Schöne Vida gets an upgrade

Since farming has become my absolute passion there have been many things that we have needed to make certain things around here work. The biggest challenge for us is acquiring things that are necessity and knowing what things are luxuries that will have to wait. For example: we need a substantial shelter that can house the chickens and goats while protecting everyone from predators, but we don't need a sprawling red barn with a hay loft right now. My obsessive bargain searching has paid off well. We knew that we needed a new shelter for the animals at the new farm and we knew we wanted one slightly larger than the current one. I found a man on Swap Shop (a local radio station's craigslist-like website) selling a 8' x 16' shed frame constructed with 2x4s. This gentleman had built the frame years ago and covered it in plastic sheeting in order to protect his tractor. The price for this beauty: $50! Really nothing in comparison with how much all the wood would cost to build it. Justin and I promptly drove over and loaded the disassembled shed into the truck.

When we were lucky enough to have a break in the weather our neighbor was kind enough to use his new tractor to level a building pad for us. Then for the next week Justin used his amazing skills to build the barn frame then cover it in plywood and tar paper for the roof. And what good timing. Right as he was finishing putting on the tar paper a huge rain storm came through. We managed to move over all the animals in the down pour during the most miserably wet day I've been through in a long time. Being cold and wet is no fun especially with the added stress of transporting 7 frightened animals and tearing down their old shelter for scrap wood and chicken wire, but we did it. We banged together some last minute essentials and called it a day. We slept terribly that night, waking up to every little animal sound we heard, but everyone made it through the night just fine.

The shed has been complete for one week and the animals seem to love it. Their new enclosure has plenty of brush to eat and bugs to search for. As for us, we are so happy to be here in the new house. This is a great place to learn more about farming and save more to buy a farm of our own. Things continue to get even better!