The Lilley Farm

Stephanie you have been asking about the Lilley Farm and how the clean up is progressing.You know the inside of the house, how it spruced up from a thorough cleaning and a bit of a paint here and there. Dave, the renter, and his big clumsy dogs are still happy on the hill. On the weekend that Chris went to New York the back hoe came to dig the trench, so dad ended up laying the drainage tile around the house and installing an outside faucet ......no more wet basement. Dave's firewood for the winter and his feet stay nice and dry.At the same time we drained some wetspots in the field and put new drainage tile in.The roots from the trees at the laneway crept into the field drains and blocked them off.The barn is still standing (no bonfire yet!)...we cannot do much with all the crops standing in the field. We did sell off all parts from the pig hutches, gates, feeders, waterers, feed tanks and bins. The hutches are now good for equipment storage. Carien and Dad tried to remove one of the hutch covers this spring to see if they are good enough for resale but with all the rust holes in it, they buckle in the wind.After hauling out the manure, a high hoe cleaned out the lagoon, put in a drain connecting up to a field drain. The concrete barnyard wall by the gutter cleaner was opened up and now all surface water runs to the lagoon and drains out to the field..... the piggy smell is gone! Dad hopes to fill the lagoon with the leftovers from the barn levelling.The old barn has 3 floor and 2 are concrete plus the fieldstone foundation wall. We will have to ship that out somewhere else, it is a lot of fill ...maybe Woodstock .....that place is getting remodelled and reshaped, earth movers all over the place..There is a lot of wood in the top structure with many good beams , we hope that the Mennonites have interest in dismantling it. That's for later... we are busy with the crops till fall.We are filling silo today, it's a clear hot day,the crew,Jisk ,Douwe,Kees and Dad just had their break, a tire blew on one of the tractors pulling the rake.... coffee time! Al's Tire came out to fix and they put an other tractor in front of the rake and as of now, an hour later, the tractors are silent so the work must be done and the unloader is coming down from the top of the silo, Douwe and Dad are levelling off the silage.We have some hay laying out too for tomorrow, large bales.It's July and the weather pattern is changing ,hot and humidity on the way, It's the cold fronts now passing through that will have to give us the rain showers we need.
Feel sorry, scared for you two with Typhoon Ewiniar( stay safe!) heading for you and Monsoon season making it very humid.
Just a little longer till your holidays in Malaysia and Singapore....So excited for you and enjoy to the fullest! XOXOXO