Having knocked the Clothes Line Garden and the goat paddock off our continuous garden crawl (which we unfortunately described as clockwise only to realise, in one of those lucid moments-before-sleep, that it is in fact the polar opposite) we now have a paltry 10 or so minutes remaining until another garden hour elapses. Tempering our excitement, however, are the couple of slightly larger projects standing between us and the chimes sounding: manufacturing a new goat shelter to stop Leia singing in the rain and a feed area remodel in the interests of manoeuvrability and food-to-goat flow.
Yesterday, with the whole back-into-the-groove thing (yes, there is a shower roster) going so smoothly, we allowed ourselves a little grandiose dreaming during morning coffee on the deck; obviously after the mandatory over the fence chinwag with the Ezekiel-Tigerlily ladies, without which our days would be so much the poorer. If The Goat Herd started on assembling the goat house framework from the fossicked timber stash and The Milk Maid got stuck into dismantling the two lengths of chicken coop fencing now deemed excess, we could have the whole deal kicked into touch by the end of the week. Then the clouds rolled back, the thermometer crept up past what we Homesteaders call comfortable, and we opted to tackle the inside list (which was, as luck would have it, another list in the form of OpenProj – fellow listaholics: check it out!)
Day two, and glory hallilujah! another smooth take-off. Let it be known there were no shower time over-runs, no traffic jams in the kitchen, and Farm Girl woke up with a smile, despite still being out on the deck, star-gazing in the balmy evening, until well after 10pm. So, with the temperature at a manageable 19, it looked like it was all systems go. And it would have been had the back step, which has been sagging and sinking daily, not given that soulful whine followed by a hearty creak, thus effectively bumping it rather rapidly to the top of the list.
It must be noted here and now that, whilst The Goat Herd and Milk Maid are pretty handy with the binder-twine and long nails, this job also required the talent for prising and preserving the quality of existing timber: not something either of these ladies would put on their Resume.
Truth be told, it doesn’t actually look like this anymore
Two boards were ear-marked as candidates for their jemmy bar, the end plank of decking and the facing, and we are pleased to report that, although a lengthy procedure requiring much gentle, mutual encouragement and positive reinforcement, both boards were successfully removed with only two teensy, little bits jumping ship.
Their removal exposed the problem: when building the deck frame, the nails had been too short for the job.Ha! To all you folk who have poked gentle fun at our overusage of long nails: we rest our case!
So, it was simply a case of hammering some of our coveted LONG nails into the framing, reattaching the decking, and it was job done! No more whining back step.
The Ladies handiwork gets Farm Girls seal of approval
Union Homestead 
Hurray for long nails I say, congratulations all round.
We’re feeling rather smug about it. Hopefully this isn’t one of those “pride before a fall” situations 🙂
Isn’t it frustrating when what should be a 30 min fix turns into an all day affair? Your “manana” perspective has my respect! I’m interested in how you’r going to create the goat house, since I have “build pig shelter” on my to do list, and practically zero skills to make it happen – but you threw that little item in like it would be a mornings work between coffee on the deck and lunch, so perhaps there’s hope? And I’m fascinated by the Ezekiel-Tigerlily ladies, there must be a story there.
As soon as we figure out how to do it, we’ll let you know. Pigs are a lot harder on their abodes than goats are (The Farmer spends a good portion of his working life mending their shelters) and the last one we made from a couple of pallets is still standing, It’s soooo easy writing the words on a list, but getting started…thats another story.
Good luck with the list. I never make them because I never do them.
I think the world can be broken into two camps – those that make lists and those that don’t; in my experience there doesn’t seem to be any fence sitting.
Oh my…what activities all and all…and I have been sloughing around with flu. Seeing Farm Girl cheering makes me feel better already. have a restful weekend!
So sorry to hear you’ve been laid up with flu. Glad that Farm Girl made you smile. Hope you’re having a laid back, healing weekend 🙂