Farm Projects Update

Today, we have good news everybody! Projects are getting done!

Our Horse shed is complete. With the exception of that one triangle missing from the overhang. The right side of the shed now has a small corral for catching our ruminants when we rotate our livestock or separate moms from babies. Back to our Horse barn.

We had a slightly larger version of this pallet barn down at the old family farm. Recently we were asked to get all our stuff off the aunt's property. Luckily we built with deckmate screws. Ten years later, we were able to easily disassemble and rebuild at our farm. The right stall is 8x8 and the left is 12x8. We were able to salvage almost everything. To support the pallet walls, we added blocks between each pair of pallets to screw them together. with studs running vertically to support the walls and roof at each joint and in the corners. The rafters were from the original barn and went up quite easily.

We had been planning to re-roof the old barn with live edge boards from our saw mill. Once we began building, we decided to use the plywood siding panels that were the old shell as the back roof section as nobody can see it and used the live edge for siding. and the front roof. Given the live edge is fresh and will shrink as it dries, we will run battens over the gaps next summer. We could not be happier with how it turned out. We also could not be happier that we were able to reuse everything from the old barn, including the screws.

Lifetime Plastic Shed

Lifetime 8x18 shed is being built

We are gratefull for the gift and were expecting a few complications. The walls went up quickly without complications. As we began to assemble the trusses, we realized that we were two rafters and a gable end short. Using the front gable end as a template, I cut a new one out of a piece of ash we had cut a while back. I also made two rafters out of scrap wood and got them in place. The gable end is heavy and I have not had a helper to get it up. I am hopeful we will have this shed finished in a weeks time.

The base, which I did not think

 to take pictures of, are pallets with 1 inch ash planks. It does appear that all the roof panels are present and should go up easily with a helper to hold them while they are attached. I did have some time to try on my own and I found my arms are not long enough.

I believe firewood was the next topic in the last post. We have managed to whip up a pallet wood corral. Another pallet project with the left over siding panels as the roof, we can cover 3 cord at the moment. As we fill it, we will add another section. Sarah and Nana went down to the Abby of Regina Laudis and brought home 1.5 cord while I was working the ambulance. I arrived home to find a beautiful stack of firewood in our new wood shed.

Wood Stove and pipe have been cleaned and repaired. The collet where the stove pipe meets the wall was crumbling and the pipe would not fit and leaked. With some Hydraulic cement and a number 10 can, I refurbished the chimney inlet. Yes, a number 10 can...Have you ever seen a can of crushed tomatoes at the grocery store? That 10oz can is a number 1. The number 10 can is what restaurants get their crushed tomatoes in and it holds about 12 cups or 6lbs.

As I wondered the farm thinking about how I was going to re-do the cement around the inlet and ensure that it was perfect to accept the stove pipe. In the scrap pile, I had a stack of number ten cans. It looked about right, so I tried it. It just so happened that the last time I had made sauce, I had lanced the lids with a side cutting can opener. These openers cut off the rim and bevel the edges. The bevel was the

magic. The stove pipe slides in perfectly and makes a nice friction lock. So now I had my inlet template. I filled the inside with cement and then set the can into the cement and smoothed the edges on the inside. I then added cement to the outside rim and beveled it and smoothed it out...

Quick note on Hydraulic cement...This is basically portland cement without any aggregate (sand and rock). It sets very quickly, maybe 15 minutes work time. TO give a smooth finish, smooth it out with a trowel or your hand as best you can. Then take a wet cloth or paper towels and rub the setting cement smooth.

The next exciting change we made was to raise the stove off the ground. I had some old cement pavers which I cut down with the angle grinder and raised the stove with a 3 ton car jack. The Allnighter stove is around 500Lbs so lifting it is not easy. I placed the jack under the front portion, blocked it, moved to the rear, back and forth until all the blocks were in place. Once they were in place, I moved the jack to the center, jacked up the entire stove and got everything lined up. One might think that I could have just jacked the hole thing up and placed all twelve blocks in place. In theory that would work, but that one chance that it slips or you weren't perfectly centered, this could have gone all bad. If 500Lbs fell off and landed on me while I was home alone...or if it missed me and slammed on the concrete floor. Neither of theses were stories I wanted to tell. Specifically the stove crashing and cracking. The Allnighter is no longer made and an incredible stove. As an irreplaceable appliance, I could not risk it. The extra 20 minutes were well worth it. With a good scubbing of the pipe and inside of the stove cleaned out, we are ready to go. I also ascended the roof and swept the chimney just to make sure we were good to go.

Then there is the greenhouse. No progress yet. Not necessarily due to inability but due to lack of time. The water heater and fireplace water collar have not been done. That is both a time and money thing...the on demand heater is about $2k and that is not in this fall's budget. We do have all the bits for the stove water heater, but I do not want to cut into the baseboard heater system until we are ready to replumb for the on demand.

The slaughter will happen soon. The last batch of chicks are just about chickens and we will be moving them to the freezer in the next week or two. The pig as well.

Then there is the knife store at Farm Life Farm. I have been spending time on duty photographing and listing more of granpa's knife collection. I believe there are now 650 knives on the site. We are about half way through. I never thought I would go into the retail business, but I clearly am. I would also like to advise you that stamps.com is not the usps.com. Stamps.com is a pretty good website and easy to use, however there is a limit of 10 labels per month and the prices are a little bit more. Usps site takes an extra minute to get the labels done but there is no limit, prices are better, and you can order supplies direct. I was hoodwinked by google into stamps .com. I should have paid more attention but happy I figured it out.