Pioneer Woman at Heart

Here is where I (re)started - the pile of wood left from tearing apart the roofing of the barn.  The long boards were put to good use - a co-worker of Hubby's that makes furniture with it.  The shorter boards remain in this somewhat of a huge pile.  I've worked on it a few days, but didn't bring much up to the house.  While Hubby is at work, and on good weather days. . .  Nails got pulled.   And they are not easy to get out either.  Some are so mangled it takes great effort. Added to the existing pile until we can cut them to fit the stove.  My wrist was sore, so I took a break.   ....putting a dent in it.  

Monday madness didn't stop this gal from getting the list crossed off.  Even though I was dog-gone tired.   Popcorn was all pulled.  I'm not thrilled with the harvest, but it's more than the year we only got 2-3 ears.  I'm happy, but sad to see so many small ears this year.   I brought in 8 more pie pumpkins.  Had I thought in advance, I would have kept the white one for target practice.  I tossed it.  It was the heirloom variety that went rotten before ripening, and I only got 3 of those pumpkins, out of 4 mounds of seeds planted.  It's not a good variety to plant, but my New England variety did well.  Grand total of pie pumpkins this year is 23.   I brought in a bit more of the hot peppers too.  I'll be freezing most of them, and tossing a few in dinner.  I had some tomatoes too.  I have been very late in getting those dang plants pulled.  The day of knocking this barn down...

Here is what the big barn ruble looked like on 6-26-17: And here is an updated photo, with a slight progress of "rubble-be-gone"

This showed up yesterday afternoon, while I was out fetching eggs late in the day.... and this happened......

I apologize in advance for the fuzzy photo, but these pulleys are way at the top and I was on the ground photographing them.  They are the original wood pulleys, still intact.  I took a quick picture for our album.  There is one more at the very top peek of the barn too. Once again, we have someone interested in the barn .  What's left of it, minus what we'll take from it .  Not sure if it will happ en, but we'll see .  This w ill be the umpteen th person to look it over.  It is a lot of work , but I would like to see it r eused as much as possible.  

In our intent to maintain good health, and make progress in our self-sufficiency, I decided to inquire more on the fermentation process with cabbage.

Our largest barn is set for destruction next year.    We have used this barn, and even updated parts on it over the last 5 years, but it's too much for us to invest in.  The loft has caved in from one of the storms as well.   The roof, on both sides, have been ripped off over the years from storms as well. If we had the money, we would save it, but we can't. However, we are using parts of it to repair the other two barns.  Yesterday, I was walking Alias, and looked up at the barn.  For some odd reason, I discovered something I had never seen before.  It made me smile.  Do you see anything yet?  Look to the upper right of the window. Ha ha!  Now to you see it?  This made me laugh.  There are four license plates, from 1971, used to patch the barn.  When the barn comes down, I want to recycle those plates one more time.  Even after being used on this barn for 42 years.  I don't have a ladder tal...

  ( Sky above a few of our old barns) Yesterday the weat her started o ut with a nasty downpo ur.   Although t here wasn't any t hunder, our youngest dog still had an xiety.   We've ordered him a Thundershirt, and it's on the w ay.  It's a jacket th at applies pressure to naturally ca lm the dog , when they have a fear of noi ses (thunder, fireworks etc.). He wa sn't born like this, he was out on a walk during a very bad storm, and it thundered loudly.  Ever since then, he's been horrible afr aid of the noise. I'll update you on the progress of the jacket, as it is natural, and requires no pills.  We first heard about it from the woman who sells homemade pet treats at the Farmer's Ma r ket. The rain kept me from doing any outside work y esterday.  However, by the afternoon , it cl eared up.  By th at time, I was already deep in another project.  Funny how that work s some days.    

I too k thi s photo whe n I was lucky enough to be with hubby, and he was d riving.  I had my camera too.  There have been so many barns that have been torn down, when I wished I would have stopped to photogr aph them.  I hope to take more photos.