The Land of Milk and Honey

[catscratch]

I'm curious about your manure compost plots... Have you had any weeds pop up in them yet? I'm wondering if any seeds came in with it. I think it's a great idea and have considered doing the same but haven't yet. I would think it should make an outstanding plot!

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[T-Max]

I'm curious about your manure compost plots... Have you had any weeds pop up in them yet? I'm wondering if any seeds came in with it. I think it's a great idea and have considered doing the same but haven't yet. I would think it should make an outstanding plot!

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We just moved it all last weekend. I am anticipating plenty of weeds and there are some light green areas already developing. My thought about moving it now was it had maximum time to compost since being piled early this spring while still allowing me time to work it into the native soil before planting this fall. The piles were pretty steamy and VERY hot when we broke them open. That may have zapped some of the seed bank. I plan on discing it every time the weeds reach 4-6" in height. I think that will help break down the leftover fibrous material several times and hopefully germinate a new batch of weeds each time. Rinse and repeat until I plant this fall. I already have Butyrac ready to spray next year as necessary. We'll see if it comes together.

 

[T-Max]

We disced the compost again to continue to chop up any hay that’s left in it and incorporate it into the native soil. Today we went over it with a mounted spring tooth to help even out the high and low spots. I think it is starting to look good...

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[catscratch]

It looks great!

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[T-Max]

In an effort to not let my thread go stagnant, I will show you our new shop we built starting last fall and continuing to today.

We had two old sheds on the North line of our property that were in disrepair. We decided to replace them with a nice new shop. We removed both sheds and had to take down 2 cedars in our windbreak. Both cedars were either short (having had the main leader killed off many many years ago) or nearly limbless.

 

[T-Max]

We hired a dirt contractor to come make us a level pad to start.



I have a friend who is a surveyor that volunteered to help us with building layout. Their instruments are unreal!

 

[T-Max]

We prepped posts using a product called Post Protectors. My wife wanted to try them. The concept seems solid, but time will tell if they help prevent rot. The columns are treated anyway...



Now for a public service announcement... I always wear safety glasses when I am working with or near any power tools. Heck, even a hammer can throw a chip off of a nail with an errant strike. I was taking a drink of water about 15 feet from my wife who was trimming down a post. The saw hit a nail in the post and threw the nail head at me. Hit an inch or so below my eye. Close call. I am left handed and that is my "shooting" eye. Too close for comfort...........

 

[T-Max]

I don't mean to brag, but my wife is pretty BA!!! And my surveyor buddy is as dependable as they get...



Posts in place. Here is a close up of the post protectors too. Supposed to prevent soil to wood contact through grade. There are weep holes in the bottom and about a foot of gravel for any water that makes its way in.

 

[T-Max]

We went with a composite gradeboard. They are pretty sweet. Built in rat guard.

 

[T-Max]

Father in law and I tackled the garage door headers. This thing is 13' inside clear, so everything was a challenge... Haha!



The doors were big enough for dad to get the tractor in to spread gravel. That was a fortunate accident.

 

[T-Max]

We decided to go ahead and do concrete on the shop side only for now to save some cheddar. 14x30 should get us by for now. I put in a floor outlet in case we ever run a table saw. The concrete guy is good friends with my dad, so he let us do all the prep and just did the pour.

 

[T-Max]

Truss day!!!



Oh look! The trusty surveyor!!!



Did I mention that my wife was BA?!?!?!

 

[T-Max]

She said the view from that lift was amazing!

 

[T-Max]

Roof purlins and Kansas sunsets!



Did I mention I ALWAYS wear safety glasses?!

 

[T-Max]

We started on side steel! Three sides went really fast!




Here is where I will make a suggestion to anyone building a pole barn DIY... Do NOT put your windows this close... Getting the steel in between them was nearly impossible. I will clarify that these windows had built-in J trim which only made it that much harder . We kept after it and got it done, but boy was that a pain......

 

[T-Max]

The roof.............. The roof took FOREVER! We were interrupted by several snows, and bitter cold. We did so many things wrong on this, but they just made it take longer. All said and done, we have a tight roof with a condensation blanket underneath. No rain inside for us!



We see who does all the work around here........




The roof was 18' at the peak, and I am SO glad it is done. I will have nightmares about it....

 

[T-Max]

Garage doors. You haven't lived until you have wound garage door springs........

 

[T-Max]

Framed in the shop wall. Please excuse the cats. They are idiots... We went with 9' ceilings inside the shop. That will give us some room to maneuver standard 4x8 sheet goods and give us maximum storage up top. We went with I-joists for two reasons. First, they were on sale , second they will allow us to realistically store anything we want up there without worrying about overloading the floor.

 

[T-Max]

The wife poured concrete pads under the garage doors to help create a good seal.



Stupid dog...........




That brings us up to current. I will post progress pics as we go. We do a little something out there nearly every weekend. Now that it is weather tight,we have sure slowed down...

 

[Turkey Creek]

Whats a shop with out some dog prints in the concrete! I have set right across the middle of my current shop floor. Nice build!! We know you wife can do anything!

Thanks for the line about the in floor shop electric plug.... something else to add to my list!