What? More projects?!

I've kept busy this week, painting the garden shed a hideous color and starting work on building a three-sided storage shed down near where the goat barn will be built. The weather cooperated better than the last few, with highs near 90 instead of 100. Next week will be even better, but I start classes again Monday, so that will cut into my outdoor time.

The garden shed was originally white, if you recall earlier photos. I scraped off as much of the old paint as I could, then used an old broom to clean the walls before painting. My folks had gone out and bought some mistinted paint, it being the cheapest you can find. They had two gallons of a dark gray/black color, so that was what I used. After a few hours, the initial painting was done, although I still need to do the finish work and trim, resulting in what you see below.


I also painted the compost bin green to blend in with its background (and so the neighbors wouldn't complain since it is sitting only a few feet from the property line).

The three sided shed will be built in "pole barn" style and covered with tin panels. Fortunately, our neighbor has a post hole digger attachment for his tractor, so drilling the 2-foot deep holes for the posts were easy. They are placed 6-feet apart, so the building measures 6-feet by 12-feet.

Staked out for drilling

2-foot deep holes

For the corner poles, we used some scrap lumber that had been left by the previous owners. These 8x8's weighed a ton and were much longer than we needed, so I used the mower to drag them over to the shed site and a chainsaw to cut them the right height - 6-feet in the back and 7-feet in the front. The open wall will be on the west side, facing into the goat yard.


After the poles were in place, we used 7-foot long 2x4's to stake them out level, then poured concrete mix into the holes followed by water. Since the concrete serves just to hold the poles in place rather than a structural component, the concrete doesn't have to be mixed before it is added.


Once they dry, the 2x4's will be removed and used as the wall frame. We have a 12-foot long timber to link the front poles and serve as a brace for the roof. When finished, the shed will house all the miscellaneous building materials we have piled up around it.

Hopefully, all this will fit in the new three-sided shed because the cob goat barn will be built on this site. Stay green!