Hello again. It is a beautiful sunny day but still very cold. I envy those of you who live in areas that are warmer and are able to get started working outdoors. For now there are a dozen each of tomatoes and peppers planted indoors. In another week I will plant more seeds.
While I have been planning for the warmer days, I have been remembering back to when my girls were children during the late seventies and early eighties when we were living in our first house/home. The house had been built during the 1700's and was the last house on the edge of town, very rural and cozy. We had a big beautiful garden, our home was small but comfortable. Since there was no kitchen to speak of, I took the large room at the back of the house and made it into a kitchen with a door going out to the back yard, three windows to let in lots of morning sunlight, and a 1904 wood burning, kitchen cook stove. There was also a traditional gas cook stove which I used during the warm summer days. I loved doing the cooking in that kitchen. It was where I did all my baking, cooking and canning. During the summer months the windows would be kept open and I would set pies on the sill to cool. My girls would come in from playing and tell me the smells of my canning would fill the air in neighborhood with the scent of mincemeat or pickles. In those days we also used oil lamps for light, and did without a tv. The laundry was hung out to dry on two long clotheslines strung out in the yard. I love the smell bed sheets dried in the fresh air and sunshine. From the time the girls were born I sewed nearly all their clothes, along with quilting and various forms of needlework my days were full and busy. It was a lovely time which I miss very much.
Today I put out the clothesline for the season. Instead of long straight lines, I have one of the carousel type that closes somewhat like an umbrella. It has 10 or 12 lines, each about 6 feet long. Since these days it is just Nick and myself, that is all the drying space we need. While outdoors I removed any of the dead plants from last years vegetables and put them into the compost. It is still cold outside, in the 30's and a bit breezy, so after taking several "before" photos from diffent directions in the backyard I came inside.
Saturday :
Nick and I started work preparing the area for the chicken coop and its run. We raked the area clean down to the soil then measured off the diameter of the building and fenced in areas and marked at four foot intervals with pegs so we could get a better idea of the how much space the hens will be using. Each section will measure 8' x 10'. This particular size is because the used materials we have measure 4' x 10'. They had been customed made pallets with sheets of 3/4" plywood on one side and framed with 2/4's.
Then once again, the temperature dropped as the wind grew stronger until we had to go indoors.
Tomorrow we try to get started on assembly the chicken house.
Today we will be disassembling (7) 4'x10' palletts, which Nick got for free, with the help of our two grandsons, Jamie and Matthew. Once the wood is separated they can begin building.
After a late start, the floor and 3 1/2 walls are up. Next weekend the remaining walls, roof, doors and windows will be completed. Can't wait!
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
We got quite a bit accomplished over the weekend. On Saturday I built four raised beds for the garden (more on this on Project #2 page)
Nick and Matthew worked on the coop, they finished putting up walls and roof, and started putting on the 1-11 siding before the rain started to fall.
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