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Some days I blog w/o checking for errors - you'll know it when you read it

Sept 30, 2009 
- lend us your ears

When was the last time you heard of folks simply giving away sweet corn?  How about today? 

We all know farming is one of the most dangerous professions... with farming, come accidents.  Sweet corn harvest is underway big-time around here.  Fortunately for us (and others), the latest area sweet corn accident hurt only the drivers pride (and maybe his insurance premiums).  Near Raymond, MN, a sweet corn truck took a corner too sharp, then tipped on its side... spilling a load of corn into the ditch.  It looked like a green snow drift, flowing from one ditch bank to the other.  I have no idea how many tons of corn was on the ground, but it was a lot, after all, a portion of the ditch was level full of the stuff.  Carol had to run an errand in Raymond in the evening so on her way home, she filled her car with it.  We told a few of the neighbors where the spill was and we'll tell you too.  If you love sweet corn like we do, you'll want to scoop some up.  The truck tipped north of Raymond by the "S" curves.  If you are in the area, just look for the vehicles next to the road and in the ditches.  When Carol was there, she said there were quite a few cars being loaded. 

It looks like Carol will be freezing corn tomorrow.

Sept 29, 2009 
- another load of hay

The 3 of us (Carol, Austin and myself) went out to collect hay bales from the ditches.  It will be the last of the season.  Carol drove the pickup, I grabbed bales from the ditch and threw them on the rack and Austin stacked.  I figure we got about 75 or so bales.  Every little bit helps.

Before we collected bales, Carol's phone rang.  It was a gentle man calling from Canada.  He identified himself as an accounting agent for Woolrich Dairy, a goat milk processing company.  I asked a few questions.  He suggested I call the Minnesota manager, working out of their Wisconsin plant.  He was interested in signing more progressive goat dairies, but at this time, he was waiting to hear from the corporate bigwigs in Canada.  He and his plant manager had sent a proactive proposal for them to look over.  Apparently, if the proposal gets the nod, they will be on the look-out for more goat milk producers to ad to the route.  He likes the fact that we already have grade A milking equipment in place.  I am to call him back in January... he'll know more then.

Sept 28, 2009 
- just the first step

It was a cool day... it most certainly felt like fall.  I hate fall.

Carol got a call from a guy in the Silver Lake, MN.  He wanted just called for a little info and one thing we love to do is share what we've learned.  The gentleman on the other end of the "line" mentioned to Carol that a friend of his just signed with Stickney Dairy.  Stickney is a goat cheese producer.  That got Carol to thinkin... maybe we should get on Stickney's list of potential milk producers.  It seems the goat dairy industry is continuing to grow, despite the plummeting market for cow milk.  The gal from Stickney explained their policies, what to expect and how their truck route system worked.  It was quite interesting.  So, we took the first step in becoming a goat dairy.  Statistics show that one can make just as much net income from 1 dairy goat as you can make from 1 dairy cow.  The plus is this, goats are safer and take less resources, which is better for small acreages.

- your not just a customer

As a small farm, we have grown to rely on our local farmers elevator and its personnel for words of wisdom, guidance and of course... feed stuffs.  We sell our crops to them at harvest as well as buy our fuels from their energy dept.  Our local elevator is a co-op... which make us not only a customer, but we're part of the company.  When you do business with a co-op, you become a member of the co-op (if/when you set-up an account and buy products through your account).  What's the advantage of that?  It's simple... you get dividends at the end of their fiscal year.  It's like getting a rebate check for the stuff you would buy anyway.  Although we don't do big business with our elevator, we do have our regular purchases.  Whenever you get $$$ back, it is a nice surprise.  We got our check today.

Sept 27, 2009 
- I forgot

I forgot to mention that our bee guy stopped by yesterday with about 1½ gal of good ole' fashioned raw honey.  He also gave us a pale of apples.  I tried one and eeewww-eee.... not my style of apple.  Carol decided to make a cast iron skillet apple pie with the apples.  It was the perfect variety of apple for that.  It turned out very well.

