Ever have one of those days where you feel like you need to get something done?  I did.

I had nothing to do or a full Sunday afternoon.  So I filled the chainsaw with oil and gas, and went to the farm.  OK.  I really went with a staple gun to fix some loose Tyvek, but had to bring backup.  You never know.

So, we had one small exposed piece of housewrap rip open in the past couple of weeks.  It has been very windy around here.  It seems like every time I visit the farm, and hold my balance in the wind, that I call home and state we must be idiots for wanting to move to this exact spot.  I’m planting trees next.  I fixed the Tyvek, then fired up the chainsaw.  I started breaking up some tree trunks into logs before taking down a tree that was bent in half.  After I got a good hour of work done, I turned to the barn.

Well, what was left of the barn.  The barn has a partial concrete slab under it’s remains.  There is a small section of barn still standing over said section.  Most of the barn once stood over dirt, for the animal pens, including the back third which included a sliding door on the remaining standing wall. Not needed!
In true cartoon fashion.  I climbed on top of our wreckage and proceeded to cut the 2nd story floor with the chainsaw, slowing moving backwards.  No, it didn’t fall underneath me, nor did I cut out a circle around me.  No, I didn’t walk off the side.  I did manage to separate the back portion of the barn from the rest of it. I also cut both of the major beams that held this section up.  I didn’t want the collapse of this section to mess up our last remaining, standing section.  I was able to break one of the final corner posts, and a few of the supporting beams.  I think two posts are holding up the remains of the back section of barn, plus maybe some siding.

I figured this would be a good time for our epic Iowa wind to take over until next weekend.  Or in other words, I didn’t feel like getting any closer at this point.  Really, I’m getting close to the point of realizing there isn’t much left.  I should get the good stuff out of the front of the barn and find some matches and marshmallows.  It would be faster.  I do want to save the old milking equipment, and the stack of siding that is in there.  There might be a few old windows left, and some of the beams are usable.  But, is it worth navigating a shaking mess and pulling out all the old nails to reuse some old wood?  Could it provide a shed, a chicken coop, or a doghouse?  Is it worth the time and effort, or should we do something productive for once?  I feel like we lost a lot of building time last summer due to cleaning up this mess.

On the good news, I found some huge Pella windows, brand spanking new, for the crib.  I’m adding windows between the center hall and the greenhouse on the bottom floor.  These will do nicely.  Now I need to find a pair of doors so that we can go from inside to greenhouse, and greenhouse to outside.

The thought of Spring has gotten me very driven to go get something positive done at the farm.

PS.  I hate Groundhogs, and their shadows.

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We have had a wonderful week of warm weather, reaching 50 degrees most days.  The foot of snow in the yard, and all but the highest of banks is gone.  But - yes you knew there was a but coming didn’t you - There is another 6-12″ heading our way.

I did get down to the farm to find all our seed starting supplies.  That also caused me to clean the basement, making room for several shelves of seedlings.  The farm was soggy.  There were a few good sized drifts here and there, but everything weathered well.  The doors and windows of the crib did a fine job.  I really want to plant some trees and bushes down there this year.  The wind is crazy.  I’m going to work on a tree break near the driveway, and at the NW corner.
The coffee business is taking off like a blasting rocket.  The reaction here has been great, and everyone seems to love the coffee.  We have already made a few good leads to help in our future.  We even made an offer on what could be the new headquarters of Greene Bean Coffee.  Nope, not a full coffee house location just yet.  There is a future possibility of one, but we need to get this out of the house so we don’t smell like coffee.  Office and kitchen space are top priorities, but we might have found new living quarters some time down the road too.

Why not the crib?  Well, not yet.  Still needs some siding, a new roof, and a well, all before we build an extra kitchen there.  Remember, we pay cash for all of TBF’s expenses.  I hope this summer we have it completely sided, painted, and have stairs leading to the 2nd floor.  Oh yeah, need a second floor.  The joists are there, just need to finishing pulling out the bins and lay down subfloor on the existing.  I think sometime in the next 5 years, the coffee can be roasted directly at TBF.
So, the coffee website is up, the shopping cart was updated from the first week of business.  There will be a few new bean varieties about to show up.  Go have a cup of coffee, will ya.

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