HomesteaderWife - Tales from Wolf Branch [05/10/2023 - The New Fella!]

[HomesteaderWife]

My husband and I recently purchased the Ford tractor from our preacher, and worked part of it off by helping to build a corn crib. I wanted to share photos of the progress, because this was our first major lumber order as well. All exterior wood, and the wood for the floor of the loft, are all from us. The building is almost finished, and I will post some photographs once it is completed. We were very proud to mill this up for a good friend, and to have many compliments on the boards thus far. Most of the wood was 1 x 12, and about 10-12 ft long.

It was a HUGE battle to get some of these logs out that made this wood. The tractor definitely earned its keep though, by proving itself over and over while dragging these logs down to the sawmill. As I mentioned, this is basically my husband and I that work this alone, with occasional help from his brother. We've not only fought to pull out and drag these logs- we've also had a hard time loading them onto the sawmill using a hand-cranked winch. The track of the sawmill has been bent and snatched out of alignment a few times because of the weight of the logs rolling onto it. We've had blades come off while cutting due to the knots and toughness of some logs. We have even had a log that was so large, we could not load it onto the sawmill (but it won't go to waste- it will be cut up for stools and chopping blocks).

Please let us know what you think of the quality of some of the wood!

P.S. This building will be what he stores all of his seed corn it and his corn for meal/flour/etc. They are also adding on a porch in order to be able to sell produce and other goods like a small business at his farm.)

 

[Ferguson K]

Nice work!! My husband and I are working on becoming our own bosses. One day.

 

[samssimonsays]

Wow amazing things ! I applaud you for doing this! I can't wait to see what's to come!

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Sort of a quick, record-keeping post here. Last night when we put all of the animals up for the evening, we found the first duck egg in their little box. When I let them out yesterday morning, I didn't even notice it. But it was a wonderful surprise for my husband and I! We have never used duck eggs to bake or cook with, so I am curious to compare them to our chicken eggs.

 

[Baymule]

i like your home milled lumber. I had a thought for a business. If you live near a town or large subdivision, you might look into cutting trees in peoples yards. The trees have to come down in sections, which requires climbing the trees, roping off the sections and cutting them about 8 to 10' feet at a time. You could get some good lumber that way also and not have to cut the trees on your own property. Around here, taking a tree out of a yard costs about $500 and up, depending on the size and closeness to the house or other buildings. You would have to have insurance and all that stuff, but it is good work and might make you enough money to be completely self sufficient.

 

[Poka_Doodle]

Okay, as promised here is the link to a great recipe that works great and included a thing most of us have to much of :
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/7494/zucchini-cake-i/

 

[HomesteaderWife]

The construction of our cabin continues- and we needed a way to haul 30 boards measuring 2x6x12 all the way out to the site on a trail that is only accessible by four wheeler. No vehicles or tractors! So how to haul them?

My husband's grandfather suggested a sled of sorts to haul these long, heavy boards to the build site. We decide to use some of our scrap lumber that had no current purpose to build this sled. I got an idea in my head and put together two small round logs, and three flat pieces. We nailed them together to make an 8 1/2 foot sled that can carry four to six boards at a time, depending on the freshness of the cut. Boards that had time to dry are lighter to carry, so we could load six on. Boards that were just cut still have moisture in them, and we can only load four. But it's better than carrying them one by one a half mile back in the woods!

I'm including some photos of the quick project, which we hooked to the back of our four wheeler and have been using all day to finish taking all the boards out which will be getting us started framing out the floor and supporting it.

Scrap wood always finds a use here! We not only sell a bit of it, but also use it for art projects, animal coops/boxes, and now a sled!

As a side note, I am about to start a new art project with my first squirrel hide of the year. Going to try to make dreamcatchers with the fur and see if they might sell. I'll post photos later on of that!

Thank you for reading, and God bless!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

great idea!

 

[goatgurl]

looks like that's going to work

 

[HomesteaderWife]

It actually worked out pretty well, and all our boards are moved out there! I was very happy to see the sled hold up, and now we have it out by the sawmill to haul future boards out with.

Here's a quick photo of the first squirrel hide dream catcher, which didn't bend into a great circle the way I wanted, but I still have one more to make. Does $5 sound fair to sell them for at a craft show, or should I ask less? We will see how it goes!