While it may not fit your Amish vision of an old-fashioned barn-raising, our version of it was pretty satisfying. Last weekend we enlisted the help of a small army of farm friends and put up a livestock and hay shed that I continue to smile at when I look at it. Click the link below for pictures of the day, and click the pics for a larger version….

The bare ground, in around September

The posts going in. If you look carefully you’ll see an elusive barn nymph hiding behind the front post

The day of the work party. As folks started to trickle in, we started installing headers and purlins, as well as clearing sod for the gravel floor

As more folks came in, rafters started to get assembled (thanks Matias for bringing the chopsaw!)

The rafters just about complete, ready to be trimmed and the excess posts cut.

Some of the hazards of putting big work parties together is sometimes you run out of work for folks while waiting for an important element to come together…in our case, it was getting the rafters fitted onto the posts. It went well, just slower than I had hoped. Here’s Katie, Chrissa, and Kelli waiting for me to get my act together….they seem to be enjoying the break.

Once the frame was finalized, folks sprang into action, and the roofing and siding started going on.

(thanks Kat for this one…check out her book at amazon)

Not exactly finished, but this is what I woke up to the following morning…more work to do, mostly finishing up the siding and putting on gutters, then all I need to do is move the steers in. Thanks everyone!