Oh so very punny once you look at the pics! So this is what I found growing in my "garden" today... I have known for some time the potatoes were growing in my manure pile, but today I decided to actually check and see if there was anything under the soil/manure.
I found about 20 potatoes... only about 10 were worth keeping, the other half grew too close to the surface and were green, so I tossed them back in the pile for next year's crop.
I also found a gorgeous tomato plant growing there, with blossoms on it... of course, there won't be any tomatoes now, unless winter comes late and fall is more like the summer we didn't have... which while I can DREAM, I really do know better.
There were two pumpkin plants growing as well, one with flowers on it... but again, nothing will come of it at this late date.
At least now I'm sure my manure pile is ready to be used and is not too hot :) I think all the rain we had this summer really brought it along.
Anyhow, we're going to have freshly dug potatoes for dinner tonight... yes, I'll scrub them well!! This is how gardening should be ;)
So considering we didn't plant or tend anything this year our property provided us with quite a few black raspberries (I'm guessing around 4 quarts and we didn't even pick all of them) and some potatoes. The goats also get credit for the potatoes... who says they don't earn their keep? :) haha
The grass growth is finally slowing down here, I did have to cut it today, but it wasn't near as bad as sometimes this summer and I don't think I cut it last week... at least not that I remember.
This also means less eating for the goats, but we have quite a bit still available for them, some of it just isn't quite as nice as it was mid summer. I have one whole area at the front of the property near the new goat shed that they ate off early in the season and then I cut it back to discourage the stuff they don't like from coming back that is nice, lush and tender and probably about 18 inches tall. I'm saving that area for when there's nothing else, but hopefully get them on it before it dies back... tricky business trying to have GOOD grass for as long as possible. :)
Goats (or at least MINE, since there seems to be a huge difference between what my goats think is awesome and what my sister's goats love! :) ) seem to be fussier than other plant eaters I've known, they like the grass and plants when its tall, weedy and if there's small trees and bushes in it, so much the better... the really rough "pasture". Of course, mine wouldn't turn down alfalfa either, but we don't have any and really that's awful rich for 2 little wethers.
As always, there are a few more dog pics in the album... some of them playing AGAIN.
That's it for now... time to go scrub spuds!
-- L
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Shed Update
I posted some new pics today... I added to the goat shed album to show the progress. It's coming along pretty well so far, the walls are all up and 5 of 7 trusses are up. The remaining 2 trusses require additional cuts to accommodate the stud walls, so they weren't quite ready to be installed yet... if it doesn't rain tonight, perhaps we'll get those cut and put up.
(For anyone that missed the dimensions of the shed, its 8 ft wide by 12 ft long. The roof is 7 feet on the short side and 9 friggen feet on the tall side, cause clearly we're housing giraffes! The shed has 2 doors, at opposite ends, each door is 3 feet wide.)
I'm still undecided about a few things about the shed... like window ventilation, roofing and siding... nothing major ;)
For window ventilation, ideally I want large windows on each side that I can open and close as the weather changes... I also don't want my goats to be able to ram on the windows (they won't be made of glass, in any case!) so they have to go above 5 feet high. That means I can have windows on 3 sides that are about 18 inches tall, which seems good. On the tallest side, I could in theory have windows that are 3.5 feet tall. It's mostly figuring out the best and easiest method of making easy open / close windows that will seal out the worst of the rain and snow.
My idea for "windows" is just to sheet the outside up to 5 feet and then leave the space above open, covered in hardware cloth to keep birds and stuff out... then plywood "shutters" that would hinge open and fasten shut. The walls studs will obviously still be visible, but I don't think that's a problem in any way and is maybe even more useful than the normal framing out for a window thing you normally have to do.
As for roofing, I originally was thinking that we'd put up metal roofing sheets, like we have on every outbuilding here (and the house too!). I haven't ruled that idea out by any means yet. I am considering the possibility of polycarbonate panels though. They have the advantage that you get use, say mostly gray panels, but put a clear panel in the center for extra light. (Our shed does not have electricity or water). They seem easy enough to install, from looking at the website... and Home Depot sells them as well, so they are easy to obtain.
