About three weeks ago, we got a call from a friend who found an old walk-in refrigerator on Offer Up for FREE. Of course, Greg was interested! He’s been looking into walk-in coolers for the Ranch for a couple of years now. The story behind it was an older lady ran a small farm and had the cooler in her garage. After she retired, she moved and left it behind. The new owner did not have any use for it and wanted the garage space back to normal.
We dedicated a Saturday to take it apart. This took 3 adults roughly 24 man-hours. Things had to be labeled, and diagrams had to be drawn according to labels to ensure the puzzle would go back together properly. Later, this effort turned out to be paramount to the reassembly effort.
In preparation to reassemble the cooler at the Ranch, a lot of work had to be done… and fast! Behind our garage has always been a small lean-to where we kept the lawnmowers. We decided that would be a perfect location, but it needed some work. We had to excavate a lot of soil to make room for the concrete slab. The roof had to be lifted so the pitch of the roof was not so steep, and the cooler would fit underneath. We also decided while we are doing that, why not make it go along the entire backside of the garage rather than just one third that would have been necessary for just the cooler.
After the excavation was completed, the 6×6 posts were installed and the formwork was built. We then placed 10 yards of concrete using Andersen Construction, Cal-Portland, and Ralph’s Concrete Pumping to complete the slab.
Once all of that was done, the cooler needed to be assembled. It took a team of people, but we got it done. Thank you to all the people that helped! After the physical assembly of the cooler, it needed to be wired by Vitro Electric followed by Caliber Mechanical to hookup and commission the refrigeration equipment. They did a great job as well. While a lot of this was happening, the 700 SF lean-to roof was being built overhead, and the retaining wall was being installed.
There is a lot of work that we are continuing to finish like retaining wall backfill, gutters, downspouts, lighting, installation of outdoor sink and some cleanup. However, we are very pleased with how this all came together with construction and cleanup happening in less than 2 weeks.
So, you may be thinking…Why would you need a huge refrigerator? Well, a great example is this weekend. We will be butchering 40-45 turkeys, old laying hens and a posse of roosters. Typically, we have to spend a lot of money on ice and try to get buyers to pick up from the Ranch as soon as possible because we do not have refrigeration or cooler space to keep that many birds cold. Well? Now we do!
If you want to come by and see the new walk-in cooler project or help with the turkey harvest, feel free to come by the Ranch November 23rd or 24th between 8 am & 5 pm.
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