Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Barn Clean Up

It's been hectic around the homestead.  Morning is crazy - feed dogs, feed cats, feed barn cats, dogs in, dogs out, dogs in, dogs out.....chickens out, dogs in, dogs out....chickens back in...

I'm on dog duty until Daughter is feeling up to it again.  She is still recovering from the removal of her wisdom teeth.  She took care of me while I was sick, and now I'm taking care of her.  I am using my ice chipper to grind up ice for her.  She is still very sore around her jaw. 

Unfortunately, she has inherited something I inherited from my mother - can't handle pain meds (nausea).  I had to call the dentist.  They told me to take her off the pain meds and the ibuprofen and put her strictly on Tylenol.  She is not getting sick any more thankfully.


Weekend work resumed, although we were invited to ride to IN for the day, we opted to work.  While the guys worked on the barn, I weeded the herb garden and Youngest did the mowing.  I was super happy to find mullein growing in one of my flower beds.  It's safely transplanted into the last pot I had available.  There is hope to have a large harvest of it soon again.


Deep cleaning continues as well - washed down the outside of the stove, top, under knobs, dishwasher, more cabinets, etc.  I also took everything off the bathroom door hooks, washed down the door, and washed our winter bathrobes.  It was just in time for nice clean robes to take dogs out at the crack of dawn. It's been chilly early morning again.
 
And for a different cleaning story. . .

. . . update on the barn clean up.


We got home insurance quotes from other sources.  This entire barn project is a result of our current insurance raking us until our last penny has fallen out of our wallet (letter stating we had to "fix" the barn and update them, not once, but twice).  Hence the stretched meals and cut backs.  They raised our house payment by $200/month and our taxes thus went up etc.  We didn't expect this hike with no extra income.

We found much lower quotes, but here is the kicker.  

The downed barn must be gone in 30 days once we start up the new insurance. 


We have gotten rid of most of the old roofing, and some of the beams.   We had a large pile left.



(this pile was already re-homed)

 Barn siding was dug out for the folks who got the barn torn down, and we got out the chainsaw.  They guys nicely organized usable wood from wood to burn. 

Menu for Saturday, of the Clean Up Weekend: 

I whipped up a new potato recipe, in hopes it would taste good.  I used our homegrown potatoes, two dinky homegrown green peppers, our farm fresh eggs (boiled) and other organic ingredients including bacon.

My homemade sloppy joes

 I also whipped up a batch of zucchini muffins with our garden zucchini, freshly cracked walnuts, and non-gmo mini chocolate chips. 

Menu for Sunday?

No menu .  More work
 The start of our work this morning....

More wood is being re-homed and I'll have more photos as it disappears.  And guess what?  We may have found the perfect (or next to perfect) place to build the greenhouse now.  Hubby's idea too.  I'll have more photos soon.  Barn clean up is a lot of hard work, and we are both stinkin' tired, and sore.

4 comments:

Mama Pea said...

Most of us can well imagine what a HUGE project that barn take-down and now clean-up has been for you. Heck, I'm in the midst of just my garden clean-up and that's making me stiff and sore! But as you've already suggested (greenhouse!), having it all done will enable you to move on to greater things on your homestead. That's gotta be invigorating!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Mama Pea, we are both so sore now, and we have just started. He is pretty excited to get it all gone now.

Sam I Am...... said...

Thank goodness it's a once in a lifetime job! I hope you recover soon and get it all done before the snow flies! Take a nice hot bath! The food looks yummy!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Thanks Sam I Am.