The tent disaster lasted much longer than it should have.  As I told you all before, Ron located what he thought would be the perfect tent on a Canadian company’s website.  He placed the order and then waited for confirmation.  Nothing.  He waited a week and then called them.  They finally acknowledged receiving the order  but still did not sent an email confirming the order was being processed.  Another week went by and Ron called again.  Not sure I buy their story of having email troubles.

Finally last week they advised Ron, after a few more phone calls, that the order was being processed.  We should expect a call soon from the shipping company to arrange delivery.  The call did come and we made plans accordingly.   Of course,  our plans did not work out so well. Ron got a call at 11 am telling him that the tent would not be delivered.  It was still in New Hampshire.  If Ron wanted to pay $460 more for “expedited” shipping they would get it to us sooner.  Of course they also wanted him to sign a form agreeing not to hold them responsible for any damage, sight unseen at that.   Thank goodness we have unlimited calling on our cells as he spent quite a bit of time on the phone.  Both with the tent company and the shipping company.

On Tuesday he finally agreed to be at home at 2 pm the following day as there was no way they could guarantee arrival after 3:30 pm.  Annoyed but resigned. No way for him to win this one when he really needed the tent.

The truck drive was the same one who delivered the pawpaws and elderberries last year.  But he didn’t arrive until almost 5:30.  So much for Ron needing to take an hour off work so he would be there in time.  More annoyance.

Ron and I loaded it onto our trailer and then headed to THF to drop it off.  We would all meet after work on Wednesday in order to get started putting this thing together.  When we got home, Ron was immediately on the phone with nephew Jesse and brother Don.  Jesse is expert at putting things together so he was much needed.

On Thursday Ron headed out to THF after work, Jo met him there and I was the last arrival. Of course, Ron called me just as I was leaving work and asked that I head to the house instead and pick up the chainsaw.  Apparently they needed to cut down a few trees. They were in the way of our new tent.

By the time I arrived, they had the entire frame set up.  Of course, Jesse was not happy.  The first part of the instructions suggested the tent be set up on slab.  No mention of the best way to set it up on a forest floor.

The decision was made to wait until Friday to get the cover on.  Both Ron and I had taken the day off.  While we were picking things up, I decided to try and damage myself again. I tripped over a tree root and went crashing to the ground.  Smacked my hands, knees and head pretty good.  Ron made me sit down and drink some water until he was sure I was alright.  He wanted to take everyone to dinner, but I was not up to it. I headed home to take some aspirin.

The next day, Ron and I head out to the farm with a full load of supplies, including his newest toy.  A jackhammer.  He bought this in order to plant the lavender starts we ordered.  You all know just how many rocks we have at THF.   We are so over dealing with them.  And wouldn’t you know it, Jesse got to try it out for the first time with our tent setup.  We were supposed to set anchor points in order to hold the blasted thing down.  Of, course no amount of sledge hammer use was getting the job done.  While the jackhammer busted through the rocks like magic, the blade was just not long enough to do the job.  We will have to get back to that part of the process.

Getting the cover on was actually the easy part.  Then we had to lace the ends up.  You can see the grommets on the right hand side.  They were on both ends and went up sides, across the top and down again.  This was the hardest part.  It was a struggle to get the strapping under the frame, all the while keeping it from twisting.  We were all so happy when it was finally done.

We cleaned up the area and headed home.  Still had quite a bit to get organized at home for tomorrow.  Have notes all over the place to make sure we don’t forget anything.  Like the mushroom spawn.  That would mess up the whole day.

After a beer for Ron and glass of wine for me, we are done for the day.  We really need to get a solid night’s sleep tonight.  A lot of work tomorrow, but with lots of friends and some family on hand, we will get it all done.  For those of you who cannot make it tomorrow, we will be planting lots of lavender mid May.  Will be looking for volunteers then too.

A lovely spring day.  Perfect for spending a few hours out at THF getting ready for our 3rd annual mushroom inoculation.  Jo, lucky girl, had the weekend off and was able to come with us.  Knowing our daughter well, we stopped at our favorite diner for breakfast before heading out.

Sadly, the biggest job we had today was to take down and remove our work tent.  It had served us well last year, but the unexpected snow storm last month killed it dead.

As you can see, there is no way we could get any use of it in its current condition. First we cleared it out of all the tools, chairs and tables we had stored there.

Then we pulled off the top.

So amazing that the weight of the snow did so much damage.  Not only bent the support beams but crunched them too.  I had really hoped we would be able to reuse it in some way.  Will have to given it some serious thought.  We did savage the bungie cords and most of the poles.  The sides and cover can be used as tarps, but I am determined to figure something out.

Ron did his usual and searched the web for a stronger tent.  One that would hold up to the snow.  Though of course, you can bet next winter he will be getting out to the farm no matter what the weather.  Just to be sure.

So he found one from a company in Canada.  A bit more costly than we had hoped, but we do need the strength.   He placed the order and then waited, and waited some more.  Finally he called them.  After all we do have a timeline.  Everything needs to be set up and ready by April 14.  We have a lot of work to get done the next day and need a tent in order to pull it off.   Apparently the company was having trouble with their email.  So he waited again.  And then called again.  Finally they confirmed the tent would be shipped and delivered this week.  Ron got a call from the shipping company who confirmed sometime this week as delivery date.

So we got the tent down and stacked all the pieces out of the way.  Then we moved on to the next task.  Ron wanted to sort the new logs we had.  Pulling out the ones that were just a bit too big for one person to handle. Those will be used for another type of mushroom that will be “static” and not need soaking.  The sugar maples were stacked in another pile.  Ron has plans for those too.  And we have the “pretties” pile.  Those logs that are small enough for someone to easily carry around and look their best.   Ron is hoping to sell those to people looking to grow their own shiitakes.  And  we have the stack of what we think are quaking aspen.  Which will also be another type of mushrooms.

