Rain glorious rain

It has been raining all morning and that is just fine with me.Our rain barrels and everything else are filling to the brim and that too is wonderful.The sheep are enjoying being wet and they and the chickens are running around the yard happily.The ducks, well wow they are happy happy happy.
Our gardens are doing well but I must confess I am watering them and not relying on rainfall to keep them going. We have plenty of water in our barrels so this is not a problem.I am sure in period they would not have waited but watered.Their lives depended on their crops doing well.If our grapes survive we will have plenty to dry and put away .They are growing nicely.
I will be back later I just wanted to tell everyone how lovely the rain is today. With the drought conditions all over we are lucky, The USA is having terrible heat and drought and they will have increased food prices .It will be very hard for many people to make ends meet . See you soon.
M

Grandchildren,broken arms and sheep

It has been a busy few weeks and we have attempted to post numerous times. We see a squirrel and oops another day is gone.
I am sure you are wondering about the title of this post. We have had 2 of our grandchildren here to visit.Zoe and Jude. They have had a wonderful time and ill be back to visit us more in a week or two. Unfortunately Zoe who is our dare devil was jumping on the large round bales missed and broke her arm near her wrist.So we have been back and forth to hospital for check ups  and such.Poor little bugger was so very brave and now has a well autographed cast to show off.
It has been unbelievably hot and humid here , and I have been paying special attention to our crops.Our newspaper with cut grass on top around the plants has worked very well to keep moisture levels up . Our plants seem to be doing wonderfully. A nursery I frequent gave me free about 30 more tomato plants and that many onion sets so wow we are going to be busy canning ..
We have bought 2 beautiful sheep and they are adjusting very well, we also bought more ducks and heritage chickens. Very lovely stock .If anyone wishes to come and visit us to see our growing brood please feel free. Some of the ducks are called runners, Ken describes them as teenagers in a mall. If one turns one way so do all of the rest,and they hardly stop moving. These ducks are standing rather than waddling. Very fun to watch, SO now we have chicken and duck tv here at the farm.I must run as I am heading to see the grandchildren and heading to Toronto tomorrow. I am not looking forward to the trip at all. We live a quiet life here , everything smells like it should , there is beauty to look at . Toronto represents at least for me noise,heavy air,smells that are not natural and noise...I absolutely hate the noise. Oh and the harsh lights. We live with the gentle light of candles.I find anything else hard on my eyes . Oh well our trip into the city is for a christening and a birthday. So we will survive and soon be home to our lovely home. Until next time stay cool and hydrated.
M

I wonder if they might have compromised and slept naked

Almost everything we do, we keep in mind what would life have been like if this was indeed 1865. We find ourselves talking about  fruit shortages and what that would mean to the average family.Our fruit trees are almost all bare. Where we normally have hundreds of pears we have counted less than a dozen. Our apple trees have no fruit at all. That would mean no apples going into the cold cellar, no cider,no apple sauce and no canned apples slices for pies etc.I use a lot of apples.Most pork dishes I cook have apple in them of some kind even if it is just an apple stuffing. I use many many apples throughout the year. We have no plums,peaches,  cherries at all. Raspberries are looking good so I will have to waste none. We live in a world now that even with shortages we will have apples and pears, they will come from far away , we may pay more but we will have them.In my opinion it is no wonder we are all so wasteful.
But the gist  of my post has to do with this heat. While I do sleep in period night wear which is wonderfully fine cotton I still am sweltering . We have wonderful cross breezes through  our home but wow it has been almost unbearable to sleep. So I am kind of wondering if you think perhaps they might have said"what the heck,no one will ever know" and slept naked? Any opinions based on anything you have read? I have not read anything referring to this other than having cool water and cloths beside the bed to wipe ones self down  in the heat.So any opinions would be a good conversation..see you soon
Margaret

The major work is done on the greenhouse.

Greetings all.

It seems the only thing I post about lately is the greenhouse. I am glad to say that all the major work is done. The roof is on, the windows installed and the door hung. I am in the minor task portion of the job now, it took me a week longer than I had hoped but the result is quite pleasing to the eye and will be quite sharp looking when we paint it up. Margaret will have lots of room for starting plants for the growing season.

I'm going to occupy myself small jobs next week, some clean up, grass cutting, weed whacking etc.. I'm also going to set up for the next major project which is the storage shed on the shop. I'm hoping it won't take me as long to do as the green house.

