After finding out that a local hardware store had bulk gravel for what I thought was a reasonable price, I made a plan to start getting gravel to start covering some of the sloppy areas around the grounds here. The amount was what a small front loader bucket can hold and was $40. It would be enough to fill the 8ft bed of the F250 about half way. The thing is, the store was about 30 miles away, a long run for a truck that gets 10 mpg when its not carrying a load, less with 1000+ lbs of gravel. I inquired about local sources of gravel. This is where we ended up finding out that the local cement supply facility in town was actually selling bulk gravel that is used for mixing in their cement for $10 a scoop. I had to check this out. Upon going there, I found that the scoop amount was a large industrial sized front end loader bucket, probably 2x what the other store had. They had three different grades: pea gravel, 3/4" average size and 1" average size gravel. I ended up getting the 3/4" size since the first area I wanted to start covering was the area around the Mustang Chicken Coop. Even with this load of gravel the rear of the truck was riding low under the weight of the gravel. The truck still handled it just fine but it was a lot better only driving 10 miles give or take to town to get this gravel versus 30+ miles to get the other gravel and pay 4x as much. The area around the Mustang Chicken Coop has become sloppy over the weeks after the car had been set up in its spot. Between the leaky hose and fittings at the water line up to us having to spray water to clean the car coop, the grounds were pretty sloppy. Add to it our walking through the mud during our regular work around the coop, that made the area stay sloppy. Time for the gravel. I had to shovel the gravel into a wheelbarrow slowly since it wouldn't take long to get exhausted shoveling gravel, even more so when pushing the wheelbarrow across the yard. It of course took many trips to get the gravel out. When I dumped it I had to walk it into the mud to get it established in the mud then covered some more so I can form a nice bed of gravel that won't just disappear after a while. I took the time to get a nice even bed spread all the way around the car, extending out for a couple of feet to serve as a good walkway to stand on while cleaning or otherwise servicing the chicken coop. I even made sure to get plenty of gravel around the water line since that area was one of the bigger slop areas that would require a larger amount of gravel to get a good bed established. The whole truck load of gravel was enough to make my way all the way around the car with just a very small patch still left open. I will eventually add more gravel around the car coop to further cover the sloppy areas that extend further our from the covered areas. My goal is to cover as much ground as possible with gravel so besides covering the sloppy muddy areas I can also cover areas that are more problematic when it comes to cutting grass. Areas along the fence line or around the trees or around the other chicken coops would be covered with gravel so the grass would not be allowed to grow high where I would have to come through with the trimmer. I would just leave areas that are out in the open covered with grass that way all I have to do is just go over the area with the push mower, real quick. After this little episode with the gravel, I already decided that I'll be going back to that cement plant to get plenty more gravel. I'll be hitting them up at least once a week to get a truck load since I can make that run and be back at the house with time to spare during a regular work day. Even during those days I might be able to get a little of the gravel spread out depending on where I park the truck or where I need the gravel. I plan on getting some gravel for the main driveway as well since there has been some erosion in spots that twill need to be filled in. Again, I will be getting lots of gravel from these guys.
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