The Old Barn is Coming Down

Johnny's biggest project this summer and fall has been dismantling our old goat barn. The project is ongoing. His goal was to have the upper level down before the rains came. He mostly succeeded. Although western Oregon supposedly had the rainiest September on record, most of it missed us until the roof was down. Johnny can now work under the loft floor (covered with tarps) to dismantle the interior feeders and walls.

As usual, Johnny used ingenuity to bring the high roof down in sections, after the metal roofing was off, but it was still scary for me. Mostly I did not watch, although I was enlisted to help with the first section, which he thought would be the most difficult. As it turned out, the second section was the worst since it got stuck part way. Our octogenarian neighbor Irv was helping with that... and with the dismantling of the rest of the roof sections. Then he and Johnny tore apart the pieces which will become a chicken house for Irv and kindling for neighbor Joe and for us. Our old barn is being recycled.

Most of the photos were taken by Johnny, since I was too chicken to stay around during the dismantling. However, he prevailed upon me at the beginning to take lots of pictures so he could show his brother what he could still do at age 70.

As a metal roofing contractor for many years, Johnny had climbed on many steep roofs, but I think this was his first time to unroof one.

Taking the tin roofing off the first side where the attached lean-to made for a less daunting roof height...

And then the other side... That's Johnny, way up on top...

 

After the tin was off the roof, the real challenge began.  But Johnny had a plan. He separated the roof section by section, lowering them to the floor with a rope (and a prayer). It worked.

Johnny explains: Didn't exactly lower each section using the rope.  Rope was used to keep sections from leaning and falling the wrong direction.  As I cut the last two boards holding a section, Irv would pull it with a rope or push it in the desired direction with a long stick.  Gravity lowered them to the deck!  After Irv pulled the first one toward him and everything worked as I had planned, I gave him a longer rope for others so he wouldn't jump out of the loft when he saw them coming at him.    

 The new and the old...

 Johnny and Irv dismantled the roof sections as they came down, to make the footing less hazardous up there.


 Once the middle was off, only the front and back remained, looking like a false front of a movie set.

Johnny and Irv pulled the front and back walls down on top of the deck.

And then the ends of the loft were just piles of tin and lumber that needed to be dismantled, which Johnny and Irv did.

The big old dairy barn that housed our goats for thirty-five years and someone else's cows for who knows how long before that, looked like a broken down shack after it lost its loft... kind of sad.

But it will live on, in parts, in Irv's chicken house when he gets it built and, most likely, in projects for us with some of the bigger beams and wood.

I joined the workers one day during the barn dismantling for a watermelon break, with a watermelon from Irv's garden.

Irv and one of his loads of wood.

 



As he finds time, Johnny will tear down the rest of the main barn. The lean-to we put on for the bucks, pigs and calves will remain to house the beams and other lumber that Johnny is saving for some future unknown project. But for now, the barn dismantling is on hold while Johnny works on other projects. He always has lots of projects.

More about some of those another time.

A Day Off

Harvest continues on the farm. Expecting frost any night, I brought the squash in.The hybrid squash have just been given baths in the photo above. I planted acorn squash seeds I saved from last year, not realizing that all acorn squash are hybrids and it's anybody's guess what their seeds will produce. Mine produced acorn squash/pumpkin hybrids and acorn squash/zucchini hybrids. (As near as I can tell by looking at them.)

Below is my entire harvest of ripe acorn squash that really are acorn squash. A few not ripe remain in the garden.

I did better with Delicata Squash. This is a five gallon bucket of them.

I'm still canning tomatoes and they are still ripening in the garden. Between all that, I've been trimming hooves. But yesterday I took a day off and drove to the coast to bird with my friend Dawn. The plan was to head south toward Newport and birding sites I've not seen.

The best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry, as my mother used to say.

