Barn Building, Day 4, May 8th and Festivities

So, the last day dawning - and with beautiful weather after a short period of dullness! No rain! Couldn't have picked a better weekend. Perhaps the sun was a bit too hot for the builders, as fatigue set in a bit for a few, and they needed sun creaming and hat reminding, as well as gallons of water!

So, the last morning planning meeting, over pain au chocolat:

And C speaking eloquently about how everything feels coming to the end.

At this stage, there were only a few shingles on the LHS started by cousin J, so this was one of the key things to do. There was also a bit more work on the back wall, sky lights to put in, and more braces, as well as all the pullins to be finished at the back...  So... not much! Especially considering there were guests due to potentially arrive from 10am... Luckily even the most die-hard field festival goers didn't arrive 'til 12 or so.

But things had to prepared for the guests too, so there was a while where builders helped in this, but then A did a sterling job all by herself - cooking and planning for weeks in advance. (Cheers for the people behind the scenes!)

Getting started in the glorious sunshine always puts everyone in a good mood, so never underestimate the power of warmth! So, at the start of the day there were barely any shingles, so this (as well as the braces) was the key job - we wanted a roof! The sky lights were at the back, and are also in situ, but there's a distinct lack of shingles on the back roof... It's fine: a project for the rest of 2CC in between the rest of life for the next few months. But having them complete at the front makes it really look finished.

So... mega shingle time, aa d you can see from this picture: there was a lot needing doing. And the back wall, as much as possible AND more braces. And the pullins. Sounded like an impossible job, but it's amazing what six builders with lots of stamina, work ethic, cake and powerful tools can do!

Architect J putting in some bracing - and look! You can see
the skylight holes! (all though there's nothing around them yet...

There seemed to be some despair at some points - will it all come together?

Yep - there's a thumbs up in picture 2!

Little M was still very involved in organising Germany, between shingling, pretty good multitasked!

       

And the sheep were ever-happy; we also realised there are multiple uses of shingles.

And H from the foundations team
got back into action.

They double as tables!

Little M called Bunty a 'loaf sheep,'
which I really like!

So, the guest started arriving. A had little idea who was coming and when, so catering was a little haphazard but no one went hungry, that's for sure!

Lots of people - J senior, B&R with partner from
Joe's men's group, K&R, C&P, the Stallards with their van, K
from the village, C&C, the O family M&B who almost didn't
make it because of breakdowns... might've missed some
people, because there were lots!

Lots of intrepid guests had a go doing some shingling, including my Good Mother C - pretty impressive! There was a treasure hunt for two little boys where they had to find sheep stones hidden around the garden but I think I made it too difficult, because there are two that I couldn't even remember! We also had a sheep cake competition, but only 3 competitors. I think there was a clear winner - there's A feeding the sheep amongst the hay (apples) and mud (sultanas) - a very impressive Dutch apple cake from the Oof Family in the village. Amazing! A well deserved first prize.

And the last bits of the barn!

The shingles progressing from underneath...

The skylights at the back going in...

Look at the progress on the shingling!

A's amazing sheep carving done on the jig saw for one of the
end pieces, the other had flowers put there.

And then: The Barn Opening Ceremony. Although it's not 100% done, it's certainly complete enough (and in such a short time) for the ceremonial opening. A started with a funny poem about needing to have sheep and wanting to have them in the house, but this was an impossibility, so the barn had to be made! Uncle M blessed the shed with a Berry poem, and T and H (unfortunately absent)
had written some haikus. A also read a poem written a while ago from some dear friends of ours, which was special for our family. And then... we had the ribbon cutting!

A reading poetry

Uncle M reading a Berry poem

Ceremonial ribbon cutting.

And Prosecco opening - if you look carefully
you can see one of the corks flying right over
the barn.

And everything all coming to a sad close... visitors leaving, and builders going back to their normal lives. It all seemed sad to finish, but everyone was so proud of the work that had gone into it.

And so, here are the six amazing builders: Little M, J, A, C, Architect J and Uncle M. What a creation they have made. 

The stay-at-homers were packing up until late, and then the house seemed very quiet. The cats were ridiculously pleased to have the run of the place to themselves again, and normal life resumes. It's almost as though the JAM² has always been there.

In all her glory:

And what of the amazing camaraderie and fun that the builders had throughout their days together? United by J, some had never met before, but they've really done something stupendous that I imagine will stay with them. Don't worry, I'm sure we haven't heard the last of them, like the dodo...

Thank you so much to everyone who came, particularly our stars. I hope these blog posts have been enough to document at least some of what went on. Builders (and others) feel free to comment and tell me if there's anything I've missed out or got wrong. This is my tribute to the barn, small as it may be.

Thank you all.

BARN Building Day 2, May 6th

Day 2 dawns on a magnificent BARN. (Without a roof or anything, but still.) It's definitely upgraded from a shed. A was skiving off to Bath today to meet friends, but we had Architect J at arriving at lunch time to inspect the goings on. He seemed okay with it, although some things weren't quite to plan... (It's, er, quite a bit taller than was intended)

But it actually looks like a BARN. It has structure and everything. Little M and Artichect J put up the first roof truss, which really makes it look... barn-some. (I know no terminology at all - you'll have to look elsewhere for knowledge).

