Farm progress and "farmer problems"

The wood shed is finally done!  We ended up going the easy route and used wire fence to be the walls which was easy, cheap and quick to install.  The added benefit of this material is that it allows complete air circulation from all directions.  Additionally we had reasoned that no one would be able to see the sides and rear wall anyway.  So the next thing is to get a few more pallets to stack the wood on, rent a splitter and make an all day event out getting the wood split and stacked.

It was a busy two days as we also took advantage of the dry conditions and had 36 more tons of crusher run delivered to finish up the barn floor leveling.  We ran in too a mechanical problem with the hydrostatic steering on the tractor causing us to shut down for awhile to fix the problem (sort of).  The steering ram cylinder came loose from vibration (all four bolts were still in place but the cap screws were not engaged!).  We managed to get them realigned and properly tightened without cross threading the screws.  This fix allowed me to continue using it but now I think there is either a problem with the steering pump pressure or the cylinders are bad.  At about the same time this happened Elizabeth had declared that the well pump had quit working or the well was dry!  After taking a short break and thinking about the issue I walked over and pressed the circuit breaker button on the generator and it reset.  Well pump not broken and well not dry. :)

Ramp nearly level with bottom of door now

Moving and leveling with FEL.  The Farmi was only along for the ride to counter weight the front end.  I should have put the rear blade on the for additional leveling capability.

Elizabeth was very busy planting tomatoes, zuchini, watermelon and ochra in the hugelkultur beds which we amended with topsoil removed from the wood shed.  The farm is coming along nicely!

The cute and adorable little fellow was found in the wood shed when we were excavating the topsoil

Really coming together !

We headed up to Pelham for a 'short' day of work today.  Elizabeth was tied up in the morning at the "Y" doing a group fitness spin class so when she finished up we decided to pack "light" and take only the chainsaws and drill gear with us (no dogs to distract with walks and such) and aim to install the wood shed roof supports.  Last week we picked a nice straight 25 foot tall, ~16 year old Virginia pine tree with a diameter of about 5" from our nearby woodlot and dragged it with the MF 240 to our homestead to use as the rear roof header on the wood shed.  For the front we had a nice straight log from last year's road clearing already peeled and ready to go.

Even more exciting for us was that Moon Creek Construction Co got the metal roofing on the barn and the south attic window installed during the week.  

Here is some of the handiwork completed on the wood shed.  It has character to say the least.  Our plan is to tie the red barn/shop theme somehow into the wood shed...ideas ?

Lean-To Framing

Since we have a fairly significant elevation change from one side of the shop to the other we will have to build a ramp up to the doorway level (bottom of siding).  Nothing a few more tons of rock can't take care of.

Pole Barn Windows Installed

After me being back to work the week of January 5th the Moon Creek Construction team was also hard at work again to add the siding and start the construction of the lean-to sheds on the gable ends.  You can see from the first photo below the posts are in and header up for the north side lean-to.  We have three big windows in place and the walk-in door goes on the south wall where the sun is shining on it.

Bright, sunny but cold morning (~10:00) January 10, 2015.

8' wide lean-to will be installed on this wall shortly

12' lean-to in progress on north side of shop - a cool 23 F morning.

Metal roof, 10x10 split siding door, walk-in door and attic storage floor boards are next installs...

Installing Pole Barn Floor

Over the last week more progress on the pole barn was made.  The roof sheeting and membrane was completed and the wall framing was started.  A few truck loads of crusher run gravel was added for the floor base.  Eventually we will pour a concrete floor but for now we'll live with a gravel floor.

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.