Summer has been very, very busy. I write something in my head, and before I have a chance to sit and write it out, something else happens that is Even Better, and causes the previous thing to be uninteresting. Right now, chickens are The Thing, but we’re hoping to get the cows moved in before the end of the month, and maybe ducks next week. Goats need to be here before the end of the month. And everything takes longer than we expect, and requires at least twice as much talking as we anticipate, but the things we do are so much better together than they would be if we were making decisions individually. Here’s a few pictures of what’s happened over the summer:
Roger Hodgkins cutting the hay – our first crop!D.A. Smithson and Sons Well DrillingJasmine creates beauty (and dust) using heavy machineryOuthouse, half done, and shade plants (thanks, Nanette!)Handwashing station that will wash your feet if you’re not careful.Jasmine makes amazing roadsKids have a play area. Thanks for equipment, Grandma Gail!Food Digester, used a great deal before we had CHICKENS (and before the bear knocked it over).Our first livestock! Thanks, Ellen and Adrian. They got out three times, one overnighter, but we’ve still got both.Cistern. Now if we could get electricity, we’d have water!The Transition House, knocked together inside the ‘barn’ to house chickens until we have something better. I used your fancy tool belt, Uncle Rod, but still managed to drop a hammer on Tony’s head.CHICKENS!!! They have already earned their purchase/feeding in eggs, took less than a week.An Actual Haystack, hay scythed by Sweaty People because it ended up being faster/quieter/more-fun than weedwacking.
And now, I think you’re mostly caught up. We are having Such A Good Time.
I was going to call this “On Construction” but we haven’t really constructed any buildings yet.
But we are getting things done! Really!
With Jasmine’s help we have moved our Big Steel Boxes that I mentioned here back in May when we got the property (Wow! Only 2 months!) onto our boneyard. (Erin already covered this, but still! Berm, yard, gravel pad for the boxes. Plus, our stuff!)
Containers, snuggled into gravel behind the berm.
Now, the first pic in that post was the Sunriver sign at the gate. Well, we couldn’t leave it like that, so with some chalkboard paint and chalk, and a ladder, and Christiana’s artistic flair, now that sign looks like this:
But wait, that’s not all! We need roads to get places, and we have a creek( really just runoff flowing down a trench) which means we will need a bridge. So, prep for a road and bridge:
Road area cleared down to hardpan for the road base.Road leading to the creek, down to clay. Room for Roadbase plus room for the bridge!
Sounds like lots, and it is, but there is more! Those darn pesky fields keep growing grass! Oh wait, it’s a farm, that’s a good thing. If you can get it into bales. So, a quick call from Tony to Roger Hodgkins, who has been haying these fields for years, and the hay has been cut, dried, turned over and dried some more. Now it is in rows waiting to be baled. Which I hope happens today! To be followed by moving the bales (let’s see if I survive that!).
Of course, we still have a farm with no hookups to power, gas, water or any of those things. But we do have the ball rolling on that. In fact, We have a well in the process of being drilled right now. The steel casing through the sand and gravel and clay is actually more expensive than drilling through bedrock!
D.A. Smithson and Sons Well Drilling20 foot drill extenders on the right, drill extenders inside the steel casing on the leftThe first steel casing, with a drive shoe, in case the drilling hits a boulder.
There is also the barn which is being prepped to hold hay and livestock. (Will we have cows?) Christiana ran into a young couple that have done WOOFing, and they helped out by clearing the rotted boards from the barn floor, removing the bee nests, and leveling the dirt floor. Thanks Tomas and Naomi!
Naomi and Tomas, our (sub) WOOFers (since we aren’t quite farming yet) helping Tony clean out the barnOne set of bees that were in the barn, now moved out under shelter from the rain.
The bees actually cleaned up, and you might not notice them now. Which reminds me, I have to flag that, so they don’t get stepped on!
That’s it for now, but more to come, as we get there. You know what I mean 😉
Scott.
The Bees have completely moved, so I don’t need to flag them.
Drilling still going, down to the 80-100 foot range…