But all started well with a stop at Boiler Bay. I love the sight and sound of waves crashing on rocks. Just what I needed to soothe my soul after all the produce harvesting and horse and goat hoof trimming I've done over the last few days/weeks.

Next stop was Depoe Bay. I took Dawn to an overlook Johnny and I had found this summer. A sign near the entrance told how far to Japan. Hi Yoko!

From the lookout, we could see dozens of Brown Pelicans on their "painted" perch.

And then our planned journey took a different turn. As I drove out of the area and onto Hwy 101 to continue southward, I felt a very decided kathump, kathump coming from what felt like, and indeed was, a very flat rear tire. I pulled over, opened the trunk and dug down through boxes of Teaching Company CDs, bird brochures, boots, blankets, towel, fire extinguisher  (you never know what you might need) and finally arrived at the spare tire. Then I plowed around some more and found jumper cables, tow chain, extra windshield wiper, tire chains, a mouse nest and 3 dead baby mice. Finally I found a jack. I did not know how to operate this weird jack with two part handle that had to be assembled but Dawn did. She put it under the car and began jacking it up.

I tried to take the lug nuts off but was not sure which way to turn them (lefty loosey, righty tighty... but both directions seemed mighty tight to me). Happily a young man and woman stopped and he asked if we needed help. I said "We sure do!" Bless his heart (and muscles), he changed the tire for us. However, the spare was low on air so we had to drive a short distance to a gas station and pay a dollar for air (after putting all that junk back in the trunk, minus the dead baby mice which I had donated to crows who were standing hungrily by).

Not wanting to drive with a spare of unknown quality, I opted to head back north to the nearest Les Schwab dealership. They were busy and said it would be about 45 minutes so we walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch. When we returned, the car was almost ready. It turned out the tire had a massive hole in it and was ruined. But the good news was that it was a Les Schwab tire (I love Les Schwab) and under warranty. We had put 20 pounds too much air in the spare tire having misinterpreted the manual but the good people at Les Schwab lowered the pressure. I'm very glad we did not explode the tire.

The whole fiasco cost me nothing but lost birding time... and a lot of stress. I do not know what I drove over to create such a chasm in the tire but I am very glad for the kind gentleman who came to my rescue. And for Les Schwab. And for Dawn's calm and able assistance.

With half the day gone, Dawn took me to a closer area that I had not been to before: Schooner Creek. She had found a Dipper feeding young there earlier this year. We birded our way upstream to a fish weir she had told me about. Very cool!

On the way back down, we found Dawn's Dipper. Any day I see a Dipper is a good day, flat tire or not.

Dawn next took me to a beach access I did not know existed on the south side of Siletz Bay. Looking southwest, the view was lovely. That person you may or may not be able to see walking away in the distance, in the center of the photo, is Dawn.

Our final stop of the day was at the Cutler City Open Space. I never would have guessed there was a rhododendron-filled woodland and wetland so close to 101. We made a quick hike around the perimeter trail. There were many criss-crossing trails that I would get hopelessly lost on if I tried it on my own. It seems to be a favorite spot for dog walkers and those were the only others we met on the trail.

Although we did not end up going where we had planned to go, it was a good day after all. And now I have a brand new tire and know how to use the funky jack and how much air to put in the tires.

Harvest Season

Harvest season is endless here, or so it seems. Today Johnny made sauerkraut out of about twenty cabbages with that many or more still forming in the garden. I took the afternoon off and rode all three horses... the first time since last December. Johnny did not take photos of his sauerkraut making and I did not take photos of my riding... but here are the horses peacefully grazing yesterday, where they are most of the time because, most of the time, I am harvesting and putting up veggies from the garden.

I overproduced on melons this year, especially since they are not the greatest. I grew new ones and think I'll go back to the old. For the last two years, I've bought my seed from D. Landreth Seed Co. They have the most beautiful catalog and wonderful, mostly heirloom, seed... but the varieties they carry vary from year to year. This Tendersweet Orange watermelon is satisfactory, but it is has, well, orange flesh. And there are way too many of them. I'll try drying them for sweet snacks over winter.

