Nothing to Farm

Tag: fencing

Wk37 – The Great Divide
As the weeks go on, and the pigs turn from juveniles to adolescents, there is a growing fear among the farm adults. These little piggies came into being after boy pigs unexpectedly mixed with girl pigs and a Gilt became a Sow. And so, we finally caved, and the great divide began.

Not covered in this weeks episode;
- Wk 35 and 36, and practically nothing of interest happened.
- A visit from an engineer.
- Motorbikes.
Husbandry

Felis Catus

Tuesday morning of our 37th week on the farm brought with it quite a surprise, for me at least. After all the other people had left for work or school, a general calm fell over our accommodation. Then I turned around!

All around me are familiar feathers.

Without a sound, a darkness had fallen over the bedroom corridor. A slightly fluffy darkness, in the shape of birds’ feathers, and they were suddenly EVERYWHERE.

I weely saw a puddy tat.

Unfortunately, Bonnie had managed to catch and de-feather a bird. Much to my annoyance, it meant a rather large clean-up operation. Which was much to Bonnie’s annoyance when I took her toy away. I then explained to her that it was mice she was meant to catch, not birds.

Don’t mind us, this is ours now.

And after a long morning of hunting, the cats seem to have decided they are taking over my bed. I am NOT amused!

The Great Divide

As the pigs were the focus of much of this week’s work, a ‘Porcine’ section for the Husbandry update seemed a little, well, pointless.

Water Water Everywhere

Separating the boy pigs and the girl pigs suddenly created a need for two of everything. And as I was alone for a few peaceful hours, Friday saw the digger out to bury some magic blue pipe.

The ground was carved by mechanical machines with mechanical hearts.

The pigs were entirely unfaxed by the rattly three cylinder diesel engine in the digger, although the vibration did have an interesting side effect.

Big fat juicy ones, Eensie weensy squeensy ones, See how they wiggle and squirm!

The pigs started foraging like there lives depended on it. I spend a lot of time tending to the pigs’ behaviour, but it didn’t take long to find they had struck a wormy gold mine.

Below the permafrost should help the flow.

A downside to digging on sand is that it is easy to get carried away. In under an hour, the ditch was dug to 700mm (and some) and the MDPE water pipe was laid.

Dozer backfilling was more successful than expected.

Once I was happy there was enough pipe at both ends of the run, the trench was backfilled. Not quite before the children came home, but not too far off. I wouldn’t want to accidentally bury them!

Connecting Up

Now comes the tricky part. The actual connections are simple enough; however, plumbing while being ‘nudged’ by the piggies does have its issues.

Stainless steel auto-filling bowl, the best for the piggies.

Only the best for these Kune Kunes. A stainless steel water bowl with an automatic fill. The existing bowl does have some freezing issues, but this is much easier than hauling water everyday.

Running the pipe under the fence to stop the pigs from vanishing.

Keeping the pigs in while running the pipe means taking the blue MDPE under the fence while they’re not watching. At the same time as running the pipe, a hole big enough for a railway sleeper was dug.

And a small piece of an old tree was dropped in place, and the water bowl bolted in place. A little lower than the previous bowl, which should be better for the pigs. And with a two-foot footing, I’d like to see them knock it down.

PigWam Two – The Second Comming

From Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, we continue on from water and into shelter. While the shelter will be made from recycled materials, it needs to be able to withstand an adult pig and not just these six-month-olds.

Finding the right wood from the pile.

The building of the second PigWam starts with finding the timber. Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of spare pieces of timber around the farm, in a range of decay. Unfortunately, this means finding the right piece takes a little bit of time.

The second PigWam is complete. The girls will be happy.

With a range of nails, screws, teks and other assorted fixings, the frame of the PigWam is bound together. Then the frame is wrapped in some ‘pre-loved’ corrugated steel. Finally, the second PigWam is ready to be moved into the ‘girls’ half of the field.

Stake Out

One last thing before the boys and girls can go there seperate ways. The dividing ‘wall’ needs to be errected.We’re fortunate enough to have taken on the farm with an entire hedge row of electric fence stakes.

