Do over

The beginning of a new year: always a good time to make plans for the upcoming seasons. What improvements should we make to the ranch so that we will be able to live here when we are old and feeble (heaven forbid), what to plant in the garden this spring and fall, what are the cycling plans?

It helped that a leak appeared in our underground watering system to the barn to kick it all off in style. Project #1: replace all water pipes from the house to the other buildings. One cannot foresee everything, I suppose, and when we moved from the city to the country we had no clear vision or experience in how to optimize outdoor watering schemes. Now we do.

So deep trenches are being dug with Tonka Toy, the little digger one of our neighbors owns, bigger diameter pipe will be laid, and frost proof faucets will be installed. It will be great and wonderful.

Meanwhile, there is no water other than at the house, so we pulled hoses to the barn because carrying buckets would be a real chore, and horses drink a lot. Thankfully the garden and the orchard do not need a lot of irrigation right now, and I can carry the chicken founts from the house to the coop.

It looks like a disaster right now, but after the new plumbing is installed and the walkways repaired and re gravelled, we will be set for the rest of our lives. As far as water to the outbuildings is concerned that is.