A good weekend of work

We are officially moved out of the apartment and into the house, chickens and all!

This weekend yielded a lot of progress outdoors, but I forgot to take pictures while the sun was up!  We built the first of what will be three chicken runs... this one is 40'x40', and the coop will open up directly into the run.  We are going to put gates on either side of it that open up into two other runs that we have yet to build so that we can rotate the grazing/scratching/pooping that the chickens do.  That will enable the yards to rest and be reseeded with grass every so often.  We want to put some kind of cover over the center yard to make it more predator resistant so that when we want to go away on a weekend, the girls can go in and out of the coop at their leisure without being at risk for getting eaten.  The perimeter fencing is 5; high, dug into the ground about 5", with 8' Tposts dug in about 16". We're debating chicken wire (BIG project, expensive and difficult but the most safe for the girls), fishing line (cheap and easy, but only really effective for hawks), and cargo netting (perhaps a happy medium, but we're not sure what the cost would be).

Honeybunch took a chainsaw to one of the trees we felled, and we hauled the logs into the barn to dry.  We ordered a really nice garden cart from Lehman's, and after today's task we are REALLY looking forward to its arrival. 

I dug the first of the garden beds that will go in the paddock in front of the barn.  We are going to have some compost and top soil delivered, and we're going to mix it in with the native clay soil and build mounded beds.  The paddock area is full sun, and free from the plague of black walnut trees.  We're going to plant our perrenials there (asparagus, strawberries, red and black raspberries, blueberries, blackberries), and still have some room to spare for a small annual veggie garden for this year.  We're going to terrace the hill that the house sits on and make that our large vegetable garden, but we've come to terms with the fact that it probably won't get done this year. 

Inside, it's pretty chaotic, with boxes in various states of unpacking all over the place.  Despite that, it's starting to feel like home.  I've been nesting like crazy.  I've never enjoyed hanging curtains so much before.  There is a lot left to do, as you can see from the messiness of the following photos, but bit by bit we're figuring out where we want things to go and how to best organize each room. 

Honeybunch's workshop/office space, already in use!

The main bathroom... vanity painted white instead of that awful wood... still need to do the light fixture though!

Fish tank is moved in and set up, looks like everyone survived the trip.

The bedroom is coming together nicely, but we need to find a better spot for the shotgun, me thinks :)

10 IKEA wine racks put together by yours truly and filled (mostly) with our homemade wines.

The dining room

Awesome metal shelving unit/baker's rack thingie... will be more organized when we get a hanging pot rack.

Almost all of that stuff on the counter is my spices... newly built spice shelves are stained and drying, waiting to be mounted on the wall next to the window there.

Our fridge :)

One of the things that made me most happy this weekend... I found airtight plastic containers that fit a good amount of flour, sugar etc (our bulk 5 gallon buckets just don't fit in the kitchen anywhere) that fit into the drawers!  Hurray!

That's all I've got for you folks tonight.  I'm sore and sleepy!