![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/images\/FarmMar30_01.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOne chicken yard down, another chicken yard and a new garden space still to go.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Last week, Chareva attached heavy-gauge chicken wire to the bottom of the first chicken yard and bent it out into the grass.\u00a0 That should be enough to keep critters from digging under.\u00a0 We both attached the net overhead to keep critters from swooping in or climbing over the fence for a chicken dinner.<\/p>\n
The poles that keep the net above our heads are sunk into concrete poured into a bucket.\u00a0 I dug holes deep enough to bury the buckets so the poles don\u2019t fall over.\u00a0 To keep the metal poles from tearing the net, I covered each pole with a plastic water bottle.\u00a0 It may not be a pretty solution, but it works.\u00a0 Al Gore would be proud of the way we reduce, reuse and recycle around here.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/images\/FarmMar30_03.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
We also needed the net to be elevated enough to open the door into the chicken yard.\u00a0 Not surprisingly, Chareva suggested we construct a canopy by bending a cattle panel inside some t-posts.\u00a0 I say \u201cnot surprisingly\u201d because she\u2019s developed a thing for cattle panels.\u00a0 Any problem I raise, any project I suggest, she immediately describes how a cattle panel or two will do the trick.\u00a0 I\u2019m afraid I\u2019ll come home from work someday and find she\u2019s used cattle panels and t-posts to convert our bed into a four-poster model with a nice canopy overhead.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/images\/FarmMar30_02.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Anyway, after the chicks spent several hours huddled together in their new house, probably wondering where the heck we’d move them next, a few of them came out to explore.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/images\/FarmMar30_04.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The new chicken yard is one-quarter of Chareva\u2019s spring-project design, which includes two chicken yards and two gardens partly surrounded by chicken moats.\u00a0 I spent much of Saturday pounding in more t-posts to finish off the exterior skeleton of the rectangle that encloses everything.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the project, I pounded in t-posts along the wrong line and had to pull them up and start over.\u00a0 I was determined not to repeat that mistake, so this weekend I checked and double-checked the line before pounding \u2026 and then pounded in a whole line of posts with the nubs facing the wrong direction.\u00a0 Apparently, I really do want the extra triceps workouts.<\/p>\n
Part of the grand design is to have a wide gate leading to a walkway down the middle of the gardens.\u00a0 The wide gate is heavy, so we sunk a tall wooden pole a bit more than three feet into the ground, then attached the gate.\u00a0 Looking\u00a0 at the picture below, you\u2019d probably think we lack the skills to sink a pole on a true vertical line so the gate holds a horizontal line.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/images\/FarmMar30_05.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
But you\u2019d be wrong.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/images\/FarmMar30_06.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The problem, as usual, is the hilly terrain.\u00a0 (Not that I\u2019m complaining.\u00a0 I love these hills.)\u00a0 Given the slope of the land, we had a choice:\u00a0 elevate one side of the gate stupidly high to provide clearance for the other side, or dig away part of the hill.\u00a0 We chose to dig.\u00a0 We still have more digging to do so the gate can swing open freely.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/images\/FarmMar30_07.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
In the picture below, you can see how high the end of the gate is when it\u2019s all the way open.\u00a0 Like I\u2019ve said before, you pretty much have to stand on these hills to appreciate the slope.\u00a0 Pictures tend to flatten it.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.fathead-movie.com\/images\/FarmMar30_08.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
It was a perfect weekend for working outdoors, sunny and in the 40s.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the cool temperatures made me forget I have Irish skin.\u00a0 Since dumping the crappy vegetable oils from my diet, I don\u2019t burn as easily as I once did.\u00a0 But two long days in the sun will still do the trick.\u00a0 So I\u2019m now sporting my first farmer tan of the year \u2026 well, farmer burn.<\/p>\n
And although I didn\u2019t pay attention to the compass while working, I apparently spent most of Sunday with my left side facing the sun.\u00a0 So until the burn fades, I\u2019m officially a Southern redneck, but only on the left.\u00a0 My right side, of course, is still a libertarian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"