Phase 1 complete: The Digging is Dug

You know, some cultures believe that a child will grow up to take on the qualities of the name that he has been given. In my Dad’s case this was eminently true. I don’t know very many people who have…

Dug..

More dirt than he has?

;-D

There’s a reason no one ever called him Douglas. He always dug more!!!

XD

The grandchildren have all inherited a healthy love of being in the dirt…

Enough of that. Ryan and Adam have been digging in the mornings for two weeks, and on Thursday of last week they completed the final leg of the trench.

Next step, put together the plumbing.

The whole point of this is to have a frost free hydrant no more than 100 feet from any point in the field. Once we start moving animals around the field we will have to water them daily, moving the water tanks at least every other day. Hauling water by hand or on a lawnmower tractor over rough bumpy ground is time consuming and boring.

We want to be able to move our stock frequently with minimal input of precious time, to raise the healthiest meat, eggs and milk possible. If it is an hours long chore to move them, we won’t want to do it on busy days in the summer, and we certainly won’t want to do it on rainy days in the winter. So we put in the effort now, to make sure that fresh running water is never more than a single garden hose length away from the animals, hoping that it will pay off in more efficient, and therefore more willing, chores for years to come.

Last Saturday, Mr. Alex came over to help with the pipe laying. Ryan had great expectations of getting the whole thing done in one day. After all, the plumber who came to give us a quote (>$7500!!!!) said they would get it done all in one day.

Of course, they weren’t also planning on watching kids, making lunches, changing diapers, etc…

Also, they know how to do it. They weren’t planning on figuring it out on the fly.

That optimism lasted until about half-way through unrolling the pex pipe. It was cold and was still in the factory role. Needless to say, it resisted being straightened with a vengeance. In the end we interwove it between the fence posts to keep it mostly straight, and will leave it there until needed. The weather is a bit chilly right now, and it flexes most reluctantly.

In the end we settled on just getting the T-posts pounded in. The hydrants will attach to these to provide a little extra stability. Since all but one of these hit rocks and had to be redirected multiple times, this was an ordeal in itself.

One of them could not be sent in no matter how many times we redirected it, so we actually had to dig down an extra foot and pull out the rocks before we could send it home. By this time, baby girl was cold, tired and hungry, and just wanted to be up on someone warm and snuggly. And that is the biggest advantage of having two adults handy. One can snuggle the Winnie while the other works, (as long as she likes both of them, which in this case she does.)

So that was the extent of our progress on Saturday, almost. Ryan got back out for a little bit in the afternoon, and put together two joints, but the rest will have to wait for another several days.