I'm not convinced yet, though, I still want to compare prices on the Sun Tuf versus tin sheeting. Stay tuned for the big decision ;)
As for siding, we originally started planning this shed using rough cut hemlock and doing the outside in board and batten... well that was WAY out of the budget, even though it would've been beautiful. There's quite a bit more framing required for board and batten as well, that helped push the costs up.
So my siding options at this point are:
-- 5/8" plywood, one side is finished to look like rough cut vertical planks, more attractive than other options, but a bit pricier, could paint or stain it.
-- 5/8" or 3/4" standard plywood, would require painting, could be sided over in the future
-- 3/4" OSB (particle board, wafer board), would require painting and would still probably not last for very long out in the rain and snow, but is CHEAP and could either be sided over or replaced with something else as $ permitted.
For a long time, I was leaning towards the faux plank plywood... then was leaning towards the cheapness of the OSB and now, just haven't decided :)
Our original design also called for an interior wall in the shed, sort of an airlock between the people door to the outside and the goats. Goats think its funny to try to escape when the door is open and are very good at it. If they ever get their noses between the gate and the frame, they can wiggle their way through if you're not paying very close attention.
After getting the exterior walls up, we looked around and decided we wouldn't build the interior wall, as we just didn't want it eating up that much of their lounging space. So for now, we'll manage without the air lock and just pay close attention at all times ;) haha
We do have a "phase 2" plan for the airlock... we'll build it externally to the current structure, a small "porch" type idea with a gate and a bit of a roof so that we can enter the building without being dripped on and stuff like that. But "phase 2" will likey have to wait until next spring, unless fall is long and kind to us.
Anyhow, now I'm pretty sure that you have more info about my shed than anyone ever wanted to know!!
I also took a few pics of the dogs at play the other day... they are constantly in motion outside, especially Pixie and Oliver ... its really difficult to take digital pics of them that turn out ok... I end up deleting lots of pics that either have no one in them (they took off before the camera caught them) or just have ear and tail tips in them. I posted a few of the reasonable ones.
(For anyone that missed the dimensions of the shed, its 8 ft wide by 12 ft long. The roof is 7 feet on the short side and 9 friggen feet on the tall side, cause clearly we're housing giraffes! The shed has 2 doors, at opposite ends, each door is 3 feet wide.)
I'm still undecided about a few things about the shed... like window ventilation, roofing and siding... nothing major ;)
For window ventilation, ideally I want large windows on each side that I can open and close as the weather changes... I also don't want my goats to be able to ram on the windows (they won't be made of glass, in any case!) so they have to go above 5 feet high. That means I can have windows on 3 sides that are about 18 inches tall, which seems good. On the tallest side, I could in theory have windows that are 3.5 feet tall. It's mostly figuring out the best and easiest method of making easy open / close windows that will seal out the worst of the rain and snow.
My idea for "windows" is just to sheet the outside up to 5 feet and then leave the space above open, covered in hardware cloth to keep birds and stuff out... then plywood "shutters" that would hinge open and fasten shut. The walls studs will obviously still be visible, but I don't think that's a problem in any way and is maybe even more useful than the normal framing out for a window thing you normally have to do.
As for roofing, I originally was thinking that we'd put up metal roofing sheets, like we have on every outbuilding here (and the house too!). I haven't ruled that idea out by any means yet. I am considering the possibility of polycarbonate panels though. They have the advantage that you get use, say mostly gray panels, but put a clear panel in the center for extra light. (Our shed does not have electricity or water). They seem easy enough to install, from looking at the website... and Home Depot sells them as well, so they are easy to obtain.
I'm not convinced yet, though, I still want to compare prices on the Sun Tuf versus tin sheeting. Stay tuned for the big decision ;)
As for siding, we originally started planning this shed using rough cut hemlock and doing the outside in board and batten... well that was WAY out of the budget, even though it would've been beautiful. There's quite a bit more framing required for board and batten as well, that helped push the costs up.
