Prepare To Be Amazed

The first side of the new entryway to our farm is done.

We think it's gorgeous.

Wow.

Jordan did a fabulous job on the cedar slabs and caps for the columns.  We never want them to get dirty, so it's Jordan's job to go out and dust them every day.

To install the slabs, the brick mason built a channel into the columns, so all we had to do is slide the slabs down into place.

And, another picture just because it looks so good.

I hope to do some landscaping around the base, but will have to wait until the other side is done and Tom gets the sprinklers reinstalled.  They have been inoperable for a long time.  Somewhere along the the way, the lines have been cut and when Tom dug them up, the pipes were full of sand.

What a difference, huh?  It doesn't even look like the same brick, but believe it or not, we did reuse the brick.

Unimpressive Aquaponics

I was expecting great things, but the aquaponics has been a bit disappointing.  The only veggie that survived from Tom's original planting was the cabbage.

They're growing ever so slowly.  But, I planted several cabbage seeds (in the ground) at the beginning of the season and only one survived.  It has yet to make a head.  So, I've learned by now that gardening is sort of hit or miss sometimes.

Because I read that cilantro and carrots were veggies that can be planted in July, I went ahead and tossed a few seeds in the side abandoned by the other seeds.  It's hard to see the tiny seedlings, but there are several carrots coming up and, so far, one cilantro.  I use a lot of cilantro, so I wish I could grow it continually.

I planted the same seeds in my regular garden on the same day and none of them have come up.  I guess we could call the aquaponics a success when it comes to germination.

On another note, I'm so excited about this...

We hired a brick mason to rebuild the entryway columns that Tom and Jordan tore down.

He's doing a great job.  One down, five to go.

It's 102 degrees out there today.  I don't envy the brick layer's job.

A New Look for Our Farm Entry

We intended to do this last fall, but decided to wait until the heat of the summer to do it so Jordan and Tom could sweat in the sun.

This is the before picture.  These old brick pillars are falling apart.  They look like they've been repaired before, rather sloppily, so they're kind of on shaky ground.  It's past time to tear them out, but I didn't think Tom would go for spending the time and money (which will be nominal since we're doing it ourselves and reusing the brick) to do a project that's pretty much just cosmetics.  But, when he ran into one with the tractor last year and kind of crunched the side in, he suggested that it's time to rebuild.

Also, over the years, the dirt has shifted and piled up, covering the lower brick retaining wall and the foundation, which we didn't even know was there until the digging commenced.

Tom got this pillar knocked down and cleared away yesterday morning.

Jordan finished up the other two working yesterday afternoon and into the evening.  There are three on each side.  Now we're embroiled in an engineering/building debate as to the best way to rebuild the design I've come up with, which involves a change in the shape of the brick pillars and big slabs of cedar wood from some trees cut down by Jordan and milled by our friend with the saw mill.

Oh, and it's about 100 degrees.  

Can we do it?!  Yes, we can!