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Frame for Grandma

Recently my grandmother past away. Not knowing how to express my emotions, I decided to express them in my own fashion. I build a custom frame with custom cut matting.

I made this frame out of walnut and put a simple roman ogee profile on it. Granted this was all made during the “Polar Vortex.” With it’s thirty below temperatures and numb fingers I got it down with the two day deadline. Now I did have to complete some steps in the house. I could not feel my fingers at all!

No Plan, Plan

Here we go again! This was supposed to have been a quick project. I was going to use pre-cut glass and mat. But the cold or my lack of every following a plan I made this 11×14 frame 11×14 1/2….. Well now the glass and mat are too short.

What better time to learn how to cut mats. Thirty below is like a summer breeze right? Mat cutting was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Now the glass cutting was anther story. I just recently learned how to cut glass successfully, 25% of the time. Again, this frame did take two panes to get it just right. Also it showed a great lesson, to cut twice, measure once.

Great Smile and Laughter

The photo is from my wedding. It was another cold day in may, 35 and snowing in May. Grandma was in a good mood for the weather and just cracked a joke when the photo was taken. Not only is this a very cherished memory for myself but also the best photo I can remember to better express her laugh.

This completed frame was displayed at the ceremony. By just plain luck, the frame matched the coffin perfectly. Now, it was in great company sitting along her afghans she knitted for all of us.

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Cherry Side Tables

Is there a start of a picture frame there?

Starting the Pair of Cherry side tables

  • This picture frame just wants to be displayed on the tabe.
  • Picture frame again!
  • Frame is still there!

Here is a sneak peak at the cherry side tables in progress. I have been working on a pair of them off and on for the past month. I decided to challenge myself with new methods and styles.

These tables are assembled using mortise and tenon joinery. No mechanical fasteners here. I did use floating tenons and these tables required 64 mortises! The mortises took a long time to mark out and complete. I do have to say it was worth it.

Picture frame photo bombing the table again!

No Plan, Plan……Again

While making the mortises I did make a mistake on two of the legs and hogged out the material on the worn side of the leg. However, I did not want to remake these legs as they are compound tapered on two sides. I made them with a tapering jig I received for Christmas but still had a lot of hand planing to get the angles just right.

So with not wanting to remake the legs but had ugly holes to fill and or repair, I was stuck. Then I remembered my desktop organizer I made the week before out of cherry and walnut. I loved the contrast between the two. So I made walnut plugs and added this mistake to all the legs to bring more interest to the piece. I believe the plugs look good.

Tiny loving the shavings from the hand planing. Makes a great cat bed on the cold days.

Next Steps

Now that the case of the tables are complete. I am working through what edge or panel cut I want to add to the tops. The tops are two pieces of 9″ wide cherry. I was very lucky to find such wide nice boards. Maybe a raised panel profile or a roundover for the edge? Or should I use a roman ogee?

One thing is for sure I will be making the drawers with rabbit joints and using full extension drawer glides. Then I was thinking wood slides but being more of a “formal” piece and out of cherry. The glides are the best way to go. Either way, they will look great and be a great addition to whoever’s room.

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Random Photos of this past fall

I have not posted photos in awhile. So I uploaded these to share.

Random Photos

I was going through photos and stumbles upon these. I figured that these are share worthy. The llamas in the red halter was when we where trying to get them to behave for a photo shoot. Then the cat pictures where, well there is no need to have an excuse for cat pictures. Look how majestic they look! Also, everyone needs to hold a a chicken every now an then. Either raw and kicking or fried….

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New Picture Frame Style!

New take on a traditional picture frame

This past month I have been working in the barn. Trying to coming up with new projects to make and post for sale. While working on larger projects, I like to make smaller projects to get a variety uploaded. I made several different frames and wanted to make something new, different. I wanted something to spark visual interest. I wanted a new picture frame style. There was a catch, I did not want to use up too much of my good stock on this adventure. This frame would need to be done of mostly scrapes or at least shorts.

