Pasture Walk

 I took my first pasture walk since early summer this morning. During the busyness of the growing season with the early morning time needed for garden watering, weeding, and just generally getting outside things done before it gets too hot, there just wasn’t much time left for pasture walks. I’ve missed them and was happy to walk the pasture on this cold crisp morning. 

The fading almost-full moon was just visible over the big ponderosas to the east as I headed across the pasture and down the hill…

I loved how the barn looked with the sky just starting to lighten behind it.

I surprised some deer who were still bedded down, they didn’t hang around long…

I checked on the “waddle” fence I built last spring to use up some of the branches that had been left down there over the years. (This is the furthest corner of the property, and often gets used to dump branches that have fallen.) 

I always feel a little sad when the pasture grasses start to die in the fall, but there is beauty in the dried, golden grass too. 

I finished my walk at the chicken coop where I peeked in and found Sadie awake (ever the queen of the coop, protector of the flock) with Shirley… still asleep with her head tucked under her wing… beside her. It took just a moment for Shirley to wake up too, and I fed them and scattered their scratch and headed inside to start my day. 

 E and the two little girls stopped by for ice cream after school. 

Emily got her hold her favorite chicken. She has loved and cuddled this hen, Shirley, since she was a tiny chick. I’m so glad Shirley is still tame enough to let Em hold her…

this moment...

 This moment.

One (or maybe two?) photos that captures a moment from our days. A single, special, everyday moment to savor and appreciate in it's simplicity.

Hens settled in the coop during the last light of evening...

 

scenes of a morning

I took the camera with me when I went out this morning to do the barn work...

Tucker... always Mr. Nosy... checking out the camera.




A doe I startled (and who startled me!) as I walked back to the house... she was getting ready to jump into the front yard, but changed her mind once she saw me...



Our chickens.... mostly looking fat and happy... except poor Sadie... the incredible molting chicken... isn't she a mess?





I hope she starts growing her feathers back soon, she looks sad and miserable now.

I've been enjoying the warmish weather lately... it's been in the mid 30's each morning this week, and I've taken extra time before the kids get up to work on cleaning the pasture, straightening the barn, etc. We have a cord of wood scheduled to be delivered tomorrow that will need to be stacked, and then the outside work will be caught up... just in time for the snow that's in the forecast for the weekend. I've enjoyed the outside time this week, but I do miss the snow, I can't wait for the flakes to start falling...

frosty morning...

After Sunday's fog, I woke up yesterday morning to a lovely coating of hoarfrost on everything....



I especially loved how it looked on the netting covering the chicken yard (keeping the hawks out), it made the usually almost invisible tree netting look like a circus tent...



(Here's Lili, stretching her neck out, and Hazel behind, both insisting there is NO WAY they're going out into the cold! Yes, they basically live in the coop these days...)




We stayed home and sewed yesterday... R has been wanting to learn to sew, and M has always liked sewing, so I helped each of them make a new "warmer" for bedtime (a rice filled fabric tube, heated in the microwave right before bed, makes for a toasty place under the covers for cold feet...). It took most of the afternoon to make two warmers, but it was also a lesson in pinning and cutting out a pattern, reading the markings on the pattern, pinning and cutting fabric, using the sewing machine, etc.

Once M and R's projects were finished, as long as the sewing machine was out, I put it to use and made a Christmas gift for one of my "big" kids. It was good to sew again, I haven't sewn much in years. I still think I prefer more active projects though... like those involving lumber and power tools for example. (I have plans for a lovely, big "slow feeder" I want to built Murphy and Tucker... but alas, it will have to wait until spring. ;)

chicken coop... all buttoned up for winter

I finally finished winterizing the chicken coop. It feels good to have it done...

Last week I built a little wall for the north/west side of the coop to close it off. The wind and snow comes mostly from those directions during the winter, so I knew I wanted something substantial on that side. I just used scraps of wood from other projects to build this little wall...



(Yes, I should have staggered by little cedar "shingles" I'll fix it in the spring when I take it off again.)

Then I used long deck screws to attach it to the coop.



Here's a "before" picture showing the bottom of the coop enclosed with just chicken wire, which is perfect in summer but... brrrrr, in the winter!


Then I added thick plexiglass that we already had it to the south side.



And some thin plexiglass, that I picked up at Home Depot, to the east side.



I like the thick plexiglass much better (despite it's fogginess from being old) but I just couldn't justify spending the extra money to buy the thick kind for the fourth side... It was three times as expensive! So I bought the thinner sheet... I don't think the chickens care. ;)

I did want to definitely use plexiglass on the east and south sides (it would have been much cheaper to use wood), because I wanted to take advantage of the sun... hoping it would help warm the coop on those cold days.

Here's the finished coop, nestled behind the raspberries...



Which have been producing for weeks...



Joe wonders why I'm outside working on the chicken coop so much.

It's because I work a little, eat some raspberries, work a little more, eat more raspberries....



Mmmmm... it's a great way to get things done.

mom's playtime

I don't know what it is about building with wood that is so much fun to me, but it is...

I love the measuring, cutting the wood, fitting pieces together... watching something go from just a drawing, or plans, or even just an idea... to an actual, finished product.

I wasn't planning on building anything today... but I was down in the garage, and thought maybe I'd just measure the OSB roof sheathing (leftover from building the shed) I was planning on using to winterize the north side of the chicken coop... (I'm enclosing the bottom of the chicken coop for the winter for warmth, and will open it up again in the spring.)

As I looked at the OSB, I realized I was going to have to make a long cut and piece it to fit... and since I don't have a table saw (and don't want one with M around!) I wondered how much of a challenge it would be to cut a straight line that long.

