Birthdays on the Farm

Evan and I both celebrated birthdays in April and we spent them with a mix of work and fun on the farm.

Evan’s Birthday

For his birthday, Evan wanted to explore the woods that surround our property to find the best places to cut some trails. He looks forward to off roading our vehicles on these trails around the farm. This was the first time we could really spend some time just checking out all of the woods.  Scared of snakes and creepy crawlies, an afternoon tromping around in the woods is not my idea of fun. Since it was Evan’s birthday; however, I followed him into the muck.

We walked most of the length of the woods to the side of our property. I need to buy proper walking in the woods shoes! My cheap water boots stopped mid calf, and Evan rescued me from the mud several times when I got stuck. We also checked out the woods in the back of our property and discovered the old kiwi plants the previous owner planted. Fortunately we did not encounter any snakes during our adventures.

To end his birthday weekend, one of Evan’s best friends from home stopped by the farm during his travels, and we spent the afternoon showing them around.

Ali’s Birthday Weekend

We also spent my entire birthday weekend at the farm! My dad met us there as he had not seen the farm yet. Several friends also decided to drive out for the day and we planned to picnic in the yard and enjoy the sunshine. Erin even brought us mimosas!

Unfortunately, things did not turn out as planned. The area experienced several heavy rainstorms earlier in the week, and we found standing water in the basement that morning. We hoped our previous work to the exterior of the basement wall fixed the water problem, but now my birthday picnic turned into a full yard excavation.

We used the farm’s current owner’s excavation equipment to dig the ground out from by the basement wall. (by we I mean Evan) On the previous attempt, they removed only the side walls of the cement solar heat exchanger. This time, Evan broke up the rest of the cement flooring from the unit and removed all of the concrete from the hole.

He really enjoyed using the heavy equipment to dig holes. In this hole, he buried all of the cement he pulled from the basement exterior.

After removing all of the debris, Evan painted the exterior of the bricks with tar. He then placed tar paper against the bricks before moving all of the dirt back into place. They brought in extra dirt from the fields, and we regraded the slope of the dirt further away from the house.

Evan put in a great deal of work on my birthday, but it wasn’t all work and no play! My friends and I rode around on the golf cart, still had our picnic lunches and mimosas, and I showed my dad all around the farm! Not a bad way to end the day. 🙂

Ali’s Birthday Weekend Day 2

The area around the pond needed to be burned off, and the farm’s owner wanted this done that weekend. Evan and I drove back up on Sunday to assist.

First, they made sure there was a burn area cut around the pond especially in the areas closest to the house and the neighbor. Next, they used this tractor to spray water all around the pond to dampen the grass.

Then we burned all the weeds! The fire moved quickly and we kept close making sure the fire stayed just on the tall weeds.

After we finished, Evan fished for a little while and then we called it a night. Another set of successful birthday weekends complete! We hope the new work on the basement wall fixes the leak for good. Only time will tell!