So my siding options at this point are:
-- 5/8" plywood, one side is finished to look like rough cut vertical planks, more attractive than other options, but a bit pricier, could paint or stain it.
-- 5/8" or 3/4" standard plywood, would require painting, could be sided over in the future
-- 3/4" OSB (particle board, wafer board), would require painting and would still probably not last for very long out in the rain and snow, but is CHEAP and could either be sided over or replaced with something else as $ permitted.
For a long time, I was leaning towards the faux plank plywood... then was leaning towards the cheapness of the OSB and now, just haven't decided :)
Our original design also called for an interior wall in the shed, sort of an airlock between the people door to the outside and the goats. Goats think its funny to try to escape when the door is open and are very good at it. If they ever get their noses between the gate and the frame, they can wiggle their way through if you're not paying very close attention.
After getting the exterior walls up, we looked around and decided we wouldn't build the interior wall, as we just didn't want it eating up that much of their lounging space. So for now, we'll manage without the air lock and just pay close attention at all times ;) haha
We do have a "phase 2" plan for the airlock... we'll build it externally to the current structure, a small "porch" type idea with a gate and a bit of a roof so that we can enter the building without being dripped on and stuff like that. But "phase 2" will likey have to wait until next spring, unless fall is long and kind to us.
Anyhow, now I'm pretty sure that you have more info about my shed than anyone ever wanted to know!!
I also took a few pics of the dogs at play the other day... they are constantly in motion outside, especially Pixie and Oliver ... its really difficult to take digital pics of them that turn out ok... I end up deleting lots of pics that either have no one in them (they took off before the camera caught them) or just have ear and tail tips in them. I posted a few of the reasonable ones.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Not Much New Around Here
Been a while since a real update... we've been busy, as usual and I just haven't made time to make updates. How's that for an excuse? :)
We're working on getting our goat shed built before the weather changes too dramatically... so far we have:
-- Rented a sod cutter and cleared away the sod in an area about 10ft x 16 ft
-- Installed a 4x4 pressure treat foundation frame, complete with half lap joints at the corners (Thanks Shawn!) then lag bolted together. We also drove 8 pieces of 2 foot long rebar through the pressure treat frame to help anchor the whole structure (2 on each side)
-- We then filled the frame with stone dust from our pile and rented a compactor to compact it down. We also watered it and now its hard like cement!
-- We dragged 4 rubber mats onto the foundation and cut them to fit inside the 4x4 frame so they won't be able to move.
-- We have 2 walls framed in 2x4's and the wood cut to frame the other two walls (maybe tonight if the rain holds off).
The finished shed will be 8ft by 12ft and one wall will be 7ft tall and the opposite wall is 9ft tall and then the roof will be a single slope (like a lean to type roof). Its probably unreasonably tall but there are a couple reasons for it,one being Shawn is freakishly tall and another we can add large windows for ventilation and still have them above "goat level" so they don't mess with them or get too much of a draft. As with everything around here, its an experiment and maybe will work out or maybe not, but you know we have to try it anyhow! :)
I've got a few pics of the shed's progress that I'll post later today.
Oliver is growing... he's pretty much as tall as Pixie now, but of course much lankier! I still haven't gone looking for batteries for our scale, so no weight update... I'm guessing he must be around 50 lbs now, though.
Not much else is new... we could use a bit of rain, after all the bitching and whining about too much rain this summer! Things are dry here and its going to be harder to find suitable grass for my goats to eat I think...the stuff that's still available is way at the back, far side of the property and is an area that's dry right now, but can get kinda swampy if it rains. I should've had them over there the last while when its been dry, but who knew it was going to be dry this long? I've already started feeding more hay to help supplement the available grass. It may rain tonight and tomorrow and that would be fine by me.
That's it for now!