Dividing the pig pasture.

The recent hedge trim has exposed more than enough to move the boundaries around. In no time at all, the barrier is in place.

Seperation Axiety

And finally, the moment had come. Possibly the hardest part of the whole day, unmixing the boys from the girls. And oh, how much fun that was!

If you visit, you have to watch the video, it’s hilarious!

There were absolutely better ways to start the great herding, but we didn’t use any of them. To be honest, I was laughing too hard to actually help. I’d almost forgotten about ‘Some mothers do have ’em’, until I went and got the paddles.

As days passed, the separation anxiety became easier.

There was definitely some separation anxiety over the next few days. The pigs’ behaviour had certainly changed, so, like all nervous parents, we had to check on them every few minutes. And for the first few days, there were moments when the boys stood looking at the girls, wondering what they had done wrong. But they’re all settled now.

And that’s your lot for this week.
Nothing to Farm
February 4, 2026
Wk24 – Pig Prep
With just one weekend until the piglets arrive at the farm, the weekend was primarily focused on Pig Prep. While the KuneKune pigs have a lovely temperament, they still have plenty of basic needs! Food, water, shelter, and play all need finishing off.

This week’s round-up doesn’t include;
- Early morning wake-ups from the bonkers kittens
- Many hours of form-filling to get the farm registered for the pigs to arrive.
- Hours spent trying to find a suitable stock trailer on a budget.
Pig Wam

Like so many farm-related products, shelters for pigs are an absolute minefield of options. From the very traditional pig arc made of rolled corrugated iron to modern, rather plastic solutions. All of which are rather expensive. Even a second-hand pig arc will cost £250; however, over winter, the piglets don’t need an oversized mammoth house!

Structurally assessed to support a snow load of seven feet.

And to pick up the ‘DIY Farm‘ mantra, “If You Can, DIY It”.
I’m not sure if that is especially a YouTube farmer catch line or just a rule for surviving when trying to farm! Regardless, this is a mantra I am taking to living by, and so a DIY shelter is the solution.

House fit for a pig, entirely recycled save for some screws.

With plenty of heavy-duty timber from an old lean-to available, the rather oversized frame was soon assembled. Having seen where the piglets currently live, building out of 3×6″ timbers is possibly overkill, but at least it won’t blow down like some other pigs houses.

A warm, cosy space with exposed beams and plenty of natural light.

I’ve certainly camped in worse structures. The fortune of the old carport having so many layers of corrugated sheeting means there are plenty of opportunities for reuse and reapplication.

After weeks of calling this planned outhouse a Pig-amid, I was correctly called out by the father-in-law. As it misses a couple of hipped roof sections, this is closer to a Pig-wam. A ‘Boars-Ten‘ or ‘Porc-landic‘ might be more accurate to the shape, but a little abstract for most non-Scouting survivors.

Pig Security

Pig prep continued with finishing off the pig security. One thing all breeds are great at is finding alternative foraging locations.

Fence

After getting the stock netting installed and tensioned on the last run during the previous week, there were some finishing touches left.

The pig prep continues by finishing off the stock fence construction.

Above the stock netting, two galvanised steel wires were added. With pigs, they don’t serve much function, but as the rest of the fencing has this construction, it would look a little odd without it. Then, under the stock netting, a single line of barbed wire was laid. This should stop the pigs from rooting and getting under the stock netting.

Electric

With the stock hence in place, pig prep turned to something more electric. While the fencing should provide a very strong physical barrier, it is primarily a secondary boundary. An electric fence provides the primary containment. Fortunately, the pigs have been trained on an electric line, so we won’t need to teach them ourselves.

Two lines to bind them all and in the darkness zap them.

With the help of the mother-in-law (who was very keen to be mentioned), two lines of electric fence were run around three sides of the perimeter. A combination of screw in isolators and plastic posts holds the wire off the floor, hopefully at the right height to catch the pigs’ noses and encourage them back.

