Month: July 2026

Granary progress

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Well the granary situation has improved dramatically. It was going to cost almost $700 in sheet metal and welding wire to make another 5x5x5’ bin and one of the nephews sent me a link for a local person selling two large upright bins! I did not need both of them despite their willingness to sell me both. So for $750 they delivered it to the house on Friday. I had cleared a spot and dropped a bunch of gravel in place but after looking at the container I think I need to level the area and then drill five holes in the ground, add some wire and fill them up with concrete. I can take a piece of all thread and put it into the concrete when it’s wet. I don’t think I will try and line up the holes with the grain bin. I will just weld some plates and bolt them in place.

I also managed to get some paint sprayed on the finished bin I repaired and got the slider door installed. Of course when I used a chain to roll the bin I bent the brand new door. I crawled inside and beat it back into shape with a hammer. It works now, it’s a little stiff but that is not a bad thing as I want opening the door to be an intentional act. It looks like the bin has a ladder built into its side so someone can climb the bin and open the top when filling it. This is a good thing as long as you are not scared of heights. I will have to get the cap removal process down before we lift it into the air. I would like to stand on the ground while learning, not holding onto the ladder with one arm 25’ into the air while fighting the lid with the other.

The Naked Gardener called on Thursday to say that he thinks his field is ready to cut again. I swung by on Friday and he is right, it is ready. So I spent most of the day Friday tearing the baler apart. I figured out that it is a lot easier to work on if you remove the front arms and some extra pieces. It took about an hour to disassemble the front but it was a lot easier getting to everything else. There was one guide piece I could not remove but I just worked around it. I was going to have to grind the nuts off and it is just not necessary as I am not replacing it. I replaced about 1/3 of the pickups and tubes. Anything that was bent got tossed in the trash. I have about an hour left to get the races lined up and then I can spend another hour putting the front all back together. I also need to replace a hydraulic hose. The entire thing is covered in hydraulic fluid. It needs a wash down.

Unfortunately, I am on a timer now. I went over and cut the field this evening. So the new tractor “Juicy” has had a flat tire for two weeks in the upper field, I had to go up and remove the tire tonight so it can be fixed. The hay turner is on the back and it needs about 45 minutes of TLC before I can go turn the hay. Once that is done then I will need to spend three hours with the baler to get it up and running so I can bale the hay!

I also will need to install the two new gates on our stairs to prevent the grandchild from crawling up and falling down from the bottom or falling down the stairs from the top. This is what happens when your grandparents work in the hospital and see bad stuff all the time.

The new chickens area settling in nicely. All of them are staying out of the yard which is good for them as being a play toy for the dog tends to an eventual slow death.

We now have three kittens living under the old house porch. We have installed a temporary fence to keep Mouse away from them as he is a definite kitten killer. He only comes on weekends with the kids. Of course, the kittens don’t know this so they were going through the fence as they are now starting to become very active. So we now have a plastic chicken netting zip tied to the fence so the kittens cannot get through the fence. Milo likes the kittens so we will work on socializing him to them. He still does not like their mother and barks at her whenever he sees her.

Greenhouse build

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I have plans to get Annmarie’s greenhouse in place and put together so she can use it. We would like to grow vegetables through the winter so we are going to give it a go. We will probably put a remote thermometer in the greenhouse so we can track the high and low temps throughout the year. This will not be possible if I do not assemble the thing. Rainman and I had already built the base earlier in the year we just needed to assemble the actual greenhouse, or so I thought. The Quiet One and I worked on changing out panels down by the spring first. I had purchased some old metal panels and we swapped out the newer horse exercise ring panels for some old ones that can stay forever. I of course found a deep spot with my rubber boots and ended up getting water inside my left boot first thing in the morning. My foot stayed wet for the rest of the day.

