July 2019 | Crazy Farm Living

Welcome to Crazy Farm Living

by Anne D'Alessandro | Jul 24, 2019 | About Us, Farm Videos

A personal WELCOME to our Crazy Farm Living story!

(and yes, this is my first, very amateur, video….)

Thank you for joining us on this journey of farm revitalization!

I love a good story and I love to watch a good storyteller express themselves. It’s so intriguing to watch someone’s face come alive when they tell a story. It’s entertaining to see if they use their hands or their facial expressions to create a picture of their journey and to bring their story to life.

My Dad was a good storyteller. You could never tell if he was sharing a true story or a made up one and I am pretty confident that he embellished on most of his story details. (Do you know someone like that?) I guess that’s what made his stories so entertaining, not knowing what was real or make-believe.

When we decided to start Crazy Farm Living I really struggled with coming up with a purpose.

Why were we going to do this? What was the point?

Sometimes though… our ideas don’t have to have a money-making, life altering purpose. Sometimes they can just be about enjoying the journey and sharing the story.

So, Crazy Farm Living is intended to capture our story. It captures things that I would have wanted to put in a journal for our kids and it tells the story of our farm life and the progress we’re making.

Plus, I think this plan is WAY better than using a journal! This way our future grandkids and family get to know about the challenges and rewards of farming through our posts, videos and live action clips. Instead of only one person having the story in a book and gleaning from it, everyone does. In short, the blog and website, well it allows us to capture this journey and save it for our next generation of crazy farmers.

Please join us, learn with us, and grow with us as we create our family story about the transition from suburbanites to functional farmers. (Or maybe we’ll just end up as happier and more relaxed suburbanites. 🙂 )

~Anne

Check out our About Us page to learn more about our story.

Share with us:

What’s your family story?
How do you plan to pass it down to the next generation, or do you?

We would like to hear what others are doing too.

Don’t forget to join our newsletter

to hear about our latest projects, trials and successes as we begin the journey of Crazy Farm Living!

How to make a Gravity Fed Water Barrel for less than $20 dollars

by Anne D'Alessandro | Jul 17, 2019 | Farm Equipment, Farm Tips

DIY Water Barrel

Back in the fall, we planted 20 crepe myrtles near the driveway entrance to add some color to the farm, but since it’s summer the soil is really drying up around the trees. So we decided that the crepe myrtles needed a little TLC in order to survive.

Now our crepe myrtles are located at the front of the property, which is about 2000 feet from the house. So, we needed to come up with a way to water the trees after putting down the fresh soil. And yes…we considered hooking a bunch of hoses together, but that was definitely NOT going to work!

That’s when we decided to make a Gravity Fed Water Barrel!

Our project started with a trip to Home Depot for some supplies. We loaded up on 10 large bags of top soil with the intent of putting about half the bag around each plant. (We spent a few dollars more on the water retaining top soil in hopes that it will help to sustain the trees better through the hot summer months.) After placing the bags of soil around the yard and front entrance, it was time to assemble the water barrel because these trees desperately needed some water!

Here’s what we used to make the water barrel;

Supplies:

3/4″ Hose Barb Adapter
10 ft 1/2“ Clear Vinyl Tubing
3/4 “ 90 Degree PVC Threaded Elbow
1” Spade Drill Bit

And lastly….

A 30-32 Gallon Trash Can with Lid which we picked up for only $10 at Walmart

Total cost – Less than $20!

3/4″ Hose Barb Adapter

10 ft 1/2″ Clear Vinyl Tubing

3/4″ 90 Degree PVC Threaded Elbow

1″ Spade Drill Bit

30-32 Gallon Trash Can with Lid

Next – It’s time to assemble everything. The assembly of the water barrel only takes a few minutes….like 15 minutes tops.

Assembly:

Use the spade drill bit to cut a hole in to the trash can. It needs to be located close to the bottom of the barrel in order to get the maximum usage out of the water barrel.
Insert the ¾” hose barb adapter to the front of the can and fitting it right in to the hole that was just drilled.
On the inside of the trash can, screw the PVC elbow on to the hose barb adapter with the elbow placed sideways. Tighten as much as you can so that it provides a nice seal.

**Note: Our seal wasn’t perfect. Our can dripped about 2 tablespoons of water which wasn’t a big deal for us. If you need it watertight, then I suggest adding a gasket or using some sealant to really secure the valve in place and make it watertight.

