This is the time of year when I should be cleaning up around the farm. For the first few years after we bought the place and moved here, that was just about all I did. But these days, even in the winter, taking care of the gardens and animals seems to take just about all my time.
But I did find some time yesterday to get started on a clean up project I’ve been putting off for a while.
When this old barn collapsed a few years ago it brought down the shed, burying a lot of lumber I’d stored there, as well as an old farm trailer.
After dragging the tin and the remants of the shed away, and removing all the lumber that was still useable, I was able to get a good look at the trailer.
I was both impressed with the resourcefullness of the folks who built it long ago, and disappointed that I can’t see any way to salvage it for my own use.
I asked a neighbor about it, a man who can still remember using it on the farm, and he told me that it is built on an old model-T frame. It’s extremely heavy, the tires are rotten and I doubt I’d be able to find any that would work on it.
I’ll confirm that, and if so, then the next step will be hauling it off to a scrap yard.
Hopefully I’ll get that done before garden work takes over all my time.
a few nice timbers
LikeLike
That barn is built of hand-hewn heart pine, cut here on the farm, and now seasoned by a hundred years of curing fires. I’m sure there are better uses for those logs, but I’ll be making raised beds from some and firewood from the rest.
LikeLike
Raised beds sounds like a fine use for old timbers. Good luck with the clean-up; I’ve got a few of those projects that need done before gardening season hits, too!
LikeLike
They do make fine (and easy to build) raised beds. The mess I made getting started on this motivates me to finish it. We’ll see.
LikeLike
Raised beds sound just fine. I can get a little sentimental about old things like that, but repurposing has a lot going for it.
LikeLike
Oh, me too. We had to push down and eventually burn some grand old buildings that had been here a looong time (including a substantial part of the old farmhouse). We spent a lot of money and time rescuing two barns, a cabin, and the main part of the house. Neighbors probably saw it as further evidence of our weirdness. But some of the structures were just too far gone to save. I tried to convince someone to saw the old logs up for me to use as flooring in the house we built, but unsuccessfully. A friend asked for some of the oldest logs and we stacked them for him only to have him never come get them. After exposure starting rotting them, I cut them up for firewood. A lot of the stuff I saved from around here for sentimental reasons is priceless to me. But lots of it just ended up forgotten or in the way. It’s a balance. Using these logs for raised beds seems to me to be a good, practical (and respectful) repurposing. Now to find the time to get it done. 🙂
LikeLike