My pole barn...a solo affair

[bindian]

Hi Brandi,
What a great project. That is one fine looking barn you got going. Especially awesome you did the design yourself. I really like that 3rd photo of the first set you shared. You have a very nice place all surrounded by the woods like that.
About how much longer before you finish it up then?

3RRL and Eddie,
Thanks for the kind words
3RRL,
If you want some of those trees, you can come and take them. I really don't know how much longer to finish the barn. Since I got my new Mahindra 6520 4WD and 511 BH , I have been playing in the dirt when I should be working on the barn. I worked on the barn every weekend before I had elbow surgery back in March. I have the metal siding for the front and back. I need to email some friends and schedule a "barn raising" for the siding installation. I want to keep the sides off until I pour the concrete in the center 20 foot section. Problem is, I need a crew to do that. My friends can help, but only on weekends. But the concrete trucks don't roll on weekends. I may need to hire the concrete work out, if I cannot find a concrete truck that delivers (within reasonable $$$) on a Saturday or Sunday.
Right now it is dry enough to mow my swampy area. I pushed over a bunch of trees today after I mowed it. I wanna put a pond in somewhere, but the swammy area is part of a drainage easement and gets watershed flow from I don't know how far back into the woods, way past my property. Wet weather springs too.
Wednesday I hope to get back in the swampy area and dig some stumps out. That always makes mowing easier. hugs, Brandi

 

[MarkV]

Well done Brandi! Wish we had more country gals on the forum. I sure am glad you had that auger. When I looked at those post hole diggers in the first photo my shoulders started to hurt. Also congratulations on the new tractor. You say your swampy area is dry and I thought your whole state was underwater this year.

MarkV

 

[BobG_in_VA]

Brandi, I like that barn!! I saved the drawing of the trusses....who knows when I might need something like that....thanks for ideas....BobG in VA

 

[Offy]

Nice barn. I'm finishing up on the interior of my metal barn now. I had a Rotweiler named Boog (short for Booger) for nine years. He loved to lead the tractor when I roamed the property and have a cold beer with me at the end of the day.

 

[3RRL]

3RRL and Eddie,
Thanks for the kind words
3RRL,
If you want some of those trees, you can come and take them. I really don't know how much longer to finish the barn. Since I got my new Mahindra 6520 4WD and 511 BH , I have been playing in the dirt when I should be working on the barn. I worked on the barn every weekend before I had elbow surgery back in March. I have the metal siding for the front and back. I need to email some friends and schedule a "barn raising" for the siding installation. I want to keep the sides off until I pour the concrete in the center 20 foot section. Problem is, I need a crew to do that. My friends can help, but only on weekends. But the concrete trucks don't roll on weekends. I may need to hire the concrete work out, if I cannot find a concrete truck that delivers (within reasonable $$$) on a Saturday or Sunday.
Right now it is dry enough to mow my swampy area. I pushed over a bunch of trees today after I mowed it. I wanna put a pond in somewhere, but the swammy area is part of a drainage easement and gets watershed flow from I don't know how far back into the woods, way past my property. Wet weather springs too.
Wednesday I hope to get back in the swampy area and dig some stumps out. That always makes mowing easier. hugs, Brandi

Can't say that I blame you for playing in the dirt. If I got a brand new big tractor and backhoe like that, that's exactly what I'd be doing too.
Also thanks for the tree offer, but I have my hands full with Oaks on my property. I just got through removing maybe a hundred of small and large ones preparing my property for building my new log home in this thread. 3R Home and Barn and in previous threads I shared. Hated to do it, but they were thick and I needed a way to get into the property. Mowing can be a fun time too, if there's not too many obstacles, but nevertheless, it's got to get done too. I agree you gotta pour the concrete while the walls are off. Hope you can get all your pals together for that.
I'm anxious to see your progress.
Thanks for sharing your project with us.

 

[bindian]

Well done Brandi! Wish we had more country gals on the forum. I sure am glad you had that auger. When I looked at those post hole diggers in the first photo my shoulders started to hurt. Also congratulations on the new tractor. You say your swampy area is dry and I thought your whole state was underwater this year.