Otherwise, I didn't do much around the farm.  I cleaned hoods instead.  For those of you who don't know, I once owned a restaurant hood cleaning company called After Hours Hood Cleaning.  My partner and I then sold it, but not before helping another guy get into the biz in the St Cloud area.  Since then, I have helped that guy with various jobs.  Well, he just moved to OKC (Oklahoma City) and now (approx. 10 years after selling my business) I have gotten into it again.  Neighbor Nick was my helper for this latest job.  We cleaned the kitchen hood, stack and fan at the Somali eatery Bihi, in Willmar.  It was kinda fun to be the boss again.

Sept 26, 2009 
- neighbors helping neighbors

Today, I got a call from the neighbors.  They needed help with filling silo.  The neighbor they usually have help never showed-up for work.  They needed help.  Their system of doing things works very efficient with 3 people - 1 person in the field chopping silage, another hauling loads and the 3rd unloading the wagons.  Over the last few days, we've had rain and drizzle, so since the farm's square bales were too damp to pick-up, I agreed to help... an hour's notice was enough.  I think we averaged 6 loads/hour, which kept me more than busy, running from the fields to the silos until the silo was filled and capped.  I did have time to notice that they had wild grapes growing in their grove, behind the house. 

The vines were hanging from a very large tree.  I bet the vines were 30+ ft up, then hanging down... some within reach.  Of course I tried a couple of berries.  They weren't the best, but far from bad.  I could tell that these vines had a little age on them.  The canes/trunks were approx. and 1½ inches in diameter, growing out of a small scrap-iron pile.

Sept 25, 2009 
- organic is better

Apparently Remy from the Disney movie Ratatouille isn’t the only rat with a nose for chemical-free munchies. According to a recent article in The New York Times, Swiss and Austrian scientists offered 40 lab rats a choice between biscuits made with organically grown wheat and biscuits made with wheat that was grown through conventional methods. The rats showed a notable preference for the biscuits made with organic wheat. The experiment was part of a study on organic wheat production, and was intended as a supplemental, “integrative method” to measure the wheat’s quality. If rats avoid food produced with synthetic chemicals, shouldn’t we?
By Alison Rogers

Sept 19, 2009 
- auction sale

27 miles north of the farmstead, there was an auction sale.  It was a retirement sale for the father of the gal we buy our dairy goats from.  I guess that's beside the point.  After scanning a copy of the sale bill, I looked over the actual items I was interested in - an Oliver diesel 1850, a grain drill w/grass seeder, a small rock picker, and a weed trimmer.  The only item I did not purchase was the old grain drill.  I thought it would sell for approx. $50, but it ran up closer to $200.  I wanted something to seed the farm's pastures next spring and an old rusty grain drill for that money was not something I could see paying for itself in savings.  The neighbors already mentioned they would be willing to seed the two 3-acre pastures for us.  Unlike me, they know what they are doing when if comes to farming.  Farmer Mike did a great job planting my small grain this last spring, but his drill is way to big to easily fit through 16' gates.  The grain drill would need to be torn down, then set-up several times for these little pastures.  I just don't think it would be worth the effort, even though it would do a superior job.

our farms new tractor - an Oliver 1850

I digress.... The main reason for attending the sale was for the Oliver tractor (see above pic).  I planned on spending less than $5000 for the thing.  Most of the 1850's I've seen are/were priced at $6500... I ended up spending $4400.  It ran very well.  I was then informed that the engine is not original to the tractor.  It came out of a Massey Combine with approx. 3300 hours on it.  The power-plant in this tractor is a 105+hp Perkins diesel.  So, instead of the standard 85hp I was expecting, I got a few more ponies.  I guess sometimes even I get a little lucky.  As for the rock-picker I bought, I think the kids will appreciate that acquisition more than I ever will... lol.

After getting back from the sale, I headed into the alfalfa field for a couple hours of baling.  I was able to get few rounds in before losing daylight, so I was able to achieve a little productivity, even though most of the day was spent away from the farm.  All-in-all, it was a good day.

