While I was at the local hardware/lumber store getting supplies for the barn, I saw that a bunch of their gardening supplies & plants were on sale. I bought 2 fruit trees, an ornamental flowering cherry tree & a purple lilac bush. Oh and I have a small Japanese maple. I also got some cool purple & white daisies for the raised flower garden in front of the house. I was a little ahead of myself for getting this stuff now (landscaping & gardening was scheduled for next week after I finish the barn) but it was a great deal on the trees. Also the weather report says rain after today. So, today I will quickly finish the wiring and most of the barn stuff can be done inside, rain wont matter. Then I will get the trees planted. This is what I got from left to right,
Senetti Violet Bicolor. Black Tartartian Cherry, Pink Flowering Cherry, Liberty Apple, Katherine Havemeyer French Lilac & a Japanese Maple of unknown type. I will have to get one more each of the fruit trees for pollinators. More about that later. The photo to the right is where I will plant the fruit cherry trees so that I can see them from my office window. Mark would like the apple trees in the pasture.
I will plant the ornamental cherry, lilac, maple and some of the flowers in the front yard by the mailbox. The photo to the left is before, on the right is after.
It turns out that I will have a couple surprises! First is the flowering cherry, as I was planting it I noticed the label showed 3 different kinds of trees and it wasn't specific about what kind was actually in the package, however "Autumnalis" was hand written on the top of the label so I am assuming that is the type I got. I spent hours searching Google for information. It's going to be a lot bigger than I wanted for the front yard, 25 to 35ft! But from what I can gather it will be a very impressive tree. It blooms in early spring (before most trees) large double pink/white blossoms, followed by the green leaves. Later it will have small black berries that the birds will like. In the fall the leaves will change yellow & bronze before dropping. (sweet!) THEN it will bloom again around November/December if the temp is mild. So all in all, except for the size this is exactly what I wanted!
The next surprise is the lilac bush. I love all lilac bushes and there were several kinds at the store. Personally I don't think there is much difference between them except for the color, I like the dark purple ones so that's what I got. They all smell good but there is only one that takes me back to childhood memories of warm summer fun filled days. After planting the one I bought I looked it up, this one is considered to be an old fashioned heritage lilac and is said to be the most fragrant. Wouldn't it be great if this turns out to be the one I remember!
The last surprise will be my poor Japanese Maple that I bought at a garage sale last fall. These plants are very expensive & I got this one for about $5.00. The thing is that there are several varieties of maples. There are small, medium & large trees and shrubs. The surprise is that I have no idea which this is! Only time will tell and that is why I planed it where I did. Whatever kind it turns out to be, it will look good there.
I love all my little projects, it feels good to be working outside again!
Now that the goose stall is done, time to get started on the main part of the barn. This space is an open area a little over twice the space of the goose stall. It has a very sturdy manger, the ladder to the hayloft and 2 metal hanging cabinets. As far as cleaning goes it isn't nearly as bad as the goose stall was, the walls just need to be brushed down, mostly to get ride of the spiderwebs & their inhabitants. (not an easy job for someone with Arachnophobia!) However the floor is going to require some more scraping! Here are some more before & after photos.
Before After
Because we really like chicken and that I can't grow them for some reason, we have decided to get some guinea hens too! (they are kind of like big chickens, more about them in a later posting) So that means that I will be building another stall! The middle section shown here will be for tack & feed. This will be the smallest area in the barn so to optimize the space & because the manger will not be needed, I decided it should be removed. It was a much harder job than I thought it was going to be, but it was worth it!! After I install the other stall wall this extra space will be quite noticeable. You can't see the middle section floor real good here, I had to do some scraping but it cleaned up pretty good. I still have to brush down the walls & clean the cabinets, but for the most part the center section is done.
Today I will be working on the floor in what will be the second stall. (lots more scraping to do) Then brush down the walls & clean out the corners and I will be DONE with the cleaning! I am hoping I will have time to make a lumber store run & maybe get started on the stall wall! I would like to get this all done by Friday so I can get started on the wiring. Because I am adding a second stall (and the middle section) the wiring will be a bigger project than what was originally planed.
Oh, I would like to take some time in the next couple days to do two side project. We have a couple of morning doves hanging around and a kizzillon song birds. I want to build a small feeder on the fence behind the office and one on the fence outside the living room hoping to encourage them to stay around.
Time to get to work!!
Wheew! What a job! It took several days & a lot of hard work but the goose stall is finally done. Below are some before & after photos with a description of the work done.
Before After
If you click on these you can see more detail. This built in feeder was firmly planted so I figured I would keep it, but as I started cleaning I saw how impossible it was going to be to clean under & behind. As you can see, I decided to remove it. I had to chisel the old muck cementing the support board to the floor. Then I had to take it apart board by board before I could get it off the wall. I'm glad I did. I think the stall will be more functional with out it. See all the dark areas on the walls in the after photo? I had to use a hammer & chisel to clean it! I got all the muck off but as you can see the wood is still stained. I don't think that will be a problem though.
