We are getting new things ready for markets. Christmas markets are coming, and I know we are registered for one, and Missus just applied to another. There will be Christmas decorations to sell, and gifts or trinkets as well. So Missus and I have both been busy getting at our seperate products.
I got to work on some candles to put up for sale at the markets. I have some beeswax that is set up for tool wax and for waxing thread and the like. I noticed a few people picking the ones shaped like little beehives and turning them about to see all sides. So, today I got to work making some wicked candles in the same molds. I have a bunch of Christmas Trees already made. So I added those and some taper candles together and have a whole box ready to sell at these upcoming markets. Fingers crossed, they go!
While I was allowing the pours to harden, I also spent the day trying out a laser engraver that has been sat connected to my computer for a while. It works, but I was trying it etching a design into paper and I started out wondering if the laser was even working as it didn’t even leave a scorch mark! . On a higher setting it finally made the marks I was expecting it to. Except it didn’t. I really did expect a scorch mark. As it turned out, it quickly went to cutting right through the paper. That was quite the elegant design, and I see a lot of potential in that for things like paper lanterns.
We are celebrating a birthday here this evening, so my focus will soon turn to that. It is a joy to have a kid and to celebrate a special day with them! I plan on taking as much from the evening as I can.
I have been messing around with design tools for the website because I am not a coder. So, I bought some templates to set up the look for me. My trouble is, I wanted to either maintain the look of the site before I added helpful tools, or if I could not, then I wanted to change it to make it look very neat and clean. I think neat and clean will help the colors of photographs pop. That’s about it. I liked the old way I had it set up. But I cannot keep it with these tools because invariably something always goes wrong. Either the background interferes with text that is not in a container of any kind, or the colors of each element cannot be made to look as I want them to. Some few elements don’t seem to change color. I thought I had a new and improved problem on the last theme, where the menus would not keep the dropdowns properly sorted, so I came to this theme, and while in it, I found a checkbox that corrected the problem. But then I remembered there was no container for some of the text at the top of a sidebar, and that basically ruined the cleanliness of the page. So, I will try this for a big, with a white background and no color at all, and see how long before I want to reset to the previous color scheme with plaid and tan as my primary color theme. Oh, to be fair, I settled on the same theme for my photography site. Go figure. In that case, it really was about making the colors pop. Maybe I will invert the monochromatic theme there and have the same layout but with white on a black background. The photos would still pop.
As I type this, the woodstove is crackling to life from a small bed of coals to a lively fire intended to warm the house against the wintery cold that is starting to arrive here in the valley. There is a faint flurry of snow outside right now, and the clouds are hanging low. Everything about the day feels cold. The wintery weather is settling in at about the normal time as leaves still hang from the poplar trees that surround us. I close the door to the stove and allow the fire to reduce to a warming flame that maintains comfort through the house. It doesn’t have to battle too hard yet as it is barely cold enough to snow. I want to acclimate to the coming cold, those January and February days where the mercury seldom makes it above 25°F, and the nights are proven a great time to be wrapped up snug in bed.
Today is Halloween. To me, this is the beginning of the Holiday Season, which slams shut abruptly with the coming of New Year’s Day. It’s that time of year when I contemplate just how much wood I really have set up for winter, and if I need to split anymore to dry at the last minute, or worse, because I just don’t want to have to do it in the snow in the real winter. I get excited to take the kids Trick Or Treating. I get excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas and especially for the family time together. This year we are all excited for the coming of our second grandchild of 2024! Seasons change, the old things slowly make way for the new, and I feel a certain joy for it, even though I know one day my leaf too will fall. All this as we celebrate our own Day of the Dead, spook away the old spirits and make way for the new.
I moved the Roman workbench onto the front porch yesterday so I can work on some of my projects over winter in a warm place. The shop gets cold! It gets colder in there than it is outside by a few degrees each day, and my hands sting while I work with them. The front porch will warm right up in the sunlight because of the big windows out there. When the sun is not shining the room can be warmed by leaving the front door open and letting the heat from the woodstove fill the space. I think that since I will be right there in the room, I can do some work conveniently to filling a couple of the gaps and working towards sealing in the heat even better. I’ll certainly have good cause!
