First Weekend at the New Farm: The Work Begins

After much anticipation we finally had our first weekend when we could begin working at establishing the new farm.  Happily the weather co-operated and we had three absolutely beautiful, warm spring days for beginning our project.... building a farm.

little barn "before"

The first project of the first day was to uncover the small barn which was overgrown with vines, brush, weeds and bushes.  Aged, weathered and rotted boards which ones sided the barn were strewn around and the grass had already grown up several inches tall around them.

We sorted and stacked the wood, bits into a pile to burn, larger unusable pieces also in the burn pile.  Long, lost and rusted mechanical parts tossed on a pile to send to the metal recycle area, the a pile for boards that could be re-used.

Next the over-growth needed to be dealt with.  Prickly vines wove their way through fence wire, forced their way under siding and through walls.  And large bushes grew against the south and west walls of the small structure.

Once the exterior was cleared we were able to finally have peek inside the building and assess it's condition and possibilities.  What a surprise!  The interior framing was mostly as good as new and there was plenty of space to create stalls for the goats, including two birthing stalls, and also an area roomy enough for all the chickens and their laying boxes!

Looking down at the floor, which had at one time been made of wood, was now covered in a 12 inches of composted manure.  Until last year horses were kept at the farm and now their dropping had turned into black gold for the garden!  What a treasure to find in the old post and beam building.

Except for only two or three of the smaller posts, all the posts are in good condition.  The only work will be to replace those thinner posts with new, pressure treated 4"x 4"s and the lower siding boards which for one reason or another were missing or in need of replacement.

The plan for our next trip will be to replace that wood, enlarge and re-frame the main door into a double barn door, re-do the floor, add two smaller doors on the west wall (one for the goats and one for the chickens) so the animals will be able to leave and enter their home at will.   Around two sides of the little barn we will construct a new goat pen, and a large chicken yard .  Although we intend to have the animals out in the field and rotated the areas in which they forage, they will need a secure area near their shelter for other times.

Rear Ell .. the front porch is barely seen at
the far left of the house.

Day two is for sweeping out the house interior, assessing and creating a to-do list for it's restoration, and stripping out the enclosed front porch (which we will open up for it's original intended use, a front porch).

The ell, at the rear of the house, will be eventually be enclosed to the full length of the roof.

This turns out to be more work than I expected.  We swept and shoveled and swept and shoveled again and again and that was just 3 rooms.   There are three more rooms to clean out and also tear off those ugly walls which were constructed to enclose the front porch.

How the house front will look when restored.

Outdoor work consisted of cutting down prickly vines which were hugging the house's siding and chimney, getting rid of wild bushes, weeds and brush which surrounded the house and trimming back the grass which is already 6 inches high and deep green.

I took time to decide on a suitable location for the kitchen garden and measured and marked with flagged sticks a 50' x 50' area which will have full sun all day long.  I wish I could begin the garden now, but other things must come first for now.

The plan for the garden will be to have a few 50' x 50' gardens: one for tomatoes, peppers and cucumber; another for perennials such as asparagus; another for fruit: strawberries, blackberries, etc.
There will also be an orchard for apples, apricot, peaches, pear, and perhaps fig trees.

All of this will take time, and lots of work.  But this is what we look forward to as we look to the future and our retirement.  The thought of sitting out our December years in a small, home with not much to do but watch one day pass into the next, with not much to do except watch  t.v. and sunsets and talk with other retirees about the old days, is depressing and not the way we want to live.

We are at the opening page of a new chapter of our lives through which we hope to add many, many more pages and stories.

For today, however, it is time to bake bread, plan dinner, and decide which seeds will be planted in trays to get an early start for the garden.