Wood weekend

There's a quote by some old-white-guy that says wood warms twice, or three times, I'm not sure.  But, after this past weekend I'm convinced it warms SO MUCH MORE than whatever he said.

First there's the hauling out into the field.

Then comes the cutting into stove-length chunks. 

Then, inevitably, there's the fixing of equipment. And, as was our case this weekend, there was the trip to the hardware store to buy a new chain and some sharpening files. 

Next Farmer John got warmed up by splitting lots and lots of wood. He was so warmed up that he broke the new handle on the splitting maul. 

Which meant another trip to town for a new handle. However, the old-white-guy standing next to him in the handle aisle recommended that he just by a new maul. "Hope you're not buyin' that for a splittin' maul. It'll break right at the end." Farmer John took his advice. 

We were back in business and the warming continued with the loading of the truck...

the unloading of the truck...

and the stacking.

Finally we loaded the truck for the fourth time, and cleaned up all the tools.

Thanks to our hard-working wood crew we have half a winter's worth of wood cut. By my count it's already warmed us eight times, and we haven't even burned it yet!

By the numbers

1 weekend

2 visiting parents

3 rowdy dogs

1 new chainsaw chain

1 new splitting maul handle

1 broken splitting maul handle

1 new splitting maul

0 hydraulic wood splitters

4 strong backs

4 truck-loads of wood

Half a winter's worth of wood

Building the Bathroom

**A treat for you on the blog, today's post is by Farmer John himself.** 

The cabin project continues. We've built a form, roughed in the water lines, and poured a slab for the bathroom at the cabin. This weekend we made BIG progress.

Really, I should say that Mark made BIG progress. Our friend Mark used to be a carpenter and was in charge of crews that built and renovated hotels. Have you ever stayed at a Marriott? Yeah, that was Mark. Anyway, he's been helping us with this whole project. He made the plans and got a materials list together. He's given us some materials that he had at his farm. And, on Saturday he volunteered his tools, time, and energy to framing the room. 

The project started by drilling holes in treated 2x4's to attach the bottom plate to the slab.  This would make it easier to place the framed wall onto the bolts to be fastened down. We might have gone a little overboard on bolts, but we poured the slab not long after the infamous derecho and I had nightmares of our bathroom walls being blown into the creek.

We had our first setback early in the day when the compressor used to power the nail gun broke down. Break downs and setbacks have become commonplace with every project around the farm and we've become good at taking them in stride. While it is certainly possible to frame this small room with only a hammer, the nail gun is a nice way to ease the work and speed up the process. They are also probably the most fun of all carpentry tools. So Mollie ran to town after a small compressor loaned to us by Uncle John.

Before anyone could blink an eye Mark had two walls put together and we were hoisting them into place. The speed at which he worked was quite remarkable. In the time it took me pound one nail into a stud (and bend three more) Mark could have an entire wall put together. He and a crew of four were able to frame two complete houses in a week when he was doing this for a living. Our sixty-four square foot bathroom didn't provide much of a challenge.

After we had the third and final wall in place we realized that we had forgotten to rough-in the window. But after a few quick cuts and nails we had rectified the problem.

The frame was in place and now it was the time for roof rafters. Mark made a template with our first 2x10 and we used it to make the other five rafters. Mark climbed up the structure with a nail gun and fastened the rafters down while I handed them up. While watching Mark nimbly walk across roof rafters and shimmy up the building with a hand full of tools, I realized that carpentry would have been a poor career choice for me. I am much more industrious on the ground with feet firmly planted to the soil.

Sheathing came next. Part of the idea behind making the room 8x8 was that the sheets of plywood would fit evenly around the building without much cutting. For the most part it worked except that the concrete pad was just slightly out of square. The picture above shows us working the final piece into place and nailing it down.

Finally our progress ended for the day with putting down the chipboard on the roof. Mollie and I cut out the boards and Mark nailed them down. The room was beginning to take shape and we were beginning to get tired.

My first picture inside (partially) our new cabin bathroom. Thanks to Mark for all of his help. We will keep you updated as progress continues.

For Grandpa Toppe

** Thanks to everyone that commented or e-mailed after the last post, your ideas got me going again. Stay tuned for more regular updates. **

My Grandpa Toppe had a farm in my hometown. He raised some cattle and chickens. However, the livestock were gone by the time I came around. What sticks in my memory is his pumpkin patch. Every year he would grow pumpkins behind the barn and garage. Most years they did really well. There were enough pumpkins in that patch for my parents to throw a party and have their friends, and all their kids, come to the farm and pick their own. 

So, my goal at our farm has been to grow pumpkins, just like my grandpa. But that goal has proven to be a challenging one. Over the years we've lost pumpkin plants to fungal diseases, squash-vine borers, and general neglect. This year we thought the same thing would happen. The patch was overtaken by weeds (purposefully put there by the gas company?) so we didn't have much hope. 

But, look what we did yesterday! 

I've never harvested anything with tears in my eyes, but I did yesterday. I guess I wanted pumpkins much more than I thought. It was a dream coming true and I was filled with joy.