A shockingly expensive device can be powered from the mains.

Despite looking for some six months, we’ve not been able to find a second-hand electric fence. After experiencing the baffling number of electric fence energisers that are in stock at Chelford Farm Supplies, we went with the Rutland ESD1600. Largely on cost, partly because the package had a picture of a pig on it.

The electric fence is finished off with a warning sign, which I won’t pay attention to!

And of course, on the ‘accessible’ side of the pig field, a nice high-visibility electric fence sign. Not technically needed, this is very much a reminder for me, ‘don’t wizz on the electric fence’ (bonus points for knowing that reference!).

Illuminating Trip Out

Sunday eventually saw a rain-soaked trip to Derby for the other side of the farming. Car part farming. Thanks to the usual fun on the M6, the trip was some 30 minutes less on the way back when avoiding the god forsaken motorway.

Car part farming continues. Just a single bulb spawned this bright harvest.

An illuminating trip for me, taking parts to a BX that’s coming back on the road and not buying any junk. Which is a technical way of saying I’d paid for them months ago. At least they’re in stock now.

Fun Guys

The recent wet weather has seen an explosion of fungus, fungi, fun stuff growing in the undergrowth.

Plenty of shaggy Ink Cap mushrooms at the farm.

Even at my ripe old age, it still amazes me just how fast these eukaryotic organisms erupt out of the ground overnight. There are hundreds of them all over the farm at the moment different sizes, shapes and colours. I just need to start remembering to photograph them!

And that’s it for this week. After spending most of the week overseas, I was a little wiped out, and progress was probably slower than I’d hoped. But we got there in the end. Pig prep is pretty much complete, bar a food trough and watering hole. Oh, and I need to choose a child to test whether the fence is working.

Until next time
N2F
October 27, 2025
Wk23 – Rafters

While the weekend started rather well with a flurry of tasks being completed, my dream of a roof on the Megashed was soon washed out.

Liddle Puddy Tats

One major update I may have missed last week was the arrival of some new family members at the farm. After too many years cat-less, and months of searching, we finally made the move and nearly ended up with three cats!

New family members arrived last weekend.

Welcome to the family Bonnie and Clyde, brother and sister and just 15 weeks old. Lovely temprements and really suit the names they came with so we stuck with them. They are quite the pair. Plenty of play fighting and kitten energy flying through them, especially at 5 am.

Sleepy kittens are almost as fun as bonkers kittens.

And the two have quite different temprements, with Clyde clearly having no fear and seems far better at catching ground things. Bonnie is more reserved and far more interested in catching flying things. There could be some interesting years ahead with these two.

Piglets Minus Two Weekends

The pressure is really starting to ramp up on the piglet front. Were only a few weeks away from their arrival. While we have everything here and ready for them, there is a lot of assembly still to go.

Last of the stock net goes up before the piglet arrival.

A few spare hours one evening in the week and the last of the net started to go up. However, with one end of this run being wrapped into the old cow sheds, this did have some challenges.

A break in the weather sees the net fully tensioned.

However, by the end of the weekend, having dodged some of the down pours, the net was tensioned up. This involved a less than obvious method to secure one end of the monkey strainer, but regardless of the ‘non standard’ method, it worked.

Farm Truck Brakes

The farm truck has been suffering with some rather squeeky brake pads at the rear for far too long. While the rear pads aren’t overly worn, they were exceptionaly cheap, and the discs are passed best. And while I’m at it, I might was well do the fronts too.

First ‘propper’ use of the scissor lift since moving to the farm.

Amazingly after so many weeks living here, this is the first time i’ve had a car on the ramp. Unfortunately, it wasn’t best placed under the workshop rafters so there was a fair bit of faffing to get the ramp in the best placement.

A little tarting up never hurt anyone.

Despite being 12 years old, the plucky little Freelander2 isn’t looking too shabby given the less than loved life it leads. The brake shields where looking a little rough, so they got cleaned up and a dose of ‘preservative’ added.

While still in spec, the rear discs are well worn.

