Shed progress

 We've been making some good progress on the shed.  By "we", I mean most of this stuff is so far over my head that I'm lucky if I'm able to help a little bit with logistics and cheque writing.  Thank goodness for our wonderful builder (and friend!) Mark!  Not only did he put up the shed in the frigid end of 2016, but he got right back at it as soon as the snow melted working on finishing the interior.

First step was to confirm the floor plan.  Much harder than it sounds!  I've said a few times, "Why can't we just start at the end and then work backwards?!".  It would be much easier to start at the end, point out all the flaws and changes you would make if you had to do it again, than starting with a blank canvas!  Some of the needs we had were: Cooler 12' x 18'; mechanical room with furnace, cooler guts, and a/c; washroom with toilet, sink, shower; stairs contained within the space to upstairs grow room; three-basin sink for washing; floor drains located where there is potential for a future barrel washer.  All of that basically filled the space!

The area with the pink rigid insulation is where the cooler will be.  To the right of the cooler is the mechanical room and washroom.  To the left, the wash bay and sinks.  There will be stairs against the far right wall as well as lots of room for shelving.  The front door will open into a propagation greenhouse attached to the end of the building.  Above the prep/wash area will be a grow room, for starting transplants with long growing times as well as growing pea shoots and other microgreens (potentially), and early spring salad crops in trays, in the hopes of moving me away from being the Salad Nazi.

(We grow salad mix in the early spring in Mom's greenhouse, to take advantage of the extra space that is being heated.  We can produce a couple of pounds a week, and there is demand for at least a few dozen.  I basically can't even take photos in the greenhouse this time of year without being inundated with emails and messages of people looking for salad.  It's encouraging, but also very annoying to have to be the gatekeeper for this popular crop!)

In other news, baby is at week 38 now, nearly there!  Late pregnancy has proven much more bearable than the first 8 months.  I feel better and more energy than I have the entire winter, though the waiting is getting annoying at this point.  I feel like everything is just on "pause" waiting for the new arrival, except it's not-- the spring is progressing out there and soon it will be time to be out planting!  Would rather be getting my sea legs with a newborn now rather than later, but there's nothing I can do about that, so instead I work away at the things I can do right now... Picking nettles, computer work, email correspondence, and very light amounts of yardwork and farm work.