Spunky Dogg Farms & Forestry

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SimulatedFarmer
Posts: 442
Joined: Thu Aug 24, 2017 3:40 am

Re: Spunky Dogg Farms

Post by SimulatedFarmer »

I think it’s great you are using Chainsaw. I like the map, but never seem to know where to “put my wheels.” Your narratives inspire me. Maybe you won’t run into the reboot syndrome, since it’s been updated a couple of times. I had that happen once with my Canadian foray. Because of your adventures, a new world of FS was born. My husband is amused by the maps, ledger sheets, inventories and job lists I’ve started making. I’m going to get my first McKeally Farm bit to you. It’s not as polished as yours, but it’s been a heck of a lot of fun.

Thank you for the fun stories and the inspiration. I was afraid you were going to stop. My relief is huge.
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Spunky_Dogg
Posts: 249
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2020 11:55 pm
Location: Illinois

Re: Spunky Dogg Farms

Post by Spunky_Dogg »

I just felt I needed to have a good conversation with myself. Even I felt the split-storyline with Spunky and Spunky Jr. was getting confusing and I decided to just stop, clear out the clutter and get back down to basics. I feel good now.
See you up the road!

- Spunky Dogg Logging
Mwal
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Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2017 4:59 pm

Re: Spunky Dogg Farms

Post by Mwal »

I’m glad you’re going this route I wasn’t a fan of the dual story lines, glad you’re starting new and looking forward to following along
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Spunky_Dogg
Posts: 249
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2020 11:55 pm
Location: Illinois

Re: Spunky Dogg Farms

Post by Spunky_Dogg »

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The former Carl Everett Farm, now home to Spunky Dogg Farms and Forestry. I've hit that mailbox more times than I care to admit.

When I got out of the Army, I knew I wanted to be a farmer. Thoughts of working the soil, planting crops and watching them grow helped me get through the mundane hours of time on base. I couldn't wait until my discharge came and the next chapter of my life began.

And then that day came. I found work doing odd jobs while I waited for the perfect opportunity to purchase my own ground. I'll admit I was picky, perhaps too picky.

One day on a lunch break, I caught word that Carl Everett had passed away suddenly. Carl was a local farmer who had grown into a local legend just through longevity alone.

Every day for 50 years Carl was outside working on either his land or his equipment. He had no family to speak of, and when he passed, he had no known next of kin. Farming was his life and it kept him going until the bitter end when his body finally blew a fuse.

The Carl Everett farm wasn't expansive, two small plots of land and an undeveloped area of timber along the bluff bordering Indian River that snaked its way through Chainsaw Valley in Elm Creek County. It was what one man could manage on his own and Carl did what he could.

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Harvesting Carl Everett's prized potatoes.

In hearing about the man, I felt like it was my destiny to carry on his legacy. Carl had donated generously to local charities, remained active in his church and was - in all descriptions - a good man.

With no known next of kin, that meant his farm, his livelihood, his reason for living landed in the lap of the local bank. Banks in general don't like being in the real estate business, so that meant there had to be an auction.

Carl, as most farmers do, had taken out a significant amount of capital at the bank to keep operating. What that meant for interested buyers was his farm would come with no equipment. All the machinery would be liquidated to settle his debts with the bank and pay off his final expenses.

There was also a time element. Carl's death came when his prized potatoes, which he frequently claimed were the "best-tastin' taters this side of the Mason-Dixon line," were only weeks (if not days) away from being ready for harvest.

With this information, I knew there would be interest in the farm, A LOT of interest. I gathered as much money as I could through selling personal possessions, borrowing from friends and family and my own life savings.

Through it all, I accumulated $1.5 million. That sounds like a lot, but if you know Carl and know what's in those two fields...it made me nervous that it wouldn't be enough.

Auction day came and the tiny auction house of Byrne & Jones had never seen as many people. It was like a rock concert in there.

But I would not be denied. By the time it was all over, I had it and it cost me all but $40,000 to buy the farm, lease some equipment and keep Carl's legacy alive.

And I farmed those taters, bringing in 48,999 liters of potatoes (I know, you couldn't find one more potato?) that added up to a little more than $24,000 at market.

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As Carl would say, "Taters in the hole!"

While Carl's legacy will live on, his prized potatoes will not. Tradition, as they say, is peer pressure from the dead and I need to carve out my own path. Carl will be remembered, just not in the way you might expect.

We're in October now and getting ready for winter. The fields have been plowed and de-rocked. Our adventure has begun.

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A view of Indian River from the top of Carl Everett's undeveloped timber tract along the bluff bordering the river.
See you up the road!

- Spunky Dogg Logging
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Spunky_Dogg
Posts: 249
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2020 11:55 pm
Location: Illinois

Re: Spunky Dogg Farms

Post by Spunky_Dogg »

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Getting ready to leave with the last load of logs (for now) from Carl Everett's timber tract.

With pretty much all the fields prepped and prepared for next spring's planting, I decided to see exactly what old Carl (see above post) had hidden away on his timber tract.

Upon arrival, I saw immediately what the dilemma was. The ground leading up to the bluffs was in short platforms, almost like stairs. There was a decent amount of wood at the bottom, but then the hillside rose steeply upward.

Carl's problem likely was the same problem I have now in finding equipment able to climb that hillside. There is equipment out there that could do it, but it's out of my price range (and like was for Carl too).

So, I cut what I could and smoothed out some of the stair-like ground to make a decent-sized third field.

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Fall really is beautiful here.

