Since I had completed most to the post and beam joinery I moved on to some
of the non-wood parts of the project... site prep, concrete and stone.

I dug the hole by hand, I was all ready to go, and then it rained for a week
so I could not get my concrete poured. I used that week to hump all the
siding stock up to the shop and mill the shiplap rabbets and cut to length.
That also gave me a chance to restack the pile (again) for more generous air
flow. Previously, the interior of the pile was much wetter that the
perimeter.

When the rains receded and the concrete arrived, 25000 lbs of truck, which
has to make a big broken-U to get into position, is not kind to a soggy
(clay soil) lawn... I touched it up, but that will have to be addressed in
the spring.

Laying of the stone took me 5 weeks of weekends and early mornings. You can
see from the "mess" picture that I was surrounded by piles of little rocks,
big rocks, flat rocks, more rocks, and of course more rocks.

I don't miss the piles. The leftover stone became a drystone wall on the
edge of my backyard... I think it adds some nice texture.

The stone come from pile on the edge of a couple of farmers fields (with
permission). My employer was gracious enough to lend me their little 2-yard
dump truck ... perfect for armature stone gathering.

Stay tuned; the barn raising is scheduled for August 11.

-Steve









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