Skip to main content

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.

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!
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!

Popular posts from this blog

Horsetail Salve ~ A "first" this Year

We purchased some horsetail salve to try last year.  It is said to help with severely dry, cracked skin.  My husband was the first to try it, with very, very dry and cracked hands from work. He loves it!  He joked I could not have it back.   I started the infused, horsetail oil the last part of March. Something I learned:   horsetail is also called shavegrass. I infused horsetail in oil, and strained it.  I then made horsetail salve.  I remembered to label my jar with what oil(s) I used, so I can journal this all in my "Herbal Remedies" journal.  I often forget to write the oil used. Now, the one we bought, has more in it than I put in ours, as far as ingredients (the purchased salve had lanolin, and aloe).  We'll see if ours works just as good.  I added the sage essential oil, and vitamin E oil. A "first" time experience for us this year.    I bought the larger tins at a seed store in an Amish area last year.  They a...

Chit Chat

  The pickings are slim right now, but we'll take anything we are blessed with.  I made a salad and cleaned the beans.  The rain will give us more for a meal in a day or so.  The green beans are every so slowly coming on this season. I made a batch of homemade granola, and instead of my homemade vanilla extract, I used my homemade Christmas Spice Extract.  It smelled so good in the oven, and while cooling.   I picked some purslane, and am doing an experiment with it this time.  Update soon.   Chit Chat ©  August 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

New Recipe Tried and other Bits

  I tried a new granola recipe and boy it's good.  First, it's a recipe from Mennonite Girls and Cook, and called "Backpack Snacks" online.  It calls for granola, so I used my homemade granola that we love.  Picture is the dry ingredients. Second, I pressed the final mixture into a 9 x 9, parchment lined baking dish instead of rolling it into balls.  The color of these photos are all different, because of the time of day, and how dark the house was from the thick Canadian smoke that was still outside at the time. These cut very nicely, and were very good, straight from the refrigerator.  It was hard to eat just one of them.  I will be making this again, and switching out the peanuts with walnuts, and switching out the raisins with dates.  Oh my!  The binder is honey and peanut butter. These are perfect for your hiking days, camping, your grandkids, or just for snacks when you want one. The rain arrived thank goodness, and washed the smoke in...