rocking horse publishing « Robin Writes

It’s been a busy week here on the farm. We’re finally (FINALLY!) getting rid of the remains of the old house that we had taken down a year and a half ago. Ahem. Long story. But we’ve spent the past few days burning what’s burnable (along with some extra brush we’d accumulated) and throwing the rest in the dumpster or burying it.

Here are a couple before pictures and an almost-after:

Also, over the last few days, we’ve picked up some manure from the neighbors and are working that into the garden, both existing and the part that we’ll plant in the spring. The greenhouse is waiting in the barn to be put together as soon as we finish leveling the site.

The pasture fence now has three sides of posts—the fourth side is waiting until 1) we get more posts, and 2) we finish the burn site, since that’s right next to it. Probably in the next few days we’ll order the extra posts and the lumber for the rails, and then pick up a few gates. I’m hoping to be finished in a couple weeks!

Aside from that, I’m still fighting the Battle of the Leaves, at least on the decks, and I need to mulch the ones in the yard areas. Still hanging laundry outside, but the dryer is hooked up now in anticipation of cold/rainy weather.

While we know the wood furnace draws, we haven’t used it yet. Just not cold enough, especially since I finally found the heated mattress pad . . . and it looks like the temps will hit 80 for a few days this weekend!

Bringing you up to speed, we’re back it on the outdoor projects: farming and fencing. We installed the new wood furnace last week, and while we tested for draw, we haven’t actually used it yet:

We picked up an old Ford field tiller at an auction, and that’s certainly making the groundbreaking easier in the garden extension. It took a day to pull down the fence, work up the ground in the current garden, and put the fence back up to keep the deer out of the orchard. Come spring, we’ll add on to the fence.

Also borrowed a rock rake. Have to take care of this year’s crop, after all!

The pasture fence posts are here! And some are in the ground—the pasture will be about 300 feet by 100 feet, or just over three-quarters of an acre. If we ever manage to get additional land, we’ll revisit this, maybe add another pasture for cows.

In the meantime, we’re putting in an open pole barn for shelter and hay storage, because it looks like we might have a visitor from the neighbors: Chestnut, a seven-year-old sorrel mare who needs to be saddle-broke. No, I’m not planning on riding a bronc. She’s broke to harness, and needs some refresher courses.

Of course, I’m also the one who tripped over a landscape timber and had very sore knees for a couple days, so we’ll see how this goes. I’ll keep you updated!

Also found another Midnight-lookalike horse, from the Amish, who’s harness-broke. Very, very tempting . . . I messaged but haven’t heard back. Maybe I’ll call . . .