The Red Barn Project Begins!

So today I decided to start jumping in on my 'redo' of the red barn.  I've had the idea of building a new chicken coop in the SE corner of the barn where there is a platform area from the previous corn crib storage area that was once there.  Currently the area the chicken coop is in now is an old mini-horse stall.  I made higher sides so we could enclose the top with chicken wire to keep barn cats and actual predators out.  The barn cats used to get in and sleep in the nesting boxes, guess they are warm.  Altho there is nothing 'wrong' with the current chicken coop its just makes the space in the barn a bit awkward.  You have a small area north of it where we have some firewood drying and the old mower and carts stored, then you have a small walkway between the platform and the coop and south of the coop I had most of my garden equipment/supplies.   So by building a new one off to the side it will open up the entire barn.  Right now I have some equipment stored in the big barn, some in the red barn - so it will be nice to just have everything in the one barn, and can be pulled in and out of either north or south doors.

General Plan

So today I started by clearing out the area where the new coop will go, and then pulling up the HEAVY rubber floor mats from my garden area (which also used to be a stall).  Those things have to weigh 100lbs... what a workout!  When I originally took out that stall I left the back wall and made a little garden work bench - well the rubber mats were sitting underneath the legs of my workbench so just decided to rip out the bench as well as the entire back wall.  These are 2x8" of rough saw oak lumber - HEAVY as well.  With the help of my handy-dandy sawzall I was able to cut right thru the nails attaching them to the posts and then out to the garden they went.  Was able to get enough boards just from that for about 4 sides.  Still have 8 more sides to get lumber for - but I have a feeling after I get the the old coop torn down that will be close to the amount I'll need and no need to buy anymore. 

Here are some photos of the red barn as it stands after the work done today.  Its a mess, I'm almost ashamed to post it but its just one big storage area right now and I have to keep moving things around as I work in different areas.

Where my garden workbench used to be.  All but the bottom
board removed, its down in the ground which is frozen, so will
have to wait till I can dig out the ground to remove it.

The mess that is my gardening supplies as of now.

The current chicken coop (plastic to help keep wind out in winter - they still have lots of holes for ventilation tho.

Area that will be chicken coop - rubber mats on floor.
Will have to add to walls (plywood & insulation) on left side. 
I will be building framing on the right side - this will be covered in wire fencing
for summer and then in winter will screw on plywood boards to close it up.

The narrow walking gap between platform and current coop.

North side of coop - equipment and firewood mostly.   All the wood boards
for the walls will be used in garden when taken down. Will be
so nice have this entire area opened up after its all done!
On the left side you can see a white door - this was our old door that was
replaced on our back porch - hoping the 'recycle' it in this project for the man door into the coop.

Some of the oak boards removed from garden bench area.

on sad note - behind the wall of the garden bench I found this on the ground.
We believe it used to be a cat.  =(   

Also started on my mini hoop house today. 

 You can also see the load of  cardboard I added to the one path.  This will help keep the weeds under control as well as keeping the mud off my shoes since the paths are lower and tend to stay muddier/water logged a lot longer.  I will also be adding newspaper on top of that and then a thin layer of straw to make it look a bit nicer.  The worms usually love the area under all the pathway mulch. 

I had the piping from when I tried to make a wooden structure for the hoops last year.  This year I've added 2' rebar into the ground, leaving a few inches above ground to connect the pipe onto.  There will be 8 hoops in total - putting them 2' apart (using one of the rebar as a spacer).  Mo bought me clips for Christmas that I just put the poly on the hoops and then the clips hold it in place and can be easily removed to get into the hoop house to work.  I plan to put the poly on soon so it can act as a greenhouse to warm up the soil - then start some greens in early March.  I will probably attach a 1x1" board to the top of the hoops to keep them from leaning one way or the other.

The rebar I used (3/8" x 24"), and one of the hoops attached to the rebar in ground. 

I have a massive case of Spring Fever!!!

.....and the only medication is planting some seeds!!!  I started a tray of 23 different varieties of peppers on 2/3/2013.  Not every variety has germinated, but I have a good amount of baby pepper plants!  Its so much fun to go down to the basement daily and check to see what has changed.  I have set up my time lapse camera which is taking a photo once a day, so I'll create a video from that in a month or so.  Here is some photos of the peppers as they are today (2/12/13).

About 75% of these are hot peppers.  =)  My gardening friends on Your Garden Show didn't
nickname me "Pepper Queen" for nothing last year...  have to work hard to keep my title!!

These are bell peppers - King of the North (green ones on right) and Black Hungarian (darker one on left)
King of the North is supposed to be a great heirloom for us Northern pepper growers.

Love this macro lens photo of the Lemon Drop hot pepper.

My seed purchases this year came from 2 sources:  the D. Landreth Seed company which is THE oldest seed company in the US (1794!) and almost went out of business so was doing my part to help keep a part of American Gardening history alive (www.landrethseeds.com).

Landreth seed order

My biggest seed order was my fav Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co.  (www.rareseeds.com), their annual seed catalog is gardeners heaven... and a great coffee table book with all the great photography of rare varieties in it. 

Baker Creek seed order

  

Today was a nice sunny day with high temp of about 40, so walked around outside trying to find signs of Spring - which is 35 days away!

Tulips

Columbine starting to show new growth!

Lilacs budding out.

Forsythia buds

Narcissus/Daffodil  and Glory-of-the-Snow in the back

Weeping Pussy Willow has catkins already

 

Chives coming back by the back door

Sedum starting to pop their heads out.

The next project I will have on my hands is to add wooden sides to the rest of my garden beds.   I will be removing more wood panels from the red barn to use, hopefully that will give me enough so I don't have to buy more boards.   Its still really wet right now, so will have to put down lots of newspaper in the paths if I try to start digging the sides.  I need to thrown on some cover crop seeds (oats & field peas) for the beds that will have the later planted crops like peppers and tomatoes.  

2 beds have the sides, 7 more beds to go...

The celery made it thru this winter with flying colors in the cold frame!!  I had chopped it all down to the ground so it actually grew quick a bit in there!

I was super happy that I had no issues with the winds taking off
the tops of the cold frame, surprised actually!

Found one of last years oregano plants made it thru the winter without any protection!

Wish I could say that the rest of the winter would be nice and sunny with temps in the 40's like today, but I know better.... in fact I wouldn't be surprised if we still get more snow (grh).  But seeing the changes in things outside make me know Spring is indeed near, and I can't wait to be busy working in my yard till its dark out with lots of dirt under my nails!  Its the time of year I look forward to the most!  The rebirth of things that once looked dead, and even more so, the rebirth of my soul.