There really is gold at the end of a rainbow!

may - Weeks 2 & 3, Busy!

The winter squash is bursting forth in 2 weeks. Visiting farm hands, Mom, Bill and Leslie lend a hand in cooler construction and Bill makes his famous strawberry-rhubarb pie for reward! Delicious!

may - Weeks 2 & 3, Busy!

May is bursting forth with beauty. Grapes, irises, clematis, baby robins and the girls.

House painting continues

Seedlings growing in the germination chamber in the house. The first ginger sprout!

May - Weeks 2 & 3, Busy!

Mark and his tractor. Getting the place mowed.

May - Weeks 2 & 3, Busy!

Digging the trenches for the electrical lines to the greenhouse... big project. Layed down the landscape fabric inside the greenhouse and the first trays to go in are the winter squash! Still no heat in the greenhouse and the nights can get pretty cool yet so the tomato and peppers are in the house yet growing in pampered comfort.

May - Weeks 2 & 3, Busy!

More work on the cooler, got to use the sawsall to cut the hole for this and then proceeded to insulate with R19, followed by 1" board insulation and then taped. Just one more layer for this little cooler and it's ready for veggies!

May - Week 1 -Build out a Cooler Floor

I decided to rework the old tack room in our barn and convert it to a cooler. I started by ripping the existing floor boards out. This was somewhat of a project... and required that they be cut them from the other side. There were no joists in the structure so I needed to put them in. I started by shoveling 2 bucket loads of gravel inside the room. Then to get things level I needed to drill into the concrete. Ooooh.

Scratch the drilling into concrete plan... I did drill the holes (12 of them), after 2 bits and 4 sheared bolts I decided to drill into the wood at hand and level with a plum line. I'm learning carpentry and our talented carpenter/painter/mason Matt Yauger has been tutoring me as I go. Learning lots!

Hangers in.

Joists in!

Insulation board in!

Followed by R19.

The best part yet... Matt loaned me his nail gun to put the flooring back in. Done in record time! Last board had to be ripped down... did it with my circular saw!

April - Week 4 -Discing

Our neighbor, Steven Allen, came up to finish the plowing and discing on Friday. This crazy disk is a "bat-wing" disc with the "wings" still up. It was a little tight to put those down in my .5 acre plots. Fun to watch the big tractors out and about. There's much activity now in the neighborhood. Big corn planters that do 12 rows at a time. Next we'll get some compost on the fields and do a second round of discing. The sod is starting to break down but will need a second discing to help it along... lots of good organic matter at the top of the soil for seedlings to feed on.

April - Week 4 House Painting

House Painting Continues!

Outside and in, Mark tirelessly started painting trim in the dining room this weekend.