Our New Barn

We thought this would be a great place to share the progression of our new barn. Starting with the horse logging, the sawing of the logs and finally the building of the barn.

The first pieces of the project were started in June 2005, with the cutting and thinning of our woodlot to provide the Hemlock logs that would later be turned into lumber and ultimately become our new barn.

	Here are Molly and Pearl pulling logs out of the woods. Horse logging was the perfect solution for our wooded, rocky, hilly terrain! These two Belgian pulling horses are full of vim and vigor, yet gentle and sweet. Bill Philbrick of New Albion Farm in Albion Maine is Molly and Pearl's proud owner and skillful teamster.
	Such a beautiful team of horses! They are so eager to get to work! Bill's gentle manner coaxes the best from this magnificent team.
	Sawing the logs into lumber. Kevin and Sharon Wacome from Norridgewock Maine arrived with their Wood Miser and sawed the logs into beams, boards, and framing lumber. They did outstanding work!

	Our new Kubota tractor worked great to move the logs from the piles to the saw.
	The Wood Mizer takes off the first layer of bark. It was so exciting to see the progression of logs to lumber!
	Freshly cut sills waiting to be moved to the barn site.
	It took tons and tons of gravel to create this level area for the barn. Carving spots out of the woods for new buildings is always a major undertaking!
	The lumber was moved from the cutting area to the awaiting "flat spot". December 6, 2005, let the fun begin!
	The sills are put into place, measured, leveled, notched and finally attached. The 20 X 30 barn will have a 14 X 20 workshop attached to one side, and in the spring (when the ground thaws and more gravel can be hauled in) a 14 X 20 addition will be added to the other side.
	And, the barn begins to rise! First there were seven...
	Now there are fourteen! Whew!
	The barn starts to come together!
	The work continues...With all of the snow storms, ice storms, rain storms, cold and wind, the work progresses!
	The work starts again! Finally, the last week of April brought dry ground and some clear weather. First things first, the barn needed to be re-leveled after the winter frosts. With that done, the sides and top were straightened and leveled.

	May 1, 2006, the first truss goes up!
	Okay folks, for those of you that have been following this progression, it's now July 21st! Things have not progressed as nicely as we had hoped! First of all it rained, and then it rained, and after that, it rained some more. May 25th brought foot surgery for Jan and then Ken came down with a nasty case of tendonitis. Geeze! More rain, and then even more rain... Well, anyway, onward and upward goes the barn again!
	July 26, 2006, the roof is taking shape. Both sides have about half of the roof boards up! Next comes roofing paper, then the green metal roofing!!
	August 19th, the roof is a reality!! The tar paper went up along with the metal roofing with a little help (actually a whole lot of great help) from a friend. Mike Brown is an independent roofing contractor who did a phenomenal job getting the roof on the barn. Ken worked along with him as his helper. Anyone who might be interested in a new roofing job, let us know and we'll get you in contact with Mike. HE COMES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

	Here is Mike working on the ridge.
	Now for the sides....
	The sides are taking shape!
	I know there's stuff in the way, but isn't the inside gorgeous? I love walking in and enjoying the smell of the hemlock boards. This baby isn't going anywhere for a long, long time!

	September 3rd. Ken is framing the shop area of the barn before finishing the side. This area will also include a small milking room. Once framed, it makes the barn look even more massive than it is!
	Moving right along now! There will eventually be an addition on both sides of the barn like this, but for now, one side will get done. Have I mentioned how heavy sawn lumber is? These hemlock rafters were knee bucklers! First fall event at the farm will be September 16th. Will the barn be done in time? Stay tuned....
	Closing in!
	October 3rd. Coming right along. Almost ready for windows! The barn is ready for Goat School!!

	December 20th. THE BARN IS DONE! Here is the great sliding door on the side. For now, the Angoras are inhabiting this barn along with 500 bales of hay.
	The large sliding doors will not only make it great to drive the tractor in for cleaning, but with a small piece of cattle panel it makes a great sun porch for the Angoras. It's nice to be able to close it up at night and in bad weather. All that is left now is the shop on the side. Windows, doors and some interior work and we'll be good to go!

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