Farming in the shade

We hired a crane (with a skilled operator) to help us set trusses. Some things are worth hiring done. Each one was lifted and set on top of the walls. A spotter on the ground held a rope hooked to one end of the truss to keep it from swinging wildly. The day was moderately breezy; we were glad it wasn't any windier. Each end of the truss was nailed in place on the wall, and then the truss was unhooked from the crane. Darryl drew the short straw and got to be center man. He nailed brackets in between the trusses to keep them spaced evenly. He walked on a 2 x 4 laid across the bottom of the trusses. Coming along nicely. Love this photo. We can really get an idea of the space now that the trusses are set. The whole process took about two hours. It was very gratifying to see the amazing progress. But it was nice when it was done. So much could have gone wrong. For more posts on the barn renovation, click here .

After the floor joists and deck were on the building, we moved on to the second story walls. All of the walls were prebuilt on the deck, and tilted up into position. We had visiting family over that week, and so the deck and walls happened pretty quickly. And no one had any strain from tool use, as the nail gun was handed around quite a bit. Each of the walls was braced to stabilize it. Then horizontal boards were added to the outside of each wall. These purlins give us something to fasten the steel to later on. It will be a gambrel style roof, so angled 2 x 4s were added to the north and south sides. And then more purlins were fastened to them, again to provide something to attach the steel to. For more posts about the barn, click here .

About a month ago, we were able to work a couple of fields to prepare them to be planted with a cover crop. Cover crops serve several purposes. They keep weeds from taking over in a field, and they add nutrients and increase the organic matter in the soil. Cover crops are typically left to grow for a while and then plowed down. It might be tempting to consider that a waste, but the reasons listed above make it a smart move. We seeded two fields--the part of the corn field that drowned out and was plowed down earlier this summer, and a field that was left fallow due to the extremely wet spring. Here's The Farmer filling the grain drill with two kinds of seed--oats and radishes. The oats are the longer, light colored seeds. The radishes are the round, red seeds. Just yesterday I took a walk out to the field with a camera. Despite the lack of rain, the planting is well established. We are hopeful that we can get one grazing off the back field. Pasture is in sho...

There have been a lot of deliveries to the farm lately. Concrete deliveries, beam deliveries, and now wood deliveries. In our quest to renovate one of our barns , the next job was to put the floor joists on top of the bond beam  to form the floor of the second story. Fortunately, the delivery truck came equipped with a crane to help unload the wood. We asked if the driver would unload the joists on top of the building. He was willing. The Farmer walked along the top of the wall to direct the swinging bundle of joists into position. While The Farmer's father helped guide the process with a 2 x 4. Once all the bundles were unloaded on the top of the wall, it was time to cut the strapping tape and spread them out. Each one was nailed into position, and spacers were placed between them at each end. After the joists were all in place, it was time to lay the plywood on for the deck. We lifted the plywood up with our handy skidsteer. Don't know what we would h...

In the process of taking the roof off , some wooden vents were also taken apart, which left parts of the wall shorter in those sections. The Farmer's father, a mason, made quick work of filling in those shorter sections. I guess masonry is like riding a bike--you don't forget. Then it was time to construct forms for the bond beam. The forms were going to be poured full of concrete, so it was important to have the measurements right. The day of the pour came, and the concrete was loaded into our skid steer, one bucketful at a time. We then lifted up the bucket full of concrete carefully and dumped it into the forms, which extended all the way around the top of the building. Quick hands troweled it smooth. After the concrete was finished curing, we removed the wooden forms. The bond beam's purposes were two-fold: 1) to form a bond all around the top of the block walls to provide added stability for the second floor, and 2) to make the wal...

Adding a second story to one of our barns involves some serious support work. After partially demolishing the barn , we added some internal structure. Here's a steel worker getting ready to bolt a steel beam or column into our newly-poured concrete footings . There are four of these vertical steel columns to help hold up the second story. Too heavy to lift by hand. OSHA wouldn't approve. After all the vertical columns were set, the horizontal beams were lifted into place. Some things are worth hiring done. The final step is to connect the beam to the columns. I can't seem to keep up with the actual building process. The blog is lagging behind significantly. Stay tuned for more progress; I'll do my best.

We've been busy this summer. In addition to our farm work, we've been renovating a barn. If you missed part one, you can read about it here. After the roof came off, it was time to bust up some of the concrete floor. The existing floor is about 4" thick. We plan to add a whole story on top of these walls. The second story will be supported with a series of steel beams. And those steel beams need a solid footing--something a bit more than 4" of concrete. After the concrete was broken up, and the hole dug a bit deeper, we added steel reinforcing rod. Some of the concrete needed to be brought over in a wheelbarrow. And some could be poured directly in the holes. The footings were poured 8" deep so as to support the steel beams. Then the concrete was leveled off, or screeded. Next come the steel beams.