Waging War with Nature

Operation removal and restore has begun today. Our property has been so neglected over the past couple years and nature has had its way. Trees, bushes and rodents. Yes, we’re in the country now so mice are the real deal!

One of my passions is woodworking, and since I left behind a 5 stall shop in Oregon I was eager to claim a space on the new property to carve out a wood shop. A new three car attached garage was built a couple years ago, and so that left the single car detached garage behind the house wide open for a wood shop. But it’s infested. The mice and birds have had their way for long enough that I’m going to have to completely gut the walls. A little junk removal and weedeating are in order as well, but I think this will be a decent space with a little effort.

 

It’s not just the woodshop that needs to be unburied though. We had everyone pitching in today. Here are a couple pics of one of the hog sheds that we could put to good use once we reclaim it.

And since this blog is called the old brick barn, I thought I’d share what the namesake actually looks like. It a fantastic building, but it needs some love and care. The roof will need replaced before it can be put to use, and so will a lot of the internal wood structure. But our goal is to preserve it and restore it back to its former glory!

There’s lots to do. Don’t even mention the weeds in the fields and the boxes still needing to be unpacked and all the things we want to do to the house. Good things to come though! We’ve only been in Iowa for four days now, and we’re having a blast.

Have a happy fourth of July!