I've really wanted to work on basic carpentry skills, so for a few days, I rebuilt a set of rickety stairs in the upper barn with Josh Pincus. Stairs are pretty straightforward to make, but can include some tricky math calculations involving rise and run. These stairs will also have to be detachable so that the wagon can fit in the barn for loading and unloading hay. We sat down, and with the help of Josh's expertise, some instructions I found online and a cool YouTube video on using stair gauges, designed our stairs. Josh kept an eye on me for awhile, then set me loose to work on my own. I cut all the stringers and treads, sanded, and put it all together. Never in a million years did I think that I could do something like this. Where did I get that idea, anyway?
I've discovered that using a circular saw definitely appeals to my meticulous nature. Now I'm on a roll! Here's the plan for the next stair project, which I'll build sometime in March:
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I also helped out with chores for a few days. Caring for the cows, sheep and chickens on your own is a lesson in what it's like to look after livestock on your own farm. We've been feeding a mixture of beet pulp, apple cider vinegar, aloe, and garlic to the pregnant ewes to provide them with vitamins, probiotics, and anti-microbials, and it's a little like sheep crack cocaine. They go nuts for it. I experienced a sheep stampede, which isn't dangerous, but must be seriously hilarious to watch.
This weekend I headed to Burlington for the Northeast Organic Farmers Association conference, which was excellent. And tomorrow, for no purpose other than good, clean fun, I travel to the Virgin Islands for ten days. I'm trading my Carhartts for a bathing suit, if just for a short time! See you in March, when the serious business of the growing season begins.
wow! you rule
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