Sept 17, 2009 
- getting things figured out

I checked on the baler right away in the morning.  I noticed one of the parts was bent... that was simple.  I cranked her up and engaged the knotter.  It cycled once, just like it was suppose to.  That was easy.  Hmmm, so why didn't it knot on the left side?  CRAP!!!  Crap, crap, crap.  The bale hook was broken, I assume it was from all the twine.  Where does one find parts?  I called a neighbor, he suggested I call a bone yard, where they used to get parts, years ago.  When I called the salvage yards, they had nothing.  I then called the local implement dealer, they had the part I needed, but not in Willmar.  We had to go to Litchfield, MN to get the part.

With the new $62 part installed, I fed loose hay to the baler.  the first 2 bales baled, came out tied.  Good enough for me.  It was time to bale.  I headed to my small grass hay field.  The baled didn't do the greatest job picking up grass.  I think it has something to do with grass being a smidge on the slippery side.  It did fine in the clover-mix and weedy grass.  How did the knotter work?  Less the perfect.  It seemed to skip a knot approx. every 20 bales or so... but still better than not having no baler at all.  But not nearly as nice as the neighbors 24T baler, which I have use to bale over 500 bales.  Of those 500 bales, it didn't miss a knot.  My neighbor claims his baler knots over 99.9% of the time.

Anyway... after trying to bale with our 14T baler, I broke down... again.  I think I was able to get about 150 bales baled, then BANG!  The shear-pin snapped.  I checked the bale chamber... nothing there.  I installed a new shear-pin, then continued baling.  After a few bales - BANG!  Again, I checked the chamber... again nothing.  Another pin... another bang.  Time to head back to the farm and check things out.  Yepper, another part on the baler broke and caused the plunger to jam, then the shear-pin to snap off.  CRAP!  I'll look at pulling the part off and getting it welded tomorrow.  I'm dirty, tired and thirsty for a cold one.

Sept 16, 2009 
- new baler problems

I raked some grass hay, then rake what I had previously cut in nearby ditches.  I then decide to try our new old baler.  I decide to give the baler a try on some dry ditch hay... of course it didn't work.  The knotter miss-tied immediately.  When I glanced at the knotter assembly, it was wrapped with twine.  Well now, I don't think I will see any bale come out of this thing tonight.  I brought the baler back to the farm and worked on it until I lost daylight.  I discovered that the knotter cycled numerous times, each time it engaged.  That would be the reason for so much twine being wrapped around what is commonly called the 'bale hook' part of the knotter.  Now I need to figure out why it was cycling some many times.

Sept 15, 2009 
- long day in the driver's seat

Chores went well, then off to Silver Lake, MN to help a petting zoo find homes for some unwanted animals.  With road construction, the chasing of 2 Barbados sheep and some verbal intercourse.  Round trip, it was a good 5 hours before I got home, with 2 Barbados sheep (ewe & her ewe lamb), 2 full-blood Boer goats (does), a large Saanen doe and a little Pigmy-cross buckling. 

Once home, I grabbed a quick bite to eat then headed out to the 10 acre alfalfa field, north of the creek.  Before sun-down, all the hay was cut.

My butt is sore...  Enough said!

Sept 14, 2009 
- hay, we have a baler

Well, I'm hoping the baler works.  Sister Shelly, attended a consignment farm auction on Saturday.  When I told her I found a cheap, older baler and that I was going to check it out later toady, she told me not to buy it.  She bought a John Deere 14T, small square baler, for $500, at the sale she went to.  And if I wanted to buy half, that would be great... she knew I have been looking for a low-cost baler for some time now.  She has some horses and a couple of feeder calves, so she could use a few small bales for winter feeding.  Between the two of us, were thinking we might bale 500 bales/year.  It would be safe to say that it won't get used too heavily.

John Deere 14T baler

The baler appears to be in sound shape.  As you can see, it has been recently painted.  Let's hope the knotters are good.  I'll be cutting some ditch hay today, so the baler should be put to use within the week.  We'll see then, if it was worth the $$$.

