With the rafters in place, the wood framing is done, and it’s on to wrapping the frame with an insulating fabric (Typar, the gray stuff leaning on the left) and closing up the outside walls with tongue-and-groove siding. We’re working to get the space enclosed before any really cold weather and snow hit. As you can see, the inside wall of the previous Milkhouse is still intact—demolition to come.
What a difference a day makes
With the foundation in place, wood framing is surprisingly quick. In a few hours, the walls are framed up, and it’s on to the roof… Rough carpentry is interesting, you’re working not from a blueprint or even a real sketch, instead, there’s only an ongoing materials list assembled from plans in your head. Well, not my head. This is all quite new to me. Things go a little awry or something unexpected comes up, and it’s fixed on the way. So long as the basic plan is workable, you can always bang your way through the details.
Foundation
A concrete mixer pulled into the farmyard and poured a 6″ concrete pad on top of the firmed up gravel. Then we built a concrete block retaining wall against the gangway to the barn. The Milkhouse Extension’s ready for framing and well underway!
Starting over…
Cloudy, wet and cold, here we are right at the end of the season. The summer and daily farm blogging didn’t quite work together this year…it’s time for take two, starting over. This is when the new year begins, with field clean-up, and, of course, planting garlic.
Milkhouse makeover
Autumn usually ends up being construction time. This year’s project is by far the biggest yet on the Tiny Farm, as we set out to more than double the area of the old milk collection room known as the Milkhouse. This was the only outbuilding that could be heated during the winter. After the upgrade, it’ll be a year-round multi-use space: office, seedling room in spring, overnight veggie storage in summer, the farm stand in the chilly days of late fall, maybe even the venue for the occasional, um, tea party… At this stage, it’s waiting for the concrete floor to be poured.
Fog
Heavy fog isn’t too common around here, but it happens. After thousands of hours of walking the two acres, strolling through this makes for quite an interesting change of scene.
Onions and cabbage
The days are getting short, the weather’s cooling down, and average first frost is only three days away. It’s still officially summer, but I’m in fall mode now. Green onions and the brassicas, like this open leaf cabbage, are hardy mainstays of the fall harvest.