MarkV

MarkV,
Thanks for the words of encouragement. Even when you have a PHD on your tractor, there are times where only the hand diggers will do. There is another girl on the Mahindra forum I know of, but she is too busy with a farm and a garden at her home in town. You can see a video of me and my 6520 on the Mahindra website Mahindra Tractor - Compact tractors, utility tractors, farm tractors, ag tractors, attachments, implements & farm equipment - all built tough!
I had too much water until August, when it started to dry out. Texas is a state of extremes. I live about an hour north of Houston. They got 10 inches in two hours last week from Tropical Storm Erin. I got home from West Texas to find my gully dry. I got a few sprinkles. For a while after I got the new Mahindra, I was cussing the rain. I would try to dig up a stump and hit water a foot or so down. So I was playing in the mud and heat. At sundown I would spray around 500 gallons of water on the tractor (and some on me) trying to get the muddy clay off. I dug up a huge oak on my Dad's place about 6 miles away two weeks ago. It was dry sandy loam all the way down to 8 feet. So we do have extremes.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Brandi, I like that barn!! I saved the drawing of the trusses....who knows when I might need something like that....thanks for ideas....BobG in VA

Bob,
Glad you like the barn. You know, funny thing. I took a copy of that truss design to a local barn builder for a bid. He never called me back, but did say it was an interesting design. Guess he might use it some day also. But that is okay, when I am stumped on how to design a part of the barn, I go down to his barn models and snoop around taking mental notes.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Nice barn. I'm finishing up on the interior of my metal barn now. I had a Rotweiler named Boog (short for Booger) for nine years. He loved to lead the tractor when I roamed the property and have a cold beer with me at the end of the day.

Offy,
Thanks! Do you have any photos of your barn? Inside and outside?
Booger loves to lead my tractor also. Mostly he is laying in the dirt I am working. I have to holler at him to move. I have been trying to teach him to come up to the backhoe seat so I can pet him, but alas, he is getting old. He thinks the barn is his house. Guess he will be surprised when a barn cat shows up.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Can't say that I blame you for playing in the dirt. If I got a brand new big tractor and backhoe like that, that's exactly what I'd be doing too.
Also thanks for the tree offer, but I have my hands full with Oaks on my property. I just got through removing maybe a hundred of small and large ones preparing my property for building my new log home in this thread. 3R Home and Barn and in previous threads I shared. Hated to do it, but they were thick and I needed a way to get into the property. Mowing can be a fun time too, if there's not too many obstacles, but nevertheless, it's got to get done too. I agree you gotta pour the concrete while the walls are off. Hope you can get all your pals together for that.
I'm anxious to see your progress.
Thanks for sharing your project with us.

3RRL,
The tractor is a blast. It is my therapy. I want to read all your post on the barn and home. I read Eddie's Creating a Lake all the way through a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't stop reading it. It took willpower to quit reading and go to bed. So I hesitate to start reading yours.
I also, hated to thin my woods and sell some timber. But the good book speaks of thinning the wood. I take that as it is okay to thin my trees. Especially for a pasture with horses on it.
I have way too many stumps left to dig up, so the mowing isn't that much fun, but the tilt up steering wheel for standing and mowing is. I try to mow all I can with my zero turn mower, but it gets stuck easy. Taking the BH off, putting the 3PH arms on, and then hooking up the mower is a lot of manual labor. The BH unhooking is easy, but can be a bucking bronc if you do it wrong.
hugs, Brandi

 

[3RRL]

There is another girl on the Mahindra forum I know of, but she is too busy with a farm and a garden at her home in town. You can see a video of me and my 6520 on the Mahindra website Mahindra Tractor - Compact tractors, utility tractors, farm tractors, ag tractors, attachments, implements & farm equipment - all built tough!

hugs, Brandi

Great video you did. I knew you were a girl but I didn't know you were a GIRL! I see that we're the same age except you're a lot younger than me.
lol...I would much rather see pictures of you than Eddie by his lake.

You sure handle that Mahindra with ease too. I didn't know it had a tilt up steering wheel on it. I'd like to have that on my Kama now that I put a new seat in it. It would come in real handy getting in and out like that.
Do you have top and tilt on the tractor? Would that make it easier to hook up the backhoe? Does it have a subframe mount or is it solely a 3pt mount? The TNT helped me make it easier for hooking up about everything now.