Before After
These photos are of the other side of the stall. The first thing you will notice in the before pic is that weird shelf thingy. I could not come up with any idea of what it could have possibly been used for, nor what reasonable use it could be for me. (except for a head banger) So I took it down. The cleaning on this side was much easier. I still had to do some scraping but even with that it only took a couple hours. When I was cleaning up that pile of muck in the corner I found a couple old rabbit pellets, I thought I was pretty smart solving the weird shelf thingy mystery! That little blue box in the lower corner is where the power wire comes into the barn. It needs to be covered so the geese don't peck at it. The plywood box I have on it in the after pic is not screwed in yet, I was going to wait until I installed the power plugs & lights. It's a good thing to because I found something better to protect the wires. But the electrical is an other project so I will explain/up date on that post.
Before After
This was the hardest part of the cleaning! I had to use a chisel & hammer on this whole section from where the feeder was to the gate! You really can't see much of a difference in these small pics, click on them and you can see in the bigger photos. They must have had some kind of bovine in here, it's the only thing I can think of that could have splattered the walls in this manner. This mystery however, will most likely remain unsolved! It was a hard shitty job, (literally!) But now that the project is done, as I relax in "my spot", I reflect on all the times I helped in OTHER people's barns, seeing how happy they were when a job well done was completed! I remember all to well how jealous I was, I couldn't help it! I wanted so badly to be one of them! Now as I relax in "my spot" I realize that finally (I) am one of those other people, in (MY) barn! Now this might sound selfish to some, but after a lifetime of having this dream, I am finally living it and happy doesn't even start to covey how I feel!
We have a TON of things planed for this summer. Instead of trying to explain each one on this post I think I will just list them all here then post on them individually as we work on them.
The Little Red Barn,
- Cleaning, it needs more than I thought!
- Set up small stall for geese & guinea fowl.
- Build a temporary enclosed run outside of small stall
- Make a brooder for the babies for when they arrive
- Install power outlets & lights
Get property ready for horses.
- Fences, one corner where the deer & elk jump over needs to be reinforced. Since the fence is just livestock wire we should probably string a hot wire along the top. The wood fence needs painted. Besides looking better, it protects the wood.
- The pasture needs some work. It is overgrown with mounds of old grass & mole holes. I am probable over sensitive on this subject than needed, but many years ago I had to put a young filly down because she tripped in a mole hole while running & shattered her leg. Besides the grief it was very expensive! So spending a little more money now could save a lot in the long run.
- We need to install gates in several places.
- There is an area by the barn that is covered with large black (sharp) rock. This HAS to be removed or covered. For a horse, this stuff would be like us walking on class!
Horse stalls & arena,
- The barn was not built for large livestock so we need to build some stalls for the horses & a steer (or maybe a buffalo) I have drawn up the plans for a 3 stall shed.
- We will be fencing in the area between the house and the pasture as a small arena. It will be used to teach horse & rider basic riding.
Paint the house, garage & shop. This is actually a HUGE project, I don't know if we will get it all done this year. We will start with the house & see how it goes.
Landscaping,
This house is not very old & there has been NO landscaping done yet (except grass & even that is sparse in some areas) This project is still mostly in the planing stages. So this list will probably be modified or totally change by the time all is done.
- Fruit Trees, we will for sure plant 4 trees, 2 apple & 2 cherry. These will be located just behind the white fence on the shop corner of the property. There is a good chance this will be done with in the next 2 weeks so stay tuned for up dates!
- Veggie garden. This project is only in the maybe stage right now. This will be another BIG project. We will see how all the other projects go this summer, maybe I will start on it this winter to have it ready to plant for spring.
- Flowers, deco trees & shrubs. I have already started raised flower beds in the front of the house designed for some shrubs, but then realized that we should get the house painted before planting any thing close to it. So for this year I will just plant some flowers in it. This should be done with in the next 2 weeks.
- I have a small Japanese Maple plant. These plants range from small, medium & large bushes AND trees. Depending on which one this is will determine where it should be planted. Because I have no idea which one this is I will put it in a large pot and put it in the yard where I would like to plant it. I will plant it in a permanent place after I determine if it is a bush or tree. THIS needs to be done ASAP!
- I would like to add a small landscaped area by the mailbox. I want a small deco tree of some kind, a couple flowering or interesting bushes & some flowers. I will probably put the flowers in pots so we don't have to mess with digging up the grass. If done right this can look cool!
I am sure there are many more things to list here but the frost has burned off and it's time to get back into the barn! I really want to get the cleaning done today & maybe get started on the outside bird pen! I will do an updated post (with pictures) tonight!!
Try to take a moment today to appreciate mother earth's bountiful spring rebirth!
Senetti Violet Bicolor. Black Tartartian Cherry, Pink Flowering Cherry, Liberty Apple, Katherine Havemeyer French Lilac & a Japanese Maple of unknown type. I will have to get one more each of the fruit trees for pollinators. More about that later. The photo to the right is where I will plant the fruit cherry trees so that I can see them from my office window. Mark would like the apple trees in the pasture.
