Loafing Shed Pt 2

Time for the second post in my building-a-horse-shed series.

After our Thanksgiving break, the concrete was set and ready for posts. We went 8' high on the short end, 10' on the high.

Hank identified the shortest post, and used a straight 2X4 to mark the other posts to the right height. He cut them to level with his skill saw.

 

If you are going to have to work in an active pasture, freezing weather can be a nice thing; keeps all the muck nice and firm.

With the posts all the same height, we screwed plywood gussets on top of the outside posts to hold the beams in place. The structure is 20' wide so we were able to use a single piece of wood for each beam.

Once the beams were all up we squared the building the best we could and attached braces to keep it all in place.

 

One of the big things I have learned from Hank is to do things on the ground that you would rather not do in the air. For instance, while the beams were on the ground he marked where each rafter would go.

In the shot above, he snugged all the rafters together on a work table, squared the ends, and cut the rafter-tails on all of them at once. He then marked each rafter on the bottom where it would sit on the beam, and the layout on the top where the skip sheeting would go. This made it so we knew just where each board went when we were standing on top of the ladders.

We toe-screwed the beams and posts together, then added strapping to keep them in place.

After the rafters went up, we used hurricane straps to keep them in place, and blocking to keep them upright.

We used a come-along to pull the structure into square. It was not off by much, only about 3/8 of an inch, but we got it just right.

1X4 skip sheeting came next, tying it all together nicely.

Continuing the theme of doing ground work, I marked the tin roofing where we wanted the screws to go, and punched holes with a nail set. This spared the effort of forcing the nail through the tin while standing on the roof.

We used used un-grooved T1-11 plywood for the sides/sheer panels. Phoebe is a fan of letting the light in, as we did in the Hay House. It gave the barn a really nice, open and airy feeling.

We continued that idea on the loafing shed, so we can see in, the horses can see out, and it is nice and bright inside.

 

The high side faces east, not a big weather consideration here, but she suggested closing it in a little anyway. A couple of 2X6s on the inside will keep the horses from pushing the plywood out. Stall mats and a 4' gate finished it off. 

The weather had been unseasonably dry that December, with the rain holding off until the shed was finished. Rio was a little spooky when he first came in, just before Christmas. In a few days, though, he was right at home. In addition to keeping him warm and dry, his hay stays dry, so we are wasting less of it.

Since he is a mustang from Eastern Oregon, it could be argued that standing outside in the milder Western Oregon winter is not big deal for him. So why go through the effort and expense to build him a grade A horse house? 

First, just because he can stand in the rain doesn't mean he should. As a city boy at heart, I have the idea that everyone should have a dry place when they want it. Second, mud control is one of Phoebe's big things. So for both of us, a wet horse standing in deep mud is not an acceptable approach to animal owning. Since we have committed to having horses, we need to do what we can to treat them right.

Finally, we are trying to build infrastructure that will allow us to follow our interests, and what the land teaches us, to discover what the Homestead is best suited for. 

This may well involve more animals. Could be more horses, a goat or two to help with the blackberries, or a couple calves to try raising beef; we are not sure. But we do know that before we get serious about animals we need good fences and safe, dry shelter. The loafing shed is the next step in the progression. We don't really know where we are going, but this is one more important step on the way.

Loafing Shed 1

So, we built a pasture.

And we moved the horse in.

We put down some stall mats, to control the mud where he eats.

And now it is time to take the next step, the Loafing Shed. Horses like to loaf around. As do I, I must admit.  However, when it is raining at the Homestead, I get to loaf in our cozy warm trailer. The horse gets to stand under a tree.

(OK, not entirely true. There is a paddock for him, but it is not in the pasture, and neither he nor we are big fans of him spending a lot of time in there. Muddy and boring.)

Anyway, we need to create a shelter in the pasture for the horse, soon to be horses. Hence the Loafing Shed.

We are putting the posts on concrete, which needs time to set up before we can put weight on it. Since we won't be working over Thanksgiving, doing the footings now will give them time to set up.

First step was to dig the holes. I cordoned off that part of the pasture, using half of the round pen.  We don't want the very inquisitive mustang getting in there.  The spot is just across from the barn, and at the crest of a small slope: both key considerations in choosing the site.

 

Digging holes is one of my primary contributions to these projects. (I also specialize in holding things, getting things and being dead weight.)

I got all fancy on the hole digging, using the Pythagorean Theorem to determine where the second row of holes should be dug. I honestly think this is the only instance in which high school algebra has actually served me well. My posts are on 9' centers, so my a2 and b2 are both 81, which makes my c2 162, and its square root 12.72. I tied some baling twine together, and put a knot at 12.72-ish feet and triangulated that with 9' on the tape measure. That told me where to dig my hole at a right angle to the other. (Whew, math!)

Mr B was there as usual, offering moral support.

Holes dug, the next step was to pull Hank off Phoebe's Art Shack project. In addition to being an excellent carpenter and collaborator, he is also a wiz at concrete. He has worked on Bonneville Dam, and on the 7 story refrigerator at the Tillamook Creamery.

So putting in our posts would be no problem.

We started by bending rebar to give the concrete a little more to hold on to.

 

I sprung for deluxe brackets; the wind can blow pretty good up here, and since we are not burying the posts in the concrete, I wanted the saddles to be really beefy. (Phoebe has long opposed putting posts in concrete, and with a little googlin' I understand why. Check it out if you are curious.)

hank put a pair of 12' 2X4 together to get a nice straight line to center the brackets over the holes, and keep them in place when the concrete is poured and cures.

 He marked the boards where each saddle would hang.

We held the boards in place with stakes, and marked them so we could move the boards and get them back in the right spots.