The Roman workbench is a three-inch-thick top on four robust legs that are splayed outwards to help keep it stable against the motion of working with wood. The top is about 18 inches high, and four and a half feet long, so it is to be sat on while working. I have a row of dog-holes and some wooden bench dogs to help with work-holding. I brought in a few tools to do some basic finishing work, such as two hand planes and two saws and a drill and the like. I’ll plan on the big work out in the normal shop, and just get the wood ready for the finishing of final cuts and assembly on the porch. Well, this is now, and it seems like a good idea. We’ll see what I say about that later.
I think the first job to do out there on the porch will be the making of some bobbin lace looms. Missus wants to put some up for sale online to see if she can generate interest and help boost her shop in Etsy. She says she has a hard time finding such looms for sale online, so she thinks there is a space to sell them. I don’t know if I can happily drill what I need to without using a drill press, but that is easily sorted, if need be, out in the shop.
Aside from the drill press, I will be using the bandsaw out in the shop, too. I also will have to do any of my lathe work out there too. So there is plenty of reason to sill work out there. But I can prepare the final work on components such as boards and sticks ready for assembly while on the porch, giving me a place to work that is more naturally warm. I can adjust as I go and see what things I can accomplish without freezing my hindside off!
We went to the last Farmer’s Market of the season here in Preston. It was a fun night with all the Trick-Or treaters coming around. We also made more sales than ever before! It is not enough to live on, but we did finally feel like we fit in a little around here and are getting to know the people of our local town.
We had one person come by with pictures on her phone of some of the coloring boards she bought before and colored. It was really exciting to see she did it, and it was also exciting to see that she enjoyed what she bought! That was one of the highlights of the day for me! Her work was beautiful!
There was one young girl who took a real interest in the spinning that Missus was doing and she walked her through how to do some spinning of her own with a drop spindle. Then Missus gave the girl what she needed to get started. That will make it easier to follow her excitement, and hopefully get her going on a new hobby.
We packed everything up at the end of the night, enjoyed conversation with some of our neighboring booths. Then we drove home, and on the way, we passed a guy looking almost forlorn while unloading his stuff, a long rifle loaded over his shoulder. 250 feet after that, a deer crossed the road in front of us.
Once home, we unloaded anything that could be damaged in rain, then went in and everyone went to bed. Well, everyone except for me. I wrote a blog post.
This week has been very busy off the farm! Missus has been teaching 4H classes and we have been sorting out many other things, but the big event this week was the arrival of a new grandchild! Forgive me for not giving further details, but I do want to say what is going on, and that everything is great!
We seem to be deeper into the autumn weather now. The rain fell the night before last, and the wind has kicked up since. It is chilly for sure! There is snow on the tops of the mountains around us and the clouds have not cleared yet.
I’d like to say I have finished the woodshed now, but this week has been so busy that I have not touched it. I got the roof on the little shed out back when I found some steel lying about behind the barn. You can just about see it in the photo below.
It is coming into mid-afternoon, and I can smell the winter soup I started this morning. It is in a crockpot on the kitchen island and will be ready for supper tonight. The change in weather is what inspired it! Honestly, I would have loved to put it to stew and into a pie.
The weather is set to remain cool. I think we will see the need for closed windows, firewood, and lots of hot drinks now. I’d like to have a lot more done outside and will work on it all, starting on the woodshed. I need to get that woodpile covered!
It’s been a busy week with things going on with the kids in school and the Farmer’s Market to attend. I have not had the time to do too much on the shed, but as of tonight I cut the last pieces of wood for it, and they are ready to go up tomorrow if I can get to it. Then it needs the metal roof on it and it is done. Meanwhile, I wanted to post a photo of the door that I finished for it the other day.
