Barn Raising…Or Rather…Barn Dismantling

So, what did everyone do over the President’s Day weekend?

Well, I do believe that depends on where you live, because here in sunny Arizona, it was between 78-82 degrees the whole weekend! I have nice pink arms and cheeks, and it’s not because I hung out by the pool all day…

Sunday found me in Nogales, AZ, picking up a barn from a friend.

“Picking up a barn?” you say?

Yup!

Long ago, in a city (and a life), far far away, there lived a girl who loved animals. She had 3 little boys, 30-ish chickens, 3 goats, two dogs, 20 quail, 4 guinnea hens, a duck, and two geese (someone dropped off in our yard).  She also had a small raised garden in which she grew tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, peppers, grapes, and grasshoppers.

She milked the goat twice a day, strained the milk, made cheese, and traded her milk, eggs and cheese for quail eggs, duck eggs, and money so she could help those around her and sustain her mini farm.

But it was hard, sometimes, to do this all by herself. Her Wasband was not happy with the micro farm. He did NOT like the smell of chickens and their poop. He did NOT like the sounds of the goats.  He did NOT like the hassle of a garden. It was apparent that she was going to be making changes in the near future….thinking that she might move, but having the desire to keep her critters, she came up with a plan.

She (with the help of her Dad) would build a barn for the goats that was designed to come apart and be relocated to any new home. At 8×16 feet; the roof was made to come off in two 8×8 panels, the ends came apart as 8×8 panels, and the long walls came apart into 4 8×8 panels.

 

Moving to a subdivision meant that she couldn’t take the barn with her, but she sold it to a friend who promised to sell it back only to her when they no longer needed it, and that day was President’s Day, 2016!

It was hot, sweaty, hard, heavy work, but it’s on a trailer and ready for reassembly.

This girl has some plans for this old barn, and it includes (surprise!) chickens! Stay tuned for the photos of a goat barn transformed…..

One barn in the background. And one hilarious kiddo in the foreground!

Wow…a leetle herd of goats (in front of the barn).

Entrance to the milkin’ parlor.

Milkin’ on one side, goat house on the other. This kept the sun off my face!