Farm Renovations: What's First?

Farm Renovations: What's First?

There were a few things that we had to take care almost right away at the farm before we got too far into renovations. The first, was putting a fence around the pool in order for insurance to give us liability.

One of the next things we had to address was the critter tenants in the attic. We bought some animal traps and used marshmallows to catch the first raccoon and cat food to catch the next two. We relocated them to a nice, peaceful place far away from houses and barns where they could be a nuisance. They were really cute, though. 

To keep the raccoons from returning, we had to patch two holes in the roof. You'll never believe what we caught on our roof using the security camera!

While doing all of these things, we waited to hear back on results about the mold in our house. We took mold samples in the kitchen, the basement, and the addition bedroom closet (the three worst mold locations). Other than a small patch of black mold (yikes!) in the addition closet, the other molds in the house were your typical molds that can cause everyday allergies if you're allergic. From what we've read online, black mold requires a constant water source, and the patched hole that you see in the picture above is where the water was coming into the closet. So, we've stopped the water source, and plan on bleaching the walls as well as tearing out the drywall. We will probably end up boarding up the closet just to be safe. The good news is the black mold was only in the part of the house that we plan on tearing down anyway. (For those curious, radon tests came back fine as well). 

Lastly, we got a structural inspection done. While we were completely expecting the outcome we got, it still hurts a little. What you're looking at below is how much each of the walls of the house lean. This inspection is why we decided to get rid of the addition. We are going to have to completely rebuild the foundation in the basement, which means we can't really afford another $20,000 to save the addition which is uneven pretty much all over. The basement walls themselves are leaning in as much as 3 inches in some places. They are braced, so we aren't worried about them caving in (for now), but it's something that we need to address one way or another in the future. We have two quotes coming on Sunday and Monday for estimates of how much it will cost to fix the foundation. We can't fix the foundation for another 5 years (we have to destroy the addition first), and it's also going to require getting rid of the concrete patio out back and the concrete porch out front. Hopefully, we will be able to do some of the excavation and leg work ourselves to make the cost cheaper. Just trying to know what we are getting ourselves into. 

With the major things out of the way, we took things more slowly. We finished tearing the cabinets out of the kitchen and were surprised to find 5-6 rat holes to the outside and dead animal bones under the cabinet. 

I made napkins to eventually sell on Etsy (or enjoy myself). 

And Rylee got her first snow day! (Look at that little marshmallow!)

(The first snow since we've owned the farm. Photo credit: Ankaye). 

Sam and I bundled Rylee up and took her out to sleigh ride even though there was barely snow on the ground. She liked it more than the ocean, but she still didn't really like it. I think that may have been because she had so many clothes on that she could hardly walk. Here's her first sleigh ride with her Daddy. 

When things warmed back up a bit, we took a mini-vacation in Bowling Green for a few days and went hiking at Shanty Hollow with Sam's mom.

The waterfall was gorgeous and super relaxing. If it hadn't been so chilly (and Rylee hadn't wanted to keep climbing in it), I could have stayed there all day to watch and listen. 

Back at my parent's house, my Dad decided to cut down a tree that he's been wanting to get rid of for years ever since it died. Way to go, Dad!

We took advantage of the brief warm period to clean out the chicken coop and move the boys in with the girls. We felt sorry for them living all by themselves in a small run. I think (most of) the flock is happier with the boys around for protection. The girls have started to slowly pick up egg production, too, so maybe the boys are encouraging them to lay.

Speaking of chickens, it's starting to be spring. You know what that means? It's baby chick time! Chickens are one of those things that no matter how many you have, you always want more. Different breeds, different egg colors, different genders even! We are expanding the male population of our flock this year in hopes for breeding up to 8 different pure breeds in the future. We do have a few eggs that we are hoping to incubate soon, so keep an eye out for those pictures.