This one has light yellow, almost white, flesh. It is Cream of Saskatchewan and so far, pretty tasteless. It is hard to get melons to ripen in this climate. Next year I'll plant red fleshed ones so they at least look like watermelons. Drying is said to concentrate the flavor and sugar. Here's hoping.

The honeydews did not ripen well, but there are plenty of them. The cantaloup are better but small. We eat both kinds daily. With salt they're pretty good.

Tomatoes and corn are the stars this year. We have eaten oodles of corn, given it away, frozen it and still there are ears ripening in the garden. And it is delicious... actually Bodacious. Yum. The tomatoes are still going strong in the garden in spite of the heavy rains earlier. Here is yesterday's harvest.

 
 I get that many every other day. I have canned many quarts, made tomato soup many times, and we have eaten tomatoes every which way they can be eaten fresh and cooked. Next year, I won't plant quite so many... or so many varieties. One variety is huge... bigger than some of my melons. Here are a few of them lined up on the kitchen window ledge.

Still producing in the garden is broccoli, De Cicco. At first I was disappointed because the heads were small, but then they made side heads, and more side heads, and more. They just won't quit. And it is perhaps the best tasting broccoli I've ever grown. Hopefully, it will keep on keeping on all winter. Broccoli is pretty cold hardy.

Yet to bring in are the delicata squash which are ripe and ready. They are my next project, along with the pumpkins. I loved the pumpkins I grew last year but could not find that kind this year. So I grew Autumn Gold and they are huge. I'll get photos after I get them out of the garden... somehow. The acorn squash I planted from seed I had saved from last year produced various hybrid squash. It's tasty but it's not acorn squash. Live and learn.

The freezer and pantry shelves are full of garden produce. We have buckets of potatoes and onions. Lots of veggies remain in the garden for me to dig and pick as we eat them: beets, parsnips, kale.

It is a good feeling to have our own organically grown food to eat all year.

But I think I'll start spending more time riding my horses... and taking a break from harvesting.

Another Weekend Away

Johnny had the farm to himself for four days while I traveled, south this time, to attend a No Laminitis seminar in Jacksonville, Oregon. Laminitis is what my gelding Mr. Smith had in 2004 when he was way too fat with toes way too long. That is a recipe for laminitis and that's what he had... his feet were so sore he could not move. Radiographs showed his coffin bone had rotated on all four hooves, but worst on the fronts. It was a long slow rehab for him and a steep learning curve for me on metabolic disease in easy-keeping horses like Mr. Smith. Ever since then he has been on low carb hay pellets or hay cubes, both with minerals balanced to that hay. The group that helped me learn about Insulin Resistance, as this easy-keeping metabolic disease is often called, was the group that put on the seminar in Jacksonville that I just attended.

However, Jacksonville is very close to Ashland and Ashland is the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I just had to see some plays while there. My friend Ruth from California was also attending the seminar... and also wanted to see plays. So we did: two on Friday... which was one too many, considering that the evening play didn't get out until 11 p.m. and we had to be up by 6:30 to get to the No Laminitis conference.

We each arrived at Judy and Don's beautiful home near Jacksonville on Thursday evening (and I only got briefly lost getting there). Friday morning I stood on their deck and took photos of the sunrise over Mt. McLoughlin with the lights of Medford below. What a view they have!

Soon the sky began to lighten and I went outside to follow Judy and Don, their Australian labradoodle, Rusty, and his golden labradoodle girlfriend, Gracie Lou, who was visiting for a few days, as they made their morning trek to the paper box 1/4 mile away. Mt. McLoughlin was framed by trees in front of their house in the early light.

On the way home, Rusty carries the newspaper. Except when he needs to go sniff something.

