This post is long overdue, we did all this on May 12 and 13, the two days before Mommy and Daddy went to Ireland for our anniversary. But we didn’t get around to posting this because Mommy and Daddy went to Ireland for our anniversary. But here we are, better late than never.
You are welcome.
Mornings have a way of dragging out here, particularly Monday mornings after busy weekends. School still has to get done, bread has to be made, and there laundry is always backed up. The upshot is that often we don’t get to farming work until after lunch, and we only have a short window before violin in the afternoon.
This is a problem sometimes in the late-spring, early-summer, when the weather is not very consistent. What might start out as a cold, misty 45 degree morning, could easily turn into a blazing sunny 75 degree afternoon.
It was after lunch when I started work on the final fence post hole. This was the hardest digging I have come across yet. There is none of the sand found in the west half of the pasture, the hard pan starts about 10 inches down, and does not break; hard, dry, with rocks baked into it.
The hole is carefully placed to miss the drainage line. This is why we put a 10 foot gate here instead of a 12 foot gate.
As you can see, Ellie and Seppi dressed for the morning weather, not the afternoon weather. They lasted about an hour and then I made them go back to the house to drink water and play in the shade.
2 1/2 hours of hard, hard digging, but I got down to 46 inches (goal is minimum depth of 42 inches). The bottom was a bit rough, but we had to leave for violin and I was smoked, so that’s where we left it.
The next day, Tuesday, we got after it early, before school. It was still cool enough for flannels and hoodies, so much more pleasant, and with all the kids able to help it was much more fun.
I had to carve the bottom a little bit to get the post plumb in line, and it was about 10 minutes of finicky work, but then we were off to the races.
The water helps the fill to settle without air pockets.
The kids fight over who gets to run the hose, and who gets to take the pictures. Eventually, though, Ellie usually ends up being the designated photographer, and I end up deleting 5 million pictures later in the day.
Get the base set right. The rest can be remedied, but the base cannot be moved once set.
After the first layer of dirt in the bottom of the hole, we tamped rocks in a ring around the post, then more dirt.
Tamping is a job for Daddy, no one else can lift the tamping bar.
But that does not mean there is not a job for everybody, even the smallest!
Last little bit of dirt.
Then replace the sod.
Next, the brackets for the cross-brace.
Evie manages the level…
Daddy marks the location for the next bracket.
Next the twitch wire.
Let me tell you, setting a twitch wire is much friendlier with two. Doing it by yourself is a royal pain.
Three wraps, then lock in the bottom of the wraps.
Just the ability to have someone hold some back tension while I adjust the wraps is immensely helpful.
Evie putting in the last couple of screws on the brackets, while Seppi helps pick up the tools.
Job well done!
Little Farm in the Big City 