When we bought the farmette two years ago, there were plenty of buildings, but the electric service was spotty. Last April we had the panels in the house, pump house and garage replaced and one added in the barn. We also had the service/meter upgraded at the same time.
Since we were already paying the electrician more than I paid for the first car I bought on my own, we only had him add a single bulb, switch and outlet in the barn. Just enough that we didn’t have to use the propane lantern anymore, but not enough to actually function for more than picking stalls.
Last weekend, Mike and I took advantage of the strange weather and a power outage on Monday (we had the day off) to do a bit of wiring. While I was standing on a ladder 12 feet up wiring a fixture I was laughing about how 10 years ago I would never have guessed that I would end up being someone that would be doing such a thing in my own barn…
In the end we added 5 simple ceramic light fixtures with 23 watt CFL bulbs (warm white color and the equivalent of 100 watt incandescent bulbs). We’re considering adding a few more fixtures and outlets in the more storage oriented half of the barn, but that can wait until later this spring. It was an inexpensive project, costing us a lot more in time than it did in supplies, but wow! what a difference. Of course, we had to hook up the generator to check out our work when we were done (power came back on about an hour later).
Having light in the barn stalls means that we can brush the ponies and pick feet without having to wear our headlamps. It also means that we were able to move the hay scale to the third stall that we store the hay in, better containing the hay mess.
There’s also light in the tack room (we use it for storage) and above the potting table. No longer will I have to break out the lantern when I want to see anything clearly in either space. Excellent.
It’s funny how the little things can have such a big impact.
*****
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I have the same thoughts, regarding my life 10 years ago, whenever I am draining whey from homemade cheese, or I spend the whole day canning. It cracks me up. But it is a lovely feeling, knowing that my life is never static. Who knows what I’ll be doing 10 years from now? I enjoy the fact that it is a mystery.
Congratulations on lighting the barn! It is truly the little, everyday things that make us happiest.
When we got back quotes of about $10,000 for re-wiring our house, we decided we could figure out how to do it. We had an electrician we knew set up our box and we’ve been slowly re-wiring each room. I never thought I’d know how to do this but I never thought I’d be living in an old house without walls in half the rooms. In my fantasy life, my dream home always had walls.