Improving The Compass Barn...

Liljegren's Compass Barn

 
I was asked what a "compass barn" was yesterday. I thought I'd explain to you, too. When we purchased our farmhouse, there were three outbuildings on our five acre property. One is our large pole barn building (which we just completed paving); the wood shed (great for "Wednesday night beatings". I'm just kidding. Really.); and a machine shed (this building).

I found the metal compass in 2017, and Shelly spotted me on the tall ladder, so this acrophobic, but nimble sexagenarian could climb up and hang it. ("Don't look down. Don't look down.") Upon returning to terra firma, I christened our machine shed, The Compass Barn.

Inside Our Compass Barn

After the paving was finished in our larger building, we decided that we'd also improve the dirt floor in the Compass Barn. It was pretty unlevel and the sod was humped up in front of the barn doors, making it difficult to drive into the building.

I'm not ready to agree on reinforcing the walls of the barn. The light coming in between the boards is one of the things that makes me love it so. See the light shining on the floor. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. However, I fully agreed that the floor could use a little upgrade.

Another View Inside Our Compass Barn

That square of concrete in the photo is a concrete pad that will act as a footing for a jackpost to support the hand-hewn beam that spans the building. The flooring is a material called "screening" over a sand base, and it's been wet and compacted.

My vantage point from these photos is through a doorway into a room that has a concrete floor. It housed a hog or two in its day, but it's completely cleaned out now. It has a loft above it, and I'm using the area below the loft as my potting shed.

There are also two windows in the "potting shed" area, and my plan is to take some old barn boards to make window boxes that I can hang under each window to fill with pretty flowers for the rest of the summer. I'd like to work on those while I can still enjoy them this summer. We'll see what I can find for boards around here. I find everything about this building charming!
 

Re-Grading The Drive

 

Last winter, the area out in front of the Compass Barn retained water, which froze the doors in place when it got really cold. We wanted to take care of that, as long as we were working over there.

The area is now regraded, and there will be gravel placed first, for drainage. Then, we'll have new black dirt trucked in to grade over the top. We're going to plant grass seed (and I'm hoping it will be mixed with clover) so we have a grass drive into the barn.

 

Our View Up The Hill In Front Of The Barn

 

The guys checked out the grade with a transit when they were all finished, and told us there's a 28" drop from the dirt fill up the hill, down to where I'm standing to take this picture. Add the gravel and dirt, and we don't think there will be any standing water from now on. It will run right down the hill past the barn, and it's going to look beautiful, too!

Tomorrow is a studio day. I'm working on setting up my first Primitive Gatherings "Twilight Garden" Summer Block of the Week. I want to get that done before Week Two arrives! I'm hoping to show you photos of it tomorrow. Gotta run!