Before we could even assemble the first part of the base I had to bring over almost two yards of gravel to spread around the outside of the base. The chickens had spread out the gravel and were eroding the base. Once we got that corrected we assembled the base and the instructions said to bury the base. We brought in another three yards of gravel to fill the base but kept it away from the metal. I wanted to get the entire thing assembled then use some metal to wood screws to attach the greenhouse base to the wooden base we installed. We also bolted the wooden frame to three foot ground anchors screwed into the ground in the spring. I do not believe it will be able to fly away. It might fly apart due to the wind but the base frame will stay attached to the ground if it does! All the videos said it would take two days but we were making stellar progress despite reading the instruction booklet. That is until the instructions started to tell us to disassemble one piece for every two we attempted to add. We will have to change out some longer bolts for shorter ones as we used up all the long ones and we need them for the roof.

I ended up on my back after attempting to jump off of a ladder at what I thought was a foot or so. It was more than that and I did not stick the landing, my feet slid out from under me and my back stopped my fall when it pounded into the ground. Surprisingly, I did not knock the air out of my lungs. I did end up bruising the bottom of my left foot. It hurts to walk now and I have a slight limp until I get used to the pain. I also wore a short sleeve shirt, it was hot, and I don’t usually do that so I got an impressive sunburn on my arms and neck. At 58 years old I am not near as spry as I used to be.

We ended up almost getting the roof truss pieces in place before quitting. The Quiet One did bring over chickens! I now have an extra approximately 25 chickens. So there are about 40 chickens running around now. They need to figure out that they have to go to the front spring if they want water. I got a dozen eggs today, so the dog is back to getting an egg on her food twice daily.

Our Ring camera is getting a lot smarter. It can now tell you that the critters it sees are a flock of chickens! It is pretty amazing. They now need to work on the logic so the camera tells you when a dog enters the picture.

Granary repair closing in

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I should really break this up into a couple of blog entries but I did a little bit of everything over the weekend so I am just going to lump the whole weekend into one big blog. Let’s start off with the great news, the wheat has been harvested and it did very well for this place, it came out to 47.65 bu/acre, anything over 45 bu/acre is very good for this soil. This is even more amazing considering how little rain we had to finish off the growing season. They disced a fire break around the entire outside of the field so that worry is gone.

My outside plant is now on a drip line so it is loving having all the water it can drink. It is blooming for the first time ever! Our deck plants have water also but we got it to them a little late so one planter has died and the other is struggling. Our system is working, so we are going to add two more hanging spots so we can have flowers across the front deck next year.

I was cooking breakfast yesterday and saw a black cow out the back window. I asked Annmarie to go out and let our cow back in. I thought that one of our cows had gotten out and wanted back in. I saw Annmarie go out to the ram pasture and open the double gates. This was the go signal for all the sheep in the barn lot. They ran Pell Mel for the open gate. Annmarie blocked the gate and told the sheep to stay but when she moved the sheep bum rushed the gate and ran out onto the back hillside and then down to the orchard. All the cows ran out onto the back hillside. Annmarie came running inside for help and I made it to the lower hillside gate before the cows got down below. We tried to push them down but then we realized it was not our cow! Instead we just left the gate open. There is not really any food on the hillside we knew they would come down eventually.

I posted a photo of the brand to Facebook and we eventually had someone call us today and say they thought it was their cow as they are now running cows on the Broken Spur land. They came up today and we walked up and pushed the cows back to the corral. Their cow sorted right off and the cows loaded right up. Chance got to go out with us and work the cows. I am sure he thought it was a little weird when I started hollering at her to go “left” to circle around the cows and she did! She does know her left from her right when she wants to pay attention. We get someone’s cow about every two years, they wander onto the property.

My goal for the weekend was to get the granary bottom welded and together. Since I am a fairly inept welder and am now learning to wire weld instead of stick weld I have been having some problems. Mostly I have not figured out how to fill in with wire when I have air gaps between the metal. I am also having a hard time adjusting the wire feed speed to match my use and hand movement. I started at 180 speed and ended up at 250. I was having some pushing back going on at that speed so I probably need to be welding at 240-245. Using the higher speed I was able to keep a continuous bead going. I did figure out how to fill in but it was not very pretty, but I got it done!. I welded the wire to the copper center thingy on Saturday. I watched a video that said there was a tool you could use to clean out the hole so the wire would thread easily. I do not own such a tool but there were three extra tips with the welder so I swapped out a tip. I kept a longer wire by speeding it up so I was not welding so close to the tip.