For most of the day, I swathed/cut hay.  I did a couple road ditches near the place, then headed to the low ground, north of the creek.  The low ground totals approx. 8 acres of grass-hay.  Last year I cut and baled 34 round bales off the same ground.  It was enough to feed the cattle all winter... with a few bales to spare.  This season, we have a few more head of cattle, but we have much more hay in reserve, so it's all good.  I did see a deer doe and a nice sized fawn run across the meadow, just west of where I was cutting grass.  They didn't seem to be in a hurry... they just strolled along.  We're pretty lucky, seeing this type of thing is not uncommon.

Sept 13, 2009 
- cutting hay

After the Vikings game (heck yeah, we won!), I ran some high tensile wire between a couple sets of posts, for the next phase of fencing.  It will be 2 runs of fence (a short span near the creek, the other on the south ridge), totaling about 1,800 linear ft..

When I returned to the farm site, Austin mentioned that my sister had stopped by and dropped-off the swather's carburetor.  With that news, I quickly reinstalled the carb.  and with a few turns of a wrench and a the flick of a switch, I had the beast running.  It ran better than it had in a long time.  Feeling confident that the engine problem had been cured, I headed north of the creek to cut a few acres of grass-hay.  The swather ran beautifully.  Tomorrow, I'll be cutting the alfalfa and some more grass hay... maybe even some of the ditch hay I hadn't gotten to yet, since the break down, a week ago.  Rarely do things go as they were planned.

When I arrived home, Carol and Madison were back from getting the farm's newest, young worker.  They were home with Candle, our a Australian-Shepherd (aka an Aussie).  Daughter Madison swears the puppy already knows how to sit.  I think she's the only one who thinks this.  The dog sure is a little cutie, that's for sure.

Sept 11, 2009 
- on the cheap

I discovered this little gem and thought I'd pass it along to all you backyard homesteaders who are as cheap as I am.  If your chickens are out growing their chick feeder and you don't want to spend the cash for a bigger, new feeder... try making this one.

This cute, but functional, little feeder is made from nothing more than a plastic bucket and a dollar store relish tray.  For more info and instructions, goto Backwoods Home Magazine.

Sept 11, 2009 
- the world wide web: is it local?

Carol, Austin and I headed out early to get more bales out of the ditches.  We thought it was going to rain last night, but since it didn't we quick looked at the online radar... we saw the rain was half way through Swift County and heading our way.  So, we all but ran outside to get started.  Did we get the rack full of bales before it rained?  Nope... not even close.  We were about ¾ of the way home when it started to sprinkle... then rain.  OK... time to head home... NOW!  About a minute later, it stopped.  So before reaching the driveway, we decided to pick-up more bales.  We got more than we thought we would... and we weren't totally soaked.  After unloading the bales in the hay loft, Austin and I decided to go get more... we're done for now, but there is more hay to cut, rack and bale.

While Austin and I were out in the ditches, Carol was busy butchering rabbits.  A neighbor gal came over with a few of her bunnies and the girls had a bunny butchering party.  They were able to finish off 13 bunnies.  Carol is going to pressure can her rabbits, the other gal is simply going to freeze hers.  We did have a close call though.  One of the rabbits got away from the girls (seconds before it was to be shot), so after a few 15 minutes or so, I saw it in the outside sheep pen.  I grabbed the .22 rifle.  With a single shot I got him.  I brought him over to Carol and she didn't seem proud of her hunter-man (me).  She told me I had just shot Madison's 1st rabbit, Midnight.  Ummm... oh crap!  Midnight is like a well traveled sailor.  He has a couple females he's sweet on and he sees them at his leisure.  He's free to roam the farm... we don't have a pen or a cage for him.  Nonetheless, how do we explain this incident to Madison?  After discussing it, we thought maybe she wouldn't notice... Yeah right!  Well, a few hours later, Carol informed me that she saw Midnight in his old pen, under a cage with several females.  Whew!  I killed the correct rabbit.  I felt so much better hearing that bit of news.

Around supper-time, we heard a motorcycle drive onto the farm.  It was a handsome, older couple from Lake Tahoe, NV.  Back in August, they did some riding on some of our Minnesota highways & byways and they eventually passed the farm.  It seems that after many attempts to locate us again, were not able to do so until today.  They bought 2 qrts. of goat's milk and a doz. rainbow eggs.  They're leaving for home next week... but they promised to stop in next year when they return to their vacation home in the summer.

