Inheriting a farm

pantheraba

More biners!!!
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near Atlanta
I am in the process of inheriting the family farm... I guess that means I am landed gentry.

My grandfather was born in 1899 and was a farmer for most of his life. he did a few odd things over the years such as run the first bus line in South Georgia but he eventually went back to farming. Our farm, where my mother grew up, was about 500 acres when I was a child growing up. She was the youngest of the children and she would bring us to visit the grandparents and play on the farm when we were little.
When granddaddy died in 1988 the six children split up the farm. Mama said the others could have whichever parts of it they wanted because some of them were farmers and still living near the farm and can make use of the land. What was left over was what we call the home place... The house they all grew up in, Granddaddy's shop, the fields near the house and the ponds. It ends up that home place section of 95 acres is what mama ended up inheriting.

During the '90s as my parents took ownership and worked to manage their 95 acres they made changes as they went along. At one point they sold five acres to the man that had been renting from them and he is a neighbor still. So the farm now is 90 acres.
I have spent the last week down here in Hahira, Georgia working to manage the dams which the beavers are constantly causing problems with and have spent a lot of time in Grandaddy's shop. The ponds are really pretty nice... Beavers, big bass, bream, crappie, alligators and everything else that ponds have are here... Mosquitoes and gnats also included. And moccasins and rattlers and all kinds of critters.

I'll post up a mess of pictures here as I share some of what I've done and hope to get input from Kyle, Jim and Al as they seem to have very diverse and detailed knowledge about some of the things I'm seeing that have me scratching my head.
I will be posting pictures of items from the shop and around the farm that I find either interesting or that I have no clue as to what they are so anyone that recognizes something that's unusual or can add some information about it I'd love to hear from you.

Here are some basic shots of the homeplace... The lay of the land.
 

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Wow, Gary, that is exciting! I googled Harira and it is just north of Valdosta, eh? I have been looking at property just outside of Darein Ga with retirement in mind, but it is those "critters" specifically the moccasins and rattlers that keep me from looking to hard, lol. I would need a hand gun with a laser pointer on it. BANG, lol.

I can't wait to see your grandaddy's shop and all the wonderful pictures that are coming. Your Grandfather, or your forefathers, where were they from? England, Scotland, Spain, just wondering.

I had to laugh at the rain clouds in the pictures, man, does it always rain in GA? Truth is, it would not be so green if it didn't.
 
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  • #13
Gerry...you are so right...lots to do here...vegetation growth is amazing and overwhelming. Gigi....the snakes, so far, are manageable...seen some but OK so far. I was cutting beaver dams a few days ago, climbing all over the dams and banks....good moccasin country so I made noise and looked close a lot. They are definitely here but few encounters.

@lxskllr for now I will try to just catch up and maintain it....my son and I need to rebuild (from the inside) some of Grandaddy's shop....I'll show picts of that). We rent out the 25 acre field....a big ag farmer grows cotton in the field behind the homeplace...some years its peanuts or soybeans. It's going to be major just getting a handle on this place. I have been down here a week now....busy, busy.

Here's a few more of some of the parts of the farm....Mom and Dad moved a 150 year old log cabin onto the property in the 90's and fixed it up real nice....they used to stay there and rent the homeplace...which was a disaster. Renters can be the worst. Once they got the no-count renters out they reclaimed the homeplace (we call it the white house) and we stay here now....much bigger than the cabin. We are renting out the cabin now....single fellow seems OK so far.

Jim...I told you I would get pictures of our grain bins....here you go....used for storage now....junk. I need a roll off to clean up.
 

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  • #16
We have a drag line...got the pony motor working about 2005 but never got the big engine going....now it is just yard art....kind of a landmark for some folks.

The little house it the "egg house"...my uncles that raised lots of chickens used to sort eggs there....storage now. It was moved to my Aunt Dorothy's house in to 90's....she made a little knick-knack house of it....lots of old quilting racks, dolls, curios...fun to visit. When she died her kids didn't have a use for it and offered it to mama, the youngest of the kids. She said "sure" so the egg house came back home to the homplace.
 

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I need to go out to the shop and keep on with my project....exposing the east wall so we can build a temporary support while we replace the rotten 80 year old studs....here is a taste of the shop. Kyle....I wanted you to see Grandaddy's old welding table...it will mean things to you that I don't comprehend....yet.
 

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  • #19
Lots of old tools....I will post picts later of some that are head scratchers.
 

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The cabin looks very cool! With a place like that I’d probably spend the rest of my days puttering around with one project or another.
 
Especially with all that stuff to go through! That's my problem. I start cleaning up, and get lost in the minutiae. I'll spend an hour on a single drawer, and barely anything gets accomplished :^D
 
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