More groundwork for the greenhouse

Today we got up at the unpleasant hour of 5:00 so that we could work before the heat of the day today (predicted high 104).  We were around with breakfast, supplies and lunch and at the farm at 7:00AM.  Once there, we were joined by friends from church - Julie and her daughters Jessie and Ellie.  Their help was very much appreciated!

Catherine and Ellie helping remove rocks

First, Jeremy and Jacob measured how far out of level our existing pad was.  It turns out it was a bit more than we really wanted, so Jeremy started the tractor up and we did some more leveling.  We learned some key things during the process of taking the back, North edge down another foot or so.  Namely, sooner or later when you cut into a hill, you're going to hit rocks.  Big ones.  Rocks that don't really want to go anywhere.

Getting to be experts at switching implements on the tractor....

This rock took the tractor to dig it out and all 3 adults to lift it out of the greenhouse

Thankfully, between Julie and I working with the shovel and the tractor, we were able to remove the offending rocks. Someday perhaps they'll make their way into a foundation somewhere...

Julie and I surveying the newly staked corners

We also did a little bit of mowing with the scythe while the tractor was doing its work.  Julie got pretty proficient with the tool and we managed to clear out some more next to our drive.  I also got to peen the scythe for the first time!  It turned out to be pretty painless and it definitely improved the performance of the blade.  I suspect that I will need to get even better at it to effectively cut grass someday, but it was a good start.

After the pad was re-leveled, we had lunch together before moving on to the next thing on the list - staking out the true corners for the greenhouse.  This required much measuring and adjusting of stakes, but eventually we got it done.  Then we lined up the hoops for the greenhouse to get them ready to bolt together.  At this point it was 1:30 and getting HOT!  We decided to pack up and head home for some A/C.  Not a bad 5 or so hours work for the day.

Daisy decided that under the picnic table was the place to be

The newly re-leveled pad