Doing the first lay up

What's a lay up, you ask (other than an easy basketball shot)?  It is where you take all the timbers in one plane of a timber frame structure and you stack them all precisely the way they will be in the finished building.  The joints are then scribed precisely from one timber to the other so that everything (in theory) fits together just right.  We are being forced to use this much more exacting method by the fact that our timbers have not dried completely true - they have twisted and bowed enough that we can't "persuade" them back to true.  On the upside, we're learning a lot more about the craft of timber framing!

We're using the slab for the work since it is conveniently level and snow/mud free.  This weekend we managed to get the timbers stacked to this point:

First bent mostly stacked

That may not seem like much of an accomplishment, but it takes a lot to get these large pieces of wood precisely placed!  We have to level each timber, make sure it is precisely where it needs to be in relation to the rest of the frame (square to within 1/16") and then transfer all the dimensions at all the joints.  It is a very slow process involving a lot of measuring, slight movements and more measuring until everything is just right.

This morning we got the rafters placed more precisely (in the above picture the one rafter was only very roughly placed).  We also finished scribing some of the joints that we didn't get to on Sunday.  In the morning, we hope to final place the rafters and finish the scribing on this bent.  Then we will either move on to the next bent and eventually scribe the whole frame, or we will stop and do the joinery in this bent to make sure we've done the scribing correctly.  :D  Either way, it feels really good to finally be working on the house again!

Stay tuned because we now have to get a goat shed (or two) built before the end of May.  We needed another project, right?  We have some fun ideas for that structure that should help it go up faster and also make it pretty inexpensive.  Have to see if it works out that way though!

Critters are coming!

Well, we had another opportunity fall in our laps with all the future challenges that will surely entail.  Some friends of ours are wanting to move to town from the country and needed to find a new home for their animals.  They asked if we would want them, so we went to see them a couple of weeks ago.  Here is what we saw:

A very pregnant la mancha (goat) doe

A tiny Shetland sheep

A full blood la mancha (goat) buck

10 chickens

 

The doe will have her babies any day now and we've agreed to take them also.  Our friends are going to keep them until May when we move back to the farm.  At that point, we will have somewhere between 2 and 4 goats, one of which should produce a gallon-ish of milk a day, a sheep and 10 chickens.  The farm is going to get a lot more farm like it appears.

The upside of this arrangement is clear - these are all very healthy animals that will provide us with meat, milk, pasture mowing and eggs for many years to come.  The downside is equally clear.  They require daily care (which I'm looking forward to) and we now have to build a place for them to stay.  We have some ideas for the future goat and chicken house(s), so stay tuned to see how that works out.

Another chapter in our crazy lives. 

Winter fun at the farm

For those who live close by, you know that we had a 10ish inch snow fall this week.  That means only one thing to this family - time to sled!  Thursday, Jeremy and the kids went to the farm and prepared the sled track and today several friends came over to test it out.  Great fun was had by all!

Caravan sledding down the hill

Meanwhile, I was representing the Lawrence Food Garden Tour at the Kaw Valley Seed Fair.  The seed fair is a wonderful event and I've been lucky enough to be part of it for the last several years.  The turnout was awesome, despite the snow, and I ran into lots of people I haven't seen in a while.  All in all, a very fun way to spend a Saturday!

LFGT table