I pondered for a moment to come up with a design I thought was pleasing. Then I remembered that my plans are meant to be broken. With a tendency to alter the plans as I find fit. Mostly because I made a mistake and do not want to scrap the whole project. Then I grabbed two lengths of maple and walnut thinking that one or the other will be the inlay. As I was milling up the boards I realized that I was a couple inches short of both pieces to make a 11 x 14″ frame.

No plan “Plan”

Now this is where my “no plan, plan” works. I thought, what the heck, lets finish milling the stock and put a double inlay into both and I will find more stock in the pile or make a different size frame. Well none of that happened. I inlay-ed both pieces and figured better to make a complete frame instead of two half completed frames. Then I was shocked at how it looked. The alternating style is very appealing.

I decided to carry this look over to the splines. Now the dilemma was, what to do with the splines, alternating maybe?. There are only one corner all maple and another all walnut. The last two are half and half. Alternating the colors on the splines only twice instead of three. This made the transition look good and not washed out.

Perfect lined up miters

Miter joints on the frame had to be perfect. If not then the alternating colors would look horrendous. I took special care to ensure I had perfect lined up miters. each inlay lined up with its alternating color. I put a route a roman ogee profile on the inside to dress up the solid lines. This introduced curves and softened up the sharpness.

This frame is perfect for a color photo that fades into a black and white picture. I am making more of this design but with other colored wood species. This one has a formal feel and I am looking to create a more casual and fun frame to appeal to everyone. The next one will look just as good but will not take as much time. I have corrected the challenges and ready to batch these out.

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Bunnies Update

First drinks for the bunnies

New bunnies update now that they left the nest

The new baby bunnies have now moved out of the nest. Now they are hopping around the hutch. I was shocked when I noticed they are running all three levels of the hutch. I thought for sure I was going to need to add a cover so they would not fall down the openings. But they showed me. 

With the bunnies hopping all over the place, it has drawn the attention of some of the other animals. Now I have Sid hiding and stalking the hutch. He is very interested in the little ones.

Sid looking at the new bunnies
Sid interested in the new bunnies

This was the most shocking as I never had an issue with him and the adult rabbits. I guess we are running low on mice for him to hunt.

Barn cat looking at baby bunnies
Sid intrigued still with the new bunnies

Also they have gathered Chatty’s attention. Now he has always worried me with the rabbits. I have seen him stalk them from day one. He will sit on top of the rabbit run waiting for a chance to attack. Chatty surprised me when we opened the hutch to fill the hay feeders. He was very genital  with the two adult rabbits. First thing he did was give Val a kiss and then he wanted to pet them. Yea, I thought this was strange as well. 

Luckily Lucy, Mr. Purr, and Tiny have not shown too much interest in the baby bunnies yet. The babies are the cutest little things. I find it hard to describe them. They are a small rabbit with stubby ears, scrubby fluff balls. The little ones are very active and rambunctious one moment then they are huddled and napping in a instant.  They are now starting to forage for hay and starting to drink from the waterier. These little ones are growing so fast!

Cat petting the rabbits
I can pets too!

Look who’s jealous

Keep up to date here.

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Look who’s hopping now! Baby Bunnies

Surprise! Baby Bunnies

Now this is the biggest surprise I have had in a very long time. I know the ducklings, but this really knocked my back. I was cleaning out the rabbit hutch and noticed that in the main three tiered area, which normally never has droppings, was building up a good amount of poop. So I cleaned each tier. Then I open the “Hide box”, area that has no windows. New born bunniesI find a big nest and it was moving! I looked down and I saw a bunch of baby rats!! Just kidding they were baby bunnies (Kits) but I was in shock at first as I did not know what it was and how. We always believed they were females and sexed them ourselves as well as the breeders.

We found that Bell was the mother and Val was the father. Of course we are wondering what to do now. They already look to be a week old and the mother can be pregnant again within hours of giving birth. We do not want to have 5000 bunnies. Well maybe we do, but most diffidently do not have a big enough hutch for that many. They do have the bunny mansion ( 😉 Not the one in LA.)

