning it).

The property is really beautiful, nice view of the Sierras and farmland on all sides. You can see the orange grove behind the truck Steve is emptying (which is for sale by the way :)