Author: Steve Hardin

Trying to winterize

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Wednesday Mr Golfpro came out to help me with the garden. It needs to be winterized. I had planted some black raspberries from a friend at work and they did really well but they were all over the ground. I had never bothered to put a wire for them to grow upright. So we installed two new rows of raspberries. One is the new large great thorned berries and the other are transplanted cuttings from our thornless berries. The screwy part was we still had berries on the bushes! I could not believe it when we got inside the plants and found raspberries. I at the ones we found, they were good! We used the small wooden pecker poles and were able to just drive them in the ground with a post hole driver and not dig a hole. This does require quite a bit of effort but between the two of us we got it done. I did end up with a large blister on each hand that tore open before we were done. I know have bandaids on both hands to cover up the open blisters.

There were about 12’ of Sunchokes that we pulled up and tossed over the fence. The ground is pretty dry so we did not dig any up yet. It is supposed to rain on Thursday and Friday so I will dig them up after that. We disturbed enough of them from pulling up the stalks to fill four large paper bags. I expect to dig up at least six more boxes and this is from a pretty small area. These things are amazing at just growing! We were not able to get all of the garden finished but we did get the netting off of the berries and that is a huge issue so it should be a lot easier now to finish up the trimming and getting every thing tied to the wire. On the raspberries we cut out all of the canes that got trimmed and tied last year and then tie up all of the new growth and cut it to height so it will bear fruit next year. The two new rows we cut at six feet high. I was taught to cut them off at four feet. We will see if there is a difference next year.

Before we could get started on the garden we needed to play Jengo in the machine shed. I needed to park the hay laden trailer under cover so it did not get rained on and the machine shed has a cultivator torn apart in one bay, one bay is tools and welding, one has grain and wood and the other two have equipment and spray. So we put all of the hay equipment in the machine shed near the back. I was able to get the new mini excavator into the first bay so I can work on it. The second bay now has the hay trailer and we moved the cultivator over to the bay with wood and grain so I can finish repairing it. There is also space for both tractors now so they can spend the winter under cover. We had to move the old pickup and I need to see about getting it to the junkyard. We filled up the trash can and moved everything to the appropriate bay. I really need to spend about4-6 hours putting all of the tools away in their appropriate spots so there is some open counter space. I will get to that eventually! It was a good day. We even got all of the tools from the greenhouse assembly put away.

I ordered a new chicken door for the chicken coop. I found another dead chicken and am only getting two eggs per day again. I only counted 10 chickens but it was daytime and they tend to spread out. The door should be here on Friday and it has to be installed so that we at least get enough eggs to feed us through the winter. At the rate the predators are killing them I will not have any chickens.

Haying season finally over, still winterizing

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Well I finally managed to get it done yesterday. I have turned the hay four times and cut it seven days ago. I would really have preferred to have turned it for two more days and then baled it but it is supposed to rain all day on Thursday and that could take me an extra week and up to an extra five turns in this weather to get it dried after a day of rain. The temperature has only been getting up into low 60’s. I turned it, drove that tractor home and hooked up the baler on the other tractor and drove over and baled both the upper and bottom fields. I got 33 bales from the upper field and 55 from the bottom field. There are 50 bales to a ton. I drove the tractor home again and then had to switch out the baler for a three point trailer hitch. I stashed the baler in the machine shop for the winter.

I had to hook the tractor up to the trailer but the trailer still had the mini excavator on it. So I found 400# of tractor weights to put in the bucket to add weight so I could pull the loaded trailer up the new dirt road out of the Naked Gardener’s lower field. I hooked the tractor up and then had to research the internet to get the mini excavator started again. Once was not enough to hardwire the process. I had to drive off backwards and I did not think to swing the boom so it would be able to be extended and act as a third distal support. I learned this when I was backing off the trailer and just as all of the weight left the back of the trailer and was on the ramps the rear of the trailer lifted a good ten inches causing the excavator to tip backwards. Luckily, it did not tip over and I now know to always use the bucket to stabilize and to always come off trailer front first.