We loaded them up and took them to the house to clean up and set on the porch. They are nice decorations for now, but we'll eat some of them eventually. 

I was thinking about Grandpa Toppe all day, and I hope he would be happy with our harvest. 

Nothing

If you've been following along with the blog recently, you'll have noticed that I've got nothing. No farm projects, no farm stories, and no new photos. 

It's not that there's nothing going on. Quite the contrary. The farm is busy. There have been projects, stories, and photos. I've just lacked the time and motivation to share them with you. 

Is there anything in particular you'd like to know about the farm? Photos you'd like to see? Maybe some ideas will give me the push I need to get going again. 

Friends of Food Dinner

On Monday night, we got quite a treat. Our friend Annie invited us to be her guests at the "Friends of Food" dinner. Annie does awesome work for WVfarm2u.org and the Collaborative for the 21st Century Appalachia. The Collaborative hosted the dinner. After school we took care of animals, got ourselves cleaned up, and headed over the hills to Bridgeport, WV. 

We met up with Annie and her "Farmer Jon" at the Bridgeport Conference Center. Then we got down to business: drinking wine, eating food, and meeting local-food enthusiasts. The dinner consisted of five courses, all paired with wines. Most of the food, and all of the protein was locally-sourced from WV farmers. The courses were prepared by regional chefs and culinary students. 

We started with Appalachian Antipasto prepared by Chef Dale Hawkins of Fish Hawk Acres. It included potatoes, beans, olives, squash, beets, cherry tomatoes, and cheeses from Green Glades Creamery.  It was hard to resist the urge to eat multiple plates of all these goodies, but we knew there was more to come. 

The first course was the most adventurous, at least for me. It was a Local Pork Headcheese Terrine, with greens from Preston County and a mustard vinaigrette. Basically it was little chunks of pork in gelatin which gets made into a loaf and then sliced. Much to my dismay, there is no cheese involved. I ate mine, but told Chef Brian Wallace later on, that I really didn't need his very detailed description of all the ingredients. 

Next came my favorite course. Chef Heath Finnell prepared Yucatan Chicken and Lime Soup. Our whole table raved about it, and I'm sure I'm not the only that could have had a second bowl. Chef Finnell's wife, Judy, was so friendly and excited about local foods. Farmer John and I look forward to visiting Cafe Bacchus next time we're in Morgantown. 

The chef from Bridgeport Conference Center, Tim Goots, prepared the main course- "Duck Duck Goose". It included Pan Roasted Breast of Duck and Leg Confit, Pumpkin Whipped Potato and Brussels Sprouts. This was the first time I'd ever eaten duck, I enjoyed it, but gave a couple pieces to Farmer John. The veggies were fantastic, especially the potatoes.

Then, although I couldn't believe there was even more food, it was time for dessert. Chef Jay Mahoney and students from the Pierpont Culinary Academy put together a sweet spread! We mingled, ate lots of different desserts, passed out a few of our cards, and of course drank more wine. 

Thank you so much Annie and Jon for including us in this deliciously fun night. But, more than that, thank you for all the work you do for the Collaborative and local foods in West Virginia. 

Market Day

We are loving the Wetzel County Farmer's Market. This past Thursday was the third week of market, and it was another success. All the producers had lots of customers, and just about everyone sold out of their products. 

We sold out pretty quickly, because we didn't take any beef. (We will have more to sell this week.) That left us some time to visit with customers and other producers. It has been a real treat to get to know the fellow farmers that come to the market. 

Plus, the Bubble Man was there! 

 

Bonnie

Sometimes, ornery cows get into burrs. 

Bathroom floor

Our cabin project has had several starts and stops this summer. Farmer John worked to dig out a form for it, then we went on vacation and a big storm slowed everything down. Next he got all the plumbing ready that would run in and under the cement floor. The plan is that these lines will be in the cement and less likely to freeze in the winter. 

Then, several weeks ago, Farmer John and "Uncle John" poured the floor for the cabin bathroom.

Farmer John started by filling in the form with some soil, big rocks, and some gravel left over from another project. He cut some concrete wire mesh to fit inside the form, and that went on top of the gravel. 

We borrowed a friend's concrete mixer, and "Uncle John" manned it. He would dump a bag of Quickcrete in the mixer and add some water. Then mix it up for a few minutes. 

The mixed cement got dumped into a big wheelbarrow. 

And Farmer John would pour it into the form. 

When the form was mostly full, they spread out the cement with hoes. Because in addition to weeding, hoes are perfect for all kinds of other jobs. 

Next they leveled out the cement by shimmying this board back and forth. At that point it really started to look like a floor. 

The final tools they used were a trowel and float. I was busy hanging out in the air conditioning doing important farm-work, and didn't get a photo of the tools in use. But this was the final product. Oh, so smooth and shiny!

We couldn't find a current penny, so Farmer John signed his work. 

And Beast Lite promptly walked all over it! 

Curiosity

 

Tractor Boys

These are our nephews. They came for a visit recently and got a tractor ride. 

You can tell Nathan loves it because he's giving you his "cool" face.