Add the hose to the hose barb adapter on the front of the can and then you’re ready to fill it with water. (You can also add a clip if you need the hose to seal off.)

We decided it would be easier to put the trash can in the back of the truck and then drive from tree to tree to ‘water’ them. So we filled up the can with water at the house and then drove our water barrel around. Super easy way to water a bunch of plants that are spread out!

The entire assembly process and filling the water barrel only took 30 minutes, and that included clean up.

From that point, it was all about getting the watering done. We drove the truck to a tree, watered it and then moved on to the next one. In another 30 minutes or so, we had all the trees watered and we had a reusable watering barrel on top of it. Success!!

Here’s our DIY watering barrel in action

Once the barrel was empty and all of the trees were properly watered ….it started to RAIN. (sigh)

That’s Crazy Farm Living for you! 🙂

~Anne & Frank

Join our newsletter

to hear about our latest projects, trials and successes as we begin the journey of Crazy Farm Living!

What is THAT spider?!

by Anne D'Alessandro | Jul 15, 2019 | What is THAT?

What type of spider do you think THAT is?

Ohhh my goodness!! There are so many bugs out in nature. It gives me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it!

This spider was hanging from the eaves of the house. At least I think he’s a spider! I’ve never seen one this enormous. When you included the length of his legs, he was about 4″ tall!

We couldn’t get very close, nor did I want to, but you can see that he was not the kind of spider that you want crawling under your house.

The good news…he was catching all kinds of insects in his web. So, yeah for spiders that eat other bugs.

Do you think it’s a FRIEND (aka: circle of life kind of good) or a FOE (aka: that’s going to HURT when he bites you) kind of spider?

Let us know what crosses your mind when you see this spider!

Stay tuned for more unbelievable looking insects as we clean up around the farm.

Our newest addition to the family!

by Anne D'Alessandro | Jul 3, 2019 | Farm Animals

Since it’s time for a Whimsical Wednesday post…it’s only fitting to share some fun happenings in our life. (drum roll please…..)

I am so excited to officially announce our newest family member – Tabatha!

I have been wanting a new little kitten for a while now. Our white and gray grandpa kitty (Jax, which is short for Cracker Jack) has seen better days . He is getting REALLY old (13 years) and I know it’s only a matter of time before we will have to say goodbye.

So in preparation for that loss, I have been pondering the idea of getting an orange Tabby kitten. After looking around at the local shelters we ended up at the Lamar County Humane Association to see what types of kittens they had available for adoption. This little cutie won me over because she purred when you picked her up and she let you play with her toes. Frank had a good laugh at the fact that she is NOT an orange Tabby, which is what I was SURE that I wanted! And…here’s a shocker…she looks like Jax’s mini-me! (Gray and white. More brownish than gray though.)

Like most kittens, she is a little fireball of energy. She has some seriously vixon claws that she has no problem using to scale everything in my house from furniture to curtains. Even your pant legs are free game if she wants to see what you are eating for dinner!

So, that led us to buy her some nail caps. These things are a God-send! It makes our lives so much better now that she isn’t clawing everything in sight. They are relatively easy to apply, but you do need two people. One to hold your kitten down and one to apply the covers because they are so small. There is an all-natural, non-toxic ‘glue’ that is included and you have to put a little glue in the cover before putting it on the nail. (It’s animal safe.) She still tries to pick them off, but we just reapply new nail covers as they come off.

Lastly, we had to invest in a few toys to keep her entertained at this age. One of my favorites is the Petstages Tower of Tracks Cat Toy – 3 Levels of Interactive Play – Circle Track with Moving Balls Satisfies Kitty’s Hunting, Chasing, and Exercising Needs.

It is super lightweight and it really keeps Tabatha occupied. Best of all – It’s so affordable! Even Jax likes to get in on the fun and bat the balls around. Two thumbs up on this cat toy!

Tabatha is our farm kitty and she will travel back and forth from the house to the farm with us. We’re breaking her in early to get used to the ride. So far, so good! She only meows for a few minutes and then falls asleep like the dog. You’ll be seeing more pictures down the road as she makes herself at home on the farm and continues to bring us hair-raising joy.

Do you have any favorite cat or kitten toys?

I would love to see what cool products you have that make ‘cat-life’ easier or just more fun. Share your photos and comments!

Join our newsletter

to hear about our latest projects, trials and successes as we begin the journey of Crazy Farm Living!

Welcome to Crazy Farm Living