30 GOALS" to accomplish for the farm this year. So, with our first barn party scheduled for this weekend, and needing some extra sitting and eating areas for the guests – this was the week to tackle the project.

We wanted a big long table that could seat at least 12 – so we made it 12′ long and 45″ wide. Eventually we will make matching benches to go down each side – which will seat 6 to a side. If we added a chair to each end – it would give us a total of 14.

We started by building the trestle out of the old 2 x 4″'s barn roof rafter pieces from the Cardington Barn we took down last summer. Not your typical 2×4′s – these boards are made from old growth solid red oak, and unlike today's lumber – actually measure 2 x 4″. I just used a sawzall and cut them smooth – leaving all of the character of the old nails holes and dents of the wood in tact. Grey and weathered – they made the perfect base material for the table.

For the top piece – we just simply used alternating 2x8x12 and 2x10x12 pine boards and glued them together to make a large table top. We used ratchet straps in place of clamps (I didn't have any that long!) to hold it together while it dried.

After that, Mary took over and applied 2 coats of stain with a rag – and then finished it off with 3 coats of polyurethane to make it strong and tough. We also added some 1 x 4′s underneath and screwed them into the underside of the table top to secure it all together.