The image doesn’t do justise to the wear on the rear discs. They’re still in spec, but definitely at the end of their life. These Brembo discs haven’t lasted too well, but I suspect the cheap no-name pads!

A surprise present from LR Parts.

One surprise I found when unpacking the delivery from LRParts.net was this beautiful little spanner. These guys clearly know Land Rovers, with a 10mm ring at one end, and open 13mm at the other. Perfect for changing a failed battery or resetting the electrics.

Drilled and grooved discs for added bling.

For the few extra pounds that they cost, I went with the grooved and drilled discs. They may help with the more heavy duty towing I’ve been doing.

New discs all around, and the truck clearly needs a bath.

Rinse, repeat, and much the same on the front wheels. I guess I need to car now as it hasn’t seen soap for months. Although thats more for hiding the scratches in the bodywork.

A Detectorist Calls

After a chance encounter with a local lovely chat with a local metal detector waver, a few hours were spent on Friday afternoon watching a detectorist at work.

Finds from the field are minimal but interesting.

Although the finds weren’t too exciting, and certainly wont make me a millionare, it was interesting to see some lost treasure. Most of the finds where in the same area, so we might have to have another route around when the grass is cut.

Surface Water Sump Update

After some trees where removed in September, we found an interesting buried structure. This surface water sump, into which all the surface drain run, was some what full with all the organic matter that had washed through the drain system.

Clearing out the sump has been a lengthy task.

I can only speculate at how long it is since this catch tank was last evacuated. With hind sight, I probably should have had it vacuum out when the septic tank was cleared. Unfortunately, the upper sections are too frail to use the minidigger, so the only solution was manual excavation.

The sump is cleared and should manage a few more years now.

After months of digging out the sump during dry-ish spells, I’m happy to finally call the chamber clear. The brick structure was a lot deeper than expected. Getting down to nearly 5ft, I’m hoping it won’t need emptying for a while!

Megashed Updates

Up with the walls.

In semi-desperation of getting ahead of the weather, I rather threw myself into the megashed, and as a result didn’t get a lot of pictures.

You know the drill. Frame, wrap, clad, lift.

The last of the apex sections where swiftly thrown together, clad and raised. A minor step but this meant practically three walls where now complete-ish.

Big. Really big. Too big?

With the wall panel raised, the scale of the ‘office’ was becoming quite challenging. It is HUGE. Far bigger than I had imagined. Sufficiently large enough that more than a few observers have asked when the mezzanine is being errected.

Front Wall

Battling on, and desperately trying to win the race with the clouds, and the front wall frame started to go together. I was expecting this to be the most complicated of all the walls.

The front frame is nearly ready to complete the walls.

However, despite having a door, two windows and a different cladding finish the frame came together rather quickly. The 8ft, rather than 7ft, cladding panels did leave a little head scratching to best place them.

The first of six windows is installed.

After an old friend accidentally stopped by, and was supplied sufficient ibuprofen, we managed to carefully lift the front wall into place. A little trolley jack assistance went a very long way.

Roof Rafters

An early Sunday start began with mass production of the roof rafters, including the birds mouth that would sit on the top of the wall.

Mass production of rafters front and rear.

Mark, cut, repeat is a great game to play. So long as I remember to mark the rafters up as front and rear are ever so slightly different.

Four rafter raised until disaster befell the building..

And, of course, as soon as I raised the first rafter, the weather broke. I battled on in the wind and rain and managed a few more of the front rafters. Then I had the idea to put a tarp over the back half of the shed. This, it would turn out, was a terrible idea. The tarp acted like a sail and blew the ridge beam out of position.

After the window came down, the ridge beam could be relocated.

In the end, the tarp came off, and in a break in the weather, I managed to get the ridge beam back into position. With a front and rear midspan rafter in place, the ridge beam was at least now stabilised.

Unfortunately, to get the rafter furthest from the door installed, the old cast steel window had to come out, which was quite the event. A chainsaw and optimism saw the supporting beam shorn, after the window had been prised out for another project.

