The Garden Fence: In Progress

 Our garden fence is finally underway. Last week we put in the corner posts and roped off the entire area- which is approximately 115 ft by 100 ft. Rylan and I measured where all the fence posts would go on Saturday and marked them so that the post hole digging would go a bit quicker.

On Sunday we rented an auger to drill the 40+ holes. Paul, my brother and a friend manned the auger and got the holes dug fairly quickly. Between rocks, roots and hard-packed soil some of the holes had to be finished with the  manual post hole digger to reach the correct depth.

 We are using locust fence posts that are about 7 ft long. I really love the rustic look of them and how they are all different. I think they add a lot of character to the fence row.

 You can see most of the entire area to be fenced in the picture below.  It's big and I can't wait to fill it up with plants!

We still have to tamp down a few more posts, hang 2 gates and run the wire. But hopefully we can get that done by next weekend so I can start planting!

This post is linked to the HomeAcre Hop, The Homestead Barn Hop,

In the Bamboo Forest

Today we visited a bamboo forest- well about an acre or so of the stuff, courtesy of a Craigslist ad to come and cut and haul it off for free. It was late in the day when we finally got the call back with information but we headed over anyway. The boys were really looking forward to cutting and sawing the stalks down.

 So armed with a chain saw (for Paul), 3 hand saws and 3 pairs of clippers we headed in. They got right to work.

They sawed down the biggest ones they could find. And tried to help drag them out. And loaded up the trailer.

Annika was past tired, getting hungry and scared of the chain saw. But she managed to have some fun too.

 All in all it was a pretty good afternoon.We got a trailer full of 12ft + stalks and a few shorter ones.  Paul might take the boys back next week and get some more.  Can't beat free building materials!

And now I am off to research DIY bamboo fence ideas.

This post has been linked to the Homestead Barn Hop!

The Procrastinator's Goat Shed

 I've mentioned that we have a doe due to kid this Friday. Currently she shares a shelter and pasture with all of our other goats- including the buck. We had planned to get another shelter up and another yard fenced well before now, but when you have five kids- one of whom is just over 1 yr old, and a husband that works 6 days a week, sometimes things don't get done. There is only so much you can do with a baby on your hip or during one hour of daylight in the evenings and 1 full day a week. 

So now the problem is that she needs to be separated from the boys. NOW. We didn't have time to make the shelter we had planned to make, and upon further discussion we realized we didn't really want a ton of small shelters around the pasture, but would rather save up time and resources to build the big barn. 

So we came up with a quick, low cost shelter that should do the job of keeping everyone safe and dry, but easily taken down when we no longer need it. 

You will need pallets (9), 6 ft. t-posts (9), 3 cattle panels, fencing staples, screws/bolts and a large tarp. 

We used the t-posts, driven down so that they were about 4 ft tall, to secure walls to the ground.

Then just simply placed the pallets over top of them. Then attached the pallets together using lag bolts.

Once one wall was complete, we stapled one side of a cattle panel on to the pallets.  This way we could better see where to place the 2nd wall.

Then we built the 2nd wall, and stapled the cattle panel to it as well.

We used part of the old barn wood, cut into 4 ft pieces, to side the shelter. 

We stapled the 2nd cattle panel at the other end. And wired the 3rd in the center to bring them all to the same level. There should be at least 6 inches overlapping on the panels. 

 Here is what it looked like when it was done, except for the tarp:

 Then we topped with a tarp. We got a 16' x 24' tarp. The 16 ft was a good width, but it was a bit longer than we needed. Which is okay if we need to make it longer in the future.

Not completely done, but almost. Just needs the tarp secured a bit more, a few more siding boards cut, straw on the ground and maybe a stall added for the babies. 

But that is tomorrow's work for the boys and me.

Settling In

 It's been a busy week...I feel like we've gotten a lot accomplished. And I feel like there is so much yet to do. 

We finished our goat shed, which I am sure the goats are appreciative of since wind is gusting and whistling outside right now.

Bella, the worst of our escape artist goats, has already found her way out of her new yard. In the next few weeks we will bring out the electric wire and hopefully that will keep her contained. 

 

 

Spring is on it's way- 

though I am still expecting winter will make a return when we all least expect it...

 

We are getting ready to start our seeds inside and have someone coming out tomorrow to look at the area outside to be tilled. Hopefully I can get the cool weather crops in soon.

The boys enjoyed some golf practice. Rylan has a pretty good swing.

 

Cohen and Cale look a little more like they are taking a baseball bat to a car...

Annika worked on her putting.

She also helped make our compost bin.

 

Here is the finished project:

The house is slowly coming along too. This is our new school room:

Here is Annika's new room. I still have a couple dressers to paint, but over all it is done. 

Rylan and Cale's room is about done too. Yes, they have too many stuffed animals and no I don't make them make their beds. 

 

Lakin and Cohen's room still needs another coat of paint on the ceiling- which was orange before- but it's pretty well set up. 

 

We still have a lot left. Boxes to unpack. Another shelter to build. Another fence to put up. But all that will be much easier now that we don't have to travel 2 hours to work!

The Goat's Pallet Barn

We have a couple of buildings in the plans here at our new homestead and first up was for our existing goats. Currently there are 5 and our 2 girls are *hopefully* expecting. Eventually this will belong to the boys of the farm- our Buck, Thor, and our 2 wethers Scooter and Scout. So here's what we did:

Step one- collect lots of pallets. We got most of these from Paul's work and also from around town from various businesses. Most places welcome people to take these off of their hands. 

 

We connected the pallets using lag bolts- here is Paul and Cale working on the lower level of pallets. The shed is approximately 10 x 10 and used 3 pallets on each side. 

Moving up. We connected the second level of pallets using boards from our knocked down barn and 4x4s in the corners.  We were working with a pretty big hill too, so a lot had to be done to get it level.

Because of the hill, the building ended up being a lot taller than the expected 8 ft. It is closer to 10 ft in most places. 

We used a lot of blocks and bricks to set the foundation aswell as using stakes to anchor the corner posts into the ground.

Getting ready for the roof...this is as far as we got before we moved. 

We used a tarp for the roof for the first 2 days, and then this past Friday it was sunny and 60 and the perfect day to quit unpacking the house and get to working outside. 

My dad and stepmother came over to lend a hand on the roof.

Annika spent lots of time with the goats. These 2 are small and really gentle- perfect for her.

Rylan especially liked being up high on the roof while Paul and my dad finished the supports. We got all but one roof panel hung before we had to call it a day.

We were blessed again on Saturday with another beautiful day. Rylan sat up on the tin roof to help with fastening the last panel. 

Then we moved on to siding. The boys were all eager to help with the drilling. 

But eventually they had to hand over the drill in order for the work to get done a little quicker. Though Rylan stayed and helped to fasten the siding the entire time.

Annika took an extra long nap, so my stepmother and I took over the sawing. And I realized that the saw wasn't so scary after all. 

We got 2 sides done before it was time to call it quits for the day. But here is the progress so far:

Bertie and Bella went right in to lay down as soon as we started the 2nd side. They hadn't really liked their new quarters before with the holes in the sides and the tarp roof. They are much happier now. 

And we finished it just in time to shelter them from the cold rain and possible snow that might come tonight.  

Linked to the Barn Hop and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways