the potting shed

I originally named this post the potting shed redux because I thought for sure that I had written about this topic before. However! I was looking through the site and I can't find it, so I must have spared you... until now!

When we moved in this truck box was sitting behind the barn. Based on the size of that wild pear tree, it had been there a while.

I'm not sure what the plan was when it landed here, but it obviously never transpired.

We discussed using it as a shelter for the rams (really just one ram and two wethers), but my idea was to try to repurpose it as a potting shed. It's not a huge property by farm standards, but when you forget a tool it's a long walk back to the barn, so it would be great to have all of the gardening supplies and tools right in the garden. Fast forward to all of the excavation work going on here this spring.

My original plan was to drag the box to the garden with the tractor, but when I saw the scale of the equipment for the excavation work I decided to delegate!

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Just as I was making this video, the nurse from my doctor's office finally returned my call and you know how if you miss those calls it takes like 10 additional days to get the answer to your question? So I had to stop the video and answer. Disappointing!

By some miracle the truck box stayed together and made it to its new location in the garden! Beautiful, right? A real boost to the property value I think!

At this point the box was sitting on a few patio blocks, but it was visibly out of level (further adding to the curb appeal). It was really hard to close the doors and whenever I stepped inside it moved so much I was worried for my safety. Don't get me wrong, that feeling didn't stop me.

Chris did some research and ordered RV leveling jacks to fix this situation. You may be thinking: "wouldn't it have been better to pour a concrete foundation?". Yes! Of course. However, that would take more money, time, and planning than we were willing to put into this project. Honestly, the excavator team thought the thing was going to fall apart when we tried to move it, so I thought I would be putting it in the dumpster in pieces rather than thinking about its foundation.

There are no photos of the next phase. They may be entertaining, but in the moment the situation wasn't funny. We went out to level this baby up with its new jacks thinking this is going to be like an hour project. Things started to go sideways almost immediately which was my cue to find something else to work on. Chris was frustrated and we weren't communicating well, so I got on the tractor to turn compost or something. A while later I turned the tractor back to the barn and I saw Chris shaking his head - taking his gloves off and throwing them to the ground. If I didn't have hearing protection on, I may have heard the cursing over the tractor engine. He had flown too close to the sun in the pursuit of makeshift potting shed leveling perfection. The thing had fallen off the jacks.

What is the military tactic here? Retreat and regroup? Is it part of military protocol to also drink a couple (couple dozen) margaritas during the regroup?

We finally got back around to this situation with the help of my stepdad. He is always good to have on hand for creative solutions and a general lack of self-preservation instinct. That's him standing on the pry bar.

With Chris and Stepdad doing the heavy lifting and me as the heavy equipment operator / peanut gallery, we managed to get the job done! THEN... Stepdad painted it with his sprayer! We paint everything barn red because barn paint is crazy cheap and so far it has stuck to everything we tried, kind of magic, right?

Check out those asparagus fronds in the foreground.

Things were really moving along now! The roof material on the box is a thick fiberglass cloth which had been damaged at some point. It's just a makeshift potting shed, but water pouring in through the ceiling is still not ideal. I did some research and bought this peel and stick aluminum roofing material to cover it and seal everything up. Thankfully, the Mountain Men installed this which means it got done before winter.

I'm not sure I've mentioned the Mountain Men here before, but we first got to know them back at the old farm where we hired them to do some painting. They are a father-son duo, and really only the father is a true mountain man. He is a man from another time, he makes me think of a John Hartford song. Not a specific one, more the John Hartford oeuvre. Am I using that word right? Has this post taken a turn to the no longer entertaining? Maybe. Moving on! They have been kind enough to continue working with us even though the drive here is longer and mountain men don't like driving on highways.

You can just see the silver roof here. Never fear dear reader! Our 'leveling' job wasn't so complete that this flat roof is not going to shed water.

Maybe I should have led with this photo. I realize now that a reader could wonder why we were going to so much effort for an ugly truck box. Aside from the fact that it was basically free and I hate throwing things away, it was pretty much already a potting shed, right?

Someday the garden is going to be so lush and gorgeous that the shed won't stick out like a sore thumb anymore. Manifesting gorgeous gardens here at The New Farm!