With so much that needs immediate attention in the gardens, it's easy for me to lose track of long-term goals for the farm. Fortunately, I have friends who periodically help me re-focus and move towards my larger mission.
Building a barn (with an apartment/office upstairs for me) is one of my more expensive, but absolutely necessary goals for the future. Much of what I'd like to do with the farm (from raising various animals to growing more produce) will be easier with some sort of barn in place. Plus, while the RV is nice and all, I'd really like to have a place to live where more than one person at a time can actually visit and even dine with me!
I'm hoping to get started on building the barn sometime next year, but in the meantime, I've decided to restore the one section of the old barn which still remains. We refer to the remaining section as the milk house because apparently at some point in its lifetime that's what it was - go figure. I don't recall it being used for that at all, however. The uses I do remember include an extension of the cow barn - usually used for calving or separating cows who were to be sold, a pig pen, a horse stall, and, most recently, a dog house and place to store hay. In short, it's a musty old building that has undergone many incarnations in its lifetime and is about to undergo one more. It's about to become the place where I will wash and refrigerate the produce! Clearly, much work needs to be done on it before that happens:)
While the milk house already has plumbing in it, the wiring in it grew defunct long ago. My friend, Ramsey (Evan), has taken the leadership in getting the electric in and working again. Thinking towards the future (when the barn will be rebuilt), he has wired it to handle all anticipated electrical needs. I am so excited that I'll have electrical power up there soon! Right now all electrical needs in "the barn" are met by the use of hundreds of feet of extension cord stretched from the house. Not a very safe or convenient way to do things!
After finishing the wiring, an overhead path had to be made from the barn to the electric pole for the service line. That required some pretty precarious tree limb cutting- mostly from a ladder. While I'm always eager to use my new easy-start and light-weight Stihl chain saw (I should really be a spokesperson for them, I love it so much), I did not relish the idea of using it on a ladder - I just don't trust my arm strength or my balance! To my relief, Ramsey agreed to cut the trees for me. What a guy! He seemed to enjoy it and I enjoyed watching and learning from him. Unlike me, he really seemed to know what he was doing.
So...slowly, but surely (with enormous help from friends) I'm actually getting things done here, and inching my way towards my goals. I have to say....that's pretty darn exciting to me.
Building a barn (with an apartment/office upstairs for me) is one of my more expensive, but absolutely necessary goals for the future. Much of what I'd like to do with the farm (from raising various animals to growing more produce) will be easier with some sort of barn in place. Plus, while the RV is nice and all, I'd really like to have a place to live where more than one person at a time can actually visit and even dine with me!
I'm hoping to get started on building the barn sometime next year, but in the meantime, I've decided to restore the one section of the old barn which still remains. We refer to the remaining section as the milk house because apparently at some point in its lifetime that's what it was - go figure. I don't recall it being used for that at all, however. The uses I do remember include an extension of the cow barn - usually used for calving or separating cows who were to be sold, a pig pen, a horse stall, and, most recently, a dog house and place to store hay. In short, it's a musty old building that has undergone many incarnations in its lifetime and is about to undergo one more. It's about to become the place where I will wash and refrigerate the produce! Clearly, much work needs to be done on it before that happens:)
While the milk house already has plumbing in it, the wiring in it grew defunct long ago. My friend, Ramsey (Evan), has taken the leadership in getting the electric in and working again. Thinking towards the future (when the barn will be rebuilt), he has wired it to handle all anticipated electrical needs. I am so excited that I'll have electrical power up there soon! Right now all electrical needs in "the barn" are met by the use of hundreds of feet of extension cord stretched from the house. Not a very safe or convenient way to do things!
After finishing the wiring, an overhead path had to be made from the barn to the electric pole for the service line. That required some pretty precarious tree limb cutting- mostly from a ladder. While I'm always eager to use my new easy-start and light-weight Stihl chain saw (I should really be a spokesperson for them, I love it so much), I did not relish the idea of using it on a ladder - I just don't trust my arm strength or my balance! To my relief, Ramsey agreed to cut the trees for me. What a guy! He seemed to enjoy it and I enjoyed watching and learning from him. Unlike me, he really seemed to know what he was doing.
So...slowly, but surely (with enormous help from friends) I'm actually getting things done here, and inching my way towards my goals. I have to say....that's pretty darn exciting to me.
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