Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Moving a Pole Building

This last weekend I moved a small pole building. It was built for pigs by my Dad and I about 18 years ago. It was no longer in a convenient place for pig raising. This was the second building we have successfully moved, and I thought the operation was interesting enough to give some pointers. My lovely and talented wife made the slide show. The basic technique is to raise the poles with a jack, cut the poles, then nail treated boards on all sides to connect them. The boards act as skids, and remain in place. The building survived a 100 foot trip, and is now completely portable. It is however, now about 3 more inches out of square, but the pigs do not seem particularly upset by this.

Dig generously around the poles, especially if the building is not on level ground.

When raising the building with the jack, be patient, listen for creaks.

I insert bricks to slowly raise the building on each side, then use the jack to go higher. Insert the bricks where they will not interfere with positioning the planks to connect the poles.

Be generous with nails, braces and anything to stabilize the building. It is especially important when bracing shed roof buildings to tie into the roof.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Bantam nation



two years ago, I traded a gallon of cider and two Buff Orpington Pullets to a homesteading neighbor for six bantams, (five Japanese and one White Cochin).
There are now somewhere around 45-55 of them running around. I sold two boxes at Rogers Ohio in last year and in June this year. I sold four from an ad at the local mill, The day after I sold them, another four chicks hatched. They are breeding faster than I can get to market. If any readers are in the area and want a FREE starter flock, please email the midlandagrarian at gmail dot com.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

A good Essay from Home on the Range

I have been meaning to post this in between garden cleanup sheep work and life.
Big Texas sized Hat Tip to the New Anglican Firearms Enthusiast for spotting this one and to Brigid over at Home on the Range for writing it. This article is important for those who want to maintain self reliance in an evil World and those who love their families enough to protect them, rather than denying the possibility of evil

Click Here to Read it All