They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
When you set out to be farmers, what that really means is that you are setting out to be a steward of a comprehensive, living, evolving organism, and of the physical infrastructure that supports it. This means that carpentry, plumbing, concrete work, electrical work, mechanics, small engine repair, horticulture, animal husbandry, and who knows what… Continue reading Running Wire for the Pump
Tuesday was the day we installed the pump. It was not a particularly smooth process. As the saying goes... Measure once, Cuss twice. When I measured for the box I was planning on using a simple sheet of plywood for the walls, then halfway through building the box I decided to make them out of… Continue reading Installing the Pump
We continue the electrical/plumbing project behind the shop, a little at a time, as we have an hour here or there. We really should try to hit it hard this weekend, but it is always hard to get time away from all the urgent things to get to the farming. We have deepened and widened… Continue reading Putting in the Conduit
We had a bit of an issue last winter during a particularly cold and windy rain-storm, with water seeping through the roof of the shop. We could see it soaking down the rafters on the walls (the underside of the roof is insulated and sealed with plastic) about every 3 feet or so. Going outside… Continue reading I hate shoddy work
Monday, after the pigs had left for the butcher, Daddy got a call from Papa to let us know they were heading down to return the shoes Seppi left at their house. "Oh, by the way, do you have an upright jack I could borrow to pull out some posts?" Papa always has the tools.… Continue reading An unexpected job
Another hour and a half of digging, still no water line.
Well, we have been digging diligently, trying to extend the trench from the rain catchment tank out to the driveway to intersect with the water-line that extends out to the pasture. By Tuesday morning we were more or less in line with where we had templated the water line to run, based on a straight… Continue reading Nothing Like a Time Crunch
Saturday morning, just like most mornings right about now, Daddy was digging a ditch, somewhere between 5 and 6 AM, and he looked at where the ditch started... And where the ditch was going... and realized that this is more or less the line where we want to build a gate across the driveway. This… Continue reading Squirrel!
Actually, it probably will not be the last ditch. But we have broken ground on the next stage of the rainwater catchment project. This is the trench that will run water out of the tank and splice it into the line running out to the pasture. And this is why hand tools for digging rather… Continue reading A Last Ditch Effort
No National Guard this month, so we had a rare opportunity to go to First Saturday Mass together as a family. Coming home, daddy made some breakfast for himself, Was he allowed to eat it by himself? Absolutely not. Deedee and Papa came by to borrow some tools that Papa had loaned us, Seppi immediately… Continue reading That’s One Way of Doing it
Little Farm in the Big City 