The Shed

Just as you pass through the old farm gate in the old fence line and enter the food forest is this inconspicuous little spot on the left hand side of the driveway. Our first idea for shed placement was closer to the front but we wanted something in the shade, central and away from the road. This spot looked level and didn't have too many large trees so I went out there one day and cleared it out to see what we were working with.

Removing the privet tangle opened up the vast majority of the space, but was by far the easiest third of the job. The two trees along the left not immediately on the old fence line would need to come down, mainly for fear of them later coming down on the shed. Also, that beastly looking poison ivy vine on the old gate post would definitely have to go.

I took out the poison ivy first, gradually chopping it up into 3' pieces and moving it entirely with an old pair of bypass loppers. I used them like tongs and tried to keep my distance. I must be one of those people that poison ivy doesn't bother because that stuff was everywhere and I didn't develop a rash.

I went back a second day and took down the two pines growing off the fence line, they were each probably 25 years old or so. I processed the branches and upper portions of the tree into smaller pieces and dragged them to nearby brush piles. The bottom 20' of each trunk I cut into 10' lengths and saved for use in the construction of a log cabin style chicken coop for which I'm gathering supplies.

Meredithe and I came back on a third day and removed large branches along the driveway to clear space for our new shed. It was to be delivered that afternoon and the process by which they unloaded it from the trailer and moved it into place was fascinating. They used a machine called a mule, which kind of looked like a forklift, to drag the shed off of the trailer. They put the other end on two wheels and drove it back and into place. The company we purchased from builds on site, but this shed was previously rented, repossessed and we purchased it at a discounted rate.

We love our new shed! It has all of the extras we wanted, a loft, the sturdier barn door upgrade, a metal roof upgrade and I can't imagine picking any other color. It was even wired for four outlets and a light. I'll have to rewire some of it, but free hardware is free hardware. It'll be nice to have dry work space and storage on the farm. Now where did I put those logs, I'm ready to build a chicken coop...