Spring might have sprung. So far, we have seen 70 degrees here a few times. Trees are budding, and there are lots of birds around. Even the grass is green and growing. What’s all that add up to? Farm work.

Last year I found some old shingles and plugged up the holes in the shed roof. Those old cedar shakes are so brittle, that just as many holes opened back up over this last winter. It’s time for a proper roof. The plan is to strip off all the shingles, lay down plywood to cover the gaps between the existing boards, and shingle. It’s a big roof, the back half alone is 18×42. I didn’t quite dive into this yet, but got out there for some prep work.

The shed itself is pretty strong. There is no rotting, things seem straight, and there is nothing sketchy about it. The only weakness it has is the middle of the side walls. The post and beam framing goes up to 8′, and then the only thing above that is an overlapping seam of siding at 10′ I can push on the middle of this wall and getting some good flex out of it. Obviously the goal here is to strengthen that up. And if I was going to do that, I’d do it all around and make sure there were no weak spots. I decided to add studs all around the shed, and pretty much got it done in one afternoon. What amazed me, was that the shed was still straight. I only found 1/4″ of difference along the entire East, West and North walls, and I think that was because part of the foundation settled in one corner. Studs were fitted below each rafter, much like conventional framing. And I started on reinforcing that West wall. Just three 2×4′s took out half of the flex. Once finished, it should be rather solid.

I returned on Tuesday night, bringing the tractor back to it’s summer home. I quickly hooked up the rototiller to it, and got to work on the gardens. Another amazing thing, is that these strips were rather devoid of grass and weeds. They looked far better then how we left them last year. I tilled about 7 of the little plots we use and Mason helped clear out the grass over the strawberries and some sunflower remains. It got a little on the dim side, we we held off on any planting. Rain is in the forecast, so a quick trip out there for some seed planting might be called for today.

No Comments »

Obviously, the upgrade of the server here went better then planned. I forgot for a few days to re-populate the gallery, but have most of the pictures back in there. The updates make this site much more user friendly, on my side at least.

I’ve gotten to the farm for a few quick visits. During one trip, we constructed a workbench with supports for boards coming out of the saw. Then on another 2 trips (1.5-2hours each) I was able to work on building a new wall. This one will frame in the staircase and support the edge of the floor above it.

No Comments »

WordPress upgraded flawlessly. There is a new photo gallery, and we need to get that restocked and sorted.

No Comments »

Facebook must be the demise of blogs.  We hardly write posts as often, and only send updates in 2-3 sentance bursts.

Need to stop doing that so much.  Because, if you follow us here, you barely heard about the ice skating fun we had.  Yep, we found an outdoor rink and plowed it.  Then we started devising mini, tractor mounted zamboni like machines and kept resurfacing the ice.  We got at least 30 other people to go have fun there, and the record was 14 people there at one time.  Oh, we’ll be all over this next year

I have gotten farm work done now and then. I’ve noticed that when I have time to think about a project, I can visualize each step.  I even had a dream about how I was going to build something.  Then went to the farm the next day and built exactly what I dreamed.  And that wall went together fast!

Not a lot of work yet, but I’ve been there a bunch of times this winter compared to the last few times.  Nothing major to write about.  I often haul down coffee waste to the compost, as it’s more then the worms can handle.

NEWS FLASH.  We really need to update this website.  It’s quite old under the hood, and probably why we don’t use it enough.  The last time we upgraded the photo gallery, it created a disaster.  That’s why it’s been put off. So, now we plan on updating everything and don’t know what will happen.  So, if you check in, and it’s gone, or content is missing, just give it a day or two.  We’re not letting the site die.

Any features you would like to see?  Blog- yes, Pictures-yes.  Maybe something a little more discussion/social like so we can talk about things ???  Any other ideas?

No Comments »

He said Spring was coming. That is a nice change this year.

And, he may have been right. We already saw a week of 50 degrees, a 61 degree day, and a 70 even showed up. Needless to say….no more snow or ice around here. In just a weeks time, the driveway at the farm went from knee deep to bare. The best part is that during this warm week, I finally fixed my dad’s snowblower. That’s right, in Spring, after all the snowfall. Obviously, we used either the blade or the 4′ blower on the tractor all winter.

A few Spring highlights:
–Corn Crib is nice and dry. No piles of snow in it this year. Mainly an issue in the greenhouse, but the windows work
–The windows do work, well. I’ve noticed up to a 20 degree temp gain on sunny days in there.
–House in town has a dry basement so far. Not even a peep from the sump pump
–Strawberry plants have turned green, and are still mulched.

Garden catalogs have been popping up. Time for some shopping. I have done a few small projects, but nothing newsworthy to report yet. Time to thaw out the farm and it’s blog.

1 Comment »