What else has happened ?

There has been plenty of other things going on in the background.
After putting up the rearing shed and moving the laying hens into a 6th of the space we ended up with a mud puddle. Chris (family) spared some of his precious time away from his beloved xbox and made a gravel path.

The pigs have been busy producing fertiliser. Loads of it.

After separating Doris and Boris I spent some time collecting all their droppings and adding it to the compost.

I also planted 25 alder trees that Nancy (helpx) was going to plant but left abandoned.

First I dug a whole large enough for the roots to fit in and about 30cm deep.

Then I put the tree inside the hole and filled it with soil. Simples ;-)

Just need to add a mulching mat now to keep the grass from growing. Some of the trees had started to wilt but hopefully they will all recover.

Whilst there was no volunteers at the project I started building an outdoor wood store. First I took the bottom off three pallets.

Then I filled the gaps on one of them to use on the weather side to keep the rain out.

Then I stood the three pallets up, braced them together and added a roof.

Chickens love it and are using it as a shelter. With a bit of roofing felt it will make a good outdoor store.

Building a Pig Ark

The pigs, now named Doris and Boris, have had their quibbles but recently Boris has been bullying Doris and not leaving her in peace at all. Separation seems to be the answer which means building a pig ark for Doris.

Andy (helpX) quickly gets to work, taking pallets apart. until there is nothing left of it.

Broken bits are discarded for now and the cross bars are freed of nails.

The pile of timber is graded into thickness and the remaining nails taken out.

We end up with a nice neat pile of timber, so let's get to work.

First the timber is nailed back onto the cross bars, but this time evenly spaced out. One of the cross bars sits neatly in the gap whilst the timber is nailed on, then moves to the next gap...

Quickly enough a new structure is made that looks like a neat version of a pallet.

To make it all waterproof another layer of timber is nailed over the gaps.

After making two of those overlapping boards they are screwed together at a 90 degree angle to form a triangular pig ark.

The front needs a door and the back filling in completely.

First Andy (helpx) thinks about the how and why.

Then Chris tries his hand at measuring, marking and sawing...

Getting there... just a few more and the back will be finished.

The next day Chris (family) fills in the front. Doris will be thankful to him as she had to move in swiftly last night.

Chris does a rather good job and the ark looks brilliant. Doris agrees and after inspecting the new door she goes for a snooze around the back.