Ohiofarmgirl's Adventures in The Good Land is largely a fish out of water tale about how I eventually found my footing on a small farm in an Amish town. We are a mostly organic, somewhat self sufficient, sustainable farm in Ohio. There's action and adventure and I'll always tell you the truth about farming.


Monday, April 9, 2012

Fencing The Line

We've been working on the new fence line that will become the new dog moat. Its coming along slowly but surely.
See that the new fence line is outside the existing line by 6 or 8 feet. Dog Moat!

We got the rest of the metal tposts pounded in this weekend. We're using 6 ft heavy duty tposts beat into the ground with a tpost pounder like this. This big metal thingy fits over the end of the tpost then you use the handles to whack the post securely into the ground. This tool is really heavy so don't bonk yourself on the head with it. Don't ask me how I know this.

I love that rail road tie at the end. I'm gonna paint it bright pink and put a disco ball on top of it.

We ran the fence line about a foot inside our property line. The line was determined by placing a post at the right spot (12" on our side from the property marker) at each end of the line.  Then we marked it by tying special surveyors string (its bright pink and is extra heavy) on one post and running it to another post 12" inside of the property marker at the opposite end. We pulled it tight and then voila! A straight line!  Then it was just a matter of pounding the posts in so they barely touched the string.

The property marker is to the left of the green post, the rail road tie is on our side, then we measured to make sure we tacked in the string so it was about 12 inches from the actual marker.

The next steps are to install another rail road tie at the bottom end of the fence line and then to string the field fence along all those posts.  We put the tposts about 10 ft apart (measured, of course).  We got them at TSC in bundles of 5 for about $25.  We had some posts but so far that stupid neighbor's dog has cost me a couple hundred bucks in posts alone. See why I'm all hacked off? 

Anyway. I can't wait to get this project completed - its gonna be great to have a dog run for the Dog Horde to goof around in during the day. The chickens won't be able to get in - at least not the smart ones - and the dogs will be right near me when I work in the upper garden and not "helping" me which is more like "get in the way and pee on everything." And having the dogs in the Moat will make it harder for intruders to get into our yard.  Especially when Zander gives them his big boy bark..... (Warning: Poodle owners might want to send their dogs out of the room. You know who you are....)

 That's my good boy! Woof!

That's the progress so far. We are going to have a weird schedule this week. But hopefully we'll get this done soon. In addition to fencing fencing and more fencing we have two other crucial items on our to do list. First we need to have Rooster Day. The roos are really going after the hens aggressively and I'm afraid one of the ladies will get hurt. Also - there is a lot of crowing going on. We are looking forward to a quiet and more respectable barnyard.

Next, we need to send the rest of the creepy meats to the freezer. We only have 7 left and we should be able to take care of them pretty quick - especially since we'll have a couple of cool days coming up. Much better weather than trying to "dress" chickens when its hot.

That's our story - how's your week shaping up? Whatcha working on?

Happy Monday! Now get out there and run some fence!

8 comments:

freemotion said...

My poodle craps bigger than your....oops, nevermind. My poodle just crapped his curly pants.....

Can't wait to see that moat in action!

David said...

Nothing wil dare cross theborder patrol! Not with that bark!

Kittikity said...

Hi, really enjoying your blog.. You seem to have the same sense of humor as me.. We will be moving to Columbus, Ohio in a couple of months so seeing how other Ohio farmers do things is a big help..

MapleGroveFarm said...

Fence as well. Time to start digging post holes for chicken fence and pig fence!

JeffJustJeff said...

Everyone who has used a fence pounder that I know has bonked their head with it. I guess I have that to look forward to. I have fencing on my to-do list. And lots of garden prep.Can you believe we've been here almost a year?! Time flies when you have a never-ending to-do list ;-)

Susan said...

This must be the 'fencing' issues time of year - I'll be trying, feverishly, to goat-proof my fence. At the bottom. Little stinkers. What a great idea - putting a fence-moat around your fence! Would love to see it in action.

Ohiofarmgirl said...

Ha! Free.. tell that good ol' poodle that Zander says "hi" :-)

Isnt he dreamy, Dave? whoot!

Hi Kittikity! thanks for reading - feel free to ask any questions. we'll be glad to have you here in Ohio!

Great work, MapleGF! and yeah.. this is the season to get it done.

JJJ - around here the ER doesnt even look at you funny if thats what you are there for... ha! a year!!!?? really.. wowza - look at all your great progress!

Thanks Susan! Have you tried to run a line of electric along the bottom - that will keep those little goaties in. they have great solar ones and you can get a basic model at Tractor Supply for under $100...which is worth the $$ for sure.

Chai Chai said...

Zander could see the progress on the dog moat and knew it was only a matter of time until he was trapped. He could literally feel the collar tightening around his neck.....tonight would be his last chance....to escape!

Zander knew where the Big Man kept his bike so he made his break, disguised as one of the guards of course. Unfortunately, Titan and Kai saw through his disguise and the hunt was on!

The following footage of Zanders Great Escape attempt is graphic in nature and was hacked at great cost in (cat) lives from the security camera footage used to protect the vastness of the OFG compound, viewer discretion is advised.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coWCkAOkQ0U

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