I drove over and was able to barely get the trailer to fit down past his barn onto the newly improved road down to the lower field. It was getting dark so I had to use the lights on the tractor to pick up all of the bales. I got 55 on the trailer, put the tractor in 4wd and low and cracked up the RPM and crept up the hillside. I am not sure the tractor would be able to do it with 90 bales on the trailer. Once I got up to the top field I drove around and picked up the last of the bales. I had to make a fourth row in the middle to get them all on the trailer in one load. I told the Naked Gardener to call me if he needed anything otherwise I would not be back till late spring. He has plans to fertilize the fields in the spring and he will need to fix the two lower sprinklers I cut with the sickle bar mower. I need to pick up 25 used car tires to go around the lower sprinklers so I don’t cut them. I am always trying to get too close to them. I kept checking the moisture on the bales and I would say at least 80% of them are under 20% moisture. There are about 10-15 that are higher but supposedly someone wants some hay according to the progeny and I will just have them moisture check each bale they take. Turning it every day helped dramatically with drying it out. I was back at the house by 1930 and haying season is officially over.

Haying and yes it’s October

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Well I finally took another staycation and my list that I put together is probably about three weeks worth of work and I only have one week. On top of that I am still haying! It is a little late to be haying in our area but it was raining last month and I was busy. I have had to turn it twice already and I think I will need to turn it two more times for it to get dry. When the temperature is only getting up to 65F it takes a lot longer to dry out.

I am cutting the Naked Gardener’s fields and I had to take a couple of hours today and work on the access point to the lower field. There is a rock bluff that kept getting more exposed and I just about could not get down with the tractor. I took the land plane over and spent a couple of hours adding a bunch of dirt in the hopes to even out the area. It turned out pretty good. I need it to not wash out now due to rain. Since we don’t get much rain in this area anyways my chances are pretty good. It is even enough now I think I will be able to pull a trailer down to load up hay. I just need it to not rain until Thursday. I will be done haying on Tuesday but Mr Golfpro is coming out on Wednesday so we can work on the garden and get the berries cut and the sunchokes harvested.

I wanted to get a picture of the weight box before I started to do anything with it. It needs a new frame welded to it so the 3-point hitch parts quit bending and tearing away. I noticed that the sheet metal was only tack welded in places so I use the wire feed welder to weld all of the sheet metal joints first. Once that was done I cut my four corners and tried to weld one corner on with the wire welder. I need more rod and need to use the rod welder for this step. I had to ask the son-in-law, Gingerman, for some help and I am glad I did. I thought I was going to have to remove the wire welder hook up, nope, turns out you just have to plug in the rod welder and ground into the appropriate spots and the wire feeder welder portion can stay attached! I would have spent 30 minutes swearing and removing the wire feed portion. The Gingerman was looking at me sideways when I asked for help converting it. I don’t think he realized I had never done it before and prior to taking the welding class at the local college a few years ago I had never welded. I can do a lot of things but that is a fairly new endeavor. I don’t really want to say skill as I am not very skillful but stuff does stick together when I weld it!

I made my death pepper this weekend. I ground up the hot peppers that have been drying on the breeze porch for the last year and grind them into a dust. This is always painful. This year I did take a damp tea towel and place it over the grinder. This worked great until I had to check on the spicy concoction. It had two or three types of hot peppers and I managed to not puke. It was so hot I had a couple of nasty coughing jags from inhaling it. Annmarie left early for her trip after coming into the kitchen. She did not want to be in the house. Every time I do this she reminds me I should actually wear a protective mask. I think about it, but my sinuses were really clear after I was done!

Irrigation planning

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Annmarie wanted me to make some progress on the field water set up. I always get busy in the spring with hay and seem to run out of time. I purchased a 4×6 pressure treated board a few months ago but never used it. My DeWalt electric grease gun came in on Friday and I loaded it with grease. I still needed fuel then I could “work” with my new mini excavator. It is still sitting on the trailer. Instead I was good and went to work on the irrigation. The first thing that needed done was to stabilize the two supports that go across the concrete weir. I had made these years ago and just screwed them together but over the years they have started to spread apart. They are not pressure treated but hanging out over the concrete they just don’t get wet enough to rot. So I took some 12” all-thread pieces and drilled three holes in each one and installed a bolt the entire width and cranked that down as tight as it would go. Once I had those placed over the concrete and no dirt touching on each side I started in on the pump support. It only needs to be on three sides so I cut each joint off halfway so I could overlap the boards and bolt them together with carriage bolts. I left the carriage bolts sticking up as I may use them to secure the wiring or hang the water pipe from in the spring. I am not sure yet if they will be useful but they are not hurting anything by sticking up now.