Evening brought us a phone call about goats.  That in itself is not usual, we get calls all the time about goats... and we're happy to help those who come to us for info.  Anyway, after asking what breeds we like best, what some of our prices were, goat life expectancy, and the like, I asked the caller where he was calling from (his accent was very strong).  In his broken English, he told me he was calling from Ireland.  Ireland?  Really?  He laughed a little and said that he was looking at our website and saw that we raise and sell dairy goats.  He simply wanted a little info.  Ain't the Internet a crazy little place?  You can travel the world and never leave home.

Sept 10, 2009 
- the fall haying season has begun

It was a hay day... from beginning to end.  I started the morning by turning my windrowed ditch hay and raking/windrowing the hay I had cut with sickle mower.  I would have thought the hay would have been dry enough to bale before now, but, even though it had been cut 5 days ago, it just didn't dry like it should.  I wanted to bale today because we are suppose to get rain for the next few days.  After all was raked, I went over to the neighbors to borrow their John Deere 24T, small square baler.  A couple hours later, I was done baling.

Oooops... I almost forgot.  About half way through my hay raking, my insurance guy stopped by with the claims adjustor.  They wanted to get a look at the hail damage that was done to the corn from the storm a few weeks back.  According to the adjustor, the corn foliage received 40% damage and the corn ears had about 6% kernel impairment.  After looking at his little chart, we will receive a 20% claim.  I guess we were lucky, it turns out that the worst of the hail was ½ mile north of us.

Any who... after dinner/supper, Carol, Austin and I went out to collect some of the hay that was baled earlier.  We headed south of the place - Carol on the tractor, Austin on the hay rack and me in the ditch.  The process of picking up bales took just over.  We forgot to count the bales, but with the small hay rack we were using, we might have 100 bales.  Austin and I then unloaded the hay into the loft of the hay shed... the same loft that my favorite bother-in-law and I built in early July.  It's nice to know that it won't come crashing to the ground any time soon... like the last time I put hay up there.

Sept 09, 2009 
- 09-09-09 was a good day

The Natural Resources and Conservation Services (NRCS) folks came out today, this afternoon actually.  With them, they brought Lance, the pasture and grazing specialist.  They wanted Lance to take a look at the fencing I had done thus far.  The head cheese wanted to make sure it was done correctly and that it met federal specifications, as required for receiving cost-share $$$ associated with the USDA conservation grant we were awarded.  I welcomed their visit.  I guess I would rather have them tell me to rip up 2200 lin. ft. of fencing than the full 8200 lin. ft., if I were installing the fence wrong.  Lance, who by the way looks like a real cowboy, asked a few questions about how I was doing things and why I did what I did.  Then with a grin, he told me it looks just the way it's suppose to look... maybe even better as some elements exceeded specifications.  I think it was the first time the NRCS officials ever saw a high tensile fencing project up close.  They had a lot of questions for both Lance and I.  It turns out, this little field trip was to teach the NRCS personnel what to look for on these types of fencing projects.  Needless to say, I was pretty happy to get the thumbs-up to continue my fencing endeavor.

Carol and I decided to put our little pot-bellied pig babies into their own pen, in attempt to get their weaning a jump-start.  Within an hour, all 6 little sausages were running around in the barn.  We quickly caught them and put them back into the pen they escaped from.  I did some minimal pen modifications and left the barn area, satisfied that all was secure. After lunch, I went back to the barn, hoping the piglets would be well behaved.  Alas!  The pint-sized scoundrels had escaped again.  I'm guessing if we left them at Alcatraz, they be sipping tea in Chinatown before dusk.  These tiny porkers are the Houdini's of the barn-yard.  Carol and I, with the help of Ellie the dog, caught them and stuck them back with mama... enough was enough... they weren't getting weaned today.

