Raising the roof

The guys have been busy all week putting up trusses and the roof sheath. Things are certainly progressing. Chris put the last bits of trim work on the barn this past weekend.

We are still waiting for the septic to be put into the barn. Once that happens we can move our tin can to a shadier spot. Meanwhile we try to make lots of trips to the pool and plan lots of vacations.

This week in the garden we took out the spent pea plants and replaced with loofah gourds. That should be a fun one to watch grow. The loofah seeds were black...I hope that is normal. We also put up trellises for the loofah and cantaloupe. I am still deciding what to put where the lettuce and rhubarb was. Our corn is waist high, and it is not even the Fourth of July! The zucchini and squash are producing more than we can handle. I am giving the stuff away by the grocery bag. I am getting some caraflex cabbage which are really cool cone shaped cabbages, they took a beating from the cabbage moths, but we still have a nice harvest coming in. The asparagus beans are about 8 inches. I can't wait to see if they really do reach 2 feet like the package promised. As for the weeds, the tables are starting to turn and with the high temperatures I can't keep up, time to employ the kids for weed pulling, but that could be more expensive than a bottle of Round Up.

No,  I have not tried the beets yet.

Putting up Walls

We finally found a "constructive" use for some cylinders.  We used them as fill in the garage and part of the basement.  The garage floor had to be brought up about 5 feet and the cylinders were good solid fill.  (We still have lots and lots.) Then it was covered with dirt and gravel and it is currently ready for the cement slab to be poured. 

The Nicklemen guys have been going like gangbusters.  They have the floor framed and sheathed and 75% of the walls are up and sheathed.  We keep walking around and testing out the views and the room sizes.  It is tempting to throw a sleeping bag on the floor and spend a night in the house :)  We are so happy to see progress and things are taking shape nicely.

This week I canned 13 jars of peas and later in the week I froze another 4 packages.  We are going to test which version we like better.  The squash and zucchini is coming in and tasting so great grilled.  We got some freshly canned beets from Ron, our excavator.  I tried to explain that we don't like beet balls,  but he told me that we WILL taste them and next time he is here we WILL tell him how good they are.  I am not even sure how to eat them?  Heat them up,  put them on a salad, add them to a sandwich,  put them over pasta....????  I just remember very vividly tasting some from my mother's fork and I was NOT happy.

The bees are really working hard as well.  Chris inspected hives today and one has a full honey super  for us(40lbs of honey).  The other two hives are working hard to make honey but we won't get as much from them.  Now we are going to need to order extraction equipment soon.  Fresh, organic local honey anyone?

No eggs yet,  but we are checking every day.  The roosters have started crowing....all the time.