We know we have to build yet another addition to the hutch to keep the babies from falling down the ramps.

Bunny Mansion

 I built the screened room with droppings pan on the third level, it is almost identical to the first floor addition. Now the hutch is 7 foot wide but 6 foot tall and 2 foot deep.

The hoppers

Now that we have a secure area for the new little ones they are about 15 days old and just starting to open their eyes. This is when I was able to get the full count on just how many babies their are. We lucked out and only have four little ones. A typical litter is between 4 and 12 babies.14 day old Bunnies But we are not out of the woods yet. Bell may have another litter soon.  She needs to nurse these for 8 weeks and may give birth to another litter in the meantime. This is why we are getting Val neutered ASAP.  One to stop the reproduction and secondly is for Bell’s health. She should not give back to back births.

With the addition in place and the little ones are fluffing out. They are becoming more adventurous. All of them are exploring outside of the nest for short periods and it is just one of the cutest things. Baby bunny with its parentsThey are so small and three look like their dad, Val, a rex mix and one is a spitting image of their mother Val. This little one is just so darling with its little lion mane.

Stay up to date here

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We have added a new Raspberry row!

We have a new row of Raspberries planted

I recently purchased twelve raspberry plants form Stark Bros. I purchased 6 Crimson Night and 6 Double Gold raspberries. Also ordered 4 American Cranberry plants but haven’t found the location I want for them yet.

We installed a new metal roof on the barn lean over the summer and never got around to cleaning up all the old asphalt shingles. So I always new I wanted some kind of berry line along that wall. I decided to knock out two things at once. With the clean up of the shingles and got started inspecting the weeds. I pulled all the vine weeds and raked the soil very well to ensure there wasn’t anymore roofing nails, shingles, cedar shake.

After the cleanup I measured out a 30 foot row and tilled out the row to about 3 foot wide. Once this was well tilled I added organic all purpose garden fertilizer.  Tilled Berry rowFresh tilled Raspberry bedThen once again I tilled it in. Now I am a good tilth to about 10 inches deep. For the final step in soil preparation I added 3 to 4 inches of compost. This is my own compost form the manures on the farm. Finally the soil is perfect and full of nutrients perfect for the new raspberry plants.

Planting the Raspberries

I planted my plants about 6 inches in front of the drip line of the lean roof. We plan on adding gutters in the future and drain it into the back pond but for now this will work. Also I spaced the plants a little more than 2 feet apart. Between the two types I added an extra foot of space. this was to leave room for the soon to come trellis support.

I plan on making a “Clothes line” trellis. With three upright 4×4’s and a T-brace on top. I will run metal cabling every two feet up the trellis and foot out in front and back at the top. This will spread the canes to allow more air flow.

Keep up to date on the new raspberry row here!

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New Barn Cats

We have New Barn Cats!

We were contacted recently from a friend who needed to relocate their outdoor cats. The previous owners where moving and could not take them with them. We initially agreed to take in 2 of the 4 cats. We ended up taking in 3 of the cats. Two where brothers and another is an adopted brother. The last one the original owner was able to convert it into an indoor cat and take it with them.

The three we have we kept in an accumulation stall for two weeks. Normally they should have been kept in there for six weeks but these guys seem friendly enough and are no stranger to people. We decided after two weeks they are fit for release.

Newly released barn cats

 Also our current barn cats have seen them when they come to eat every night. I watch to see and ensure that our current cats and new cats have had several meetings. Last thing anyone wanted was to have our current or new cats get chased off.

Face to Face with the chicken

After the release

Barn cat Chatty
Chatty

Barn Cat Tiny
Tiny

Barn Cat Mr. Purr
Mr. Purr

Soon after we released the new cats they went into discovery mode. They climbed the cat stairs, went into the chicken and duck coops.  Chatty (fluffy cat) went playing in the straw room climbing the bales. Tiny (gray cat) found the access hole in the first stall that the other cats use as a hide out. Also Mr. Purr (Chatty’s brother and twin, not fluffy) went on an adventure looking around the barn and walking with the chickens.

