We now have:

37 chickens (eggs)
1 horse
2 goat does (for milk)
1 angora rabbit (for fiber, money for fiber and poop)
2 dogs
1 Sebastopol goose (she was supposed to be one of a pair, for selling goslings, but no go. :eyes: )
3 cats
2 fan tail pigeons (don't ask) :lol:
2 quail on the way (my 10yo son has a thing for birds evidently)

and one guinea pig, but I'm thinkin she doesn't help the farm status much <g>

We need a name! We were thinking Bright Bay Farm. Our homeschool is Bright Academy. I wanted Willow Bay Farm, but it was voted down because we don't have a willow. Hey, I was willing to go plant one, but no. . The bay part is because the horse is a bay. Got any other ideas?

I do like the name and I think you qualify as a farm :).

Didn't you say you live in the South? The only thing that struck me as odd (and only because I am not a horse person) is the bay part. Of course, I thought of the sea!

I am the WORST at naming things!! Been trying to think of a name for our honey, soaps and stuff forever... I wanted a farm name but everything sounded funny. hansen's honey is that side of it... the other I wanted to be Hansen's Naturals but alas there is a darn soda named that already!!! Guess they win :)

Um, yes, Marina, that's a farm. :lol:

I agree that Bay conjures up images of the seaside for me.

What land feature can you draw on? I like naming things after some part of the land or geography.

We are considering calling ours a 'croft' as they do in England and Scotland, when talking about a "homestead" or self-sustaining farm that just sells a bit of extras here and there. To me a farm really means that you are in it for business, kwim? So in honor of our street name, we are thinking Lazy Mill Croft. (I already have the domain registered. :D ) But for now our egg cartons say "Katie's Eggs." LOL!

Didn't you say you live in the South? The only thing that struck me as odd (and only because I am not a horse person) is the bay part. Of course, I thought of the sea!

I am the WORST at naming things!! Been trying to think of a name for our honey, soaps and stuff forever... I wanted a farm name but everything sounded funny. hansen's honey is that side of it...

I'm terrible at naming things too. I love Hansen's Honey. It just rolls right off the tongue. It's a memorable name too, which is great when selling a product!

My son wants bees (the bird son) but I'm just not sure about going there yet. I think we have enough to keep us busy, so I've been putting him off for a while. At first, we didn't think we had enough land (we have 5.5 acres). I know he could handle caring for the bees. I'm just not sure we could manage processing the honey. it's one of those things where I feel lazy and would rather trade for it. Plus, I kind of feel like people would blame us for every darn bee sting within a 5 mile radius.

Bright Star Farm

Bright Farm

Bright Sky Farm

The bay part makes me think you must have a body of water.

If you called it Bright Horse Farm it would lead me to believe you have lots of horses.

Um, yes, Marina, that's a farm. :lol:

I agree that Bay conjures up images of the seaside for me.

What land feature can you draw on? I like naming things after some part of the land or geography.

We are considering calling ours a 'croft' as they do in England and Scotland, when talking about a "homestead" or self-sustaining farm that just sells a bit of extras here and there. To me a farm really means that you are in it for business, kwim? So in honor of our street name, we are thinking Lazy Mill Croft. (I already have the domain registered. :D ) But for now our egg cartons say "Katie's Eggs." LOL!

hey, that's a cool idea! I'm surprised my father didn't mention it. He grew up in Cornwall, England.

But, isn't lazy and croft (or farm) a misnomer? :lol: (<--- that is the right term, isn't it?)

if farm is for business, then no, ours is not a farm. Well, aren't they considered "hobby farms"?

I'll have to think about the land feature thing. we don't have twin oaks, or tall pines or even sunny meadows. Clay and rock. we have lots of that. :P I'll have to think about it while we feed and milk tomorrow, and look more closely.

I'm terrible at naming things too. I love Hansen's Honey. It just rolls right off the tongue. It's a memorable name too, which is great when selling a product!

My son wants bees (the bird son) but I'm just not sure about going there yet. I think we have enough to keep us busy, so I've been putting him off for a while. At first, we didn't think we had enough land (we have 5.5 acres). I know he could handle caring for the bees. I'm just not sure we could manage processing the honey. it's one of those things where I feel lazy and would rather trade for it. Plus, I kind of feel like people would blame us for every darn bee sting within a 5 mile radius.



That is funny that your bird son wants the bees. My dh is the bee guy and he LOVES birds!!! he even talks to them.... thinking they are talking back! He does this even at zoos. He is so funny!

Well, for a personal experience POV, we live on just shy of 2 acres, in the city. I called the city zoning folks before we put any hives on our property. The guy was dumbstruck and said... let me call you back. He said he dug around and asked and all he could come up with was that as long as our neighbors don't complain, we are good to go. That said, we did ask several neighbors.. they all plant flowers so we share a bit of honey with them each year. We also have hives in 2 other locations, on farms (there just isn't enough room here for more than a couple)

Extraction is a pretty big deal and dh does it at night when the bees are at home :). This year, he processed close to 600 lbs., the most we have ever had and it took him several days (with my dd's help). It was a big job but if you had just a couple of hives to get started, it shouldn't be a huge ordeal.. as long as your son is willing to do most of the work. It is not hard! Did you see my extraction tutorial? it really is as simple as it looks. Even if you just had the hives around for garden pollination, that pays for having the hives, IMO.