Until next time
N2F

October 20, 2025
Wk20 – Fencing and Trees
Another very busy weekend at N2F. Things that didn’t make the cut for this week’s write-up are;
- The slow and steady clear out of “hedge-row treasures” through FB marketplace.
- The surface water accumulator has been emptied of sludge.
- The septic tank has been reburied.
- There have been a lot of bonfires.
- FINALLY getting the second toilet working on the, erm, fourth attempt.
Grown-up tree work

After years of neglect, many trees at N2F are now out of control. Yes, I have a chainsaw and I know how to cut down a tree, but there’s a huge amount of work involved. For example;

Christmas tree as it looked just before we moved in.

This lovely-looking Christmas tree, or that’s possibly how it started, was so tall I couldn’t even get the top into the picture. But it had become so large as to be pulling down two barns. It was also in striking distance of the house, if it ever did fall.

Short back and sides for this Fir.

Unfortunately, this meant a little trimming to size. And in a single afternoon, some grown-ups who really knew what they were doing managed to take a little off the top.

Sliced and diced tree.

And turn the trunk of the Christmas tree into the Jenga edition. It’s a shame that only Fir, Llandi, and Sycamore were brought down, as they’re not much use for an indoor wood-burning stove.

Smells awfully like some sort of winter market.

The smaller sticks were put through an awesome little tracked chipper. With one massive downside, all the shredded fir makes the whole farm smell like Christmas.

Any excuse to play with my farm toys.

After three full trailer loads of chips, the bottom yard is starting to fill up. But at least the Marston grain trailer got a little work out.

Pooh sticks, anyone?

While the trees that needed help are now all taken care of, the whole farm is littered with some rather impressive-sized sticks!

Grown-ups who cut down trees. Caddis.

I haven’t had the bill yet, but the guys from Caddis are my go-to when I need tree work done by a grown-up. Having worked with them for more than five years, I can strongly recommend them if you need tree work in Cheshire.

Workshop Door

As the nights grow shorter and temperatures drop, there has been a slight shift in focus to the workshop. While I can never get it fully air-tight and ‘warm’, there are things I can do to step the hurricanes that frequently blow through.

I might well wear out these roof bars.

Two weeks ago, I tackled the windows, or those holes that were once windows. This week I tackled the door issue. The workshop has a lovely, great big set of vehicle doors, but that’s it. Slightly excessive to open a hole big enough to drive a (mini)bus through just to let me in.

Cheap for a reason, but perfect for the workshop.

My solution to this excessive opening quandary is a second-hand UPVC door. At £35 locally, there seemed little point in trying to make a ‘nice’ wooden door.

It looks like the perfect spot for a door.

Out with the big grinder, and a suitable hole was opened up and appropriately reinforced, ready for the door to drop in.

Fantastic finish, and no need for sealants.

And a few hours later, I have a pedestrian door to the workshop that should eliminate the need always to open the main vehicle door. Although this back entrance may have only been available for two days, it is already my go-to route into the workshop.

Megashed 2.0 Update

Work on Megashed 2.0 is progressing at a steady pace. I need to be moved in within the next five weeks so that work on the house can really start. That means I need to construct a little over one side per week.

No two windows are quite the same size. This should be fun.

While out shopping for the workshop door, I also picked up some windows for the Megashed build.

Flatpack shed pieces cut to length.

Having the physical windows means I can get the framing just right for the far wall. Much easier than trying to move studs in a clad wall to fit a free window. That didn’t go so well last time.

Wrapped and ready for cladding.

All fixed together, and the ‘Ikea’ wall is lined with a breather membrane to keep the weather out. I also had a small helper for this bit, which sped things up, surprisingly.

Recycled cladding from the shed roof will wrap the megashed.

A few battens were used to create an air gap, and reclaimed sheets were fitted to the outside of the wall. I should have measured the 7-foot sheets rather than assuming they were 8-foot. Oops.

Raising the wall is much easier with the wrong tools.