We built a brooder, and while you may note some similarities to the one we built last year, this one has some cooler features that I will now point out. The lid hinges, so you don't have to pick the whole thing up and move it. The little lid that you see cute little Rylee under is easy access to the food and water so that we don't have to remove the entire lid to change them. Lastly, the fan on the back of the main lid is the filter. Chicks are fluffy and dusty--either from down feathers, dander, or the dust from pine shavings. Either way, since we have them indoors, we don't want the dust spreading. Sam put a box fan overtop of an air filter, and (with a little help from negative pressure) most of the air will flow through the filter and keep the room from getting dusty.

As I write, we have a sink that is drying after a silicone application in the addition den.

We drove all the way to Indiana to purchase a granite countertop and sink that we found on FaceBook Marketplace.

It was a team effort to get the granite loaded on the trailer, the table built, and the granite loaded off the trailer and installed. That sucker weighed around 400lbs. 

The plan is to turn the addition den into a temporary (potentially for up to the next 5 years) kitchen while we renovate the downstairs. Once we get the downstairs renovated, which would include the kitchen, we will transition the granite countertop and sink to an outdoor area (we are thinking by the grill and long term (~30 years from now) a nice pavilion by the pond where we can have family dinners and corn hole parties). 

So what's next for us? We are in the process of cleaning out the upstairs rooms as well as cleaning the floors and walls up there. We want to turn the upstairs into an apartment, with a master bedroom, a spare bedroom, a nursery, and a living room. We are even going to put a door at the top of the stairs so that we can completely shut it off from the downstairs while we renovate. 

Once we get all moved in, we will be ripping out floors, ceilings, and walls of every single room in the main floor (minus the addition of course since it's getting torn down sometime in the next five years). In addition to wanting to replace it all, we also want to take stock of the actual structure. With this house, it seems like the only thing that we are going to be able to save is the structure. So if the studs are bad (either molded or termite damaged, see picture below), we will sadly have to give up our home and opt for a demolition of the whole thing and a rebuild. Everyone be praying that we don't find problems that can't be fixed during our ripping out days. I REALLY want to be able to save the house. 

(Anyone ever seen termites eat drywall? Me neither. I'm really starting to not like the addition...)

Now, one little blurb that most of you will probably skip past, but some of you might find useful or at the very least interesting. Many of you know that I am training to teach NFP (in fact, I'm now in practicum), but you may not know what that means. Natural Family Planning (NFP) is a term used for birth control methods that read a woman's natural body signals as a method for determining fertility in order to achieve or prevent pregnancy. Specifically, I am becoming certified to teach the Billing's Ovulation Method. It's up to 99.9% accurate at helping to prevent pregnancy and can help to achieve pregnancy as well. It's completely natural, has no side effects, no detriments to fertility, and doesn't require the use of artificial hormones or devices. This method can be used by women just starting their period, women trying to avoid/achieve pregnancy, breastfeeding moms, and even women going through menopause. 

It IS possible to responsibly space children without the use of modern contraception, despite the bad reputation and stigma that NFP has. The Billing's Method can even be used as a health monitor. As the progesterone and estrogen cycle in a woman's body, it causes certain noticeable signs to occur. By monitoring a cycle, women can identify (in addition to their fertile times of the month) problems in their cycle. The use of the Billing's Method has allowed women with cysts, endometriosis, and PCOS to identify specific problems in their past cycles other than just noting painful symptoms. Tracking can help to suggest where in the timing of a woman's cycle the hormones are not functioning properly--leading to more direct treatment of the actual problems instead of just symptoms. Tracking is something that every woman deserves to know how to do, if only to understand her body better and take the mystery out of the cycle. 

If you, or anyone you know, are interested in learning more (lessons are tailored to the need of the individual meaning anywhere from just tracking to tracking with the rules for preventing/achieving pregnancy), they can contact me at ToreyAnneBurns@gmail.com. If you want to do some snooping first to learn more on your own, you can visit the Diocese of Lexington NFP website (that I completely redid) at cdlex.org/natural-family-planning. I wish I could make people understand the beauty of NFP, but there's just so much stigma that has to be gotten through first in order to get people to really listen and take it seriously. NFP has changed mine and Sam's lives in so many ways!

Alright, that's all for now. Here's a picture of a messy, spaghetti mouthed little girl!

 Pax Domini cum spirito tuo temper sit,

Torey, Sam & Rylee

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