Nearing the Finish Line!

Jim and I are rounding third base and looking for home. We built the door frames for the barn and we're waiting for the oak to air dry and shrink up a bit before we face the front of the doors with it.


Here's a photo of one of the two decked areas in the main barn.


Meanwhile, we got busy framing the bathroom on the smaller building and the rough-in was finished today. The oak boxing is being cut at the sawmill and should be ready to pickup in a couple of days. That will go up fast. We'll start running the electric tomorrow to have lighting and outlets for both structures.


We also have two new additions to our farm in the form of Maremma LGD's. The Maremma is an American version of the Italian name "Maremmano-Abruzzese". A Maremma is a livestock guarding dog, bred in Italy for centuries to guard large flocks of sheep on the plains and in the mountains. The Maremma originally lived day and night with its flock, and its white coat mimics the coat of the sheep in its flock. It was bred to take responsibility for keeping the flock safe from 4-legged predators, primarily the wolf, and from 2-legged thieves; and kept proficient at its job by frequent life-and-death battles with the wolves.

We named the male Santo and the female Lucia. It's a play on my mothers' maiden name which is Santa Lucia! They are not quite 5 months old and Santo is close to 70 lbs. while Lucia is smaller at around 50 lbs. They are settling in nicely here at the farm and there is no doubt in our minds that they will be proficient at keeping our animals safe from predators.

Here's Tara sandwiched between Santo (left) and Lucia (right):