More Calves Arrived! - now the Tiny Homestead construction chess game.

A fourth calf arrived yesterday. Some sixteen more to go. Meanwhile, the dry weather means getting things ready for our new home construction. All as we have to move bulls and steers...

Hi,

Thanks again for being here and opening this. For being part of this community.

(Note: this is probably too long for email, and so may cut off. In such case, there’s a link at it’s end to read all the verbosity online…)

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• Farming News - More new calves! And - new chicks! Next is prepping for new homestead build while sorting our bulls, steers, and yearlings.

• Writing News - Dissecting classics has started - while bringing my newsletter up to speed.

• Fiction News - Starting up a new serial, from Book One of Hooman Saga

• Expectancy Factor - A new Nightingale essay

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Farming News

Four calves now arrived. Here’s the second one. (I’ll showcase one a week.)

For now, dig out your Namerator and get it busy. Reply to this email with your suggestions. I’m compiling a list…

This calf is another heifer (meaning young female) It’s mom is called “Miss V”. And this is her first calf. A slight shade darker than its momma, and a lot more Hereford markings on it. Healthy and energetic.

It’s about time to get the bulls and steers over to the house for a couple of months. The yearlings will need to be settled, and our steers for next year prepared (neutered). The other bull calves will go to market, along with some old and open cows. We’ll probably save back all our heifers this year again, until we get up to around 20-25 productive cows. That’s a continuing process.

New chicks arrived to replace our older ones. Had to wait until it was warm enough on our sun porch so that they’d “feather out” and stay warm meanwhile. In 5 months or so, we’ll have laying hens. Another trick is to buy sexed chicks - females (called pullets). So you’re investing in egg layers. Some like to buy roosters for meat. In that case, we’d sell any to the local auction and recoup some of the cost.

Tiny Home Progress

Now we begin to work up everything else. And things have to be done in sequence. Schedule of our digs and work goes on a schedule, so it’s a bit of a chess game.

Last week’s shed was completed and moved up for use as a construction shed.

That’s a hedge post put in besides that water line. So it can’t be run over by a vehicle or rubbed sideways by a cow scratching her itch.

We’ll get some work done on the septic system this week. It’s overbuilt. So people generations from us won’t have any problem of expanding the house and raising a family there. At least that’s the only real regulation we have to deal with here.

If you follow me on the substack app, you’ll see more notes of progress as it happens.

Our driveway so far…

Plans Finalized

At last. Not perfect, but workable. And my wife pointed out that if she keeps working on them, she’ll keep changing things - so, she’s just doing a copy for framing, plumbing and electrical.

We’ll take those plans to the Amish and get an updated estimate of how much it’s going to cost us to build the outer shell, then the interior walls. We’ll then finish off the all the interior build. We expect to finish by fall.

Writing News

[Still needing to get proofs for that pentalogy of books (my five Writerpreneur books). I keep this sentence here to remind myself.]

Newsletter News

We saw a new newsletter coming out on Wednesday this week (yesterday). Here’s where we’ll start putting my study of W. S. Campbell to work. Again, he created and ran the most successful professional writing program probably of all time. And left four out-of-print text books we can study (if you can find a rare copy or borrow from a library.)

You study the best to become one of them.

Meanwhile, I’m working on my own newsletter backend bit by bit — to make it into a useful product of its own. Lots of study. And some 800+ articles that have to be re-organized and updated into groups. Also mini-courses.

I’ve found I can drop full ebooks into these newsletters and put them behind a paywall. Great for my fiction, as well as PDF excerpts from my non-fiction work. I’ll still maintain one-off purchases via Gumroad. All the work in studying these marketers on Substack is starting to pay off.

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Also published this week (ICYMI):

Writerpreneur Lessons

One of these interesting approaches to writing, from one of the all-time great writers out of the Pulp Fiction magazine days.

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Fiction Posts

We begin serializing Book One, with the first story in that anthology. it’s a romance-mystery-adventure-redemption. Something for everyone.

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Expectancy Post

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Pro Writing Lessons

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Thanks for being there, opening this.

Sharing is caring. You’re who I do this all for. I value your input.

Leave a comment if something strikes your fancy.

I hope your life is not too interesting to be overwhelming, but sufficiently engaging to keep you amused. (Like some of us here...)

Robert

PS. Again, you can always email me about anything.

PPS. And you can always buy me a coffee…

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Bonus:

Here’s the nearly-final version of a book-in-progress the beta Expectancy Factor.

• 2 1/2 decades of research compiled into one massive book and a supplement.

• Currently available as ebook (epub and pdf).

• Audio lessons available soon.

• As it’s updated, you’ll be able to download the most recent version, as well as the course lessons for no extra cost. (I have to set it at a $1 minimum so Gumroad will host the audio files. As usual, it’s pay what you want, so you can come back to contribute more at any time.)

• And a bonus supplement: the Magic of Believing Field Guide (isn’t pictured - yet.)

Available for limited time as pay-what-you-want…