Christmas '14

Christmas 2014 has come and gone.  Plenty of cheer was had by all!

One of the great things about North Carolina weather is the mild weather we get in December - last couple days were sunny and warm.  On the 26th we went up with the kids (first time all of us went together!) to paint.    All siding is now stained and ready to go onto the barn.

Our traditional Beef Wellington for Christmas dinner

Happy 19th Birthday to my daughter, Sarah

Last panel being stained on Dec. 27

Clearing for the home site

We hired some youngsters to help paint and do some clearing work.  Alex, Matthew's friend was out again to assist Elizabeth with painting the barn siding while Matthew helped me clear some trees on the area we plan to build the house.

Matthew

Alex

Matthew cut the roots with a pick axe and then I pushed the stumps out with the MF 240 loader - worked great.

Tow bar hooked to 3PH to pull the trailer holding the wood chips

Alex and Scott unloading chips to the trail down to future house site

Wood Chip Manufacturing

On December 20 out at the farm we were confronted with light flurries on and off in the morning so instead of getting down to all the painting we chose to set up the chipper on the MF240 and knock out a few hundred pounds of wood chips.  We decided to use our little trailer to catch the chips so that we could move them to wherever we needed them later on.

Positioning the tractor to hook up the chipper.

A great country that makes great things!  Thanks Wallenstein for building such a robust and reliable wood chipper.

Blogger maneuvering tractor after scraping some mud with loader to see if it could do some basic grading on the south gable end of barn where the 8' lean-to is going to be installed.

Barn Erection - Cont'd !

The week of December 14th marked yet another notable event.  The roof of the barn went on (at least partially) and we were able to park the tractor under shelter.  As a side note we actually got the tractor back from the local Massey Ferguson dealer located in Danville, VA.  Boone Tractor took our MF 240 tractor away on October 3 to perform some 'routine' fixes to common problems (such as hydraulics not working).  To make a long story short the three point hitch appears to be working correctly (for) now.  It is possible that our tractor may need an exorcist if the problem returns.  Everyone cross your fingers and pray for our MFer.

In the meantime the MF 240 and Elizabeth look very happy under the barn.

One of the Moon Creek Construction guys installing the roof sheathing

On stage 'left' Elizabeth and I began staining the T1-11 siding panels.  It is a lot easier to do this on the ground versus on the barn.  We went with Behr's Barn Red color which we think is going to look spectacular once it is all done.  The quintessential red barn look is what we were going for.

Eight down...

 42 more to go !

Future Fruit and Nut Tree Plans

Recently Elizabeth and I decided to get a head start on planting a few nut and fruit trees before actually moving onto the land.  I did a little searching and found a family run nursery located in Texas that got favorable reviews for its stock.  Womack's offering included pecan varieties that should be fairly cold hardy for North Carolina climate. At least that was the advice given to me by Larry Womack when I contacted them about their products.  So Caddo, Kanza and Lakota pecans, Fuji and Gala apples and some raspberry bushes are all going to be planted in late February 2015.  While visiting Into The Woods, a blog I frequently read, I learned that there is a local fruit tree nursery near Reidsville, NC that could serve some of our future needs for apple trees cultivated in this area.

Barn Erection Continues

The Moon Creek Construction team was hard at work by the end of the first week where they had placed the roof trusses and poured the concrete into the post holes for a permanent set.  Next step is to sheath the roof with plywood and then install the metal roof and wall girds.  Some additional re-grading work to take out some slope on the south end of the structure is needed to prepare it for the gravel base floor.  Maybe one day we'll upgrade it to a concrete floor.

Pole Barn Goes Up

This week marked the start of the pole barn erection.  Moon Creek Construction Co, a Pelham, NC firm began work on our 24'x48' barn/shop.  The structure will have an 8' lean-to on each gable end and some storage space in the attic.  We'll be able to start leaving the tractor and implements in the barn and undertake various other small projects under shelter.  Needless to say we're excited about this development!

Wood Shed Uprights

The four corner posts were installed and held in place with cross beams.  Next step is to install the header at the front which will support the rafters.

Pair of carriage bolts at each joint to stiffen the connection.

Water Harvesting

We installed a gutter on the outhouse to catch rain water in the barrel for Loo bucket washing.  A simple way to collect water.  If one had a slate roof on a home and collected rain into a sealed container it could be used as potable water.

Well Completion and Trial Run

The water well was finished up last week by Carolina Virginia Well Drilling, Inc.  Protocol is for the drillers to add chlorine to disinfect the water in case any bacteria were introduced during the installation.  Since our use of the well for the next couple of years (prior to the house being built) will primarily be for occasional camping trips and irrigation the installers hooked it up for running off a portable generator.  The well was drilled to a depth of 425 feet.  It is a 6 inch diameter casing and the pump was positioned 120 feet from the bottom.  The aquifer re-charges the well at a rate of two gallons per minute which is more than adequate for a typical three bedroom residence, but the depth allows for the well to hold about 400 gallons in the casing and another twenty gallons in the pressure tank. We ran the well continuously for about two hours straight out of a garden hose to clear out the chlorine taste.

20 gallon pressure tank

240 volt, 20 amp plug for generator connection

Homelite generator using propane as fuel.  This generator will run on three fuel types: gasoline, propane and NG.  To convert your generator buy the adapter kit from US Carbeuration

Firewood Shed Started

Work began yet again on another new structure.  With all the wood cut from the road building project in the winter and spring we have a lot of firewood that needs to be stored to protect it from rot.  Architecturally it will be similar to the outhouse - log timber framed.  We started the pier footings for the corner poles using concrete forms and metal cleats that will be fastened to the bottom of the poles.

Water well in place and now awaiting pump and pressure tank installation

Water!

This week our well got installed (at least partially).  The hole and casing are in place.  Next week the contractors will finish it with installation of the pump and pressure tank.  Once complete we'll be able to operate it with a portable generator as needed.

Water drilling rig

Managed to make some time to walk around the forest after the heavy rainfall we'd just received hours before.

Moon Creek was very high

Life forms in the bottomland

Wallenstein BX42

Our new machine addition for woodlot maintenance.  The first use of the BX42 chipper we produced enough mulch to build a 2-3" deep trail down to the outhouse.

Our little mouse friend came scampering out of the tractor loader arm when we started it up.

Outhouse is Finished

September 28th we put the finishing touches on the outhouse - a door.  We have plans to trim the roof to match the length of the rafters at the back so we can install a gutter catchment to harvest rainwater to fill that barrel you see in the picture.  It will be used to wash the five gallon Lovable Loo receptacle after dumping...the contents into the compost pile nearby.

Rest of 'roughed in' homestead site is starting to look beautiful now with the grass well established alongside the road.  But a lot of the grass is destined to be replaced with swales and fruit bushes and few nut trees in the coming months/years.  Home site will be somewhat behind the cameraman but right of the grassy area.