When we started this farm, we did not have any furniture to sit on or store things. I decided we needed some basic furniture to work on and something to sit while doing work or just for resting.

I thought the first thing we could use is a workbench. This can be used as a general work place and a space to start building other furniture for the farm. I went online and started searching for some easy workbench building plans since I have never built any furniture before. After watching a few videos, I found a plan and went out and bought some framing 2×4’s and a sheet of plywood. After a few hours, I had almost completed the workbench.

The videos I watched did not have the bottom storage level but I wanted to build one anyway. Here you can see the bottom storage has the plywood in place and I already piled a bunch of stuff on it. I thought it was going to be difficult to slide the bottom plywood in but luckily it was thin enough to bend. I used a little force and got it in fine.

I later watched more videos and built the two stools. They worked so well, I sat on them and rested for a while from all the building done today.

Overall, the workbench and stools weren’t built the best but they are definitely strong. I learned a lot and think I could do much better next time using pocket holes. Now we at least have a place to do some work.

We planted sun-chokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, last winter. Now they are growing so well with big green, lush leaves. We built a short fence of corrugated metal sheets around the sun-chokes so we can mow around it. Mowing around the area will help keep the sun-chokes contained in one spot.

The reason for planting the sun-chokes is to use them as a natural pesticide.  We thought it would be beneficial to the environment to use a natural source of pesticide.  What better way to take care of the earth and our growing plants than to use the sun to naturally grow these wonderful plants.