When it was all said and done, we ended up with a little more than 46,000 liters of wood, which might be enough to carry us through the winter months. Our biggest piece was a 5.5-meter, 1.2 ton log that the skidsteer really struggled with.

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This 5.5-meter, 1.2-ton log was a real struggle for the skidsteer.

As for what's next, that's a good question. Things are in a bit of a lull now as snow is in the forecast and soon the ground will be too frozen to work with.

I'll be back soon with another update, but until then, see you up the road!
See you up the road!

- Spunky Dogg Logging
SimulatedFarmer
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Joined: Thu Aug 24, 2017 3:40 am

Re: Spunky Dogg Farms

Post by SimulatedFarmer »

Live on, Carl, live on!
humbe
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Re: Spunky Dogg Farms

Post by humbe »

Never heard of the map but looks nice.. Have fun.. I'll be checking in from time to time to read up.. I don't bother watching youtube content, but a textual blog is much easier to consume at my leisure ;)
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Spunky_Dogg
Posts: 249
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2020 11:55 pm
Location: Illinois

Re: Spunky Dogg Farms

Post by Spunky_Dogg »

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Getting the equipment ready for spring planting.

It's been awhile since my last update and things are progressing well here at Spunky Dogg Farms & Forestry. We've completed spring planting of sunflowers, oats and corn and have been doing some light tree trimming work around the borders of our fields to make room for expansion following the fall harvest.

We also found a buyer for Carl's timber tract, which has allowed us to purchase more readily-accessible forestry areas to the northwest near the Oak Hollow Caves Nature Center. My new - and much more ambitious plan - is to expand the Nature Center concept into a full-on Oak Hollow Caves Resort with camping and recreation areas.

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I love when map creators include little gems like this. It makes maps come alive and allows for gamers like myself to expand the concept if they choose.

To do that, of course, involves time and money. I've started expanding the entrance drive and doing some preliminary tree work but this will be a project. And as you can guess, the progress will be reflected here in the blog.

That's all for now. I'm in June now and things should pick up as we get closer to fall. As always, thanks for reading and see you up the road!

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Just doing a little timber work on the side.
See you up the road!

- Spunky Dogg Logging
SimulatedFarmer
Posts: 442
Joined: Thu Aug 24, 2017 3:40 am

Re: Spunky Dogg Farms

Post by SimulatedFarmer »

Dear Spunky,

It’s always so good to hear from you! We were beginning to worry here.

Jim and I are so delighted to see you continue to thrive, as always. We are so amazed at your ability to build something from nearly nothing. We considered, for awhile, bagging it all here and hitting the road to follow your path. After some research, though, we decided we, at our advanced ages, should continue plodding along and relish the tales you send. Our little farm in Canada continues to grow, but our experiences will continue on mostly in our minds and the pile of notes and logs we created.

Best wishes to you and we look forward to your next saga and update,
Iris
Mwal
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Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2017 4:59 pm

Re: Spunky Dogg Farms

Post by Mwal »

Love how your putting that little cat to work
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Spunky_Dogg
Posts: 249
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2020 11:55 pm
Location: Illinois

Re: Spunky Dogg Farms

Post by Spunky_Dogg »

Oak Hollow Caves Resort - First Update

This will be a different format from my usual updates in that it will mainly be a pictorial in grayscale to try and achieve a "vintage" effect.

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Entrance road looking west.

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Entrance road with partial gravel.

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Woodchips going out.
See you up the road!

- Spunky Dogg Logging
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Spunky_Dogg
Posts: 249
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2020 11:55 pm
Location: Illinois

Re: Spunky Dogg Farms

Post by Spunky_Dogg »

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Fall is a beautiful time of year.

Hello Spunky fans!

It's been a long time since my last update (real life getting in the way), but I wanted to give you all a quick update on how things are going at Spunky Dogg Farms & Forestry.

We have a new industry in Chainsaw Valley, Big Bear Bottling Co. It produces high-quality bottled water for offices, schools and public venues. Word is our first snowfall of the season brought in more than 242,000 liters of the powdery stuff for the new business.

In other news, we completed our first fall harvest in the valley with sunflowers (4,684 liters), corn (5,457 liters) and oats (6,471 liters) being harvested.

All our fields have been prepped for the winter and we're in the slow time of year at the farm. We've finished harvesting our wood for the year and recently transported our last load of planks to the market, bringing in more than $58,000.

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As Bobby Boucher would say, "That's some high-quality H2O."

Things keep moving along here in Chainsaw Valley and we eagerly anticipate spring and planting season. Work on Oak Hollow Caves Resort has also concluded for the winter and we will pick that up again in the Spring.

As always, see you up the road!
See you up the road!

- Spunky Dogg Logging
SimulatedFarmer
Posts: 442
Joined: Thu Aug 24, 2017 3:40 am

Re: Spunky Dogg Farms

Post by SimulatedFarmer »

Life sure has a way of getting in the way of our creative endeavors, doesn’t it. It’s so good to have this update.
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UncleRico
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Re: Spunky Dogg Farms

Post by UncleRico »

SimulatedFarmer wrote: Mon Oct 10, 2022 2:30 am Life sure has a way of getting in the way of our creative endeavors, doesn’t it. It’s so good to have this update.
You said a mouthful there haha, glad you’re back spunky, this is a fun thread
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Spunky_Dogg
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Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2020 11:55 pm
Location: Illinois

Re: Spunky Dogg Farms

Post by Spunky_Dogg »

Just wanted to let everyone know there will be an update out later tonight. Fall is always my busiest time of year and my apologies for the long gaps between updates.
See you up the road!

- Spunky Dogg Logging
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