And before I knew it, the OSB was cut (relatively straight) and the two pieces I needed to fill in the north side of the coop were securely screwed together and it was time for the fun part.



I'd put cedar "siding" (made from pickets) on one rough side of the coop a few months ago, and liked how it looked with the red of the coop, so my plan was to do something similar on the north side too.



Here's the north side of the coop: in another month or two the wind and snow will be blasting through the bottom unless I close it off.



 I had a bunch of small pieces of pickets left over from building the garden shed last month, and I thought they might be close to the right size to make little cedar shake shingles.





I didn't measure anything at first, just grabbed my cedar scraps and tried to fit them together, using the OSB as a base, in a way that looked nice.

I added some 3 1/2" cedar pickets (leftovers from the pumpkin patch fence), cut to size, on either edge so that the measurement came out right for filling between them with my cedar pieces, which I was hoping would end up looking like cedar shake shingles.




Then I started laying out the smaller shingle pieces...

First row, looking pretty good... (that longer one towards the end won't matter, the tops will all be covered by the bottom of the next row of "shingles")



I just used 1.5" staples and the staple gun to attach them, and it went super quick.



It wasn't until the last few shingle pieces on the second row that I needed to do any measuring and cutting...



The third (and final) row was a little more work, as each piece had to be cut a little shorter to allow room for the trim piece on top, and I ended up having to make a few shingles because I didn't have quite enough scraps.





It didn't take long to cut the last few to size, and dog-ear the edge to match the others...
And here's the finished product.



It's not perfect by any means, I didn't think staggering the rows (like real shingles) until I was almost done....but I think it looks good enough and I can't wait for the rain to stop so I can attach it to the coop and see how it looks.


(And next spring I might pull the "shingles" off again and stagger them... I think I would like it better.)

It's within a smidge...

... of being done.

My secret project... the garden shed... that is.

The last time I posted about it, it was roofless... and I was whining about needing to make yet another trip to Home Depot... this time for roofing supplies.



I sincerely appreciated Virginia's comment to that post, suggesting trash bags and duct tape would make a lovely and rustic roof for my little shed...

... but I decided to bite the bullet and drive down to town AGAIN and buy a 4x8 sheet of OSB instead and make it a little more substantial than trash bag plastic.

I trimmed the sheet to fit the shed roof and R and I pulled out the ladders and maneuvered it into place. She held it steady while I put the first few screws in, then she left me to finish it off.

Once the OSB was firmly attached to the framing, I cut and stapled down some tar paper and breathed a sigh of relief to have the interior of the shed protected from the weather while we were gone on our trip to Nebraska.



And that's where I need to pick up again and finish the shed off... it's SO close. I need to buy shingles and finish the roof, and then all that's left is organizing the inside... a few hooks to hang things on and probably a small shelf.



The weather is cold and wet here, so I doubt I'll get to the shingles until next week... as soon as the shed completely done I'll post a few final "after" pictures.

my secret project... revealed :)

My "secret project" is coming together, and I'm to the point where I'm no longer worried that I'm making nothing more than a pile of expensive firewood... so it's time to share what I've been working on.

I'm making a small cedar garden shed.

I wasn't planning on building a shed, but once the chickens moved down the hill into the back yard, I found I had a little pile of chicken stuff that needed to be close enough to be convenient (the barn is too far away to be handy) but looked like a pile of junk sitting in the backyard. I'd been looking for something I could use out there to hide all the clutter, and still be handy when I was cleaning the coop, etc.

That's when I saw the plans for the shed (Ana White's plans here) and knew it would be perfect for holding all the chicken clutter (and some gardening tools too!).

So I started buying lumber...

After building the frames for the walls inside (our mudroom was just barely big enough!) I moved outside and put the siding (made from cedar pickets, cut to size) on. I only had to make three walls, since the doors make up the fourth side.



Once the walls were done, R helped me moved them around back and screw them together at the corners.




Then I put the header across the front.



The next day I built the framework for the roof and attached it up top...



And that's where the project stopped for the long Labor Day weekend...

Yesterday I started back to work... building the doors and hanging them. I took absolutely zero pictures of the doors going together... in part because it was one of those what-can-go-wrong- will kinds of mornings, and the first door I built took forever (and I was thinking that maybe a three-sided shed would be nice). Luckily the second door went together more easily and I was able to get them hung.




Today should be the day I go back to Home Depot (for the millionth time) and get the plywood for the roof...



But I might not...

The kids are SUPER tired of Home Depot, and so am I, but I really should do something about the roof...

Hmm... we'll see, I might force myself to make one more trip to the big orange box.

I'm pretty happy with my little shed... It went together (except for that one door) very easily and Ana White's instructions are wonderful and easy to follow.




Now to catch up all in inside work that didn't get done because I've been outside working on this shed!

C is for chicken....

... and cucumber.

Which, when combined, makes for some cheap entertainment.



I hung a huge cuke on some baling twine, and once they figured out it wasn't a threat, our chickens got days of entertainment from it (and so did we, they are so funny!).



C is also for construction, which is coming along well... So far the hardest part of my secret project has been all the trips to Home Depot. It's a hard store for M to visit and he frequently wanders off, and R won't even come in... she'd rather sit in the car... so I tend to be distracted (trying to hurry, and keep track of M, while still finding what I came in for!) and I forget things when I'm distracted.





But it does seem to be coming together... hopefully I'll have some pictures soon. (Good guesses Liese, but no I'm not making a trellis, dance floor, chicken perch or pot holder thingy. Here's a hint it's BIGGER than a breadbox... :)