Sept 08, 2009 
- a new old way to build

Last year about this time, I was all excited about straw bale construction.  I thought it was a wonderful, inexpensive way to build a super insulated building.  I did my research and chose a 12'x12' building design.  The only problem I had with the making of this structure was the fact I didn't have a small square baler that would put out a consistent sized bale.  Without good bales, it's next to impossible to make a good straw bale building.  I thought the opportunity would present itself when the time was right to build, using such a unique process.  This year wasn't it.

Well folks, I came across another fantastically simple and cheap way to build a small farm building.  Below is a very nice example of an earth-bag (a.k.a. sand-bag) shelter.

You can get more detailed information on how to build this little Hobbit style dwelling on MotherEarthNews.com. This structure is said to have cost $300.  Unlike some of the article on Mother Earth News, this one is recent (August/September 2009).

On the farm work front, I did some more skid loader work around the hay shed.  I'm not really sure how long this shed has been standing, but it appears as those it had be there for decades.  In my attempt to level the grade in and around the shed, I removed nearly 2 ft of material from one edge of the building.  With all that dirt gone, the hay shed looks bigger... it's kind of cool.  The problem is that I could have easily removed another 18" of material... or should I say the small hilltop in the middle of the farm.  A neighbor once told me that if you want a poorly designed farm place, put the planning of the site in the hands of a "damn German."  Germans, typically put the building site of a new farm on the least valuable land of the homestead.  The good land was for growing crops.  If I had to guess, it was one of those damn Germans who set-up this farm.  I wonder if it was a relative of mine. lol

Tomorrow, I have an on-farm appointment with our local NRCS officials, to see my progress on my fencing project.  They wanted to come out early into to project... incase I'm doing something incorrect, they don't want m to have to redo the whole project.  We'll see if they have good news for me.

Sept 07, 2009 
- happy customers

We had 3 families stop by, in response to our online ad for goats.  The first party came from Glenwood, MN, the 2nd drove from Danube and the 3rd - a family in force, drove all the way from Wadena, MN.  By the end of the day we sold 2 milking does, 2 bucklings and 3 doelings.  Between arrivals, I tried to clean the barn.  Before the 3rd family arrived, all was clean.  It was a very busy day.

Sept 04, 2009 
- that's the way it goes sometime

Again, I had a less than great working day.  When I should have been mowing the lawn of our unoccupied house in town, I decided to swath ditch hay instead.  I checked the weather online and it looks like I would have a nice 4 day stretch of hay drying days.  With that knowledge, I fired up the swather and hit the highway ditches near the farm.  At first, it ran pretty good, but after only ½ hr it started to spit, sputter, then die.  It seemed to run a little, then die again.  This went on for approx. 3 hrs.  To say it became frustrating would be an understatement... hopefully the neighbors didn't hear me swear at the top of my lungs.  Towards of the end of my less agonizing road through hell, I failed to get the swather back to the home place.  It now sits across the road from the driveway.  As of now, it will not start... heck, it won't even fire.  While trying to swath hay, I must have taken the carb off 3 or 4 times... disassembling it, cleaning it up, then putting it together again, just to have it run flawlessly for 15-20 minutes before chugging to a stall.  URGH!  So I not only failed to get my hay cut, but I also failed to get my lawn mowed.  Crap, crap, crap!!!

- puppy update

We just received the latest photo of the farm's soon-to-be herding dog/puppy - an Aussie Shepherd pup named Candle.  She will be the dog that takes the place of our Pembroke Corgi, Duncan.  As you may remember, Duncan was killed in our yard by a careless van driver.  Candle is 6 weeks old.

meet Candle, our new herding pup, we'll bring her home in 2 weeks or so

Sept 03, 2009 
- another member of the farm

Chores were done a little earlier than usual this morning.  Why?  Well, we had to make a quick run to Litchfield, MN.  Without telling Madison why or where we were going, we headed out.  We had made arrangements to pick up the farm's 2nd guardian animal.  We went out to look at a 1 yr old mini-donkey.  When we drove to the location of the donkey, we saw horses... lots of riding horses.  We were hoping Madison wasn't thinking we were getting her a horse or pony.  Once we stopped the van (yes, we took the van) one of the girls there walked from around the horse trailer with this adorable little donkey. 

