Kathy n I moved to our 20 acre dream over 45 years ago.
To be honest, we got kicked out of Lansing Michigan by a judge.
We ended up in court for having about 20 or 25 dogs.
The judge said if we moved to the country that he would dismiss the case.
Kathy n I found an old wrecked up farm on 20 acres.
Being sorta Hippie-ish, the place suited us just fine.
The land had been farmed to death, no worms.
After the last crop of corn had been harvested, we let the land go back to nature.
The one thing I did do was cut a maze of trails into the new brush. see Ri's pic.
When I cut those trails over 3 decades ago I couldn't have imagine what everything would look like today.
I've mowed n worked on these trails for 35 years.
We've planted flowers, Walnut n Pine trees.
The project will never end.
I usually have 3 to 4 ongoing projects at any one time.
Remember how I said that the soil was dead when I began, no worms.
Well, the soil is now rich n teaming with life.
I use horse manure to augment almost every project.
I love watching horse manure go from road apples to coffee grounds.
The process takes 3 to 5 yrs.
By accident I've started a new project.
When I cut down n moved the last old building on the farm, there was a deep bogg that I needed to fill. see below
I dug out the dirt I needed from the side of a hill behind the Shop/Hay barn.
The plan was to fill that back in with manure.
Well a few months later I've discovered that what I actually created was the perfect place to cure manure for use as fertilizer on the farm.
Fresh manure is just to hot to put anywhere near plants.
Manure needs to drain n cure at a minimum for a few months to a year.
If manure is in a static situation it's a year.
Though this new thing I found by accident allows the manure to actually drain n if I only remove from say 1ft up, The manure becomes usable in half the time.
Granted, I like to dress new areas with manure in the fall which gives it an additional 1/2 year to cure.
All this moving around is good for manure also, it needs the rotation.
Back to the first subject, The Trails.
Ri, uses them a lot which I love.
I just wish more people would get back there n ride/walk them.
They truly are getting beautiful.
My big plans.
If I can get the seeds, I want to carpet bomb the trails with wild flowers.
Problem as always is money.
I've bought bulk lot wild flower seed, It doesn't seem to take.
What I find works are those fancy bags of annual n perennial mix with the green kitty litter in it.
Problem is to do things the way I'd like to I need about 100 bags of those store bought mixes.
Anyway that's on my wish/dream list.
Talk about the perfect 3 stooges moment.
Yesterday while working on the horse shed I got a 4x4 to the back of the head.
30 mile n hour winds will do that.
The cat has been killing birds in the rafters of the horse arena.
Good as far as it goes but she's not eating them.
Told her I heard it tastes like chicken, she's not buying.
My last post on twitter was on Saturday.
It read, 14 new followers on twitter today.
Well topped that with 200 new followers on twitter in last few days.
Problem was I couldn't see it.
My computer was on strike yesterday.
So I just went outside n worked on the new projects.
Project 1.
Move old tin barn.
Actually tear it down n rebuild it smaller.
24x24 to 10 by 15 feet.
The following are pics of the completed Horse shed.
The following are pics of 3 horses shed is for.
clockwise Robin Hood aka Jimmy, Tenny n Bo.
At 65 when working outside in the heat I move so slow that I'm almost imperceptible.
Little Smoke n I call it Ninja pace, we figure if we move slow enough we can walk through anything unscathed.
Project 2.
Put a circle drive where the old tin barn was.
Which requires moving the fence.
So basically both projects are tied together.
The old gray tin barn is the last building from the 1980 n before.
Problem was when I was much younger I didn't realize I was putting it up in a wet mucky area.
The circle drive just gave me a good excuse to move it n rebuild it.
By reducing it from a poor barn of 24x24 to a horse shed of 10x15 I'm able to make it a farely nice building.
At 24x24 the building sucked to look at n truth be told it was a bit shaky.
It really was an eyesore.
I can report that the new horse shed is turning out real nice.
FYI, a horse shed is a smallish building in a pasture that horses go in to rest from heat or escape bad weather.
Horse sheds are open on 1 side that faces east.
Now for the cool stuff.
The original 24x24 building was approx 50 years old.
I got it used in about 1980 from a neighbor n I think it had 2 locations here.
That old tin building will be on it's 4th life when I finish the 10x15 horse shed.
That kind of thing tickles me.
I love proper recycling through reuse.
Get one more life out of something by seeing it different.
The best part is this.
Inside that old building were 6 pieces of telephone poles used as corners etc.
These poles started life after being trees 75 years ago as telephone poles.
Approx 50 years ago these poles became part of this building.
After 75 years of work n rot there still was 7.5ft of good usable pole left.
Those 75 year old telephone pole are probably on there 4th life now as really good fence posts for the circle drive.
My guess is that they will last at least another 25yrs as fence posts.
That's a century of life n use.
Now
The hole that all the dirt came from.
As far as the low area where the old tin barn was that will now be a circle drive.
It's gonna take a lot of buildup to raise its level to that of the drive it becomes a part of.
Not a problem, that's what the tractor n I do.
Pulled out 3 more tree stumps yesterday, that makes 8 removed from circle drive area.
There is one more, not sure I can get that one?
It took the tractor n the truck to get last 3.
Dirt work has begun.
So far this project has an out of pocket cost of $120.00
To be honest, we got kicked out of Lansing Michigan by a judge.
We ended up in court for having about 20 or 25 dogs.
The judge said if we moved to the country that he would dismiss the case.
Kathy n I found an old wrecked up farm on 20 acres.
Being sorta Hippie-ish, the place suited us just fine.
The land had been farmed to death, no worms.
After the last crop of corn had been harvested, we let the land go back to nature.
The one thing I did do was cut a maze of trails into the new brush. see Ri's pic.