A bit of a tug from the wifey and her massive yellow tool, and the wall came up in a controlled manner. I still have no idea how we got the wood-clad walls of Megashed 1.0 raised, but this was much easier.

Two of six Megashed sides are done.

And there we have it, the first wall raised. No, this isn’t the final framework, and I haven’t forgotten the noggins or the holes for the windows. These will come in time.

Pig Fencing

And finally, for this week’s update, the pig fencing. We’re on t-minus four weeks for the arrival of the piglets, and their new home is progressing slowly.

The ‘pig’ gate was hung on Monday evening.

A late evening saw the 12′ gate installed on the railway sleeper posts that were dropped in last week. This felt like another farm bingo card moment, ‘hung my first field gate’.

You jammy . . . . . . .

Next up are struts for the strainers. I don’t always miss the nails in old wood, but when I do avoid hitting them, you can put a piece of paper between the saw and the metal and get it stuck! So jammy.

Pinned strainers should allow some tension in the stock fence.

A bit of a learning curve this fencing lark. I can certainly see better ways of getting the struts into the right places, but slowly and carefully, they all went in.

If Amazon had delivered, this would be a tensioned fence now.

Barbed wire is the most expensive type of wire I have ever purchased. Absolutely mental price, and it’s sharp too. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good picture of the fence all tensioned up before it went dark this evening. Sorry.

Third time’s the charm.

Oh, and I didn’t like the position of the far gate post that we put in last week. Well, we put it in without measuring. Then put it back in, but left too much of a gap. This week, it came out for the third time. I put it far enough from the other post that it could actually close, then post-created the damn thing into the ground!

And that’s your lot for this week. I don’t have any plans for next week yet, but I suspect it might involve more framing and fencing. And digging, and fires and maybe moving all the bloody logs.

Until next time
N2F
September 28, 2025
Wk19 – Flowing in all the wrong directions

This weekend has been by far and away one of the busiest I’ve had on the farm. A three-day weekend has seen a lot of work done; however, this week, most of the work started on Monday!

Feeling a bit blocked up

About ten days ago, the sink in the kitchen started making some weird noises. Sounded like air being gulped through the U-bent. Things escalated late on Sunday, when flushing the toilet resulted in the bathroom sink backing up. A 9 pm trip into the foul inspection chamber was an unexpected way to spend the evening.

All channels are filled with crap these days.

Sure enough, the last inspection cover on the property wasn’t very happy. At this point, we weren’t sure if the farm was on a septic system or a main sewer connection. The Council said septic, but the property survey said main sewer connection. I guess the council was right.

Septic Fishing

On Monday evening, having now made the realisation that we were probably on a septic, I set off with a spade to see what I could find. There are a number of breeze blocks oddly placed in the lawn, and I had my suspicions about what might be below.

Definitely something under there.

After lifting the first block, I immediately discovered the edge of a rather substantial piece of steel. While undoubtedly not a cast manhole cover, the size seemed awfully similar. When we had previously lifted these blocks, my assistant at the time had declared there was nothing underneath.

Manual digging? No thanks.

I’m getting old, and the idea of digging out some covers with a spade didn’t appeal. Instead, the trusted mechanical shovel was wheeled over and swiftly unearthed not one, but two inspection chambers.

So that settles it, I have a poo tank in the garden.

Having spent most of Sunday researching septic tanks in the UK, I was half expecting a brick-built cesspit. And knowing the tank probably hadn’t been pumped for five or more years, I was a little nervous to lift the lid. But hell, you only live once. Up the improvised metal cover came, and actually, it wasn’t so bad. Not overflowing and seemed to be working as expected.

Pumping Out

After a very informative exchange with a local septic specialist, it seemed sensible to get the tanks pumped and see what we were dealing with. On Wednesday, I managed to get in touch with a lovely chap from Cheshire Tank Services. He was able to reschedule his calendar and visit on Thursday.

I’ve never been so happy to see a poo truck.

However, after speaking to Cheshire Tanks, I went back to the previously backed-up inspection chamber to find it had completely cleared. Alas, the kitchen sink was still unhappy.

