Welcome..You sound like a Laura Ingals Wilder come to visit with us. We all learn from each other here.

Welcome, Tera! You may also want to look at the tomato forum and vegetable gardening. The tomato forum is called "Growing tomatoes."

Hi Tera…Welcome! You’ll find lots of great help and advice here. I know I’ve learned a lot!

Welcome to our kitchen table! 🌹

Feel free to ask any question you want. I do not believe that any questions are stupid. I hope you will feel at home here.

Are you in Canada? Or Alaska? I'm not sure what constituted "Far North." When I was growing up in central Texas, I though Dallas and Oklahoma were far north! The coldest place I've lived is San Francisco, and I'm moving to greater Palm Springs in May, where I already have a house.

Lars, I'm in Alaska! 😊

Welco me to the KT Tera! You will love it here. Everyone here are the greatest group of friends you could ever ask for.

Just call me

Samkaren your resident DJ

Pull up a chair to the kitchen table, or a rolling stool to landscape, or a dogsled to Far North, and join in. Gee, I didn’t know we HAVE a Far North forum! I’m in NE Illinois, so neither here nor there, except that I love living near the Great Lakes.

People on these forums are happy to share experience, knowledge, and advice when asked for (and sometimes even when it wasn’t asked for!), and always with the best intentions. And And, we are always ready to hear your experiences, too!

Hello ❣️

Welcome welcome welcome. Ask any question you want.

Welcome!

It's been so long since anybody joined, I have forgotten my manners.

So what kind of chocolate do you like?

Do you have any pets?

Speaking of questions, I'm trying to clean my chairs and have had no luck. I tried everything. Finally baking soda, this is the best it's looked. Originally tan/beige colored, now stained. How do these chairs stay clean? Should I even bother? I have kids 3-7 years old who often spill and drip food while eating. Should I get different chairs or is their a special way to clean these? I think it's suede or faux suede.

With small children, I'd reupholster the seats....it's easy...they have 4 screws to remove the seat. Then put plastic over the new upholstery. The chairs are nice. Keep the chairs! 🌹

Our chairs are wood, so it was an easy clean-up when the kids were little (and DH all the time 😉)

When my kids were little, I covered the seat of the ktichen stools with a nice vinyl that I purchased at the fabric store. I think it was flannel backed. It lasted many years and was easy to keep clean. Welcome.

Either recover these with a more cleanable material or get a new set of chairs. There are great used finds to still be had on craiglist and facebook market place if you are looking for budget friendly options.

welcome! 180 acres is a lotta farm! how long is your growing season? will you be planting crops or ? are you planning on having livestock?

i can't help much with decorating but i have 27 years on a small "hobby" farm. i've had everything from pot belly pigs to llamas to goats to horses. that was all in my younger years and now that i'm an old lady, i just have dogs.

you'll get tons of help here and there are no stupid questions!!

@ninapearl The state opened up a huge project for agriculture so we were able to get the land at a decent price. It is raw land so still needs cleared for fields. We are planning cattle. I also want a big greenhouse! It's hard to grow my favorite cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes up here without one. My family did hobby farming off and on. Definitely not a pro, so we've been doing a lot of research. Where we are at the last frost is 2nd week of June and somewhere around end of August. Only the midnight sun helps us ha. I've heard of solariums, something we are considering adding to our home build but not sure they work in Alaska 🤔 because the cold air might simply pull the heat off the glass and make it inefficient. We also started a small hobby orchard, 3 apple trees and a handful of berry bushes but our trees haven't grown any fruit in 2 years. I'm not sure what is going on. Our nut tree died through the winter. Sometimes I wonder why we are still here 😂 but there are pros up here as well.

@rob333 (zone 7b) I like Toblerone chocolate because it's Swiss and doesn't contain soy, corn syrup etc.

We had a giant malemute who died at 7 years old. A malemute husky mix and another husky, both good handsome dogs but we were too busy to take them on runs or sled so we rehomed them. Thinking of getting an indoor dog later on. Maybe a lab.

I'll try the reupholster! Sounds like the best way to go. Thanks for that advice everyone!

So what were your babies' names? (((Hugs to you)))

Whenever you're ready to get one, my best.

Toblerone is good!

P.S. I totally envy your land. I would have orchards so many beds. I'm cutting bed, a rose garden, edibles.... you're so lucky. You think of my favorite blog, velvet and linen. I remember when they first moved there... And it sounds so so much what you're talking about. That was a long time ago before she built her gardens.

https://brookegiannetti.typepad.com/velvet_and_linen/

Welcome! This group is very, very helpful and generous with their knowledge. Feel free to ask whatever you want to.

My husband and I moved to TN almost 9 years ago so we could have more land. (Land outside of NYC was too precious,) We have a 50 acre horse farm and it’s a joy - and a lot of work. We board our three horses and 18 others, so we have staff and boarders coming all the time. Everything is starting to get green here, so hopefully our hay fields will be productive.

The best part is just being grateful to the view we have. And it’s dotted with horses…

alaska has been on my bucket list forever but i doubt i'll ever get there. i always wanted to be at the finish of the Iditarod!

many years ago i had 2 siberian huskies and a friend of mine had 3. we are in west central illinois and we rarely have snowy winters but when we did, she and i would load up our sleds and dogs and head to the country. SOOOO much fun!!

@RedRyder wow that's amazing! Beautiful land! That's a pretty great way to make an income as well.

@Ninapearl Alaska has its pros and cons, it isn't for everyone, a person has to really love the pros and not mind the cons. But it is certainly a beautiful state to visit.

I love the dogs, they are so pretty, they look similar to our malemutes. I grew up with a dog team, we hauled firewood with the team instead of a snow machine. It was a lot of fun!

Welcome to the KT!

Tera - Boarding horses is a zero sum game. There is no profit. However, my retired-from-a-hospital husband is very busy every day so there’s THAT benefit.

Plus we have great boarders who come to ride.