Farm Horizons Farm Horizons 10/16 | Page 22

Farm Horizons • Oct. 10, 2016 pouring concrete into the barn gutters. One still needs to be filled, but Brad wants to get the plumbing for a small kitchen unit installed beforehand. Also in the barn is Brad’s workshop, where the Youngs make everything they envision come to life. “We build everything you see [around the property],” Brad stated. “This is what we do. The only person who’s been here is a heating person; otherwise, we put everything together ourselves.” “It’s a lot of work to get to this point,” he continued, “Thirteen years later, this is where we’re at, but it’s got a ways to go.” “But [Debbie’s] going to make me work in the house [now],” he added with laugh. Keeping it beautiful With just the two of them maintaining the acreage, the Youngs shared that the trick is to walk the yard every night, and to pull the weeds as they go. In addition to this daily habit, Debbie said placing woodchips in the garden also helps control weeds. The garden takes about 100 yards of woodchips. To keep the yard in shape, Brad uses a 27-horsepower John Deere lawn tractor that travels at 12 mph. “I saw somebody doing it at work, and I just couldn’t believe a lawn mower could go that fast and cut grass. I walked up to it, and I had to have one,” he stated. “I can do the whole [property] in two-and-a-half hours.” • Page 22 Needing to keep everything well hydrated, the Youngs repurposed a smoke house into a base for their 13-zone sprinkler system. It also serves as a control center for their yard lights, which they enjoy whenever company is over. Advice from the Youngs When considering the challenges of having an elaborately designed property, Brad said, in a way, it is difficult for there to be any – although Debbie would laugh and say everything has its challenges to some extent. “I’m not too afraid of trying something,” Brad stated. “I would say to somebody else you shouldn’t be afraid [and say that] ‘I can’t do it.’ I never say that.” Brad attributes his mindset to the way he was raised, with the concept that “Your day is as good as you can make it. Get off the couch and get going.” “When it came to doing something, [his mother] would always say, ‘oh you could do that, you could do that,” Brad stated. “Always dream big,” he continued. “And if you don’t get there, then you did okay. I don’t know if that’s a good thing, because then it gets me into these things, because I dream big. You can tell, I still dream tree forts [at age 64].” “You just keep learning, and just keep doing,” added Debbie. n