Saturday after the cow debacle I decided to go pick blackberries. We are not going to get hardly any fruit this year so I will need to fill the freezer with blackberries. I figure I will need to pick about 30 gallons. I spent three hours picking and managed to pick three gallons. Annmarie got them all packaged up for her breakfast smoothies. I will need to pick some and package them in 6 cup increments, we use those for pies! The wild blackberries make the best pies, especially if you keep the sugar to a minimum.

I spent three more hours on the grain bin today and got the entire bottom welded on! I just have to drill the holes for the grain gate and get it installed. I am going to put a foam seal on the lid so it doesn’t leak water but it should not. I will need to install three bolts to block off three holes in the side. I am going to just install the bolts and washers instead of fighting with welding something over them. Basically, I am going to take the easy way out! Once I get that done I will need to make an elevated wooden stand about 16 inches off the ground to place the granary on and it will be in service.

I was going to make another grain bin but the sheet metal alone was going to cost me $660. I was able to purchase a 28’ tall grain bin for $750 this weekend on Facebook Marketplace. I have already leveled a spot and filled it with six inches of gravel. We will need to get our large grain elevator functional. I would like to get it running off of the tractor’s pto instead of the old gas engine that is on it. I think I saw an old fill trough somewhere on the farm but I cannot remember where. It slides under the feed opening of the auger so the grain stays clean.

We purchased some cow feed and I was able to get it unloaded and moved into the machine shed with Clementine. This doesn’t sound very exciting but the lift capacity on the tractor is only 1100# and the pallet weighed 2000#. The guy dropping it off stood on the back of the tractor when the back wheels came off the ground as I was trying to slide it out of his horse trailer. It was all the weight I needed to get the feed out of the trailer. I was then able to drag it backwards with only the front tires touching the ground. You have to steer backwards when the front tires are the only thing touching the ground! Once I had it lined up with the machine shed I was able to just push it into place! I was sure I was going to have to break it up and move those 50# bags by hand. Where there is a will there is a way!

Used farm truck for sale.

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The time has come to say goodbye to my gently used farm pickup. The wife says I do not need two pickups and since this one has a few issues I should sell it. This means I need to write a little advertisement extolling the virtues of this gem. I have been contemplating how best to do this but as always I think honesty is the best approach.

I have for sale a gently used 1996 Dodge Ram 2500 club cab 4×4 pickup with approximately 177k miles on it. This version has the V10 engine and will give you a calculated mileage rate of 10 MPG unloaded or loaded it doesn’t care. It comes with some dust, dirt but I will remove the trash and tools prior to letting it leave the property. It has current tags on it. The tailgate works! It does have towing rails in the bed for an RV hitch if you desire to take this beast camping. The tires are fairly new, three match. It does have a few cosmetic issues as 4-5 different teenagers learned how to go through (between) gates as they were growing up. The rust on the body is just cosmetic and due to a poor factory paint job. It does get the oil changed on a fairly regular basis (annually).

It is a true farm vehicle so it does not get a lot of miles on it any more. The cruise control does work, you may have to push on button several times, or hold it down or just cycle through mashing on it but it works! The windshield is intact, it does have several cracks all over it but they are strategically located for a medium tall individual. The windshield wipers are new this year. The windshield seal is bending but I have yet to see water coming inside while driving. For air conditioning I rely on the old school method and roll down the window. The heater does work eventually so plan accordingly on a cold morning. It does start every time. It thrives in warm weather! It will start and stay running in warm/hot weather. If it is below 60 F then you will need to drive two footed, one on the gas to keep engine running and one on the brake to stop. It takes some practice, been this way for 2 years.

The headliner has seen better days and the gorilla tape and headliner screws are just delaying the inevitable. I old school the cup holder, I keep the cup between my legs. The cup holder has fallen out. There is a stereo but the faceplate is missing for security reasons and it is totally secure now, no one will ever steal it. The gas gauge is pretty iffy, it says full to 3/4 most of the time. I use the reset odometer and fill the tank every 200 miles. I have never ran out of gas using this method in ten years. The door panels are loose, a failed attempt to replace the speakers for the nonfunctional radio. I do not lock the vehicle so I am unsure if the locks will unlock correctly. There is no remote unlock, only have one key for the ignition. You can roll down the windows from the seat you are sitting in only. Occasionally, the driver’s door side window needs an assist with a hand on the glass pushing up to get the window to totally close.

