Tag Archives: barns and buildings

How to Use Google Calendar for Farm and Home Maintenance Records

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So, in the crazy-busy season of summer holidays and all the end-of-school “festivities” (annual testing, awards ceremonies, field days, summer camp registrations, etc.) I’m reminded again how glad I am that we’ve worked out a maintenance record-keeping system that is quick, easy, and efficient when I don’t have the time (or inclination) to go through the piles of paperwork that need filing in our home office. We’ve developed a system for using Google Calendar to track certain important information and events in our farm management–backed up by paper and digital records–so … Continue Reading…

The Homestead Garage…More Than Duct Tape and Baling Twine

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This is our second weekend with the Hemi in a bazillion pieces in the garage while we work on the exhaust. It started as a loose exhaust manifold heat shield. Turned out the shield was messed up from a couple broken bolts in the actual manifold. So we order the bolts, a new gasket, and started taking it apart–only to realize the whole exhaust is just rusted to dust and the tailpipe bracket broke off while we were taking it down. Sigh So we had to order more parts and … Continue Reading…

Putting the Summer Cover on the Chicken Hoop House

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Our busy Sunday this past weekend also included putting a new, summer cover on our chicken hoop house. Mr. Fix-It decided to try adding a little brown spray paint to the plastic cover to offer a little bit of sun filtering and shade. We also hang a tarp on the side to create real shade, but I didn’t object to the extra step because it’s a great opportunity to let the kids practice spray painting something they couldn’t mess up. Who knew spray painting was a life skill? Like everything else, … Continue Reading…

Building a Mobile Shade Shelter (Part 2) The Roof

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Well, it rained all day on Friday. It was raining, soggy, and overcast all day on Saturday and we had some special events with the kiddos. So we were up with the sun on Sunday and got a lot of things knocked off the TO-DO list, including finishing up the rebuild on our mobile shade shelter. I talked last week about completing the structural rebuild and throwing a tarp over it until we could get to the permanent roof. This weekend we got the roof done. Building a Mobile Shade … Continue Reading…

Building a Mobile Shade Shelter (Part 1) The Structure

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You might remember the twisted pile of mess Coal was always climbing on last Fall that was our mobile shade shelter for the animals. It had blown apart again and it was time for a real overhaul. So it sat around all winter as a pile of farm junk in the back of the field while we didn’t need it. Since we’ve had our first week of over 80 degree days, now we do, so we hauled it out of the field and got started on the rebuild last weekend. Building a … Continue Reading…

Why We Take Pasture Walks…Even in the Rain

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The weather’s been beautiful lately. Except for the days when it’s not. It’s been sunny, 80 degrees, shorts and tee-shirt weather. Except for when it’s a chilly 60 degrees, damp and raining. It’s been outside-all-day, work and play in the sunshine time. Except for the allergies, sinus migraines, and ear infections. (All me, this time!) The point is that it’s a normal spring in Virginia–and whether it’s sunny and 80 or drippy and 60, we’re out in the paths and pastures every day with the dogs. A regular pasture walk … Continue Reading…

Managing Winter Bedding Waste by Composting

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We use a deep bedding system (also called “deep litter” for poultry) for all our different livestock around here in the winter. That means that instead of a regular schedule of removing waste from barns, sheds, and loafing areas, we continually add clean bedding material on top of the old bedding. It becomes a deep pile of material, which is cleaned out all at once in the Spring. We “clean” it up by composting it and eventually spreading it on the pastures. Here’s a more detailed look at how it works. … Continue Reading…

Spring Fence Work and Fence Maintenance Supplies for the Small Farm

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One of the things good spring weather means is that outside farm repairs can get going again. While I was moving lambs last weekend, Mr. Fix-It and Speedracer were fixing and replacing fence posts and adjusting gates. Some of our woven-wire fence is in bad shape these days. Cows and horses are tall enough to reach over and get grass on the other side. When they leannnned on it, it sagged. Running a strip of electric around the top will fix this problem, but we caught on a bit late … Continue Reading…

Pros and Cons of a Hoop House Chicken Coop

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Our latest chicken coop is a hoop house style made from an old greenhouse frame, with hog panel sides and salvaged tin for the front and back wall. We wrap it in 9 mil plastic for weather proofing. There are runner boards (or skids) along the bottom on both long sides. This means we can drag it around the field as needed–something we do weekly. That also gives us something to fasten the plastic to in the winter. At the top of the hog panel wall on each side are … Continue Reading…

The Cow Shelter…Life with Coal the Cattle Dog

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It’s been hot, sticky, and on and off rain for several days now around here. The grass is tall and the animals are fat and it’s time for us to start looking ahead for the fall and winter weather. (I’m also looking forward to not breaking into a sweat just standing on the back porch…) Our cows have a run in barn available all the time, but they don’t mind the heat. As long as it’s dry, you’ll see them sunbathing in the middle of the field most of the … Continue Reading…

In the Cold, In the Wet…the Daily Farm Adventures {94}

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This past weekend we pulled the sides down on the chicken house for the winter. It was cold. And wet. And we all worked anyway. That doesn’t mean we didn’t have some fun along the way. Because honestly, these boys are never serious for very long! We added some screws to the towing skids to strengthen them up. Those skids are also what we attach the side walls to when they are rolled down. Everyone got to help out working tools and running errands. Then we unrolled the plastic sides … Continue Reading…

Always Building Something…the Daily Farm Adventures {92}

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I didn’t write for a good part of the late summer, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t stuff going on around here. (I love how these pictures remind me of the green-grass days!) One of the things that happens on a farm or homestead is that you collect, well, junk. But it’s useful junk, that’s why you keep it. Because someday, one day, you’re going to need it. (I’ve talked about farm junk before.) One thing you always keep is old running gear, or axles. Or any kind of trailer … Continue Reading…

10 Thoughts on Buildings and Shelters…the Dollars and Cents of Starting a Small Farm

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Today we’re back with another piece in our series of the Dollars and Cents of Starting a Small Farm. This series is meant to give you the tools to think through all the decision-making that goes with starting a small farm, along with some encouragement and creative but realistic tips and ideas for making it affordable. Buildings and Shelters–or building shelters as we like to do around here!–are a huge part of having livestock on a small farm or homestead. As I’ll talk about later in this post–it’s also one … Continue Reading…

10 Thoughts on Finding Land…The Dollars and Cents of Starting a Small Farm

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So, in the back of our minds, I think all of us small-farm-minded folks have some kind of Old MacDonald, little patch o’heaven, green pastures and babbling brooks daydream going on when we first envision our place. Or maybe it’s wide open prairies with clear blue skies and rugged, snow-capped peaks in the background. Either way, it’s beautiful. It’s perfect. And when push comes to shove, it’s really expensive. Farming begins and ends with land, and these days land is hard to come by. Even if someone was to walk … Continue Reading…

The Dollars and Cents of Starting a Small Farm

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My post a few weeks ago, when I said that raising your own meat is not really “frugal”, got an interesting response. A lot of folks agreed, and said farming is not cheap. Some readers disagreed and said that “frugal” and “cheap” are not the same thing and that the long-term, intangible benefits make it a frugal choice regardless of the up-front costs. The idea of quality vs quantity. {shrug} I think both are right. It’s expensive, but it has priceless long-term benefits–they’re just not monetary. And obviously we agree … Continue Reading…