Winter Prep

This past week we experience our first cold weather  with temperatures dipping into the 20's. In addition to the other things we have been doing around here, I have slowly been working on making the shop more habitable so that once cold weather arrives for an extended stay I can work on some projects I have planned without worrying about frostbite.  My brother Tim gave me a bunch of leftover insulation which I applied to the exterior walls and covered with OSB board which helped quite a bit. However, memories of cold winds blowing through from the ceiling had me scrounging for a way to insulate all that space. i looked into buying the insulation and installing it myself when Lisa suggested we call our contractors to see who they would recommend.  Truthfully, I think she just didn''t want to spend time on scaffolding and ladders while I/we installed it ourselves. Of course, our contractor came through for us and recommended the same company who did our house. Truth be told, they charge just a little bit more than the materials alone would have cost me.

Today they came and in a matter of 3 hours completely installed R-19 insulation in the ceiling and knee walls on the ends.  Boy, what a difference in sound and warmth already. For now, I'll use space heaters to heat the space until I can work out something more permanent.

 R & S insulation 

The completed job

Now we are waiting for estimates on installing a ceiling  which we'll try to get done next month. 

I am also slowly working on getting beds ready for winter with mulch and soil amendments all around.The blueberries have a fresh layer of mulch as do the raspberries while the asparagus  has a fresh layer of dirt.  We also have a black walnut tree up near the road that drops  black walnuts (funny thing) everywhere. Yesterday I took the tractor up to clean up where they had dropped on the ground and picked up an entire front end loaders worth.They are a real mess and tend to sour the soil so it's important to get them up.  I took some of our bounty and "planted" them by throwing them into the woods in hopes they will grow.  The rest I just dumped on the edge of the woods for the squirrels to work on. 

nope, not tennis balls; black walnuts