On the subject of being thankful… I am very thankful for Steve, my ex-husband and the father of my precious daughters.  Granted, we didn’t see eye to eye about 8 years ago and parted paths, but he has never given up on his children and has been a very important part of their lives and their future.  And thankfully, we have a very amiable relationship that is not really best friends or anything, but it’s not touchy or mean spirited either.  We can hang together, visit and even laugh with the girls and I think that is a very good thing.  And the best part, is that he likes to help them with their dream farm.  And that means a WHOLE lot to them, even if they don’t always say it.  Like Friday.  He came out to help us manhandle these HUGE telephone pole posts that Jr. cut up for us from his junk wood pile.  They will make PERFECT corner and gate posts for our very traditional back pasture fence that will hopefully be up by the middle of the month.

They will alway remember when they see those huge posts that their Dad helped them to get them in the ground.  And let me tell you, they were over 6 feet tall to start with.  They dug huge holes to sink those babies and used quick-crete to set them strong.  A water buffalo could not tip them over!  These posts will be here long after I am dead!  Ain’t nothing getting out of this pasture, past these guardians of the fence…

Maggie is impressed with her Dad’s sledge hammer skills…  because ours are sorely lacking!  haha…  They dug the holes over 2 foot, but then used the sledge to just make sure they were set down good into the hole.  Then they were cemented in to just make them perfect.   They got the front four done before a line of thunderstorms came in.  We have three to go, way in the back.

Since we really can’t afford the 400+ feet of field fence at the moment, we are going to string this first line from the big barn back to the western edge of the property.  And then add the 20 or so feet to the lil’ coop fence, to make a mini pasture, in front of this big pasture.  We’re calling it the barn yard.  It will help to offer us a little mini pasture that the animals can graze and we don’t have to mow.  Of course, this area is about 1/4 the size of our middle yard, so they can’t be parked there for long, but I would think that they could easily graze in there for 4 or 5 days and let the middle grow back up some.  It’s a start.

While they were working on the posts, we took turns and moved all those shipping crates along the middle yard fence.  They look awesome there and much better than the first plan.  They will strengthen that middle fence some, providing a heavy line of raised bed boxes.  I can’t wait to fill them with farm compost and then plant them with herbs and flowers!  Since the animals will not normally be in that little barn yard corridor much, I think I can protect them from harm.  If I have to, I think it will be fun to put up little fences inside the tops of the raised beds.  Since the sheep are pretty short, the only real culprit will be Cody and he’s not that tall either!  haha…  We shall cross that bridge when we get there.  But for now, i think they look pretty cool.  And I can’t wait to paint them!!!  I think that I have a couple cans of a sweet mossy green outdoor paint that will really make them blend in nicely.  We’ll see!

Now, I suppose you might wonder, why not start the fence at the corner of the barn.  Good question.  We wanted to make sure we had room to install the water trough next to the roof so that the rain will fill it up!  And that it would be inside the pasture area.  And we didn’t want the gate right up against the barn and this cool stump that we like, so we put in an extra pole to bring the gate area out by 5 feet or so.  The gate will actually be in the area that Maggie is standing behind.  If that makes sense.  The new fence will run alongside the pallet fence, which we will dismantle and use the pallets at other project areas through the estate.  In fact many of them are going to be used to make a shade lean to, out in this back pasture as there will be no trees or anything like that.  I’ve seen a lot of way cool little three sided sheds for sheep and a pony, that will be perfect.  Breezy, but with cover for rain and ease from hot sun.  Both Cody and the sheep do not like to get rained on.  They will seek out a building or a tree when it really rains.  So we don’t want them to be out back and get caught without some sort of shelter.  So the pallets will be great for that!

I think we’ll be able to dig the last three sometime this week.  The poles are already in position, so hopefully we can get them into the holes.  They are super heavy for sure.  But I think if we roll them close to the hole, that we can lever them up and in pretty well.  If not, well, I’m sure Steve will be happy to help and get those last couple in.  Uncle Rod has a line on some awesome t-posts for us…  replaced sign posts from a friend in the highway department!  We’ve gotten a few already and they are super duper strong and nice… and at $2 a pop, over half the price of the slightly lesser grade TSC posts!  It probably won’t be enough for the whole pasture, but it will sure get us started!   Tomorrow, after the poultry swap we will stop at TSC and get a sturdy hog panel which we are going to cut and use for a couple gates.  One large section will be the gate here, at the barn.  Another will be a doorway gate for the sheep barn and the last section will be our gate back by the windchime tree, so we can get to the hedgerow walking nature path!

 

We are leaving an 8 foot or so green path around this back pasture fence, so that we have a nice place to walk the dogs, and pick all the wild blackberries and all around the hedgerow.  And also to keep our little pet cemetery area nice and such.  We will mow a double wide path, but the rest will be allowed to grow up and provide wild habitat for the beautiful nature in our yard.  The dogs will love the area to be with us, walking, free off leash, but still safe within a fenced area and unable to chase livestock.  And it will keep the sheep from stripping all the hedge of vegetation!!!  haha…  My first lovely plan was to have the hedge keep in the critters.  And it worked, for awhile.  It’s very dense back there and we reenforced it with chicken wire and fencing and tree limbs, etc.  But, once the sheep were back there for a few days, I began to notice that they could care less about the pasture grass, they were eating down ALL THE HEDGE!!!  AGH!  Nasty little hoofies!  And that is how Cody Pony made his escape!  With the vegetation out of the way, he managed to skinny through a little area and go on his walk about last weekend!!!  So, no more sheepies out in the hedge area.  Sorry Charlies…

It will be nice though, to have that little green beltway around the place.  We hope to install a few benches and thoughtful places here and there and to plant more native wildflowers and plants out there as the years go on.  We live in an area called the Great Black Swamp, in northwestern Ohio.  And at one point much of this area was underwater and swampy.  You should see our soil, oh my gosh. As they were digging, we have top soil that is well over 10 inches deep, and just the blackest, riches stuff you will ever see.  No wonder that pasture is beautiful.  Hardly a weed in it!  There are a lot of wonderful native plants that you can get from the local soil conservatories during the spring and at great prices.  We got a bunch of little pine trees, and redbud and sugar maples!  Sure, they are twigs right now, but still, hopefully a few will make it to adulthood and will enrich our nature area.  I also plan on sprinkling a ton of flower seeds all over the place, hopefully to make more color and help the wild beauty of the area.

 

After it started to rain hard, and all work was abandoned, Steve and the girls slipped away to go to the next town over and get ice cream.  They are all ice cream fanatics!!!  Me, well, I can take or leave the stuff, but Steve and his daughters need frequent doses to stay alive.  So they went and had some fun time and I just kicked off my shoes to enjoy the rain and relax!  We have been working like dogs the last week… no, the last month!!!  It’s coming along, it really is.  I see major improvements every day.  Like, we got the screen door spring replaced.  Check.  And we moved the raised bed crates… Check…. and the trees cut… HUGE check….  and we got our chicken tractor built… check!  (photos and post to come)  and we got our front yard mowed… check…. and we got those posts dug in… check…. trees trimmed back around the place…. check…  that was all in the last couple days!  I’m so thankful for the lovely weather lately as well as the wonderful helpful hands that make our work much lighter and very enjoyable.  It’s a blessing for sure.

 

 

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