<code>Hi all. I've never done any kind of bloging before and honestly hadnt even really thought about it, then I got an email from a friend (melbo who runs survivalmonkey.com ) mentioneing that some folks had told him they though a blog from me would be interesting. He included a link to this blog page and told me if I had any intrest to have at it. So I figured I will give it shot for a while and see where it goes.</code> I guess I should start off with a little info and history on me and my situation. Anyone who watches the Big Build series on the History Channel and saw the one where they built a replica of Fort Clatsop out in Kansas has seen me, I was the one they introduced on the show as '...and a mountian of a man from Missouri named Brad...'. For those who havent, Im a 31 year old guy, 6'2" and about 275, the pic on here is one of me butchering from the photo tutorial 'From Pasture to Plate' that I wrote. I grew up in Kansas City but kind of hated the city all the time and back in 2001 got the chance to have my folks sign for a loan for me to buy 13 acres of land about 100 miles outside of hte city. I jumped at it and have never looked back. I left the tree triming business I had built over the previous 3 or 4 years to a point of starting to do well behind, my girlfriend since '99 asumed a loan on a mobile home and moved it down and we moved into it on the land. When we got here there was a broken down chicken house, a caved in earth contact house and a well that was unuseable. The property had been vacant for several years before we got it and had been used as a dumping ground. I gathered up some of the junk around and put up a small tool shed to keep some tools in while we came out on weekends for a couple of months (while waiting on the financing to get wrapped up and the trailer to be set) and worked on reclaiming some of the land. I also put up a pole barn and fixed up the chicken house which was later devided into 2 sections, 1 for the chickens and 1 for our goats. We put in a 50'x50' garden, fenced in the chicken/goat yard, are working on putting in an orchard, have a small area fenced off (about 1 acre or a little less) for the donkey we have and where we also kept our steer untill we butchered him last year. Hopefuly in the next year we will get the place cross fenced and be able to add some more goats and a couple more cattle. We buy nearly all our meat as live animals and butcher it our selves or raise it then butcher it. I tend to be a jack of all trades and master of none. Im a tree trimmer by trade but since that market is rather limited in our area I do whatever I can to make a living. Since we have been out here that has included some tree work, working on a dairy farm, working as a home health aid, working the kill floor in a local butcher shop, working on the big build for hte history channel for a month or so and curently working a minimum wage job at a local convenience store. I also pick up what I can on the side from some of my 'hobbies' like makeing handmade knives, selling my butchering tutorial, and so on.<code style="color: blue"> </code>
