Thursday, May 8, 2014

Our Spot On The Farm Is Ready!

Our cozy nook is ready- now if only we were too!


This past week and weekend, we have worked steadily on the pallets and we also cleaned out our spot on the farm. Dan was true to his word and worked on pallets every day last week-- that weather permitted-- and that was about two. Regardless, we are making headway. Mario, who I am beginning to think exceeds the term, "Wealth of Knowledge", has given us yet another gem of advice. 


Apparently, he worked in the pallet business for a time too! Could we have a more perfect neighbor for our project?! I doubt it. He explained some of the details to Dan about how pallets are put together, the types of nails, and so on. He then provided Dan with a much more effective crowbar and also gave us the name of a place that actually takes apart the pallets and gives away the wood. WHAT.


The catch here is that many people enjoy this free wood- especially when used for heat. We've made a few passes so far, but each time they were cleaned out. Hopefully as the weather continues to warm, we will have better luck. We still have access to the fully assembled free pallets, so either way, we will make it happen. 

Smudge fire to keep May flies away.

Cleaning out the spot on the farm was quite refreshing and fun. It was a beautiful breezy day, and the smell of sweet grass filled the air. We worked cheerfully as we grunted and heaved and hauled large dead tree trunks and broken cinder blocks from the space. Just the day before, Michael, one of the owners of the farm, had pulled the old trailer out of the space. Now that this was out of the way, we could do the fine tune clean up. 


 

We envision a cool outdoor patio.
"Envision" is the key- haha.





Once we had cleaned up the majority of debris, we assessed the ground. It was a bit sloped and uneven in several places. It needed to be leveled out and I quietly groaned at what that meant in terms of two people doing this by hand. That thought was interrupted, however, as I heard a tractor engine come rumbling up the knoll. Michael came through and in about 10 minutes time we had a nice even piece of land! Woohoo!


Some of these logs were huge! Luckily Michael had a
chainsaw on hand too!
Just spending that one day out there filled us with a heightened level of appreciation for the farm, how beautiful it is, and how lucky we are that we get to stay there for a time. 

We ordered our solar power system yesterday, too. It kind of hurt a little- $6200- after getting used to no credit card payments. But, looking at the bigger picture, this gives us mobility, independence, and brings us one step closer to a more sustainable lifestyle. With very few other bills to cover at this point, we will pay that off at a much faster rate. 


Hooray for tractors! -Check the goat on the wall in the back...

The spot's open, the solar power system is purchased and on it's way, now it's up to us to get that siding on in the next few weeks!! Thanks to the rain we've had, the ground is still pretty soft. We probably won't be able to move The Pod until it's closer to June. I guess that's a good thing since we need the time!

Thanks for reading!

All clean!

1 comment:

  1. Having a solar powered system surely brings a lot of financial advantages.

    ReplyDelete