--L
We're working on getting our goat shed built before the weather changes too dramatically... so far we have:
-- Rented a sod cutter and cleared away the sod in an area about 10ft x 16 ft
-- Installed a 4x4 pressure treat foundation frame, complete with half lap joints at the corners (Thanks Shawn!) then lag bolted together. We also drove 8 pieces of 2 foot long rebar through the pressure treat frame to help anchor the whole structure (2 on each side)
-- We then filled the frame with stone dust from our pile and rented a compactor to compact it down. We also watered it and now its hard like cement!
-- We dragged 4 rubber mats onto the foundation and cut them to fit inside the 4x4 frame so they won't be able to move.
-- We have 2 walls framed in 2x4's and the wood cut to frame the other two walls (maybe tonight if the rain holds off).
The finished shed will be 8ft by 12ft and one wall will be 7ft tall and the opposite wall is 9ft tall and then the roof will be a single slope (like a lean to type roof). Its probably unreasonably tall but there are a couple reasons for it,one being Shawn is freakishly tall and another we can add large windows for ventilation and still have them above "goat level" so they don't mess with them or get too much of a draft. As with everything around here, its an experiment and maybe will work out or maybe not, but you know we have to try it anyhow! :)
I've got a few pics of the shed's progress that I'll post later today.
Oliver is growing... he's pretty much as tall as Pixie now, but of course much lankier! I still haven't gone looking for batteries for our scale, so no weight update... I'm guessing he must be around 50 lbs now, though.
Not much else is new... we could use a bit of rain, after all the bitching and whining about too much rain this summer! Things are dry here and its going to be harder to find suitable grass for my goats to eat I think...the stuff that's still available is way at the back, far side of the property and is an area that's dry right now, but can get kinda swampy if it rains. I should've had them over there the last while when its been dry, but who knew it was going to be dry this long? I've already started feeding more hay to help supplement the available grass. It may rain tonight and tomorrow and that would be fine by me.
That's it for now!
--L
Friday, August 29, 2008
A Couple New Doggie Pics
All three of the dogs were sleeping quietly, so what else would I do but disturb them by taking pics? I couldn't just let sleeping dogs lie, could I? :)
Monday, August 18, 2008
More New Pics
I got some more pics up today... the completed shed and also a variety of goats and dogs, as usual. :)
Over the weekend we rented a sod cutter and cut and removed the sod in preparation of starting the second shed. That was brutally hard work... the sod cutter was easy and did a nice job... the hard part was removing the strips of sod and hauling them away. We used the lawn tractor and cart, but some of the pieces were big and all were heavy.
Next we'll put down an inch or two of stone dust and then the bottom floor framing will go up. Then we'll fill in the framing with stone dust, about an inch or so from the top of the floor framing boards (4x4 pressure treat). Likely we'll rent a compactor to get it nice and tight and try to level it as best we can. We'll pull in the rubber matting that I already have to cover the stone dust. Then the walls will get built and put up and so on.
I imagine it'll take most of the fall to get the shed done... things always take much longer than expected around here.
We also got a bunch of finish work done on the metal hay storage shed. We put some spray foam insulation between the bottom of the shed and the top of the floor in the couple places it wasn't quite as level as it could've been. (In all fairness, we did NO excavation or site prep for this shed, so having a half inch gap here and that was not bad at all!)
We also put some silicone caulking in some of the roof gaps. The kit came with duct tape {CHEAP!} (they called it weather stripping tape or something like that!) to cover the ridge gaps and stuff... we put it on, against my better judgment, but I'm happier now that I've caulked the inside too. I can't imagine the tape will hold forever and there is metal over the tape, but it doesn't sit tight to it, so I figured it wouldn't take long before we'd have roof leaks.
All that's really left to do on the hay storage shed is a bit more spray foam insulation along the top ridge gap where I can't fit the caulking gun and I want to add another sheet of plywood or OSB to the center of the floor inside. We counted our rubber mats and I've got enough to mat this shed also (Ok I'm ONE mat short!) so I think I'm going to go ahead and mat it as well. It'll make cleanup nicer, add some traction and improve the seal along the bottom edge so snow won't be able to blow in or anything. Then I just need to get my hay guy to bring me a load of hay.... move the stuff I already have from the other building over and I'll be done and ready to use it.