Why did we have to move the boards? Because I only had one job to do, and I needed to fix it! (Several holes needed a little tweaking once we got really specific about where the brackets would hang. As I knew they would.)

Hank likes to mix a shovel full of Portland Cement into each bag of concrete. Says it sets up stronger and cures faster.

Mixed it in the wheelbarrow, then dumped or shoveled it into the holes.

 

 A little dressing with a chunk of 2X4...

And voila, nice concrete footing for our saddles. We will let them sit as is for 10 days or so. Then the boards come out, and we are ready to build the structure.

  

After all that work, it was time for a cup of Phoebe's home roasted coffee.

What's that Mr B?  You want me to throw the chicken again?  Really?  OK, just one more time...

Oh, and one last thing: What a crazy beautiful day for mid-November!  

Sculpting The Landscape

One of the jobs that I have taken on this summer is keeping the usable space we have reclaimed, from the blackberry vines and Scotch Broom, clear.

We have lots of open areas that we would like to keep that way. One of my current projects is to keep the blackberries from tip rooting and gaining more space. I walk around the Homestead with a pair of professional grade hand clippers (I don't mess around with the 12 pairs of crummy ones I own any more) in my leather holster and every time I see a long tendril of tender Himalayan Blackberry reaching for more real estate I whack it off.

Buck has invested a lot of blood, sweat and tears into clearing some major mounds of blackberry and I have been keeping them in check, starving the roots by continually harassing the sprouts with my boot heel and the mower. It seems to be working. They send up fewer and skinnier sprouts each time.

Another ongoing strategy I have adopted is that when I am walking the property for any reason I pull as many small Scotch Broom as I can with my gloved hands. My currant record is 150 in an hour. I admit some of them were barely bigger than a pencil, but hey, they would have just become bigger and bigger, throwing their seed far and wide.

One thing Buck started and I have expanded on is the art of Landscape Architecture by mower.

It lifts the spirit to have visible results with some real impact on our and our guests quality of life. I have created all kinds of walking paths through grass that is now shoulder high. It's so fun to walk along these "garden paths" with company or the dogs in the evening.

I have also created little "rooms" under trees and in random clearings to rest in the shade or just look into. It is really only a fraction of the mowing I do and it gives me a lovely break from brush mowing.

I mowed around the upper burn pile for safety but in the process found myself imagining what it would look like from an airplane and found myself mowing what amounts to a giant spiral crop circle.

Unfortunately, foraying into unknown territory with the mower around here has its problem spots full of limbs, rocks, wire and bailing twine. It's something like being a steam boat captain on the Columbia.

Only, luckily, my mower doesn't sink when I hit all that junk.

My New Buddy

Warning: This blog post has an unabashed product endorsement!  We have not been paid or compensated in any way for this.  (Not that we would be opposed to a little something; Alas, that is not the case.)

We have a lot of land that used to be pasture. Now much of that is covered in 4-8' tall Scotch Broom, interlaced with blackberry.

We could mow it, but the Scotch Broom has big stumps and they grow back right away.  We don't spray on the Homestead, so that leaves pulling them.  

A friend described a shrub pulling device he saw a highway crew using.  A bit of Googling brought us to the Weed Wrench.  It had positive reviews and seemed like a good option for us.  It's made in Oregon by a small business, which is always nice.

The Fence is Done!

After what feels like ages, our first new pasture fence is done!  We finished it just before our Christmas break. (Here is a link to the start of the fence project.)

If it was square, it would be about 140' x 170'.  It is really more of a trapezoid, following the contours of the land and our access road.  It is just the first of many acres of fencing, and it feels good to have it done.

This is not going to be a 'how to,' as I assume most readers already know how to build a fence, or don't care to know.  What I will do is note what I learned, in the hopes that it can save someone a bit of time, or result in a comment that shows me a better way.

This is the best fence I have ever built.  Far from perfect, but a big step forward for me.  One thing I struggled with was attaching the fencing to the inside of the posts.  Not nearly as fast and easy as putting it on the outside of the posts, but stronger and safer for animals, especially horses.

 

Part of the challenge of putting the fencing on the inside is wrapping the corners.

It involves a lot of time cutting vertical wire to release the horizontal strands, then attaching the horizontals to the post.  Phoebe and several others asked why I was using side-cutters to cut the wire, instead of using

Fall Clean Up

About half our land is forested and half clear.  At least, it was clear.  Now, most of the pastures are deep in Scotch Broom and blackberry.  With plenty of old, downed trees mixed in.

 

We are slowly chipping away at it, but with house, barn and garden projects, and outside work, there is not a lot of progress evident.

So when we do make some headway, it feels really good.  The area above, next to the barn we spruced up this summer, has an old cherry tree that has broken apart.  Fallen limbs had crushed the fence, and the blackberries had grown up and over.

It did not take that much time to clean it up, about 4 hours of whacking the berries and pulling out the old fence posts.  The piles sat until burn season, with the grass growing up and through them, threatening to engulf them and make yet another mess to clean up.

Fortunately, I finally had time to burn.  It was the first brush fire of the fall, and it cleaned up a lot of stuff.  It took me a couple of hours to haul all the limbs and branches that had accumulated over the summer, plus the piles of cut vegetation.  It had been raining that week, so everything was pretty soaked.  It took a while to get a sustained fire, but I got there.  It burned all afternoon, and might have gone on a bit past the technical 'fire's out' time, but it was safe and contained.

 And the next morning, it was an open stretch of workable land.  It will be a while until we have anyone grazing on this, so until then we will need to mow it .  The amount of cleared land we have to mow is growing, and while it makes more work in the short term, mostly for Phoebe who has been our champion mower of late, it feels good to be making headway.