Friday Genuine Faux Farm Update

Why is there a dump truck parked in the drive at the Genuine Faux Farm? 

I looked out the window early Thursday morning and had that very thought cross through my groggy brain.  It was apparent that I needed some sort of jump start because I honestly was a bit startled to see this truck there even though I had looked out that same window the night before and looked at that same truck.

Now, if you were to ask that question, I think you would have justification for doing so.  But, I really don't think I have an excuse other than I wasn't exactly awake at that moment, I guess.

The main project centered around the Poultry Pavilion, shown above.  This long building was first built as an open front machine shed.  It was then converted to a hog "finishing" building.  To do that, the prior owners had an 8 to 9 foot deep pit dug the whole length of the building to catch manure and waste.  This pit was covered by rebar enforced cement slats.  All of that was then covered by a lean-to on the south side of the building.

Over the course of time, we have repurposed the building to be the night-time shelter for turkeys and hens and a brooder room for chicks.  There is also some difficult-to-get-to storage areas.  Over time, the slats over this pit, which is typically filled with water, have started to break down.

And it was making us nervous to walk on them.  Nervous enough that each of us has admitted that we get nervous if one of us is gone for a bit too long to do bird chores.

The time came where we finally had a combination of funds and a willing contractor to fill that pit so we could preserve the building AND make it safe for us to do work around it.   Our thanks to Burkle Landscaping and Trucking for taking on the job - a less than glamorous piece of work, but still very necessary!

I realize this may not look like much to you.  But to us, this is a major breakthrough.  It is now safe for us to rebuild the parts of the lean-to that we would like to use.  There is future green house space here.  There is future tractor equipment storage here.  

And a huge catastrophe that has been waiting to happen has now been averted.

And while we had a dumptruck (or two) available, we also asked them to fix up our driveway.  It's been many years since we did major maintenance on it and it was exhibiting a number of issues.  Things like water draining back into the buildings instead of away from them... and holes in the drive that were beginning to look hungrily at our little car every time it drove by them.

Meanwhile there are some signs of life at the farm.

We are not planting nearly as much as we have in prior years.  Partly due to the weather.  Partly due to our jobs.  And mostly because we're trying to do too much at once.

Still, the potatoes in Valhalla are germinating, as are some of the peas and beans.  

And, plants in the seed trays are looking pretty good too.  We started many of them later than usual, but that's ok, given the way the season has gone.  We would not have had the time to try to adjust and move plants around with the weather the way it has been.  Now, we should be in a decent place.

And the garlic we planted last fall is starting to put on some growth.  It was very slow to start, but the last few days have really encouraged them to look like garlic.  

Now, depending on the weather the next few days, we'll see if we can actually get out there and do a little work with the soil.  The forecast puts that in some doubt, but we'll figure it out.  We usually do.