Farming in the shade

It doesn't look like much from the picture. But we are oh-so-proud. (Search "barn renovation" in the search bar on the left side of the blog home page for the whole process.) Our little shop offers a place to buy our farm-fresh dry beans, wool roving and yarn, and handcrafted items made by our family: mittens, scarves, rugs, socks, quilts and more. At this point, we are only open Fridays from 1 - 4 pm, or by appointment. Today is our soft opening, and perhaps we'll have something more organized soon. We are located at 13275 Blair Street in Holland, MI. The shop is in the red/white barn to the northeast of the house. It's a lovely day--feel free to drive out!

Part of the reason for the barn renovation is to have housing for farm help. So, while you won't find drywall in most barns, you will in ours. The whole upper floor, as well as the ceilings of the lower level (as a fire break). I always say that some things are worth hiring out. We've done a fair bit of drywall in our married life, but this is a seriously big project. This is worth hiring out. See what I mean? We would still be carrying all those pieces of drywall up the stairs now if we tried to DIY! The drywall guys were wonderfully skilled, quick, friendly workers. The only grumble I heard was the one running this truck. He muttered, "They would have to give me a different truck on this job." He did a great job, despite his nervousness. Once the whole rack of drywall was suspended in midair, they put a plastic protector over the windowsill, and unloaded each piece through the window. So much faster than carrying them up the stairs! Now that th...

The winter was exceptionally cold. Too cold to do anything more than what was absolutely necessary on our workshop renovation project. Stud walls, plumbing, electrical and heating progressed very slowly. Six boys worked in the woodshop every Wednesday evening on their kayaks, and it was a struggle to get the temperature to a life-sustaining level each week. We hosted our  shearing day  in early March, and told people we were "under construction".  But now that we have (slightly) nicer weather and a larger workforce, things have begun to happen again. Insulation. Does it matter that it doesn't match? This is a part of the ground floor, which will house our farm store.  The bean storage room... And heading upstairs... Half of the upstairs will be housing for farm help. No need to insulate most interior walls. The other half of upstairs will be the everything else room. Weaving, dyeing, wool storage--the possibilities are exciting! Here a...

While we were putting the roof and sides on, we were also taking out our frustrations a little at a time by busting out the old concrete floor. Yes, with a sledgehammer. Our skid steer was a great help in hauling off the concrete. We filled three dumpsters with concrete that will be recycled by a local excavator. Before the new concrete floor could be poured, we needed to wet down the sand. We were surprised at how dry the sand was, but it hasn't had any rain or moisture on it for decades so I guess it makes sense that it would be dry.  Four cement trucks came that day, and we poured an estimated 27 cubic yards of concrete. The day of the pour was fairly warm. Probably too warm for the workers. Some things are worth hiring done, and while The Farmer and his father helped, the bulk of the work was done by a contractor. The Farmer comes from a construction background. His father and one grandfather were brick masons. His other grandfather was a furnace man. The Far...

After the roof trusses were set, we nailed plywood to the roof and sides of the new addition. This work is not for the faint of heart, or those with a fear of heights.  Love that nail gun. After the plywood was on, it was time to put the steel siding up. My mother in law started the holes, to make the job easier when the siding was vertical. Again, not for the faint of heart. Sam, the intrepid cat, amused us by climbing ladders. Here is the start of the cupola vent. There will be three attic vents. This one is the coolest. Before the siding went on the ends of the barn, four windows needed to be wrestled in place and secured. Again, tricky work at the top of a ladder. It's almost weather-proof now, and the progress will be less dramatic from here on out. If you'd like to see the other stages of the barn renovation project, click here .

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 .

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...