I should mention that I used electric power tools for a total of 15 cuts all told. Every other cut, all of the screws were done with hand tools alone. This is one reason it took me longer to finish the job. Every cut took three to five seconds longer, every screw nail took five to eight seconds longer so over the course of the job it added up to about an hour all told. In addition to this, There were some tasks which I had never done before so I had to figure them out in my head before I attempted them. These new tasks were framing for roof valleys and in the end, my solution was pretty much what every other carpenter has done. The solution was simple, elegant and once I figured it out, easy to do.

I would love to add pictures for all top see, but I'm something of a computer Luddite and our camera has bit the dust as well. As  soon as I get the picture thing figured out I'll post some.

This has been an exercise in Victorian tool usage and time management. I have noticed that I'm not as tired from the work as well, probably due to the lack of electrical tool noise (and they are noisy for sure). I noticed I could think ahead better about the job because of the lack of noise. The draw back here is the job took longer to complete. However, I do think the Victorian way of working suits me down to the ground. This is somewhat ironic given that I currently work in a nuclear power plant.

Until next time, take care.

Ken and Margaret

Roofs and Rain and

Stage 1: Monday morning

I finished the framing on the greenhouse extension today. Now to put on the roof , walls, eaves-troughs and door. Yippee skip, then onto the next project. :)


Stage 2: Monday afternoon


Roof is on the greenhouse! Finished it the rain so I got to see how it works and I am quite satisfied with the results. I have to install the windows, the eaves-trough and the door. I hope to be done by Wednesday at the latest. 

The hardest part of the framing was the third gable end at right angles to the main roof tree. Once that was done and I figured out how to do the plastic on the roof it was easy sailing. 

Here's hoping the windows go up smoothly, the door hangs easily and the eaves-troughs mount with no issues. I recognize wishful thinking when I hear it but it would be nice to get this project done so I can get on with the next thing. Windows and door tomorrow and maybe a good start on the eaves-trough. Eaves-trough done for sure on Wednesday.


That's all for now,
Ken and Margaret

Cider presses....

We bought 2 original cider presses yesterday . A small one, probably a table top version and a floor type press. The floor type press has a chopper set-up as well as a press. We found them in Frankenmuth while we were at a Rotary District Conference. We have to go back to pick up the floor press (another opportunity for antique equipment hunting!). I think we'll use the small one for grapes and such and the floor press for apples, peaches and the like.

We also picked up a hand pump in very good shape, it just needs the cylinder and a bit of piping and then we can mount it on our south cistern. Just need one for the north cistern and we be set to utilize the water in the cisterns. Something we haven't been doing to the best advantage.

If you are ever in Franfenmuth stop by "Around the Farm" antique mall at 12025 S. Gera Rd.,  Birch Run in Michigan. Helpful, knowledgeable folks and good prices too.

Green Houses and Wooden Eaves-troughs

Planting isn't the only thing happening. An extension for the green house is taking shape, 8' X 15' in size. This makes the green house look like an Ontario house. Same basic pattern as our home. Main frame is mostly done and the door is rough framed. That leaves the roof tree and rafters, windows for walls, plastic for the roof and sand on the floor. Shelves, dirt tub and water barrel inside, fed from the eaves-trough (Margaret's brilliant idea).

I made the base out of rail road ties and half lapped the joints which were tarred to protect against the rain and damp.

The eaves-trough will be made of wood and sealed against leaks, down-spouts are old metal ones. There is already one on the old part of the green house and I watched it today during our downpour. Water was coming out of the spout in a three finger wide stream at one point. The rain barrel was 80 - 90% full after wards. I was amazed at the collection rate. This bodes well for the rest of the green house roof. We'll need more barrels to catch it in.

I want to experiment with wooden down-spouts as well, something I have yet to do to my satisfaction. I have made two different eaves-troughs, one with a square cross section and one with a triangular cross section. The triangular one uses less material and has just one seam to seal whilst the square one has two seams and uses 33% more material.

I like the triangular one better, mostly because I can vary the size I need more readily that the square type. I was just thinking aloud and asked Margaret what she thought of the idea of making our own eaves-troughs for the house as well. That's my girl, she's game if I am. Love her to bits I do.

That's all for now, until next time take care

Margaret and Ken