Farm – Corn Crib

June 13, 2010 – Dominoes

highhopesgardens June 13, 2010

OK, now that the garage is in process of tear down, the dominoes start falling. The stuff in the garage has to go somewhere.

One place will be on these newly constructed shelves in the corn crib. Then there’s the old kitchen cabinets, countertops and the like in the garage, full of canning jars and so much more that will need a new home.  So, time to throw out the even older cabinets in the shed and move those over.  Oh yeah, and we’ll move the old school lockers out of the mud room that nobody ever used and cut some of the other cabinets to a length that will fit – but before we do that, we need to find a place for all that stuff, and as long as the room is empty, time to tear out the old musty walls from leaks gone past.  I think you get the picture.  Waaaay too many upcoming blog posts about the garage!

one year ago…”Emma at Dorian Music Camp at Luther College”

November 11, 2007 – Corn Crib Phase Finished

highhopesgardens November 11, 2007

One project now falls off the list – the east side of the corn crib!


Here’s what the east side looked like a few weeks ago.


Here it is today – all done except for putting the rake and corner on the corners.  But now when the east winds blow mist and rain for days, the old boards will not sit in wetness and rot.  Although it doesn’t look as good and the other sides, I do like the 3 foot clear panels that are on the top of the walls.  You can see I ripped out a couple of the original boards to allow more light in and it really does work to let light in.  So next year new doors are built to put the finishing touches on this farm building renovation.

one year ago…

November 2, 2007 – The Next Project

highhopesgardens November 2, 2007

Because I just don’t have enough things going on at once, I’ve started to side the last remaining unsided part of the corn crib.  In truth, certain projects lend themselves to different weather.  This is something that is slated to be completed before winter.  It’s a good project to do on a day with no wind or a west or northwest wind.


I was just commenting out loud the other day that this place would not be good for a person that had to complete a job before moving onto the next project, or one that couldn’t let an unfinished project sit without finishing it. The good news is no matter what the weather, there is something that needs to be done.

So, the plan here is to complete the siding the same arrangement as the first two pieces and on the upper part of the building that isn’t covered by the red siding, to rip out every other board and I’m going to try the clear panels to let light into the building without having to run lights or put in windows, since this building is meant for storage of lumber, etc and the windows will be a liability.

You can also spot another water storage tank that hasn’t been blogged yet. It’s getting close to the time of year to drain them for the winter – this one will need to be drained and moved to get the siding up – another reason this is the best time of year for this project.

one year ago…

June 5, 2007 – Farm View Series #2 SE Corner

highhopesgardens June 5, 2007

Today is the second in a series of views of the farm. I went to each corner of the property (and the midpoints) and took photos in different directions. The following views are from the SE corner of the property.

 
This is from the SE corner shooting diagonally towards the NW. You’ll notice the corn crib is reroofed and all but about 80% of one side resided – that’s a fall/early winter project. The project that is next outbuilding-wise is the renovation of the south side of the hog barn – the north side is tight and re-roofed, but the south is falling apart.  Right now my time is devoted to the house, so it will sit a bit longer.


This is the view looking due west from the SE corner. Just over the rise is a small orchard, trellised berries and a garden.


Finally, this is the view due north from the SE corner. It shows the first row of trees along this boundary.

one year ago…

December 9, 2006 – More Siding

highhopesgardens December 9, 2006

Today was the first warm day since I moved the scaffolding to the north side of the corn crib and was able to get the most challenging (highest) pieces up and start down on the other side.

Here I’m tearing down the third section high after already tearing down the fourth section high. I’ll be happy when this is done for this year. Next year we can work on the doors. It’s a bit of a time stretch to work on this in the heart of the busy season, but a day near 50 in December calls out for a job like this to get some attention.

one year ago…

March 6, 2006 – Lots of Odds and Ends

highhopesgardens March 6, 2006

For some reason, it seems like lots of things got wrapped up today. Finished some shelves in the corn crib and moved some of the beekeeping stuff that isn’t accessed very much.

Got almost a full load of scrap metal in the truck – old woven wire fencing, old gutters, old pipes, and leftover metal pieces from the corn crib siding. Finally getting to the point where it actually takes some hunting to get a load’s worth of junk hauled out.

Neighbor Don brought over some empty 5 gallon buckets that will help drain the fuel oil tanks in the basement. Started working on a new chicken tractor and got more 2×4’s unloaded from the truck.

Did a little spring burning along the south border.

