We have a list of winter projects that seemed extremely daunting at the time it was written. It deals a lot with farm infrastructure, like building wood storage and organizing the barn. One of the big ticket items on the list is the fencing project that will give the White Oak herd access to a big chunk of beautiful pasture. Anyway, the project felt big. Huge. No less than 1000 feet of fencing and five gates, to be outfitted with a barn come summer and the Natural Building Internship. It was no small task.
However, thanks to the power of teamwork, good planning, and a few unsuspecting prospective interns (tricking them into pitching in a hand while they come for a visit is sort of like barnyard hazing ), we somehow managed to complete the bulk of it in four work days. Here is what those days looked like, assuming materials like posts and fencing mesh are already prepared and accounted for:
Day 1
Lay out posts at corners and in between long spans, dig post holes, set posts. Build and enforce H-Braces as necessary.
Day 2
Continue with Day 1 activities.
Day 3
Lay out and sink T-Posts at 10′ intervals.
Day 4
Lay out fencing, pull it taught using a combination of a tractor and a come-along. Nail fencing to wooden posts using U-nails and clip fencing to T-Posts as necessary.
Though we still have to install gates, the structure of the fencing is complete and nearly ready for critters!