I will get that roof on soon as there is precipitation dure on Thursday. I will also have to see how much smell of vapor there is in the building after the roof is on, and I will drill loads of holes as necessary to vent it. I am thinking one-inch holes quite like a person might find on a regular old outhouse.
We went out to the autumn fair in Logn today. There was Trick or Treating for the kids, and plenty of arts and crafts on sale. It was an absolutely perfect day! The weather was spot on, there was no wind or rain. I could not have asked for a better day. Missus observed there was plenty of repetition in the types of things for sale. There were at least a half a dozen 3D printer shops, and a couple of laser cut shops. There were a few crocheter and sewers, too. But Missus says she would like very much to do that fair next year.
I expect that is about enough for now. I need to see about making a panel raiser for the shop. It will have to be made from wood, and I will have to grind my own blade. I sure can’t find them for sale right now. So it seems like the only option. I have never made a plane before, so since I don’t know how hard it is, why not?
There may still be more to put in, but for now, I have all the things I think I want and then some. In fact, the battery tools are definitely coming out off that top shelf, freeing it up for some of the things laying on the floor.
Today I finished the frame for the roof and the purlins but two. I want wider ones for the front at back, since that is where the wind is likely to pull the hardest when it is trying to remove the metal roof. I have built an overhang at the front and extended the one in the back slightly more than the sides, so I can put a tool hanger there for the garden tools. The overhang in the front will give me some shade while working on the mill, and it will shade me from those ever so slight rainstorms that sometimes pass through in the summertime. I also decided the shed would be a good place to put a pack of bottled water when the summer comes round again, and perhaps a dustbin would settle into a useful spot right next to the shed.
I am still thinking about decorative aspects of the shed. I did get the planks for the door cut and laid out this evening, and I did put the moon shape into them, ready to make the shed look just like an outhouse. That hole in the door is also there to allow air to vent as I am using it for gas can storage. I expect I will be venting it further, though I am not putting any blocking under the roofline so to allow venting there, too. I don’t really want any explosions! So to that end, I think some signage would be appropriate for the unknowing who approaches the building with anything sparky or lit!
I am considering putting sawmill blades on the outside of the building. Probably the old ones. Maybe I can hang new ones somewhere inside, like the back of the door? At any rate, we will see as things develop. I need to get the door together tomorrow, and rummage around for some old tin for the roof. There are those two purlins to cut and put up. I also want to remember not to put weight on the front overhang on that roof in case it tips the building. I might use plumber’s tape in lieu of hurricane straps to help hold the roof on, seeing as the two-by-fours are true, and box store straps won’t fit. Besides, I am trying to keep this fairly cheap. So far, it has only cost me the screws and the tools. But you can take the price of a shed like this, sided with true one-inch-thick boards, out of the cost of the tools now. And of course, there is more to come.
There is lighting to consider still. Probably not a candle lantern or other fuel lantern. Maybe battery operated, but not inside as I am sure that is a significant risk. Well, more than I would want to take!
As to the point of more to come, I have been thinking about the design of a farm-stand based on what I have built here and knowing what I can build. I think a farm stand will come about with a greater degree of finish to it, and perhaps more polish. But I think there should be shelves to one side for the free library, a spot to the other for a fridge, and finally a counter height place for other sundries to sell, and a firewood bay below that. I think for the moment that would be ideal. I have all the tools necessary to build it. I am not sure I yet have the logs to do it, but I will know when the woodshed is finally finished. I am still paused on that due to that one log on the mill the other day that was not worth moving just to replace it with a slightly longer one for the woodshed. So, I cut it and started building.
Today was a fine day and I got plenty done. I would like to feel like I got more done, but there was a lot of thinking as I went, and I am still trying to get into the habit of moving about more. Plus, I am still defeated by the tools being in different locations to where I need them. It is in fact one of the very reasons I am building this little shed. Expect some useful tools to appear at the woodshed as well!
