Saturday, July 25, 2009

Barn and Blueberries

Today we concentrated on the barn and blueberries. First thing (before it got too hot) we proceeded to remove more tin sheets and wood from the barn roof. We did not finish because there are two swallow nests with chicks almost ready to fly. So we'll give them a few days more before we proceed. We did notice even more poor construction of the barn as we take it apart. It makes me glad we are finally doing this, and it is motivation to do it right. Myself, Tom and Jerry's daughter Anna spent the previous two days scooping out the barn floor so it will be ready for placing poles.
After the roof demo was completed Tom took a look at the auger that our friend Jerry gave to us. It had a slight bent auger and a frozen drive shaft. Tom worked on fixing both issues and got the auger to work. It dug a 3 foot deep, 10 inch wide hole in no time flat! It also removes most of the dirt from the hole in the process. This is going to help tremendously with placing poles for our barn as well as future fencing projects.
While Tom was working on the auger I picked our blueberries. We have one bush that came with the place that produces a huge number of blueberries. I am not sure the photo does it justice. We have also planted 6 other bushes that are starting to produce as well. It was above 90 degrees today, and this picking took about 2.5 hours so I was quite hot and sticky with it.
INJURY REPORT: With the roof demo I managed to lose my grip on the hammer, and it spun around and hit me in the forehead. While milking the goat she kicked me pretty hard (as well as knocking the milk pail over and the baby wipe container). And twice I encountered nettles while picking blackberries. This farming stuff is high risk.

7 comments:

Aimee said...

Ouch! Sorry about the injuries. Especially nettles. I have had some serious run ins with nettles lately, so I feel for you.

Nancy K. said...

Poor Donna! I think you better take a break and spend a day sitting with lambs/kids and sipping ice tea. Perhaps a little spinning or knitting?

;-)

Donna said...

Thanks for the sympathies. I am at work today so can rake it relatively easy!

Dave said...

Holy Cow Donna - tell Tom I said no more hammering for you !!!! Nettles are about my least favorite thing... I have a tendancy to do everything around our farm in shorts (and usually sandals too) so nettles are always a danger to my legs and arms. I can definately sympathize...

Donna said...

Tom already told me years ago I could not use a hammer after I got my thumb good. I ignored him though. I was in a loose sun dress picking blueberries because it was so dang hot. I kneeled down to get the lower branches and put my knee on a nettle leaf and later one got me on the ankle. Tom was telling me I should wear pants (based on his childhood forced blueberry picking experiences where he mostly hid between the rows in the shade and napped), but I was just too hot for that. At least nettles do not sting too long. I wonder if you get immune to them over time? So far it has not happened, but it does seem like I don't welt up as much as I used to.

Crosswinds Farm said...

I am so jealous of your blueberries! I have a few bushes that I am babying along and they look terrible,our soil is just too alkaline so I never get any berries :(.

Donna said...

I am sorry about your blueberry bushes. Our soil seems to be made for blueberries.

Shaun the Sheep "Off the Baa"

Shaun the Sheep clip "Save the Tree"