Putting up the first truss

... and up...

And it's up!

Definitely looks barn-y!

The sheep still wanted to get in on the action.

Playing with the shingles...

... and on the wood...

and asking for milk. Again.

Here's another tea break. They're very necessary for builders. It's at least one cake and about three tea pots/cafeterias per break. The purpose of non-builders is purely to cater for builders. Sexism abound! (Although little M is bucking the trend - go little M!)

And E having a brief moment of glory on the roof - good for reading and posing until they needed the palette for real 'builder-y' things.

Nancy was very hungry, as per usual.

The sheep decided it was very hard work watching the shed being built: relaxing necessary.

From my untrained eye, building appears to involve a lot of pointing.

Lots of things going on, growing and looking more building like...

\

That's a serious mallet. I think the mallet was called Jamie.

I thought their screws were quite pretty. That's probably
not allowed in builder-speak.

A mark on one of the pieces of wood was found that looked vaguely like a monkey, and this was dubbed the 'third monkey.' This is because when you have two people working on a job, and you suddenly need a third you call for a monkey. And then it was decided it was a flying monkey. I think everyone were monkeys at some point.

I believe this is the flying monkey, although I'm
not sure. There may have been a flying and non-flying monkey.
Feel free to correct me, builders!

They worked from dawn...

...till dusk.

And look at it now!! All structure-full. Stay tuned for tomorrow, day 3.

Shed Building, Day 1, May 5th

So, what was originally termed a 'one-day shed building,' has turned into something much more realistic: a four day event with (in total) six builders, from all over the UK. It's been in the planning for a months with emails flying, and the time is finally here. The Molly Tunnel (however wonderful it is) has had clear problems for sheep husbandry, with their tendency to eat it. So, they get a proper wooden barn, instead. Pretty cool, huh?

They don't know how lucky they are, do they?

Flagging

Before anyone even arrived, essential things had to be prepared:

Pom-pomming

More flagging

So, builders and architects and general dogs bodies' travels from all over the UK (Leeds, Brighton, Suffolk, Edinburgh, Brighton... Winscombe) are congregating to build The Sheep Shed. There are still debates as to its name, JAM ² (or (JM) ²AC. It might just be called the Sheep Shed.

So, on this first proper building day, they were four extra builders down - one flew on an airy-plane from Scotland mid morning, and the other arrives tomorrow.

There was a marvellous safety course, in which people were told not to cut themselves. So far, only J has managed it. (Minor digits, don't worry, they'll survive.) But it's all falling into place: the wood arrived in TWO trucks on Wednesday (not sure why they didn't just bring a bigger truck), as the foundations and hard-standing were laid by little M neighbour B, and J a few weeks ago. (With an extra hand from a friend, H, in the village - thanks!). So, here is where they started, at the beginning of day one:

A hard standing of concrete and then the beautiful wood that had arrived. There were specific uses for each: the oak to form the sturdiest frame possible, the Canadian cedar for the shingles (tiles to lay people) and larch for the walls.

The sheep are impressed even by the wood, so we're hoping
they're easy to impress!

There was a split between the older and younger members of the team: the younger wore hats, and the elder didn't. In this glorious sun, we have had some burning despite being enticed by this:

Please wear me!

There were also many builders' breaks for various fussy drinkers: tea, rooibos, tea, coffee, squash, water, juice etc. A mulberry and apple cake was eaten. It was good apparently.

Now, I', even less than a dogs' body. I think I could be some kind of Chihuahua. So whenever I came to see them, I just listened to them talk (even when they're not talking building, they might as well be talking pig latin they're all so clever!) and decided my little job in feeding Baby Nancy was good enough. She was always pleased at absolutely EVERYONE because she thought that there was a chance EVERYONE might feed her. I think she got pretty confused, poor lamb.

Nom nom nom.

The rest of the sheep were either: completely uninterested, or quite keen to run around the concrete:

Luckily there were no sheep related injuries either, as some of the tools looked very sharp indeed:

If I were a sheep, that would hurt

Lots of clever things were happening:

Look...

it fits!

A having fun with the saw (it's harder than it looks!)

And many action shots:

M sawing away.

C eating cake counts as action, right?

E briefly got her moment in the limelight (even without a role):

Woo-hoo!

And E's arm were exposed to the sun for the first time in seven years.
No hyperbole. Pretty impressive, huh? Good vantage point for photos

And Little M's amazing builder's boots have to be shown because they are pretty awesome:

All in all, the five builders seem very contented. To my untrained eye, it certainly looks more structural, and, although they were talking about some of the angles being wrong, it seems to be staying up. And some of the joints (I don't know the technical names), look really beautiful:

It's on stilts! So it can technically move, but find someone
who can carry a structure this big...

Tiring work, but we think that the cake helped. 

The barn so far - it actually looks like a barn!

Bring on tomorrow! And the designer will come to survey his work...

Lazin' sheep