Sorry about the silence, I was in Cedar Rapids through Thursday morning. Then on my way home I “picked up” my parents in Minneapolis to come back here for a 4 day weekend. They offered to help with projects while they were here, so we’ve been hard at work ever since.

Friday we picked up supplies for the weekend’s project - fence posts, fencing, conduit, groceries, etc. Then we came home and while my mom and I dug a 53′ (exactly) trench to run power the rest of the way to the chicken coop and the tractor shed, my dad mowed almost the entire property. On the one hand, he got the easier job. On the other, I would have gone insane after mowing for 6 hours…

The girls were out helping us, along with the dogs. Until we filled it in yesterday the chickens were pretty sure that the trench was for their personal use in searching for worms and bugs.

Yesterday we set posts and ran the conduit. The goal is to get a chicken yard up by the end of the weekend so that I can let the little girls loose and know they won’t scatter. And also to be able to contain and protect the hens when we’re not here. They’ll still get to free range when we’re home, but otherwise I’d like to know that they’re safe from coyotes and not eating the neighbor’s freshly planted garden…

Today we’re putting up fence wire and building a gate. Hopefully we’ll be done by the end of the day so that we can enjoy tomorrow and do something relaxing with the rest of our vacation weekend!