Made in the shade. Crow and Paul put on the north side.
Ol gives the cupola its first coat.
About half way with the roof. After struggling for a week with the cupolas, I decided to skip ’em. It won’t look as quaint but it may get a roof by winter.
More on (not talking about the crew). July 2.
We’ve had near 100F highs for at least a week now – seems like two or three. We are working for a few hours in the early morning, then bailing. Have been watering the garden by hand with the neighbor’s water but can’t keep up.
I heard from Warren Wilson last night. His harvest is in and about twice what I anticipated. Will send off for a protein test when his sample arrives.
July 2nd from the inside.
Starting to look something like a barn. Crow and I have finished the roof. On the 19th of July, Philip Winter delivered the 24″ Meadows mill you see here and which I have begun to disassemble to clean.
This machine has an old flat belt drive. I’ve purchased a lawn tractor with a broken mowing deck to use as a power plant. The plan is to jack up the rear end and run the belt on one of the back tires.
The North wall is mostly on. The seams in the OSB are nailed to 2 x 4s on the other side. A shed roof will cover that entire side.
The mill near it’s final location. We used the chain hoist to get the mill off the pallets that it came on. Trying to get the hopper height as low as possible so I don’t have to life the grain any higher than necessary. We will use the hoist on the gantry crane I will build at the front of the building and when it comes time to dress the mill stones which are 24 inches in diameter and 6 inches thick.
The threshing machine. The shaft is 3/4″ black pipe with pieces of chain attached. In a trial we discovered that the straw winds around the shaft. We think it doesn’t spin fast enough.
Note: Even with a new belt and pulley turning at twice the speed, it did not perform as I hoped. It may work as a batch processor but not as a continuous process machine.
Another disappointment today: the Gravely broke down trying to mow some grain.
The north wall construction. I’m going to put a metal skirt on the bottom to keep bugs and critters out. Finally able to get at least the long handled tools out of the shed house.
July 30, 2012 – 98 degrees F. Paul drove this (13 feet wide) rig 30 miles from Fayette to Coats Lane to cut the grain after none of the local farmers would help out. He only experienced one incident where neither the oncoming traffic nor he could pull off the road.
The last of the wheat is harvested.
The harvest crew unloads.
The rye drying. There were a lot of weeds in the field. (The little rain we had encouraged them.) Bits of green leaf were scattered throughout the harvested grain. So we will dry them and blow them out when we clean the grain. Both the rye and the wheat look good.
The wheat drying.
Putting up the main rafters for the shed.
We thought there might be rain. Ha!
Planted the winter garden Aug. 16.
Main rafters up. Crow sucks in his gut.
The completed shed.
A flat belt will pass through the wall from the mill to the red garden tractor (you can just barely make out) on the other side. The tractor will be on blocks with the belt around one of the drive wheels. Hope this works better than the home made threshing machine.
The compost setup. Keep the straw in the middle. Fill one bin then move on to the one on the other side while that completes composting.
September 8, 2012 – starting the walls. This is the west end. The windows will be wood frame double glazed with storms that were donated by Rod Dent – the neighbor on the northwest.