Windows and Walls and a Door, Oh My

Installed 6 out of 10 walls

The 2 windows and door

This past weekend was the hottest weekend on the farm so far. It was in the 90's and luckily, due to school and church activities, we were only able to work on the barn for about 5 hours each day.....which was good because we were losing more water from sweat than we were taking in and it was taking it's toll on both Cris and me.

We did manage to get up 6 out of 10 walls, put 2 windows in and a door. The wall with the door took longer because we had to frame up the door area first. The remaining 4 walls should be easy to install next weekend.

What's left after the walls: install the remaining roof tin, install some wood panels from the top of the walls to the top of the inside roof area (to keep the bugs out of the shop area), install facia and various other trim on the inside and out and then paint. We started the barn on Easter Weekend so maybe by the end of Memorial Day Weekend, we will be finished.

We hope to start planting the weekend of June 5th. Alex leaves for his Italy school trip on Sunday, June 6th and will be gone until June 17th, then he and I leave for Maryland June 18th until June 21st. It would be great to have the barn complete and then vegies in the ground before we leave. Cris did manage to get some plowing done Friday where we are going to plant the vegies.

We contacted the local electric company and they will take a look at our land and discuss getting some electric out to the barn. It would be great to have some air conditioning at the barn for the nights we camp there.

I checked on the blueberry bushes and they are all fine; many are small but look healthy. I think the major rain we had a few weeks ago stunted their growth a little (from being covered in water) but they look good and I think they will do even better once we get some mulch and more sheep manure around them.

The blackberry plants we have in pots at our house in Memphis look fantastic and one has many berries on them. I can't wait till they are ready for picking! We also found a few wild blackberry plants growing on the farm.

We Were Floored!

Cris working on the floor of the shop

Teddy dug himself a hole and slept in it. I guess by digging a hole, he found cooler ground.

Saturday-Sunday, May 15-16, 2010

Despite the disgustingly humid weather, we managed to get the 24x24 sq. ft. floor installed this weekend. We had hoped to put up the 18 remaining tin roof panels but it was just too hot to be working on the roof and working with hot tin. We put in 40 floor joists and 18 sheets of 4x8 flooring.

On a happy note, we finally saw signs of the fish that we placed in the pond in March. We had not been able to find the fish since the initial placement but this weekend they were swimming near the edge of the pond. Looks like the minnows had baby minnows and hopefully the bluegill will be having baby blues soon too. We have to build a spillway on the part of the pond where water runs off into the ditch because after the major rainfall we had a couple weeks ago, some of the bluegill washed down into the ditch a died. Alex saw about 3 of them so hopefully that is all that was lost.

Next weekend the goal is to finish the roof (going to start early in the morning before it gets to hot) and then start putting up the walls.

Some native grass is starting to grow on the land so that is good. The more native grass that spreads and grows, then less we have to plant. There is some beautiful native fetch growing on the terraces; it has purple flowers. Hopefully it will spread into the fields.

Any more major building projects we take on will be started and completed before summer and the heat hits. Because of having lost so many weekends due to rain, our barn project is taking longer than expected and we are now getting into the hot weather. Saturday I think we both ended being a little dehydrated even though we drank lots and lots of water.

Our planting is behind schedule due to the barn taking longer but we hope to get everything planted the first week in June.

TICKS are really bad this year...I guess because of the rain. Alex walked into the woods and came out with 4 crawling on his pants. Cris and I usually find about 2 on ourselves after checking on the bees in the woods. The dogs...well, the ticks seem to love Nugget but they can't get through Teddy's dense hair. Most are just regular ticks but we have pulled a few deer ticks off the dogs and ourselves.

So far I have learned that I cannot live without running water (showers!), electricity (or some kind of power source to run my a.c.!!) and plumbing for a bathroom. I can live without cable, Starbucks and a house larger than 2000 sq. ft.

I am so over the roof....

At the end of the day, Sunday, May 9, 2010

Well, the weekend could not have been more beautiful May 8th & 9th. We spent the entire weekend at the farm, sleeping in tents Saturday night. With no electricity it is REALLY dark at night but we had our lanterns and flashlights so we were prepared. You can really see the stars at night with no lights around.

We managed to put up 33 - 2ft. x 14 ft. metal panels on the roof this weekend. We ordered 50 but have to wait a week for remaining 17 as we took all that Shelly's Lumber had. We got 3/4 of the roof completed. It is time consuming getting the panels up and after a while, I am ready to move onto something else... like the floor or walls. One more work day though and the roof will be complete, then the rest should go quickly.

