Barn Building

Although we are all very eager to have The Haven barn built, progress has been a bit slow in the relentless summer heat. Still, significant progress has been made thanks to the (sweaty) efforts of Jeff, Paul, and the wwoofers. They have been working on the roof lately. With just the roof struts (?) in place, the structure looked a little like a dinosaur for a minute. The barn will have a classic look with a gambrel roof, which allows for efficient use of space. The guys have just started putting tin on the lower part of the roof.

I have been making a lot of pickles lately. The cucumber crop at Full Life Farm has been very successful this summer. However, we have had mixed success with other crops, particularly at The Haven. The clay soil at The Haven needs LOTS of work. The herbs that were planted, where a chicken tractor used to be, are doing quite well, and veggies planted in the beds, which Paul spent more time developing, did far better than those planted in beds where fewer soil ammendments were used. The luffa vines are growing rather happily on the arbor that we constructed for them, but they are not producing much fruit. We need to continue working on building up our soil with compost and fertilizing materials from our animals.

We had the pleasure of meeting more of our neighbors recently. A retired couple came over to say hi last week, and they brought us a bunch of apples to feed to the goats in addition to some other gifts, including a chop saw, which is just what we've needed for building the barn. In return, we have given them some or our soap. We are excited to be forming good relationships with some of our neighbors, and we look forward to getting to know Pete and Dixie better.

Pete and Dixie raise chickens too, and they have had some trouble with foxes and weasels. Yikes! So far, we have not had any trouble with predators at The Haven. All of our chickens are pastured except for the mama hen and her 2 chicks, which are growing fast - especially the (probably) male New Hampshire Red chick (the lighter colored one).

Our brand new refrigerator arrived on Friday. We're hoping that it does a better job of keeping things cold in this heat than the previous two older refrigerators. The new a/c unit, which we installed in the office, is doing an excellent job, thankfully. Now we have one room in the house in which we can seek refuge from the summer heat. Good storage conditions for our soap supplies and products is important too. Jeff and I made a batch of shea butter bars with a cinnamon forest scent recently. These are now curing in the soap storage closet in the office. I hope to finally get around to making some lotion this week.

-Annie