The rationale is that if there is a wildfire in the field in the fall, having burned the dead grass will act as a bit of a firebreak to prevent the fire from moving along the fence lines. Mostly, it’s fun to play with fire. Plus with the rain last night, the grass wasn’t explosively tinder dry so it didn’t burn as fast.

December 31, 2005 – Corn Crib Renovation

highhopesgardens December 31, 2005

Another one of the “b list” items off the list today. The corn crib has three interior sections – one on each side used to store the corn and a middle section for equipment. We’ve already converted the middle section to a basketball court.

The two sides have large boards running diagonally like large X’s from the outside to inside walls to help keep the walls from bowing out when full of corn pressing against it. As I cannot imagine this ever holding corn on the cob like they did in those days, I wanted to reclaim that space for other uses. Here’s what it looks like before reclamation.
insdie crib
The boards are very wide, probably at least 10 inches wide, and secured very well. With a little bit of prying, sawing, and pounding, they can be convinced to come out and offer more wide open space.
insdie crib

November 7, 2005 – Lulled Asleep?

highhopesgardens November 7, 2005

It was another day 20 degrees above normal. Morning was work and errands and this afternoon could do some “farming” outside. The weather has lulled me, but the calendar says Nov 7, so I started getting the farmstead ready for winter – took in some of the electric netting fence and rigged up a hanging holder (to keep mice out of it in the winter), cleaned up gardens some.

More does came over to visit Billy goat today. After school, Emma helped me put pound the 2×4’s on the roof of the old machine shed. I like to string the 2×4’s across the roof before putting the steel roofing on. It gives the steel something firm and reliable to attach to and it offers me safer footing on the roof. I’m using giant spikes to get through the asphalt and old cedar shingles to find the rafters. It’s about 50-50 whether I hit a rafter and it’s helpful to have a pair of eyes in the building to see if the nail was off right or left.

Emma did that with great cheer, despite having stuff falling from inside the building – including something she caught in her eye. She did have a good day, as her new flute arrived today.

flute

November 6, 2005 – Corn Crib Done Until Spring

highhopesgardens November 6, 2005

I’ve completed the goal to get one side of the corn crib sealed from the elements so I have a place to store lumber instead of boards scattered about in nearly every building. It looks kind of silly this way, but now it is on to roofing part of the old machine shed. I also have some work inside the crib, getting the other interior half to have usable space by removing some of the cross-members that were used to hold the walls in when there was corn pushing against the sides. These buildings were solidly built and it is the squarest of any of the outbuildings.

Doing the partial side (and the opposite side as well) took much longer than the entire west side. Lots of cutting and ladder work on these sides. I’m not sure my ladder will reach to the top of the building – we’ll find out next spring. I’m now looking for a solar-powered light. It will be dark in there after it gets all wrapped up and I don’t envision ever needing a lot of power in there, so small solar panel and battery may be perfect for lighting instead of an overhead or underground electrical supply.

October 26, 2005 – Corn Crib Project

highhopesgardens October 26, 2005

Now that the steel has arrived, I am beginning work on the corn crib. This fall, I’m going to put steel siding on about half the building and do the rest next year. I built some racks inside one section of the crib to store lumber and need to keep the water and snow out – so I’m closing up one side and parts of two other sides.
crib
Here’s the crib before (but notice the nice roof from year’s gone by!)
crib
Everything flowed today and it was an easy job (no windows or doors and only one piece to cut). I could have used more than 1 1/4 people (Martin could hand me a drill when I was holding the unfastened pieces in place, but that was about it). I just have part of the top two rows of screws to put in and the west side will be done.

March 31, 2005 – The Court at High Hopes

highhopesgardens March 31, 2005

Now that we are on the cusp of the NCAA college basketball championship, it’s time to show the world one of the best home court advantages in the known universe. Sure, they talk about Hilton Colieum, Phog Allen Fieldhouse – but for my money, they all pale in difficulty when compared the Court at High Hopes! Not only is this an intimate setting, but the off-court distractions are unlike any other.

The court is a bit narrower than a regulation court, so there is literally no out of bounds. Bouncing the ball off the side walls is not only allowed, but encouraged. In essence, it combines racquetball and basketball in one game. It is a much quicker game as the ball never rolls too far away before coming back into play.

The Court at High Hopes is the center of an old-fashioned corn crib. We cleaned out the junk and the court has a nice cement floor, shelter from the wind and sun from the slatted sides meant to keep corn on the cob in, while allowing air in to dry the corn.

We put the hoop up a couple of months ago and look forward to many games.

basketball