You see that tent?
Actually, it’s not really a tent. It’s a steel-framed storage structure with vinyl walls, but it looks like a tent, and as the saying goes, “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a…tent.”
Or something like that.
Regardless, that tent represents a significant chunk of our winter work on the farm, as well as the cause for much hair-pulling and (we admit it) a fair amount of adult language.
Running a farm requires an impressive amount of stuff. We have tractors and seed drills and combines. Irrigation pipes, air compressors, and skid steers. Piles of hay, piles of storage sacks, piles of tools. Fencing, fuel, and fertilizer.
Winter on the farm is when we deal with a lot of the “stuff” of farming. The tractors all get oil changes, the trailers all get their annual maintenance. Fences are mended, new ones are built and magical storage tents sprout out of the earth just like the vine in Jack and the Beanstalk.
If only it were that easy.
Building a steel-framed tent (specifically one you might, maybe, have purchased at an auction without assembly instructions) is sort of like trying to assemble Ikea furniture after one too many whiskeys, only you get all the frustration of trying to assemble Ikea furniture and none of the joy of having had whiskey. (We have a strict no-whisky-while-operating-heavy-equipment rule on the farm, because 1) it’s illegal and 2) It’s a good way to stay alive.)
Still, after a dozen attempts and another dozen adjustments, our new storage structure is up, and we’re excited to be moving some of our tractors into this space and out of the harsh Colorado weather.
Now, off to install some new electric fencing and to make sure the cows’ watering troughs haven’t frozen over.
And a quick pro tip: If, after this holiday season, you do find yourself trying to assemble an Ikea dresser gifted to you by your Great Aunt Thelma, we recommend doing it with a glass of The Family Jones Rock & Rye in hand. Those warming spices will smooth out the discomfort of realizing that even if you weren’t having whiskey, you still wouldn’t be able to figure out how it all works.
May your winter be cozy, your storage tents waterproof, your whiskey local.
Cheers!
—Olander Farms
