Demolition
Before I start creating the Boutique Farm, I need a clean canvas on which to work (to use a painting metaphor). This clean slate involves clearing a lot of weeds and demoing some very old and unsightly outbuildings! Two-homeowners before us, raised farm animals on the property. From what we’ve gathered from both our neighbors and the nature of the dilapidated outbuildings, these animals included chickens, goats and maybe sheep? There is also a dog kennel. Also included in the outbuildings is a pole barn in need of some love. This last structure I am going to keep and renovate it.
The only farm animals I plan on having are chickens. Oh, and a peacock! Because it is so dry here, I don’t think we will have a slug problem, but if we do, then I might add a few black ducks to the barn yard! So, with that in mind, once the pole barn is renovated, I will be investing in a new and much prettier chicken coop. Functionality is key, but so are aesthetics as far as I’m concerned!
I spent all week working on the chicken coop with little to no progress to show for it. The person who built it loved screws, lots of them and ones that are very long! Unfortunately, many of them were stripped so this made demolition slow going! He also loved his chicken wire! With an industrial set of wire cutters, I was able to tackle the later! I also discovered this week that being vertically challenged (aka short) made it difficult to take down beams that were above my head, even with a crowbar!
Then the weekend came and with-it reinforcements! They came in the form of my friend Laurie and her sister and then her niece joined the crew, Andy also came on board and the four of them took out most of the stalls. I was stuck inside on Saturday cleaning the house, but I was able to join the gang on Sunday and it was amazing to see… Laurie and crew took on one area, and Andy picked up where I left off on the Chicken coup. I started work on the area around the dog kennel.
The Priddy/Douglas team (Laurie and her family) completed the demolition of the larger stall area in two hours and headed out to do some cooking (we were hosting a demolition celebration dinner that evening with them). Andy continued working on the coop that had more screws in it then Ace Hardware! It is mostly down… perhaps another afternoon of work and it should be gone!
I still have some iron stakes I need to remove in the kennel area. I also need to work on the door of the dog house. I think once I get the doorway cleared, I will save the renovation of that building for next year. Perhaps we can store all our broken down cardboard boxes in the kennel as we will use them as weed barriers in the raised beds.
The pole barn is staying and once I get the weed trees behind it cleared, I can renovate it (hopefully with the assistance of my uncle) and turn it into a proper and spacious potting shed. My plan is to create a wall of windows with glass and windowpanes collected from the dump. I’ve seen similar structures constructed in this manner and they look spectacular!
Around the pole barn, I plan to build a series of cold frames, a long work bench/table, and a set of three compost bins. I will make the bins from wooden pallets Laurie has been saving for me. In addition, Andy and I will purchase a hoop house. Eventually we will add a second hoop house as well as a proper glass greenhouse. The latter two additions will, be contingent on funding and what we can generate revenue wise from the guest house (aka Airbnb) and the produce from the farm. Until then… demolition continues followed by renovation and rejuvenation! There is nothing like pure manual labor to connect you with the land and the potential of the property! Pure joy although followed with a wee bit of stiffness in the old body!