After breakfast, Judy, Ruth and I hiked with the two dogs to Jacksonville. Judy and Don have a wonderful, woodsy route into town through private property that they have permission to cross. I took no photos in town for some reason, but was intrigued on the way home by the historic cemetery and neighboring ten acres of hiking trails that were made public through the efforts of an 11-year-old boy who convinced the city to buy the land for all to use. A sign commemorates his efforts.

The old cemetery has areas for specific groups: Catholics are buried in one area, while Jews are in another. There are other categories, too, but I just saw these two.

I snapped off a couple quick photos of the cemetery as I ran to keep up with Judy and Ruth, who were, as usual, way ahead of me.

The trail from the cemetery toward home went through lovely madrone trees.

A deer on the other side of a fence watched our progress.

Lying down in the grass, another deer was all ears as we went by.

Nearing Judy and Don's house, the sun shown on Mt. McLoughlin's new snow.

Those were almost the last photos I took. Judy and Don in their car, Ruth and I in mine, dashed to Ashland after lunch, found all the parking places full, pulled into 2 hour parking spots and barely made it into the theater on time for The Tenth Muse, a new play by a Latina playwright. It takes place in the early 18th century in a convent in what is now Mexico. It was a beautiful and moving play, at the conclusion of which we hurried outside in time to see our parking ticket being printed. Judy and Don went home to take care of the dogs. By now spaces had opened up so we moved to a parking area by Lithia Park and waited for Steve and Munazza and the kids to arrive, which they soon did. Munazza was coming up to attend the evening play with us and then all of them would tour Ashland on Saturday while I was at the laminitis seminar.

I took a couple quick photos of the kids as they waited for the adults to get organized and walk to a restaurant for supper. Kestrel occupied himself with a tape measure while Cedrus sat on the curb.

And those were the last photos I took. From then on, I figured my camera would just be in the way, so I left it in the car. Too bad because it would have been fun to get photos of the Taiko drummers that performed in the traditional Green Show outside the theaters before the evening plays. And it would have been nice to have photos of Steve and Munazza!

We ate supper, then hurried to The Bricks between theaters for the Taiko drummers. They were all retired women with an average age of 72. The oldest was 89! They were great fun to listen to and watch. I just wish my blanket had been a better insulator against the wet grass.

After the performance, Steve and the kids drove to their hotel while Munazza, Ruth and I headed to our evening play. The Liquid Plain is another new play, set in the late 18th century during the slave trade days in America. We wanted to see it because our friend J.P. had a part in it. But it turned out his part was small and the play was brutal and emotionally wrenching. It was not a good play to end a long day on. Hopefully Munazza will join me again in Ashland for a lighter play. I was so worked up afterwards I could not fall asleep. This did not bode well for the next day, the all day horse symposium.

And, indeed, I did not feel well in the morning and spent part of the time walking outside or sitting in my car with my ears plugged and eyes covered. Gradually, I recovered and was able to sit through all of the afternoon session. After a good night's sleep Saturday, I did fine Sunday for the last part of the conference... once I got there. Ruth drove her own car as she was headed south after it was over. Apparently I wasn't all that awake because I drove halfway to Ashland before I remembered that the conference was in Jacksonville, only a couple miles from Judy & Don's house. So I was a little late arriving. My excuse is I was thinking about Kestrel and Cedrus and feeling sorry to be missing spending time with them in Ashland. It seemed so strange to be attending a horse seminar while my grandkids were nearby having fun outside, where I would have liked to be. Sigh. But I did learn a lot at the seminar.

The drive home on Sunday afternoon was wet and windy, but not as windy as it had been, from what Johnny told me, at our farm on Friday when high winds and torrential rains blew a tree across our driveway. Thankfully, it was barely misting when I arrived Sunday evening.

Although it was wonderful spending time with friends and family (though not much time with family), plus gathering lots more information to mull over about laminitis and insulin resistance and hoof trimming, it's very good to be home. I think I'll stay put for awhile.