Mud Farm

January has been an extremely rainy month.  As such, it's pretty much brought all projects to a halt.  However, it's been interesting to have this much rain because it's allowed me to monitor how well the new pond is working.

After several days of soaking rain, I was able to get a picture of what is probably going to be the ultimate high water mark.  I was also able to see where the leaks are.  Luckily there are only two.  One is a small trickle where the natural drainage used to be and the other is a low spot by a tree where the picture below was taken from.  I'll have to see how things look in the summer when the water is down enough to get the bulldozer in to fix it.

I was pleased to see how long the water levels stayed up as well. There are a couple of sites, that I drive past on the way down, that have dug out ponds recently and theirs drain much more quickly.  I take that as a sign that I have a really good pond.

The next step will be to get grass growing on the hillside that feeds into it, to make the water more clear as it runs off.

From 2013-01-09

One problem with all the rain is that it soaks the hay as I set it out.  It also soaks the animals as they stand out there and eat it.  The donkey doesn't mind, but wet, cold goats have a tendency to get sick and die.

To remedy this problem, I put up a hay tent to keep the water off.  It works better for square bales since I can just set them in the middle.  The big round rolls are much tougher to line up, so we were happy to roll this one under the tent at all.

From 2013-01-09

I finally got a chance to whip out the chainsaw.  With all the rain, it seems like forever since I've been able to cut and burn.  I'm surprised at how much I missed it.  We still didn't get to burn, but at least I got a little cutting done.

From 2013-01-09

Here are the animals enjoying the hay tent.  Note the sloppy, muddy mess on the left and the dry goats under the tent.

On a sad note, this was Stinky's last day.  The day after this pic was taken, the feral dogs got into the pen and killed him.  RIP Stinky.

From 2013-01-21

The low spot by the football field turned into a lake.

From 2013-01-21

It's amazing how much water collects and how quickly it disperses.  A day or two after this, there was little evidence that this had formerly been a lake.

From 2013-01-21

This stretch of the perimeter trail was especially sloppy.  With this much standing water, I need to look for a place to make another pond.

From 2013-01-21

WARNING if your're squeamish, don't scroll down further.  WARNING









The feral dogs totally destroyed poor Little Momma.  She always kept her distance from the other goats, so it's not surprising that she was the first one that the dogs targeted.  I was very disheartened to see that they'd totally destroyed her.

I think we've held the dogs off for now, but there are still about 4-5 of thems running around the area.  RIP Little Momma

From 2013-01-09

Moving the Car Port - The Finale

I finally got some nice weather as well as a day off and so, of course, it was time to head to the property and finish up my latest project of moving the carport.  I knew it would be tough project and it turned out that I predicted correctly.  I was totally exhausted after climbing the ladder so many times.

I spent a lot of time measuring and leveling, trying to get the thing right.  It turned out pretty well, but there's a spot just down from where I'm standing that was just out of whack and ended up being out of whack and is still out of whack.

There's a place down the road from the prop that sells these carports that I like go check when I have questions about how to build it.  Unfortunately, after all the work of leveling, I saw from the model an incredibly easy way to level that never even crossed my mind. Oh well, hard work is good for the soul, or so they say.

From 2013-01-02

I found that a key step is making sure the center piece is even.  It's quite difficult because of all the different measurements that need to be made, from side-to-side, top-to-bottom, etc.

From 2013-01-02

The boys were helpful at certain points and it was nice for them to get some experience with building.  I hope  it was a good learning experience for them.

From 2013-01-02

The roof is starting to come together.  Once the center piece is set, the rest comes together quickly.

From 2013-01-02

While I was working on the carport, the boys continued to work on their nest.  Seth got some rope and continued to tighten up his net.  It was surprising how much rope it ended up taking.

From 2013-01-02

It'll be interesting to see if they try doing a sleep out in it.

From 2013-01-02

The carport is almost finished.  Just putting on the finishing touches.

From 2013-01-02

The final product.  It was totally worth the work to get this away from the camping area and the main road.  Once the mud starts drying out, we should be able to gravel it in better and make it more accessible.  The way the weathers been, it might be March.

From 2013-01-02

And here's where the carport used to stand.  There's no trace of it anymore.  Now I need to bulldoze up the extra gravel once things dry out.  I want to use it to thicken up the main area then plant some grass where it used to be.  Slowly but surely, the camping area is starting to take shape.

From 2013-01-02

Fixing the Old Shed

It's been a rainy, rainy month.  As such, the pond has been filling nicely.  It's current level, the result of a couple 1" rainstorms that have come through,  is the high water mark so far.

The pond has been handling the water but after the last big storm, I've notice a few leaks.   One is in the spot where the natural drainage used to be and the other is a low spot by a tree.  Although the leaks are small, I'll have to do some pondering on how to fix them.

As far as overflowing, It looks like it'd be able to handle a few more big storms before that happens.  The clay is doing a great job at holding the water from seeping into the ground.  We're getting a bit of it soaking back in but not near as bad as other ponds I've seen in the area.

From 2013-01-09

I decided to get the goats a new trough for their Xmas present.  I'm hoping the dividers will help them not fight so much when I bring their food.

From 2013-01-02

I had a free day over holidays and  wanted to use it to build things.  However, since everything was completely muddy, which makes it hard to build,  I decided to just patch the old shed instead.

I've been trying to figure out a good way to do it when it struck me to use some old fence panel leftovers.  Since the existing shed lumber is so rough, I didn't think it would hurt to patch it this way and it should blend in nicely after a year or two.

From 2013-01-02

I'm trying to prop up the peak of the roof as well as creating a nailer for the coverings with some old lumber leftovers.

Unfortunately the peak is off center, which shows the difficulty in trying to make a 50 year old, rough milled shed square.  It seems like I have to ask the question of whether it's better to build for strength or looks.  So far I've chosen strength.

It looks kind of screwy having it off center, but it'll be covered so I don't think anyone will notice.

From 2013-01-02

The patches aren't beautiful but I think it'll blend in better in the long run,  and since the original pieces are rough milled and put up in similar to what I did, I think better pieces of lumber might actually look out of place.

From 2013-01-02

One last shout out to Little Momma, who's no longer with us.  She was killed by what we think were dogs that got into the pen.  We'll miss her.

From March 11, 2012