Normally these would be neat stacks of 25, but nature does not always cooperate.   We have about 150 logs stacked down near our soon to be work area, ready to go.

Now that the logs were sorted, it was time to tackle Ron’s whimsies.  He wants to have fun and silly things scattered around THF.  Things that will bring a smile to any visitor’s lips.

I can see this being  a part of his plans for the next few years.  I am just hoping he gets most of this stuff a garage sales or in someone else’s throw away pile.

We are going to be busy this week, getting ready for this weekend.  Fingers are crossed that the current weather prediction holds true. 10 percent change of rain on Saturday and temp in the 60’s.  I can live with that  Thing is, Ron thinks he is coming down with a cold.  So not good.  He is a big old baby when he is sick.  Anyone have a magic cure?

Log jam, that is.

It is a good thing that we pushed out mushroom inoculation back two weeks.  We still have a good foot of snow out on THF.  More in some spots. I found a few while walking down our path to the road.

Our plan for last Saturday was to wait out the rain and then head to the farm to see if we could get a path of sorts laid in for log delivery on Sunday.  Jo had the weekend off so we pulled on the boots, warm socks and work clothes and were on our way.  With 4 wheeler of course.

Ron’s idea was to run the 4 wheeler up and down the path, battering down the snow.  After he took a few runs at it, he handed it over to Jo.

I had the idea of filling our black sled with a few logs and dragging it behind. Hoping that it would help compact the snow.   We tossed in 4 logs but really should have used more.  It was not heavy enough to make much of an impact.   We lost count of the numbers of times Jo went back and forth, but she did a good job at getting some serious ruts dug out of the snow.  I do have to tell you that it is not the easiest thing to walk in those ruts.  You tend to knock your boots together or lose your balance as you struggle to stay in line.

Finally Ron took over again this time heading toward the road, across our field.  We needed a solid path to get the logs actually to our work area.  Slogging through the snow was not going to make our work any easier.

Obviously his plan to have a straight line from point a to point b did not quite work.  The deep snow was no respecter of a plan.  It was fun though a bit unnerving to watch him as he zipped back and forth.

Then his phone rang and it was Peter telling him that the next load of logs were ready to go.  Ron told him we would need an hour to get ready.   Then he sent me and Jo home to get the air compressor.  One of the tires on our wagon was going flat and needed air in order to do the best work.   He didn’t bother to tell him that the blasted compressor would fill up and then immediately proceed to bleed the air back out.  By the time we got back to the farm, there was very little left.  Just enough to make a small difference.

Peter arrived in his truck with a fully loaded trailer and two friends.  The first load into the wagon was light, Ron not being sure how much the wagon would take.  All went well and the second load was doubled.

Jo and I waited at the tree line and unloaded and stacked the logs into our usual grouping of 25.   Peter and his friends waited for Ron and filled, then refilled the wagon.  With all those helpers we were done in just over an hour.  199 more logs at THF.

We are almost in business.  Just over two weeks to finalize all the plans, figure out a way to jerry rig a repair to our work tent, get all the food bought, confirm we have all the needed supplies, bake some yummy cookies and con brother in law Don into agreeing to pick up donut holes on the day.   The actual list of things to get done by April 15 is much longer.  I am trying not spend too much time worrying about that.

Remember all the final details can be found on our Tiny House Farm Augusta NY FB page.

Last Saturday was not the best day for it, but Ron had already made arrangements for Peter and Christine to drop off the first load of mushroom bolts. As I said before, the man would not let a little thing like sub freezing temps get in his way. If is was over 80 outside, that would be different.
As the plan was to meet them at THF at 9 am, so of course, we left the house two hours earlier.  Dress code was warm clothes and layers with tall boots. Just so you know, I consider Smartwool socks a necessity of life. Their long johns are pretty good too. Ron bought those for me several years ago. To use when we were out shoveling snow. Never imagined I would be needing them on our own farm. Before the logs arrived, we have a few things to get ready. The 4 wheeler and wagon tires needed air added. We had to move some of the pallets down to the tent area and Ron wanted to get the burn barrel going.  Everything got done quickly and we waiting for 9 am to get here. Thank goodness, they arrived early.
With the ground frozen solid, Christine was able to drive their pickup in with trailer attached. Ron and I disconnected it, then Peter helped us unload the back of the truck and they headed off.

The small trailer was hooked up to the 4 wheeler and we loaded it full of logs and Ron drove it down to our soon to be work area.  There we sorted and stacked them onto our pallets in groups of 25.  Easier to keep track of that way, with 400 logs to process.

Ron had us pile the sugar maple logs separately.  He is planning to try growing lion’s mane mushrooms this year.    Apparently you grow them on logs just the like shiitakes.  But that is all on him.  As Jo likes to tell me, I am not mushroom people.  Log hauler, that is me.

Once we finished unloading the logs, we headed off to Peter and Christine’s place.  They have a few more logs waiting for us, and we wanted to get them out to THF.  As it happens, Peter was having his own adventure.  He had to rebuild the carburetor on his lawn tractor before he could use it to move the logs.   We loaded them onto the trailer and headed back to THF.  By now the wind had really picked up and we were feeling the cold even more.  While we had been working,  we were warm enough.  Now it was time to go home.

We left behind Ron’s chickens to enjoy the cold.  Brother in law Don was the one who created the coop for them. He really has a great imagination.

These guys should do well on THF. I do have to wonder how we will handle real ones running around the property in a few years. But that again will be on Ron’s shoulders. I will just use their lovely fresh eggs to bake cookies.