Next!

Alright! My fence is up, I've put the poles in and mounted the gate (with a big assist from Evil Genius Husband *mwah!*) Here is the barn drive before:

And after (man, I need to mow!):



Here's the gate from the outside - I'll be putting up wire on the inside of both the gate and the sides so that it's goat and sheep-proof:



I do still have to run the electric fence in the pasture, but that's not particularly difficult, just time-consuming and fiddly. I'm going to do a bit every day and should have it finished by the week-end.

Now on to The Pantry and the part of construction that is the most fun:

DEstruction.

I have to remove a ramp and railing from the deck and take out the back gate that I put up between the side yard - 'the garden' in the British sense, which includes the back deck, 'my' yard (with all my plants and flowers) and the vegetable patch - and the back yard which is the domain of the dogs, the pumphouse, and the brooder pens.

I've made an investment purchase of a satisfyingly long and heavy crowbar and plan to begin smashing and prising directly.

Here is the area right now - obviously needing to be tidied up even before chaos begins:



You can tell that this out-of-the-way corner has collected the junk of the yard. Here's the view from the deck:


My first question of the project is this: that is old aluminium siding ... how do I cut it? Can I cut it in situ since everything will be hidden in the end? Should I just leave it as is and nail/screw right through it? That makes me nervous, especially for the ledger board (that the rafters attach to) and the skirt board (that the floor joists attach to). I'd like to know what I'm nailing into.

As usual, all helpful thoughts appreciated!

Fenced in

Quite a few changes around here!

The turkey poults are ready to leave the baby pen and go in a regular pen, my two remaining baby geese, Dutch and Akeeyu (named after two of my fave bloggers), look like big geese now. The ewe lambs and two doelings are in their pen and ear tagged.

Ahh, spring. Busy!

I also lucked into a pair of peafowl - and India Blue cock and some off-colour hen, not sure what she is, but they're a breeding pair and I have the two other girl peafowl. I am not sure whether that male will breed all thee females (in the manner of chickens) or if they pair up like geese. We'll see.

The biggest and best news is our new fence! Since I've decided to build my pantry myself, I'm saving a ton of money, and I used a portion to get an associate to put it up our pasture fence for me!



I didn't have much to spend but after we scrounged some old t-posts, used a bit of barbed wire, and I threw in a goat in trade, I got my whole pasture (approximately a half acre) fenced PLUS a small pasture under the crepe myrtle for the pony.


It was a long and tiring day. Mr K and his crew worked steadily and I helped out while the babes were napping and after Evil Genius Husband got home. I am SO SORE today! And my knee ... well I can't describe it. I've been eating handfuls of Tylenol all day.

It looks like decent folks live here now, lol.

NOTE: I have many more pics, including a before shot but Blogger is being STUPID and won't let me upload the others.

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Now to begin the pantry. I have finally settled on how to do the foundation and the framing, I just need to decide about where I'm putting the roof (blend in with the existing roof or attach below the eave since it doesn't need to be so high?). Still pondering that one.
Speaking of pondering, I was thinking that there aught to be some funny, attitude-ful T-shirts out there for small farmers and/or folks restoring old homes by themselves. I could make some for my store. You know, for hands-on type people. What do you think? Do you guys think farming / DIY old-house-restoring T-shirts would fill a need? ("See a need, fill a need!" yes, I have watched Robots waaaaaay too many times.)