Faced with the prospect of being snowed in last week, we decided it would be a good opportunity to do some spring cleaning inside the shop. We moved the planter back out to storage so we would have an open floor to work on.

School ended up being cancelled for three days so we had four extra workers that needed something to do. The kids continued work they started over Christmas break, then moved on to other organizational and cleaning activities. For the most part, they worked pretty hard. I doubt they still think it is fun to go to work with dad, more likely it had something to do with getting paid.

It was a good start. We pulled most everything off of the outside walls of the shop. Like items were put together and palletized. We determined what needed to stay in the shop and what could go outside. Items that were to stay were put where they belong. Pallets of stuff are ready to go outside when the forklift can again navigate the driveway. I was able to find some used pallet rack. We will go vertical when we move this stuff out to the storage building.

Sorting parts

A lot of time went into sorting through contents of file cabinets and the upstairs parts storage. (We only got about half done upstairs.) We also organized incoming parts shipments and moved stuff away from the entrance area where it seems to get dropped after UPS delivers. The bathroom and mechanical room were de-cluttered and cleaned.

We filled the dumpsters with trash rather quickly. We also ended up with a crate of scrap steel and a pile of wire/electrical scrap. The kids went back to school this week, while the rest of us found a stopping point and made the shop a work space again.

We made good progress, but there is still plenty more to do. Another snowstorm might be enough time to finish up the shop. Thursday we replaced the tarp on one of the hopper trailers and serviced it. Friday the planter went back inside to finish it up.

The opinions of the author are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or Farm Progress.