When I cut those trails over 3 decades ago I couldn't have imagine what everything would look like today.
I've mowed n worked on these trails for 35 years.
We've planted flowers, Walnut n Pine trees.
The project will never end.
I usually have 3 to 4 ongoing projects at any one time.
Remember how I said that the soil was dead when I began, no worms.
Well, the soil is now rich n teaming with life.
I use horse manure to augment almost every project.
I love watching horse manure go from road apples to coffee grounds.
The process takes 3 to 5 yrs.
By accident I've started a new project.
When I cut down n moved the last old building on the farm, there was a deep bogg that I needed to fill. see below
I dug out the dirt I needed from the side of a hill behind the Shop/Hay barn.
The plan was to fill that back in with manure.
Well a few months later I've discovered that what I actually created was the perfect place to cure manure for use as fertilizer on the farm.
Fresh manure is just to hot to put anywhere near plants.
Manure needs to drain n cure at a minimum for a few months to a year.
If manure is in a static situation it's a year.
Though this new thing I found by accident allows the manure to actually drain n if I only remove from say 1ft up, The manure becomes usable in half the time.
Granted, I like to dress new areas with manure in the fall which gives it an additional 1/2 year to cure.
All this moving around is good for manure also, it needs the rotation.
Back to the first subject, The Trails.
Ri, uses them a lot which I love.
I just wish more people would get back there n ride/walk them.
They truly are getting beautiful.
My big plans.
If I can get the seeds, I want to carpet bomb the trails with wild flowers.
Problem as always is money.
I've bought bulk lot wild flower seed, It doesn't seem to take.
What I find works are those fancy bags of annual n perennial mix with the green kitty litter in it.
Problem is to do things the way I'd like to I need about 100 bags of those store bought mixes.
Anyway that's on my wish/dream list.
 |
| Poverty, Struggle, Life. Forgive me though. this is still my favorite picture ever. It represents so much. |
Yesterday while working on the horse shed I got a 4x4 to the back of the head.
30 mile n hour winds will do that.
The cat has been killing birds in the rafters of the horse arena.
Good as far as it goes but she's not eating them.
Told her I heard it tastes like chicken, she's not buying.
My last post on twitter was on Saturday.
It read, 14 new followers on twitter today.
Well topped that with 200 new followers on twitter in last few days.
Problem was I couldn't see it.
My computer was on strike yesterday.
So I just went outside n worked on the new projects.
Project 1.
 |
| Old 24x24 barn. right side of pic. sorry only pic I could find. It's actually taller than it looks. It's sorta in a hole/very low area. |
Move old tin barn.
Actually tear it down n rebuild it smaller.
24x24 to 10 by 15 feet.
 |
| above 3 pics are rebuilt 10x15 horse shed |
 |
| Almost done. You might gather from the pic, I avoid the sun. |
 |
| This tin shed is one solid little puppy |
The following are pics of 3 horses shed is for.
clockwise Robin Hood aka Jimmy, Tenny n Bo.
At 65 when working outside in the heat I move so slow that I'm almost imperceptible.
Little Smoke n I call it Ninja pace, we figure if we move slow enough we can walk through anything unscathed.
Project 2.
Put a circle drive where the old tin barn was.
Which requires moving the fence.
So basically both projects are tied together.
The old gray tin barn is the last building from the 1980 n before.
Problem was when I was much younger I didn't realize I was putting it up in a wet mucky area.
The circle drive just gave me a good excuse to move it n rebuild it.
By reducing it from a poor barn of 24x24 to a horse shed of 10x15 I'm able to make it a farely nice building.
At 24x24 the building sucked to look at n truth be told it was a bit shaky.
It really was an eyesore.
I can report that the new horse shed is turning out real nice.
FYI, a horse shed is a smallish building in a pasture that horses go in to rest from heat or escape bad weather.
Horse sheds are open on 1 side that faces east.
Now for the cool stuff.
The original 24x24 building was approx 50 years old.
I got it used in about 1980 from a neighbor n I think it had 2 locations here.
That old tin building will be on it's 4th life when I finish the 10x15 horse shed.
That kind of thing tickles me.
I love proper recycling through reuse.
Get one more life out of something by seeing it different.
The best part is this.
Inside that old building were 6 pieces of telephone poles used as corners etc.
 |
| above 2 pics fence posts for circle drive that were once pole barn pole, before that telephone poles |
These poles started life after being trees 75 years ago as telephone poles.
Approx 50 years ago these poles became part of this building.
After 75 years of work n rot there still was 7.5ft of good usable pole left.
Those 75 year old telephone pole are probably on there 4th life now as really good fence posts for the circle drive.
My guess is that they will last at least another 25yrs as fence posts.
That's a century of life n use.
 |
| above 3 pics are low area that needs buildup for circle drive. |
 |
| Dirt n crushed cement fill used for 2foot buildup under drive. will finnish with 4 inches of bank run. |
 |
| The circle driveway is now at phase 2. Base is completed. Now we wait till fall after ground settles to top with bankrun. Meantime we fill in the low area. In some spots I had to build up approx 3ft. |
 |
| This project from tearing down old barn, rebuilding n filling hole for circle drive took about 4weeks. |
 |
| pic is deceptive. back wall of hole is 4 to 5 feet deep. I will fill hole with horse manure over the next year. Horse manure is unlike any other type manure, it's like processed grass not yucky at all. very organic. |
As far as the low area where the old tin barn was that will now be a circle drive.
It's gonna take a lot of buildup to raise its level to that of the drive it becomes a part of.
Not a problem, that's what the tractor n I do.
Pulled out 3 more tree stumps yesterday, that makes 8 removed from circle drive area.
There is one more, not sure I can get that one?
It took the tractor n the truck to get last 3.
Dirt work has begun.
So far this project has an out of pocket cost of $120.00
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