Man oh man what a month it’s been. Last post, our team was preparing for a fast approaching dig day, and dig we did! After many batter boards and much anticipation, we were happy to have Tyler from T & C Excavating come out and help us officially break ground! Over the course of one morning, Tyler and crew managed to dig up a literal mountain of dirt to make way for our driveway and footings.

After a couple days of placing and tying rebar we followed fast behind with an early morning concrete pour. All of our fellow leftovers showed up to help us out, and we even had a special guest star all the way from Project Horseshoe Farm! A couple truck loads (from the generous Crosby-Carmichael Inc.) later, and we found our footing(s). Nothing says “no stopping us now” like a few thousand pounds of concrete. As the concrete set, we also placed vertical pieces of rebar for the block mason to tie into as he builds our block wall. (Thanks again to Crosy-Carmichael Inc. for their donation of concrete!)

Since then, we’ve turned our attention to the driveway and third volume. Steve stopped by to give us a quick Bobcat tutorial and Toews Brothers brought in new red dirt to replace the old topsoil. This allowed us to start building our driveway. For now, the goal is to get a gravel surface suitable for delivery trucks. Keeping the gravel just below our desired grade will allow us to come back later and either pave or add a finer layer of gravel. Over at the third volume, we hand dug our trenches and prepped the area for plumbing and formwork. All in a month’s work!

Spirits are high here in Hale. Next time you hear from us, we might even be raising the roof!