Skipping to the end of the drama, some plumbing had been disturbed and caused a soil pipe blockage just after the toilet joint. Oops. Repositioning a single pipe, and whoosh, everything was cleared. Phew.

Very healthy bacteria, apparently.

Still, we went ahead with the pumping, and while not cleared for some years, both chambers were in very good condition. Both double-stack concrete, flowing well and with very little sludge.

Amazing process to watch.

Admittedly, the dip pipes have fallen out of the secondary tank, but the outlet to the drainage field was running really well. It looks like the drainage field is probably under the orchard, and I have to wonder if this is why there are three dead apple trees. More investigation is needed.

Day Trip to Tamworth

Friday started with a little trip out down the M6. While it has been a very long time since I last drove to Tamworth, the journey was terribly familiar.

If you know, you know.

The trip was to finally collect a Citroen BX heated windscreen. Part of a group buy, and likely to sit unused for a few years, the thought of £75 for postage just didn’t appeal. Granted, the fuel and hours would have covered the cost of putting it on a pallet, but somehow, it felt wrong not to collect!

Overheating JCB

Back home, some time was spent checking over the mini digger. Some late-night diggering on Thursday night had resulted in the digger being left in shame with the over-temperature coolant light on, and the ‘kettle’ boiling in the engine bay

The previous user had mentioned it had been getting hot. Not an entirely unusual event for a small digger, but I thought I’d best check the basics. Funnily enough, the radiator won’t cool if it has no air flowing through it. The amount of filth and damaged fins led to 45 minutes of cleaning, but the difference is worlds apart.

Megashed Part 2

Some fairly awful weather allowed for a bit of focus on the new Megashed. In theory, being built in the carport would help it stay dry. How wrong I was going to be. I’ve previously framed out the base and got it level, so I was into insulation next.

Insulation in the frame and joins sealed.

The sheer size of the ‘office’ is really starting to show now. This little project is certainly going to be rather large. And this magnitude is also resulting in the build taking longer and longer.

Sub-floor installed, if a little damp.

In part because cash flow needs to be prioritised for the house work, and time needs to be prioritised on family needs. That and compared to MegaShed1, everything is taking twice as long.

Biblical Weather

Friday night ended with rain, which wouldnt stop until late on Saturday. And not your usual half-hearted English rain, but full-on torrential rain, that had me trapped in the workshop for a good hour.

Fortunately, the improvements to the guttering and general drainage just about held up. Compared to the ‘river runs through it’ of the previous biblical flood, I did manage to keep the tool shop dry. But there were just millimetres in it.

The many patches I’ve added to the roof sheets in the workshop generally stood up. I’m down to just three leaks now. Two should be an easy fix, but one is going to need some thinking.

I did at least manage to find something to do while trapped in the workshop, making a lovely mosaic from insulation off-cuts. More to keep the heat out (when summer returns) than to keep heat in. There is only so much heat you can trap with a net.

And the plus side of the rain, and finding the surface water trap in Wk16, is that I now have my very own swimming pool. Okay, big outdoor bath, but a couple of water heaters, and I think this will be lovely.

Pig Fencing

A late Facebook Marketplace find on Saturday led to an unexpected journey out on Sunday morning. Having recovered the trailer from its BX Parts prison, I had a short trip out to collect . . .

Big sticks to hold back the piggies.

Fence posts. Big ones. At 5″ and 70″ long, they’re a little bit oversized for keeping in pigs. But what will do a lot will do a little. I also came back with a nearly brand-new roll of stock mesh fencing, too.

A few hours with a post hammer later.

And that was that for the rest of the day. All the fence posts were sunk, and two sleepers were installed for a new 12 gate into the open-air free-range piggery!

I certainly didn’t have a 30m run of fencing posts on my ‘Farm Bingo’ card for this weekend. Everything hurts. But look at it. It’s sooooo pretty.

I see a lot more fencing on the horizon. I hope it doesn’t break me.

Until next time
N2F

September 21, 2025

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