Ollie and I went to the vet the other day to pick up some more dewormer and he weighed 41.something lbs. We've been behind on weighing him because our scale needs new batteries... and they are some funny kind that I'll have to go search for and will likely cost a friggen fortune. That irritates me.
Anyhow, I think that's all for now.
-- L
Over the weekend we rented a sod cutter and cut and removed the sod in preparation of starting the second shed. That was brutally hard work... the sod cutter was easy and did a nice job... the hard part was removing the strips of sod and hauling them away. We used the lawn tractor and cart, but some of the pieces were big and all were heavy.
Next we'll put down an inch or two of stone dust and then the bottom floor framing will go up. Then we'll fill in the framing with stone dust, about an inch or so from the top of the floor framing boards (4x4 pressure treat). Likely we'll rent a compactor to get it nice and tight and try to level it as best we can. We'll pull in the rubber matting that I already have to cover the stone dust. Then the walls will get built and put up and so on.
I imagine it'll take most of the fall to get the shed done... things always take much longer than expected around here.
We also got a bunch of finish work done on the metal hay storage shed. We put some spray foam insulation between the bottom of the shed and the top of the floor in the couple places it wasn't quite as level as it could've been. (In all fairness, we did NO excavation or site prep for this shed, so having a half inch gap here and that was not bad at all!)
We also put some silicone caulking in some of the roof gaps. The kit came with duct tape {CHEAP!} (they called it weather stripping tape or something like that!) to cover the ridge gaps and stuff... we put it on, against my better judgment, but I'm happier now that I've caulked the inside too. I can't imagine the tape will hold forever and there is metal over the tape, but it doesn't sit tight to it, so I figured it wouldn't take long before we'd have roof leaks.
All that's really left to do on the hay storage shed is a bit more spray foam insulation along the top ridge gap where I can't fit the caulking gun and I want to add another sheet of plywood or OSB to the center of the floor inside. We counted our rubber mats and I've got enough to mat this shed also (Ok I'm ONE mat short!) so I think I'm going to go ahead and mat it as well. It'll make cleanup nicer, add some traction and improve the seal along the bottom edge so snow won't be able to blow in or anything. Then I just need to get my hay guy to bring me a load of hay.... move the stuff I already have from the other building over and I'll be done and ready to use it.
Ollie and I went to the vet the other day to pick up some more dewormer and he weighed 41.something lbs. We've been behind on weighing him because our scale needs new batteries... and they are some funny kind that I'll have to go search for and will likely cost a friggen fortune. That irritates me.
Anyhow, I think that's all for now.
-- L
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Hay Storage Shed Pics
Shawn was off work Friday, so we started putting together our ultra cheap hay storage building. I took a few pics during the process and now they are up!
It went together reasonably well and was straightforward enough. We still have to assemble and install doors and put on the finish pieces as well as finish leveling off the building itself and then securing it down with cable and ground stakes.
Its super NOT fancy, but will be an upgrade to what I currently have and will be a lot handier. The door is ultra low, but inside its easy to stand upright, even for Shawn. We've all hit our heads through the doorway a few times, but no serious injuries ;)
That's it for now!
--L
It went together reasonably well and was straightforward enough. We still have to assemble and install doors and put on the finish pieces as well as finish leveling off the building itself and then securing it down with cable and ground stakes.
Its super NOT fancy, but will be an upgrade to what I currently have and will be a lot handier. The door is ultra low, but inside its easy to stand upright, even for Shawn. We've all hit our heads through the doorway a few times, but no serious injuries ;)
That's it for now!
--L
Monday, August 4, 2008
Not Quite 40...
Oliver is now 39.6 lbs. Not quite 40, but close enough... probably just a meal or two away from it!
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