Sorry, hijack!! Back to the farm naming!

Bright Sky Farm

The bay part makes me think you must have a body of water.

.

I like this one.

Does the goose pool count? :) jk

oh, what about Bright Day Farm? No, that's weird. gosh. it is hard.

A hobby farm is a smallholding or small farm that is maintained without expectation of being a primary source of income. .

I do believe this is me. I do expect it to be a primary source of food. Is that what crosses over to homesteading? Guess I need to go look that up. .

no, not homesteading. . that definition doesn't necessarily include farming, oddly.

Is it just considered Sustainable Living?

A hobby farm is a smallholding or small farm that is maintained without expectation of being a primary source of income. .

I do believe this is me. I do expect it to be a primary source of food. Is that what crosses over to homesteading? Guess I need to go look that up. .

This is a small pet-peeve of mine though. At what point does the place that you work at to be a primary source of food and self-sustaining become a HOBBY??:lol:

I know that large commercial FARMS are different than a homestead farm but dang... we work just as hard!! It may not be a source of income but it is a huge part of our lives.

Sorry, off the box now!

This is a small pet-peeve of mine though. At what point does the place that you work at to be a primary source of food and self-sustaining become a HOBBY??:lol:

I know that large commercial FARMS are different than a homestead farm but dang... we work just as hard!! It may not be a source of income but it is a huge part of our lives.

Sorry, off the box now!

:agreed: I was going to joke and say you get to call it a farm when you collapse in to bed every evening, from all the work you've done that day.

LOL, Marina!

Here is how I see it

Hobby or gentleman's (gag) farm = You are happy to spend money on having a menagerie of animals, you don't expect it to provide food or income, you're just doing it because you enjoy having animals around, or ride horses and want to have a few goats as pets, that sort of thing.

Homesteading = Varying definitions and interpretations. Most strictly refers to proving up your land in 7 years to earn it as was provided by the US government in the past. I see it used to refer to people who have the goal of self-sufficiency to a greater degree than the average person with a veggie garden, and many have a goal of 100% self-sufficiency. Most have the goal of having their land be the primary source of food.

I consider homesteading synonymous with smallholding (UK), and with "a croft" (UK) being the same as "a homestead." Smallholders = homesteaders.

And Marina - about the Lazy - I dunno - it is our road name and historically there was a mill on this road quite near our land. The other historic name is Weed St. :lol: I think Lazy Mill Croft is kinda funny in a tongue-in-cheek way because of the juxtaposition and the incredible amounts of work involved...but also because on some level we think of ourselves as relatively lazy farmers. ;)

I really like Bright Bay. I think your name alone has enough to do with water to make it fly. ;)

gentleman's farm. That made me gag too. lol.

Weed street, that's funny. Weeds are still all over the place here (but I try) and I just learned (from my 8 year old :shake: ) that the neighbor found MJ in his yard along the tree line. We live on 73 st...nothing to work with there.

I've always called our home "hill house" but this place probably won't ever be a farm by any definition except my own. :)

Been thinking about it and I like Bright Bay Farm too.

I think of a "farm" as having the goal being income from the farm animals and products vs self-sufficiency. I think if you're going to start selling things, you should name it and feel free to use Farm in the name, kwim?

we are thinking Lazy Mill Croft. (I already have the domain registered. :D ) But for now our egg cartons say "Katie's Eggs." LOL!

I really like Lazy Mill Croft. It sounds peaceful and the image is of a warm, green, cozy day. :)

Rhea

I like Bright Bay Farm. I liked it right off the bat, and after all the suggestions, it's still my favorite. :) You could always have a simple silhouette of a horse with it. It doesn't make me think horse farm either. That would have to be Bright Bay Horse Farm. :)

Rhea

I'd say you're a farm. ;-)


And again, curse the distance b/c I have three jersey woolie rabbits that you could have for fur. The girls are blue with blue eyes and the boy is black with blue eyes (and is pedigreed). They're beautiful, but I'm trying like mad to downsize before I go up North so my keeper doesn't have to take care of as many cages.

That's a farm :)

I really like Lazy Mill Croft. It sounds peaceful and the image is of a warm, green, cozy day. :)

Rhea

Thanks!

And Marina, Bright Bay Farm is really growing on me! I really like it.

Thanks! It's growing on me. I guess I'm just not quite to the place where I'm ready to commit. I'm just not very good at decisions.

You know, I thought of another word I could use last night. Acres. Bright Bay Acres? eh. . . Using acres frees up some ideas we had that sounded weird w/farm, so we may have to revisit those.

My FIL has a farm and I think it's hysterical that he has a "theme". He mainly raises belted galloways and paints. But, everything on his farm is black and white! Even the dog.

Acres sounds good too. Croft is a little weird but you might play with it...it's grown on me, and I finally feel like I have "our name." I wanted it so badly to be something very simple and tied to *where we are.* Like Stannard Mountain Farm...only I didn't want to claim the mountain, kwim? Last year in June my big idea was to call it Strawberry Moon Farm, because the full moon in June is my favorite time of year, and the traditional name for that moon (one of them anyway) is the Strawberry Moon. Then Matt said it was too feminine ;) plus although I liked the name at first, it just never felt quite right.

You'll know it when you find it! And then register the domain. ;) I have lazymillcroft and strawberrymoonfarm and probably a few others, LOL.