Paris Acres Farms is located on 80 scenic acres in Monroe County, MO. The county seat, Paris, is close by. The farm lies on one of the tributaries of the Salt River, which was empounded in the 1970's to form Mark Twain Lake.
An abandoned turkey farm when we bought the place in 1994, it had not been lived on for 50 years. What open pasture existed when we first laid eyes on it, was overgrown with cedar trees and other brush. It took a lot of hard work to clear 15 acres in what we call the front half of the farm. Recently, we cleared about 20 acres in the "back" half to plant with row crops.
One of the major improvements was the creation of a 3 1/2 acre lake just down the hill from the home site. With a penninsula island, and flooded timber in the upper half, it draws waterfowl of all types. It's stocked too!
We have made numerous improvements to the place. A double-wide home was erected, along with electricity and phone. Drilled a well for the house and installed hydrants for watering gardens and to bring water to the poultry house. My wife, Mary Lynn and I built a 40 x 30 pole barn, added the chicken house, hereafter named the Chicken Palace; and converted a storage shed into a garden shed.
We are in the process of building an earth-contact solar home. The new house will have ground-source heat pump, with radiant floor heating. We are adding solar and wind power generating equipment to lessen the dependance on the electric co-op. Major appliances will run on propane.
For all you duffers out there, we have a tee box constructed which will provide the challange of a 260 yard drive to clear the lake. Only two have made it. There must be 250 golf balls on the bottom of the lake.
Besides my wife and I, the family consists of 5 dogs, 2 cats, 6 chickens, and 5 guineas.
We are going to add photos of our beautiful farm, and of course the animals, soon. Check back!
Note: The Newsletter for Feb. and Mar. has been added. Click below. This is a 3-column, 2 page newsletter. The conversion in Word Perfect to html format, left a little to be desired. You'll have to hunt for the continuation on the piece about Al Gore. Look to your left, down a little from where the article starts. For those who don't know, we have been sending this newsletter to our friends and family after we moved from St. Louis.
We will also add some of the older newsletters for our new web friends.
Take a look....
Poultry and Party Information Exchange
Frit's Guinea Board
The Labs, Mich on the left, Bud on the right
The Newsletter for Feb. and Mar., 1999
A view of the farm, looking North towards Mark Twain Lake
One of our fabulous sunsets at Paris Acres
Here's a picture of the farm, looking West.
The Labs, Mich in front, Zonked!
Derek's page.
The Newsletter for April and May
The Story of Lucky the Lost Puppy
The RV - 1983 Sportscoach - for sale
A view of the lake from the new house sunroom.
The New House
The Bar-B-Que Page
Farm Life is