I did not have any pressure treated boards to make the upright and roof so I went to Tum-a-Lum and bought the only farmer’s pack of bent, twisted and broken pressure treated 2×8”x12’. I was able to buy 11 boards for $100. Anyone who has bought boards will know that is a great price. I was able to just physically tear one board in half and use it for the roof support. I had some old metal roofing and used that on the tall side and on the roof. This should keep the pump fairly dry at all times. I may install sides if necessary in the spring. The bush needs a trim as it has 1” thorns on it and they are very sharp! The entire thing cost us $130 to install and build. I will use those leftover boards for something else. I did pick up fuel for the mini-excavator!

I think I need to install a 6’ gate down by the apple tree and then make about 40’ of fence movable so that I can get the mini-excavator to both sides of the water retention pond for irrigation. I was looking at the fence and I don’t think it will be that hard. I need to repair my weight box for the tractor so that I can move the big bales. It needs some welding and steel reinforcement. That is on my list along with haying and mini-excavator for my vacation coming up. I am gonna live it up!

Predators 30/ Farm 3

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It’s been a long week, I have been keeping the Ring camera open at night while we are watching TV so I can spot the predators killing our chickens, cats and eating our eggs. I had a few issues with this as always. I don’t particularly want to get sprayed by a skunk and our back door is right next to the cat feeding area so if I barge out there guns-a-blazing I am gonna get a face full of spray. This makes it imperative that I actually identify my victim prior to opening the door so I know what to expect. I spotted a raccoon right after it got dark on Tuesday night. I crept out to the back porch and silently as possible racked the action on my pistol to not scare the raccoon away. It really had nothing to fear. I dry fired the pistol as I had not cycled the hammer by gently racking the pistol. I cycled it again quickly but the raccoon was no fool and was beating feet as fast as possible and I never got off a good shot again. It was right there! I dropped the magazine and cleared the chamber when I went back inside the house.

Thirty minutes later I spot a smaller cat eating. As I keep looking at it the cat has a funny shape and color. Turns out it was a huge possum! I do the sneak approach and same thing happens. Luckily, they are a lot slower than a raccoon and I was able to dispatch it. It was headed to the berry patch. Thirty minutes later another huge possum shows up and this one tries to get under the old house. Again, damn pistol dry fired first round. At this point I realize I may need to actually clean the pistol. Honestly, I am unsure of the last time I did it.

But I decided that readiness was going to out trump safety and just kept one in the chamber and turned the safety on. It is hidden so it is not easily accessible. An hour later the raccoon came back and I was able to get off two good shots then had to chase it up the dry creek bed before finally putting it down. I had just counted my chickens before it got dark. The predators have killed over a dozen and they killed our two matching pairs of silkie chickens! Both the grey ones and the brown ones, rooster and hen. Those were the coolest of the new chickens. I think I have around 24 chickens now. This is a stupid problem! We know there is at least one skunk and two more raccoons around the place but I have not seen them on the Ring camera this week. So I will keep watching every night. The four new adult fixed cats we got are still hanging out around the back porch. I don’t know if they will be a deterrent to the predators or not.

Annmarie has been getting ready for her new loom. She took her old project off the inside loom so that we could send that loom home with Sarah. I am told that the rest of the industrial loom is coming up next week and then we can start working on getting it assembled. We are going to use the runner to cover our safes in the living room or else to cover the old wooden fridge in the hallway. It is made out of wool. She tells me she can see all of the mistakes but I cannot.

I was able to finally pickup carcasses to take them up onto the hillside for disposal this weekend. They do smell quite a bit after a few days but the important part is that I discovered one of our neighbors had upgraded and replaced about 50% of the fence that is along our adjoining property lines! This is way cool as it was one that was on our sooner than later upgrade but that was five years from now.