what a fantastic work party!
Saturday, a few folks got together to finish up the construction details on Alan's new yurt. we installed L-brackets along the floor, replaced the tension rope with a proper tension cable, and installed hardware cloth on either side of the door as a security measure (similar to, but much prettier than, what i did last November, after the break-in). it's a beautiful yurt!
Amber installing L-brackets while Alan works on the cable:
Alan and the cable:
the method whereby the cable is attached to the door, with a turnbuckle so it can be tightened if necessary:
Alan's beautiful door:
the hub against the sky. aren't the poles lovely? several are oak, the rest ponderosa.
hardware cloth:
then we put up the insulation.
everybody examining the problem of how to attach it:
the walls are up:
roof (overlapping rectangular sheets of insulation) almost finished
the next day, we had the most successful work party we've had in months! first thing in the morning, Rev, Rick and I put the canvas onto the yurt over the insulation.
and the canvas is on!
a couple of good-looking yurts, there!
my favorite new yurt photo:
Dominque, who is wwoofing with us through January, taped down all of the interior insulation!
she did a very professional job of it.
meanwhile, Andrew, Steve & Tonilyn composted the garden
and discovered several eggs (mostly fresh!) behind the compost pile. we knew those hens were hiding them somewhere! i also patched a hole in the chicken coop fence, which I'm glad to have discovered.
Pat, Liz & Joe raked leaves and spread sand throughout the patio area and around my yurt (hereafter named the Web) and the drive behind it, resulting in an incredibly clean, good-looking yurt yard!
Jenny and Hannah and Andrew installed a threshold to the turkey pen, and built a turkey nesting box:
Andrew in the sunshine:
Jenny and the finished nesting box, in which chickens are thoughtfully spreading straw:
while Rev & Tristan organized all the small hand-tools
resulting in this!
which i like so much, i'll do it again, this time with feedbags and related shelving:
Tristan finished the east wing of the new rabbit hutches, enabling us to both muck out the west wing condos (thank you, Tonilyn!), and breed the rabbits! We'll know in a few days whether or not that worked, but assuming it did, we're expecing a litter in early February.
Tristan finishing the frames:
Tonilyn cleaning cages:
happy rabbits (Uncatchable, left and Catchable, right)
Rev finishing the roof panels on the east wing:
the finished hutches in the morning light:
(Britta, please observe that i managed not to describe them as awesome even once. even though i adore them. and they're beautiful and gloriously functional and i can't even tell you how much i love them.)
Britta provided a wonderful lunch:
chickens spreading compost for us:
turkeys enjoying the day. you can see how the girls really pay lots of attention to Tom's strutting, there.
I don't know what's going on here, but i like it.
later, Apple and Hannah pulled nails from boards,
while Rick and Robert removed several persistently problematic elm stumps out back. Apple convinced them how pretty they look with less sweatshirts on, so they got extra photographs, for your viewing pleasure.
Rick wins the battle of the elms:
shirtless boys:
more elms to remove:
it's either the glow of accomplishment, or the glow of having a pretty girl convince them to take half their clothes off.
i floated all day, moving among tasks, managing projects, and at the end of the afternoon, cleaning up a couple weedy areas, and moving some leaf mulch out front for the mulch basin.
clearing a weed pile:
Earlier last week, i learned how to use an electric chain-saw. yay for new skills! i now have enough firewood to last probably through february, depending on when Alan installs his stove and starts using it, and how much that changes our consumption. as Tristan said, the firewood will be picturesque, dammit! We spent an afternoon cutting wood.
That day, Rev installed the rest of the posts for the goat shed as well, so those are now curing in preparation for more construction on that to begin in the next couple weeks.
Hannah emulating a goat:
We had a fantastic, up-beat day, and got so much accomplished! Enormous thank-yous and kudos to all who came out to lend a hand! It was wonderful fun, and wonderfully satisfying!