Well, there have been a couple of setbacks on our progress at the farm.  First, over the weekend, we discovered that the outer wall was in much worse shape than we had originally thought and will have to be replaced.  Fortunately, we should have enough wood already on site to replace most of it.  There’s quite a bit of wood stored in the building from old shelving and extra pieces that were leftovers from the original construction.  We shouldn’t have to spend too much money on repairing the external walls, but it will take some time.

The worse news is that, despite the repairs to the back wall, very hard rains like the one last night are still causing severe flooding inside, so there’s still work to be done to repair the masonry.  I’ve got a couple of ideas for how to fix it, but it’s going to take time and some dry weather to get it done.  I had included masonry sealant as part of my original estimate for costs, so there really isn’t a change to the dollar amount, again just the time.  However, we have to get the flooding stopped before we worry about anything else.

I’m still hopeful that we can have the first unit up and running by mid-May, but it’s going to be difficult.  There is a lot of work to do and the clock is ticking.  We’ll continue to work hard on the days when we’re there, and we may even try to squeeze in a few extra trips through the week.  One way or the other, we will still make this happen.