Journey to the Farm (Part 8) - Smooth Move

Part 8: Smooth Move

I must have made at least a dozen trips to the liquor store for boxes. Each time I would gather up anywhere from 6-10 (sometimes more). Moving a family is a lot different than moving by yourself. When I came to Victoria, I packed the essentials in my car and just went. Another load of things came up with my parents the next year. Done. We were starting fresh and I didn't have a lot of furniture.

Moving a family requires a bit more thought. As adults, we can get by while we unpack. The kids may need that special toy or blanket at any given moment. Now moving three families into one house. This is the beginnings of madness.

Building a dock ... my DIY Experiment: Part 4

Part 4: Finishing Phase 1 and 2

I managed to get out the next day and finish off phase 1. Phase 2 was going to be a walkway onto the dock. I managed to wrangle some materials to start the skeleton of this.

Here is what the dock looked like after phase 1 was complete:

                                  

Journey to the Farm (Part 7) - Planning Community

Part 7: Planning Community

Coming into the home stretch, we had decided that we would not spread out between the three houses at the farm. We decided to take community to the next level and all live in the main house. It was over 5000 square feet. But we still needed to figure out how to live together in this space.

Building a dock ... my DIY Experiment: Part 3

Part 3: Finishing the frame and adding planks

Sunday was another nice day. After wrapping up a few necessary farm chores, I rounded up all the older kids and headed down again. I took all the same items as the previous day as I might need them.

Once I was down there, I decided I would put another 2x6 on the inside of all of the posts. I put a chunk of post at the end on the right side to space it out properly. I used my level to keep the two boards level. 

After completing this, I proceeded to go through my remining 2x6s and cut boards. The length needed was approximately 53 inches, so I was able to get two planks per board for the most part. The excess I used to pick off split ends. After using them all up I realized I would need another 5-6 boards to complete the job. The kids were good but it was time to go in. 

Building a Dock ... my DIY experiment: Part 2

Part 2: Building the frame

This weekend was very favourable for me. I enjoyed a wonderful morning of worship workshops with Worship Victoria, then had time to spend out by the pond with the kids building my dock project.

On Saturday afternoon, I had a few hours where Hannah was with her grandparents, Charlotte was napping, and the boys were in my charge. I threw on my swim trunks and grabbed the boy's their boots and headed down to the workshop.

Journey to the Farm (Part 6) - Timing is Everything

Part 6: Timing is Everything

Life had just begun to settle back to a normal level for us. We had started to put thoughts of the farm behind us. Tyler and Melissa were doing well and his treatments were starting. We were just about to move back into the renovated barn we had lived in for most of our time as a family. Then we got another phone call from the seller's agent from the farm.

Laura came to me after she got off the phone and told me what was happening. The buyer's who had outbid us were not looking like they could remove their subjects. Now I am not privy to what the specifics were, whether it was a case where the sellers were not happy with things and did not want to extend, or if the buyers just couldn't close the deal. Either way, we were advised that the sellers would be entertaining backup offers. What an interesting turn of events. My stomach turned at the thought of getting on this roller coaster ride again. I anticipated the next heart break.

One man's trash - Finding new uses for old freezers

I mentioned in my stories that this farm of ours does not meet my expectation of a farm. I am from the prairies where farms are rolling as far as the eye can see. That being said, our peaceful little valley can seem quite big sometimes when we consider all the things we need to maintain.

We recently had a batch of pigs which went to slaughter in late April. The past month has been booked up with visits, events, and other work projects and so we had not been out to tidy up.

I was out by our cow barn, which serves as a holding pen for livestock before pickup, as well as a storage area for hay and any grain that does not go in the silo (mostly food for the pigs). I stopped by the barn with the truck to load some more hay for our horses. While I was climbing up to open the top doors, I noticed our pig grain had been invaded by rodents.