Beginnings of the Chicken Coop, salvaged from our old red barn, which you can see behind

Now that we're starting to actually do some things around here it's hit me that planning vs. doing is very different. Not in terms of doing being more difficult and planning being easier, but in terms of time management. I'm working remotely from home and it's a 7am to 6pm job. I'll usually take a 20-30 minute lunch with Sweetbreads somewhere in there, but that's it. That leaves very little time for me to actually do anything useful on the farm. Back in the city I could come home at dark and hit the books, make some phone calls, write emails, research different ideas, etc. I could get in a good 3-4 hours worth of 'work', no problem. Didn't matter if it was light or dark outside. Now I need the daylight to really get meaningful work done. That gives me about 30 min or an hour and I better make it count. I'm looking forward to the longer days of summer.

For now we're planning our days around stuff that Sweetbreads can accomplish solo and once I get outside we take on the tasks that require two people. Seemingly, within a few minutes the sun starts to set and we start packing up our stuff and getting everything in order for the night. Nothing is worse than darkness and a bunch of tools lying around in the grass, we learned that one quick. I suppose we could hang lights outside and work in the dark, but by the time the sun sets we're ready to cook dinner, feed the dogs, and wrap up whatever other stuff we've got going on. We worked in the barn late one night, but everything just goes so much faster and smoother when it's light outside. It also feels a lot safer operating in the daylight. Until we get comfortable with our workspace and our tools I'll take the safe route over the speedy route.

So things will go a bit slower around here than I originally anticipated. There's only so much one person can do, and it's a good thing I got such a wonderful partner to work with. Who knows, I may actually slow her down if I were out there :)

Anyway, taking it slow is probably for the best. We're making great progress and it's better not to rush it. I just haven't quite slowed down from NYC speed yet. Still accustomed to the quick-fix. By the end of the weekend we'll have the coop done and some chickens running around. There's plenty of turkey vultures around, so we'll see if Sophie can bond to the chickens and help keep them alive. Maremma's aren't supposed to mature into full LGD status for a year or two, so I'm not sure she'll be too useful at first. She's also well-bonded to us already, so it might be tough for her to transition to the chickens. We're getting a few guineas too. Apparently they can be a little more aware of larger birds eating them for lunch and they can warn the rest of the group to get inside the coop. Those vultures are pretty big when they fly low to the barn... nasty things. They're still pretty cool though, my jaw always drops when I hear one overhead, massive wings flapping in the air above.