We went to a friend's farm Saturday night for dinner and the idea was for everyone to bring something 'local' to eat, either from their own garden or from a farmer's market etc. There were beautiful spring onions, strawberries from a local Mennonite farm, tomatoes, mozz. cheese made locally, corn bread made from corn grown by the person who brought it (he has his own mill to process the corn) and other goodies. We brought honey from our bee hive and it was really sweet. Our bees must be the sweetest bees around to make such good honey. :) We won a couple door prizes; a dozen farm fresh eggs, homemade blackberry jelly and homemade canned peaches plus a container of fresh picked strawberries that are so sweet.

Cris and I are sore from climbing up and down the ladder and from sleeping on an air mattress Sat. night that had a slow leak. We both were already half asleep when our heads hit the pillow Sunday night.

Another Rainy Weekend....

Mud Puppy Teddy with his most precious toy...a red squeaky ball.

The newspaper pots.

The pots filled with squash seedlings

Some of our seedlings. We started them at our house in Memphis then will transplat soon to the farm. We got a late start but next year with the hoop house, we will be ready earlier.

Rain Gauge Says 4 Inches.....other places have much more than we did.

Well, Mother Nature is not cooperating with us so we can't work on the barn today BUT there is always something to do. Cris and I replanted some of the seedlings that needed to be in larger containers. I found a video on youtube that shows how to make seedling pots out of newspaper. What a great way to re-use. And when it's time to plant, we can then put the newspaper in the compost. I prefer to re-use and compost rather than recycle.

It has rained all day with no end in sight. Not sure what Sunday will bring.

Found My Thrill on Blueberry Hill

Saturday was a no-farm day because if the rain, hail and wind. We went to a friend's house for dinner in Bolivar that evening. The discussion was "what does each family have that can be shared as a group this year".... i.e., we hopefully will have organic vegies, others have eggs, chickens, cows, lamb.... We all plan to either trade or buy each others items to try to eat local instead of going to the store and buying the items which came from who knows where, and not sure what was sprayed on them or if they are GMO etc... The goal is to consume locally and know your grower.

Sunday was nice but the wood on the barn has to dry out from the rain so we planted our blueberry plants. This took all day..... I think we were more tired from planting the 25 blueberry plants than when we work on the barn. The main reason it took so long was the battery on the tractor is near death so we had to jump it about 15 times throughout the day. It will have a new battery next week.

The other problem was someone (Cris) forgot to bring the keys for the atv, tractor etc. He said the keys should be left in the truck at all times but I don't think so and I put them in the kitchen....which is where they were when we discovered we did not have them, one hour away from home at the farm. Alex went back in my car and picked them up (bless his heart). While he was gone, Cris was able to start the tractor with a screwdriver.... he's handy sometimes.

Even with all the rain we had, the ground is still pretty hard; it is a clay type dirt. Cris first plowed a strip, then used the harrow, then the box blade to flatten it. After that, he dug the holes while I planted. You can't buy all the same varities of blueberries because they need other types to pollenate them. So we have 4 varities planted; Rabbiteye Bluebelle, Rabbiteye Climax, Highbush Coville and Highbursh Jersey. We won't see any crop for at least a year, maybe two.

The blackberry bushes are growing nicely in their pots at home. We are going to plant those in the ground later in the year when we plant the vegetables. The vegies are growing nicely in the trays at our house but aren't ready to be planted in the ground yet.

Next week, weather permitting, we will finish the roof of the barn and start on the walls.

Busy and Productive Weekend

Alex - Prom 2010 - St. Benedict High School

Barn Project as of 4/18/2010

Cris working hard.

Working on the rafters

The weather could not have been more beautiful this weekend. High 60's, Low 70's, nice breeze and party cloudy so the sun was behind clouds off and on. Saturday morning Cris picked up a harrow that he found on Craigslist and then we headed out to the farm. We got about 2 hours work done on the farm before having to head home to get Alex ready for the prom.

After Alex left for the prom, we picked up 2 loads of mulch and mulched the flower beds in the front and back yard of the house and planted some flowers. It was nice to be home before dark on a weekend for a change.

Sunday we worked some more on the barn and Cris added more frames to the beehive because those bees are very productive. I can't wait to start harvesting some honey.

The dogs managed to find 3 frogs...we think Teddy may have ate one but the rest we rescued and threw in the woods.

Next weekend we plan to finish up the framing for the roof, add the metal roofing and then start on the outside walls. If all goes well, we should have a barn ready to be painted by the first weekend in May.

We did not have alot of time to work on the barn this Saturday because we had to be back home by 4pm to get Alex on the road for the prom. We did manage to put up 10 (5 on each side) rafters for the roof so we are halfway done with that. Tomorrow we will complete the rafters and supports and then work on the bottom some more to get ready for the floor.

Here is a photo of how far we are so far on the barn and also, a photo of Alex in his tux. Alex went with a group of friends to the prom. They all met at the Orpheum near Beale St. to get their pictures taken inside and then they ate dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. After the prom, a group of the kids are all going to Waffle House to eat. Nothing like being dressed to the nine and eating at the Waffle House!