Existing Barn Cats Reaction

Sid and Lucy did go to them and say “Hi” but they did not and still do not share food and water bowls. I have setup another feeding area in the big barn for them. It did take a couple of days before all of the cats were comfortable around each other. Now they will play and share. But they will not share food bowls. This is a huge no no. Give it time and they all will be best friends.

Keep up on the latest barn cat news here

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Ducklings are not what they seemed!!!

Our ducklings we hatched have fooled us!

The ducklings we hatch which we sexed at 9 weeks as 4 females and 1 drake, turns out to be 5 drakes! I started to notice that the 4 “hens” head started to get darker and look more like Louie (the father). Also I noticed that one of the “hens” started to get a curled tail feather. That was it. I knew it was over. They all look too similar and that first curled tail feather said it all.

As the next couple of weeks went I one by one gained a raspy quack and a curled tail feather. New drakes swimming by the dockFunny thing is that the mother duck still sticks around them and follows them everywhere. Of course the “wild duckling” is just the cutest thing. He looks like a mallard but the size of a jumbo pekin.

Our Plans for the new Drakes

We had initially stated that we would sell the drakes if we had more than one. But like all the other animals we have fallen in love watching these not so little anymore guys waddle around. Half mallard drakeThey have curious personality and love to say hi but run away.

This little one to your right I have been trying to come up with a good name. He will stay with the flock if we decide to sell off the others. He is just too neat looking to give away.

The ducklings we hatched are a extremely bonded. They stay in their group no matter what. They have each others back. Once goes “Oh NO!” because they did not realize we are in the pen they all will run away. I try to pet them every night when feeding them. But I still have not been able to get them. I can get all the other ducks but these guys are more agile.

Stay up to date here!

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Manures

Different types of Manures

I am always looking for new and old methods for gardening. It’s that time of year where most of the garden will get pulled and prepared for next year. That means all the improvements, soil and fencing, are needed to be accomplished. Any expansions and amendments, like manures, to the garden should be done in the fall.

NPK of Manures
Chart from https://www.thespruce.com/adding-manure-1401910

While looking for ideas I came across an article on manures. (Read the article here) I do have lots of that. We are up to 64 animals currently. Also the compost bins are getting pretty full. So, I did some digging around about manures and found from this article that I was blessed with the best poop! Yes, the best poop. Chicken, rabbit, llama manures are all high in NPK ratio. I found that duck manure is similar as chicken manure.

Why add in the manure in the fall?

Adding the manure in the fall allows it to rest for several months before growing vegetables. “Hot” manures like chicken and duck manures need to be composted or have rested for 6 months. This protects you from burning the garden plants. Adding manure in October, the manure would have rested in for six months by March.

Also adding organic matter into the soil in the fall improves the soil structure, attracts beneficial microbes, and earth worms. This gives me a head start on the next growing season. The ground will be soft and not compacted, easy to work with. Another benefit of adding to the garden now is that the unfinished compost will finish in the garden when you till it in.

My plans for this fall

I am planing on expanding the garden by 4 times its current size. The test location I created this past spring proved successful but not without its setbacks. The garden will be wrapped with a three rail split rail fence. Also the fence with will lined with 2×4 welded wire. One of the largest issues I faced this past season is the ducks and chickens stealing my veggies.

Next on the garden project list is to turn over the new expanded plot and till in all the compost I have in the bins. Since the bins are all full currently it will be a big relief to clear them out for winter. This will give be instant better soil structure. I will also be using the lawn sweeper to gather lots of leaves to till into the soil as well.

Finally I am adding a couple cold frames so I may keep harvesting greens all winter long.  The rest of the garden is receiving a “green manure” which is a cover crop mix.  This will help with fixing the nitrogen in the soil as well keep the freshly tilled garden loose with its deep roots.

More to come in the following weeks!

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