Labor Day (Week)!

We have finally gotten to a point where we have cleaned up the boxes and have some space in the house to function. It's been quite a challenge finding time to unpack and organize while working on farm projects and planning for fall duties and winter preparation.

We enjoyed company on Monday for Labor Day. Nate and Kaitlin invited friends to have a southern barbeque. In Cleveland the word barbeque most often implies ribs, but in North Carolina we're talking “Pork Butt”. Now there was some discrepancy as to whether it is really a pig’s backside or the shoulder, but it doesn’t seem to have any bearing on the propriety of preparation of “barbeque”. The first barbeque rule is that cooking the pork must take longer than driving from one side of Texas to the other. The second rule is that for as many people as there are in the South, there are an equal number of secret recipes for barbeque sauce and purchasing a bottle of a commercially recognized sauce is equivalent to slapping the Queen of England in the face on her birthday. The grill was started at ten thirty in the morning and we ate at seven o’clock in the evening. There was significant discussion regarding what the secret barbeque sauce was “missing” and everyone went home slightly heavier than they came.

Bradley Builders was back in business for a few days working to get the chicken coop built. After much reading, study and thought we decided to "wing it" (think chicken) and began building. The major design decisions were made by Gayle (who as always is wholly concerned with aesthetics and mostly unconcerned about the functionality of the new "Hotel Del Pollo") and approved by our resident space planning and design consultant, Kaitlin.

In an effort to be as eco-friendly and organic as possible the chickens will have no contact with pressure treated lumber, so we used regular old plywood for the floor. The reason the floor is green is because that was the color of the least expensive exterior latex mis-tinted, and therefore, discounted paint at Lowes. A whopping three dollars for the whole can. We actually are trying to build the coop out of recycled materials as much as possible. We ran an add on freecycle.com in the area asking for recycled, used and leftover lumber. We actually had one response and are hoping for more before long. Windows were purchased at the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store in Davidson, NC about 20 minutes from here, also at a great discount. Gayle is sure we will be visiting there a lot! At this point the floor is complete and the first wall frame is up. We are hoping to get the walls finished and a roof on this weekend. The chickens stay in the coop for the first couple of weeks to get them acclimated and make sure they remember where home and their nest is and then we can let them out in the "free range".

Soon we will be expecting the birds from Cleveland to be arriving for the winter. We are hoping to recognize them by the Mid-Western accents in their chirping. We have prepared accomodations for them and promise that we will not try to convince them to stay here when it's time to return home in the spring. It's a little bit odd adjusting to the different climate here after living in Cleveland for our entire lives. We expect weather to cool down when the school buses start rolling but are still experiencing summer weather. I don't know how long it will take to get the new pattern of the seasons deep in our bones, if ever.