After a few weeks of doing nothing but storm cleanup, I gave up.  It was time to do something else.  Even though each day had produced a few chunks of roof, or another cleaned up limb, there was still so much left.  I had to go work on the corn crib.

Friday night, I found the East end of the crib out in the field.  Yep.  20 sheets of plywood, some 2×10’s, and 75 sticks of cement board was ready and waiting for the weekend.  I like free delivery from the local lumberyard.  I already had a fresh sill plate across the East end, and a small section of the slat wall removed.  The rest of the siding came off easy when you swing a sledgehammer at it.

The first step was to frame out the main opening.  I started by doubling up the existing posts and beams, for support and fresh nailing surfaces.  The window opening was started in the first session as well.  I found a few spots that needed some extra fixing up and mended those as well.  Another night brought more siding replacement, and the top of the window frame.  This last weekend, Reagan finally came down to help hold some plywood in place.  That’s when it started to look good.

I ended the day getting the sliding door tracks down.  When I removed the siding boards from underneath, the joist behind them was badly rotted.  I’m glad I first built up underneath it.  The wall is 2′ away from being enclosed, but I really need to figure out how to replace the missing wood.  I scraped out all the soft sections, and the back half of the wood is still sound.  It was a 4×12 after all, now it’s more like 3×12.   I was wondering if I could route out a channel and inlay fresh wood.

Anyhow, I did post 2 pages of pictures in the gallery

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Our garden hasn’t done TOO bad, but this being our first year in Iowa, I don’t have anything to compare it to.  Colorado gardening is quite a bit different.  Plus Two Barn Farm being 9 miles away right now,  I can’t give it the attention I usually do.  I haven’t watered this year.  The garden also looks a bit like the “lazy” version of organic (ie. weedy).
My results so far:

Miserable failure:
Heirloom Tomatoes
Healthy Red Bell Peppers
Green Bell Peppers
Banana Peppers
Blackeyed Peas

Only slightly better than failure:
Jalapenos (harvested 2 each about 1″ long)
Spaghetti Squash (harvested 3 small, 3 more on vine)
Edamame (I think enough will make it to have a small snack)
Sweet Corn (2 ears harvested, haha!)
Giant Pumpkins
Melons

Moderate success:
Potatoes
Zucchini
Yellow Summer Squash
Pickling Cucumbers
Heinz Tomatoes
Cauliflower (plants are looking good, we’ll see)

Major Success:
Roma Tomatoes
Onions (Copra, Walla Walla and Red Burgermaster)
Leeks
Snow Peas
Spinach
Butterhead
Crisphead
Sunflowers

Although, I think I am getting a pretty decent harvest from my tomatoes, the plants are REALLY REALLY small.  In Colorado my plants were usually around 6 feet tall.  Also, I have started canning tomatoes way earlier than in Colorado.

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Lightning Bugs!

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