Ranch clean up
One of the hardest things we had to do was eliminating the old ranch buildings. There were barns for various uses: a milking barn, hay barn, feeding barn, equipment shed and so on… they were beautifully scenic but, were falling down and unsafe to even enter. Also on the property were many ancient fences and cross fences. It was hard to envision the property with out all the fences. The fencing was mostly old barb-wire that was rotting and broken. Along many of the fence lines the cattle had worn deep gullies from years of use. In some cases oak trees had been used as part of the fence and had to grow around the nailed in barbed wire. Many of the gates were heavy pipe and hand made and we are keeping those.
We tried to reduce the amount of material that was going to the landfill. It was cheaper and made better “green” sense. There were 4 large grain storage bins. Byron Grant called around and found a neighbor that was really excited to have them. Byron also called a few neighbors and asked if anyone would like the old wood from the barns. Several came and dismantled the beautifully aged old wood to use on their properties. We saved some of the wood as well and are going to make furniture for our new barn and stable.
The person that is making our furniture is Jeff Sauer owner of ”Barn Boy Furniture”. He salvages old wood, usually from abandoned barns (with permission of course!) and gives it a new life and a new home. See link below.
A few of the buildings had concrete foundations. We were able to break up the concrete and use it in several of the wash out areas around the ranch…thus, accomplishing two positive things: less for the land fill and improving our property.
The next phase of the clean up…weeds, gophers and the giant wash-out will be covered in an up coming posts.
Visit Jeff Sauer and Barn Boy Furniture
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By Jeff Sauer, May 14, 2009 @ 6:30 am
Hey Diana -
Thank you for the nice comments. I am SO impressed with what you all are doing. Making a green piece of furniture is hard enough. Making a green ranch is a colossal undertaking. I can’t tell you how much I respect/admire/envy what you’re doing. It’s so nice to know someone who is really walking the walk!
Keep the posts coming. It’s a great story you’re beginning to tell!
- Jeff
By Diana, June 14, 2009 @ 3:30 am
Thanks for your nice comment Jeff! I am really excited about this project. We now have the opportunity to ‘do it right’ and tell the story to help and learn from others. If you have any suggestions please don’t hesitate to let us know.
Diana