My wood shop, which is attached to the garage, has been the latest project of mine to get into order since we moved here. The room is a 15 x 20 area that has some old wheel and pulley systems (still in tact) that was used back in the thirties when the man who owned the farm did blacksmith work. I decided that it was going to become my workshop where I make all my wood products. Here I painted my Etsy slogan "Make Something Creative" on the door to the outside in a 20's poster style like Rodney does his work. This being the first of hopefully many creative doors to come in my home. I am thinking of painting all the doors in my basement in this style as well.
And speaking of making something creative, here is the next to last step of my HOMEMADE Chicken Plucker. The last butchering session reminded me that I did not want to spend hours plucking the feathers off of the thirty birds we butcher at a time. It got me thinking. Thinking I certainly didn't want to spend $600 to $1000 for a chicken plucker! In the morning after milking I have gotten in the bad habit of leisurely lying around in my big chair. Consequently, it has been a perfect productive think time for me and where I came across the idea to use some of the materials I already had to make a plucker of my own. This one, which I am not finished with yet and don't know if it will actually work, started off with my Clay brand potter's wheel and a plastic barrel my farmer friend gave me. I cut the top off the 55 gallon barrel and then manipulated it by cutting and getting the wheel to fit into the barrel without cutting too much of it away. This was the result. The lid is one I cut off a 35 gallon barrel earlier. I drilled two holes to attach it to the wheel, and my next step is to drill 3/4 inch holes to attach the KENT C25 fingers I bought from Herrick over at The Deliberate Agrarian. If I can get it done in the next day or two, it looks like a Friday night butchering time. :)
I thought I would also show you a little more of my finished wood workshop. This is the view toward the back of the space. Today Nolan did most of the work in assembling our new table saw. I say ours because two of my boys are old enough now to use power tools like this MasterForce Professional Grade 10 inch table saw. For years I have used other's saws, or just used a Skil saw with horses and a yardstick to do the work of a table saw. It was high time to get one of my own. And since my Etsy business has sky rocketed this summer, I decided to get a nice one that I could use and then hand down to my boys.
On an earlier post I mentioned that I like to burn things. Here's a picture Nolan captured of me on another one of my fun burns. I had quite a bit of old rotted wood that I had been piling up and added some of the MILLIONS of teasel weeds that we have here on our pastures. In addition, we added some of the weeds we've been pulling from the garden. It made a beautiful white smoke that wisped through the woods. You can notice me sitting in the hot sun only a few feet away from the pile enjoying the heat of it. Also in the picture you can see Macy's finished hip roof chicken mobile, and Nolan's finished chicken house in the back.
My discussion with Ben on how I want him to repair the fascia board on the south side of the Big Barn.
The Big Barn east facing roof almost complete.
The finished work . . . No more leaks! Years ago I never thought I would be happy to pay to have a roof put on a barn. But, this project has actually made me happy to invest in. The whole Ohio Bicentennial barn project is a part of Ohio history, and I am glad to now be part of the heritage of this historical time in Ohio's past. She's a beautiful barn!
1 comment:
the life of a farmer :-)
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