They originally got him as a companion for a stud horse, but since they were going to "cut" the stud, they no longer had a use for the long-ears. The girls said they love the donkey, but also said he was a naughty little guy.  I quickly asked them what they meant by 'naughty.'  The big thing on their list was that the donkey liked to untie the horses... and himself.  It seems that when he untied himself, he would then grab his tether with his teeth and lead himself around... was that it?  Yep! That was it.  OK... if that's naughty, our goats must be devil spawns... lol.  A few minutes later, we had Donkey in the van and we were on they way home.

here's something you don't see everyday - a donkey in a conversion van

With the purchase of 'Donkey', we now have a guardian animal for both our goats and our sheep.  During the winter, we will split the 2 groups, with the sheep & llama being outside most of the time and the goats & donkey inside during the colder days.

Sept 02, 2009 
- not as I planned

Today went in a less than ideal direction.  First on my agenda was to get the farm's little Allis-Chalmers tractor going.  This was a task in on itself.  The past rains must have gotten things wet.  The old girl just wouldn't start... even with the charger on it.  I took the carb off and gave it a good cleaning... I then pulled the spark plugs - cleaned them as well.  It still would not start. I then decided that pulling it might be the solution.  When I went to start the 'H', guess what... the battery was dead.  So that was a no-go... CRAP!

Not having things go my way mechanically, maybe fencing would go better.  I drove the 560 (w/post-driver) as Carol took the pick-up.  The truck had the tools and some wood posts.  If the cattle wanted to get out while I was working on the fence, Carol could run interference for me.  I already had a fence in place, but it made it difficult for the bee folks to get to the hives.  Near the hives, which was east of the NW corner of the cattle pasture, I decided to move the corner in, away from the hives... so I moved the corner fence in about 30 ft.  It should now be easier for the bee keeper(s) to drive to the hives.  Instead of going around the fence they can now drive straight to where they need to go.

After lunch... and after the fence modification, I decided that I couldn't wait for the 'H' battery to charge so pulling the Allis with the pick-up was the way we'd go.  After a few minutes of pulling the small tractor, it started to fire... another minute or two and it was popping on it's own... first on 2 cylinders, then on 3 and finally on all for cylinders.  I unhooked the chains and Carol took the truck away from the tractor... and then I went forward, mower engaged.  The yard looks so much better with the grass and weeds cut down.  The question is this: Do we rake and bale the yard tomorrow?  lol... It WAS quite long.  Nope... it looks like Madison is raking it by hand... she must be using it as feed for her bunnies.  If you drive by, you will be able to see the mini-windrows that Madison created in the yard.

Sept 01, 2009 
- 20% done

The last few days have been spent fencing [part 1 of 5] on the south side of the creek.  As some of you know, I have been installing new high-tensile fencing on the farm, according to the specifications of our acquired grant.  Today, I finished the 1st 20% of the pasture fencing (about 2,200 linear feet).  It was the toughest part of the project, IMHO.  The end assembly is a dbl 'H' post design... I thought it necessary, due to the long run of fence-line.  The creek twists and turns several direction and because of it, I installed 5 double angled H-posts, which is like a single corner H-post, but at a greater angle.  It felt good knowing that this part of the fence was completed.

Although I don't have an exact count of posts and/or supplies used for this run of fence, I can surmise...
20 - 6" cedar posts
30 - 4" cedar posts
45 - 6' steel T-posts
 6 - fence strainers w/tension springs
16,000' of 20,000 psi high-tensile wire (approx. 420 lbs) &
nearly 360 wire insulators

I figure I installed this fence in 5 days or 35-40 hours (give-or-take a few). 

- say cheese

The evening brought us a little cheese tasting.  Carol made a batch of Chèvre (creamy goat cheese).  It's a little like cream cheese.  The first cracker had plain Chèvre... it wasn't bad but other than a subtle taste of sour cream, it wasn't much to brag about.  The 2nd cracker had basal leaves in it - much better.  The 3rd taste was the dessert cracker.  Carol put some homemade strawberry syrup/filling on top of the Chèvre spread.  This one was the best!