Today I worked lightly on the fuel shed. I brought over all the fuel cans we have, and the grease and grease gun, and some other tools, and put them in. I decided that the shed can go right next to the Sawmill, and put the cant hook in it, ready to use to flip logs on the mill. One of the problems I have when sawing is turning the logs, and I don’t fancy the walk around the property to go and fetch it, so I just do it by hand. It is a bit more difficult, but I still don’t fancy that walk. I think if the cant hook is conveniently put right in a tiny shed next to the mill, I will be happy to get it and use it. So, it shall be done.
There is more in the shed than that, at the moment. I need to put up some more hangers for the various tools, and I am even thinking it might be nice to hang rakes and pitchforks and the like on the outside of it. That will come later. I need to see how I finish the roof and its overhangs before I decide once and for all about that, and if so, where things will go. Best to block rain where I can! Maybe I will keep the scythe and its blades and tool in there, too. Really comes down to the number of tools and amount space there is, doesn’t it?
This shed build is an intermission on my woodshed build. It is also a rehearsal for the farm store stand and the firewood stand. I can see the farm stand being a wider version of the fuel shed. I can see the firewood stand being a bit wider and half the height. The farm stand requires a place for a fridge, and a little free library. Not much required of me here, is there? What a lark! But I will be happy to do them. It is a good time of year to do them! The weather is lovely. I hope to have all done before the end of this month with time to spare.
So, that’s the progress for today. I have plenty of things in the shed, which is kind of a sheltered set of bookshelves, really. Only it is built quite durable! I think it will hold up to intended use, and in the location I have set it. It is on cement pavers to keep it more or less dry.
We will see what tomorrow brings. Hopefully completion! I can do the door in the shop, and the roof requires a bit of shop prep, too. Well, I can do it there, and it will be easier. Let’s just say that. Ta for now, from the farm!
I went to the mill the other day to cut up the log that was sat on it. It was initially set there to add to the woodshed, but I realized then that it was too short for what I wanted. I could either move the log away and find another one, or just get cutting. That’s when I decided that it was a good of a time as any to start working on the fuel shed.
I have been wanting to set up a very small footprint shed out by the milling area of the yard, a place where all the fuel cans can be kept along with some grease and other things required for the tractor and the sawmill and the like. I think even the chainsaws may go in there with their lubricants and the like. But because it was meant to be such a small shed, I decided a while back that it might as well look like an outhouse. Just for a little humor. It will have to be well ventilated, but give shade to the cans, along with shelter to keep the rain and snow away. An outhouse would look just like that!
True two by fours as long as the log would allow. End cracking is to be cut off. The log was very dry through and through, leaving only hard, dry wood. Very useable!
So, I started cutting the two by four’s required for the project. The log was long enough to produce around eight feet, plenty for a building meant to top out around seven! I had some aspen, pine, and poplar planks in the woodpile that I need to organize and restack, so I knocked it over and began pulling from the bottom. I ended up with enough of what I am fairly certain is aspen to do the sides and door. I have spent the last two days on the project now. The roof, shelves, and door remain, and I think those could easily be knocked out today. Then there is the matter of further decorating.
The basic frame standing on the floor. The floor is on true two by fours with one-inch-thick planks put down.
The back wall and one side are done, with plans to add inside braces that will also support the shelves the gas cans will sit on. I waited to get the heights right. I know my own tendencies to make mistakes.
Three walls completed. Each piece cut to length and width, along with any straightening dealt with as I go, this shed is making use of material that was quite literally found in the dump and brought home. It is using what is otherwise determined as waste and offering me good material at a very good price!
I could put more work into the project, such as joining the sideboards and planing surfaces, but as it is meant to look like an outhouse, and it is meant to be well ventilated, I did not want to put too much effort into closing gaps. It is meant to look rustic, and it is mean to not accumulate fumes inside. It is the “No Smoking” and “Danger” signs that will make the outhouse look legendary.
If you live in the area and have a tree that is fallen and cut to at least 50-inch-long logs from around 12 to 28 inches wide, I can help you to get to that wood inside or am happy to take it off your hands if you are just looking to dispose of the wood. Text me!
