Sunday November 17th 2013

So far I am sticking to my guns and going to the property every weekend even when the weekend might be busy. Saturday I went to the Clark park farmers market for Pennypack farm and this weekend it was also my weekend to check on the farm and make sure plants in the greenhouse were watered and that things got locked up at night. Bright and early on Sunday I collected my tools and bags of things (how did I end up with so many bags of stuff to bring with me to the property). I headed to Pennypack and opened up the greenhouse made sure things were watered and then headed up to the property.

I pulled out my cordless drill and fixed the rail that the sliding door of the barn runs on, I went to put the lock on the door and the drill died. Oh well no big deal I had plenty to do. I opened both the doors to shed some light on the huge piles of junk that lay inside, I rolled up my sleeves, put on my work gloves and started digging.
I pulled out piles of plywood both rotting and in good condition, broken lawn mowers, old kids shoes that rats had made homes out of, old broken cabinets and chairs and so much more. I got all the big stuff out except for some large item, made for sitting I think but very heavy and set in wood. I'll need an axe for that. I stopped when the pile of junk outside was bigger than the pile inside.

Looks like it's time for a fire and a few trips to the dump!

Since my drill had stopped working and I had no way of charging it and I was tired of handling rat castles I decided to stop by Stryker farms a farm 20 minutes from me that raises pastured goats and woodlot pigs! http://www.strykerfarm.com/
It was a good break from the rats then it was off to see a man about a horse drawn sicklebar mower.

It is a restored 1918 single horse sickle bar mower and the first piece of equipment I am going to buy. I hope to take it to Kutztown and see if A.M. will let me hook up her halflingers to it! Maybe we will do some real work with it too! The guy pulled me around on it so that I could see how it worked!

It was time to head home in the dark, I made my way through winding roads with my high beams on carefully looking out for deer. I pulled into Pennypack around 6ish to lock everything up for the night. I pulled into my driveway about an hr after that. Whew! a long but mostly productive day.

Some things I have learned since officially starting this endeavor:
- I spend a lot of time on the phone and driving around talking to people and picking stuff up/checking stuff out/pricing stuff.
-My plate is officially full! I am never not thinking about something important.
-There are not enough hours in the day for the kinds of to do lists I used to make in college.
-I am so busy and I'm loving every minute of it!

Next time: Fire! The dump, proceed putting a lock on the door with newly charged batteries, meet with a landscaper for an estimate on brush clearing, pay the guy for the sicklebar mower and determine a delivery date, second meeting with A.M. and her horses.