The transmission is a little loose. Occasionally, you have to wait for it to drop into reverse or just go back to neutral and then reverse again or just give it a rev on the engine and the synchros drop into place. This has never stranded me and been there for at least four years. Four wheel drive does work! The side mirrors work and only one has a small crack, there is no rear view mirror attached to the mirror. It may be inside the cab somewhere but I won’t know until I clean it out.

Bottom line, this is a steal for the low low price of $1300!!

Granary repair

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I was given an old granary this year. It was from a very old combine and had been converted to hold grain for chickens. It had not been used in a very long time and the entire bottom had rusted out. It still had the old pto motor for an auger on the front. It was trashed but it was still there. I have finally gotten around to repairing it. The problem is I have never really attempted a metal project this big before. My one quarter at BMCC with the welding class to learn stick welding did not cover this. Especially since the Gingerman changed the welder to a wire feed system. I have been trying to teach myself to wire weld. It is not quite the same as stick welding.

I have spent a couple weekends cutting out the bottom with a disc cutting wheel on my DeWalt 60v grinder. I have accepted that to work with metal I do actually need to wear some protective gear. I am wearing long pants, long sleeve shirt, leather gloves and eye goggles when I grind or cut anything. I switch out the goggles with a welding helmet and welding gloves when I use the welder. I get popped on the arm or face every once in a while but the important stuff is protected. I needed to buy some sheet metal and when I went to Packy’s the only type they carry is 14 g. I do not have a sheet metal brake. I needed to bend an angle into the sheet metal, both sides. I cut the piece then tried to bend it with a hammer and some clamps. No go. So I then tried to bend it over a piece of angle iron with one piece under and over the bend and beat on it with a heavy hammer. No go. So then I ground. Groove on the bend line and tried again. No go. I then proceeded to cut two inch grooves along the crease line about every six inches, so I cut out about 25% of the material along the bend. I then put it in place, welded one side down and then started to beat on it with a hammer, jump on it and used the forks on the tractor to bend it to my will!! I still ended up with 1/4” air gap in a few places that was painful to fill in with the wire welder. It would have gone faster if I had used the stick welder. But who wants to do the conversion again and then convert it back? I am too lazy for that much swapping around.

I was able to get the first half welded on and welded the gate holder in place. I marked the drill holes for the gate but I think they are wrong. One side looks good but the other looks like I let it slip while I was marking holes. I will just drill one hole. Put the gate on, mark and drill a second hole, insert bolt then I can get the other four in the correct spot. It will most likely be the very last thing I attach and I am going to bolt it on instead of weld it on. I bought a grain gate just for this purpose.

A full sheet of 14 g sheet metal cost roughly $110. So I think I can make it all with this one full sheet, if I piece the other side together. It will be close. I want a second granary, five feet on each side and five feet high. I have been looking to see if there is one out there available. The reason I want that size is I can fill it with the bucket of my tractor. If I get a real tall one I will have to use a grain auger. At this point I may have all the structural material in scrap and would only need maybe 2 pieces of angle iron for the lid and all of the sheet metal. Each side could be done with a full sheet of sheet metal, I would need one for the bottom and one for the top, six full sheets plus the grain door and it would cost $700 in materials, plus $100 in welding wire. I am thinking that this is the way to go to get a second one. An old water tank would be the bomb! I may keep looking, if I mounted the tank on a downhill angle I could just put the gate on the low side, a fill lid on the high side and I would be set!

My welds are improving as the project progresses. I have had to lower the voltage to minimize burn through and I have had to increase the speed of the wire. I had turned it down but had to adjust it faster on three separate occasions. I will need to move over a couple of railroad ties to set it on. Slow and steady progress. Eventually, I would like to have enough storage to be able to go get our wheat truck filled with 3-4 types of grain/peas and then store it on the farm. One wheat truck full would get us through the winter for the sheep and the year for the chickens.