How much wood can a farmer chuck if the farmer doesn’t get stuck? Well, we’ll never know. Today after wrapping up W2’s I set out with Dewey around 11:30 to cut wood. We quickly got about 1/2 truck load and with about an hour left before Dewey needed to go to class, I thought we might as well tackle a large tree that would certainly fill the truck. Cutting it down was no problem – it fell just where I wanted and – hung up at about a 45º angle. No problem – I’ll just hook a chain to it and drag it down with my 4WD Ram 2500, which I did. Except that when it was all over, the truck was axle-deep in Carolina gray clay. I called Christopher to bring me the come-along and when he arrived we set to work dragging the truck out of the mire. We were making decent progress (with this old man just about at my limit) when I broke the come-along. Incredible! but there it was. I had to either find a tougher come-along or drive our tractor all the way down to the woodlot. Dewey had left for class in Christopher’s truck, so Chris (the pretty one) had to come get us, which she did. Christopher and I set out to locate an industrial-strength come-along, which we found at CarQuest, a 2-ton model this time. If I break this I’m going on TV. Incidentally, while we were at it, we stopped at the DMV and Christopher’s driving status was promoted so he can now drive after 9:00pm. After picking up Dewey, we got back to the woodlot about 5:00 and sure enough, with the new come-along pretty much yanked the truck out of its sink-hole and headed home. Needless to say, I am sore and tired, but relieved that the truck is no longer stuck.
akgreen Farm Journal
Catching up for the last few days – rainy, cold weather discouraged much outside work on Thursday. Friday was spent grand-baby sitting, which brings us to today when, after men’s breakfast at the church the boys and I made some real progress. Chris and Dewey raked leaves, then cleaned up the Bryant’s wood and brought it home. Noah and I fabricated new bed rails for his bed, and I then started making a stand for my swage block. Christopher and Dewey also dug up the water leak in the front yard and we fixed that. Meanwhile, Chris has been starting seeds. The greenhouse is in business!
akgreen Farm Journal
Chris and I were in PA and NY from Friday-Monday. Yesterday she taught sewing classes at the Carrboro Art Center all day, while I began trying to restock our woodpile. I have permission to cut wood at a tree farm just a few miles away, and working by myself I managed to fill the truck with hardwood in about 3 hours.
Today Chris began planting – lots of little peat pots, and we have ordered plug trays to do many more. I started to send Christopher out to dig up the hydrant out by the stock tank, but in the process thought maybe it might be worth trying to change the head one more time. Amazingly, we got a good grip with my big pipe wrenches and using pipes for leverage, I managed to hold the hydrant rigid while Christopher got the handle loose. From there it was pretty much all downhill and we no longer have a leaking pasture hydrant. We may have other leaks, but that’s not one of them anymore. I also made progress on fabricating a new PTO shaft for the tiller – that should be finished in the next day or so and I can get to tilling.
Sometime in the last few days I mocked up a design for a chicken – rabbit coop. It will be a spring-summer project using the mobile home frame I bought last year.
akgreen Farm Journal
Today was a travel day for us, so the farm is in the (hopefully) responsible hands of the boys, with occasional look-ins by Diane, Katherine, and maybe Steve. Yesterday was a tax and errand day – getting 4th quarter taxes paid in the morning, then down to Pittsboro with Noah and Carl to represent the PLANT apprentices with our grant application. While there, I went to see Pat V, scouted the Southern States outlet there, and then back to Hillsborough to the gym hoping to regain enough fitness to last another year at the farm.
We will be up north through Monday, visiting Chris’ mother, and I will go on up to our former stamping grounds to see some good friends whose visiting is long overdue.
akgreen Farm Journal
This evening Chris and I presented our little talk on being apprentices at the Breeze farm. The file can be downloaded from Farmer’s Apprentice. Other than that, I have probably lined up a good source for firewood – will start cutting that next week. As for farm activities – we need to get started on our planting. We will probably do that next week as well. One of the other speakers at tonight’s class session is an expert at that.
Not much else to report.
akgreen Farm Journal
Today after coffee I marshalled the boys for the morning’s projects: finishing the fence for Christopher and getting the wood sawn up and stacked for Dewey and Noah. I did the chain saw work while they stacked. Once that was done, I wrapped up Cyril’s gift with a card. A picture of the finished product is below. The cross was forged from a railroad spike, wire brushed, and brassed to give it gold finish.
Chris and I quit early to celebrate Cyril’s birthday with a wine tasting at the Benjamin Winery, followed by dinner at the Saxapahaw General Store. It was excellent.
akgreen Farm Journal
The unusual cold spell continues here in North Carolina, wreaking havoc with our firewood supplies. This morning the local schools were on a 2-hr. delay in anticipation of snow that never came, so we had some time to do chores before they left. I spent the morning finalizing the cost estimates for the Breeze expansion project and the Intro to PLANT2010 talk for Wednesday night, and the afternoon working with Dewey down in Goatland (our small woodlot) harvesting old fallen trees for firewood. The wood is really poor, but it is burnable and it cleans up the woods. I haven’t been down there working for quite awhile and the fences really need maintenance. It is probably how the Red Delicious ended up across the street yesterday morning. Getting her back inside the fence was a real trick.
With the wood loaded, I spent some time in the forge finishing up Cyril’s birthday gift. After dinner Erin came over with wine and cheese, both of which she made, to discuss cheese making classes and our next gala. The planned classes are on the calendar for March-May, but I need to get descriptions out there as well. That’s it!
akgreen Farm Journal
I didn’t do much farming this morning – as a good friend put it, “I had a date with a garden hose”. Crude, but descriptive, and that’s all I’m going to say about that. The remainder of the day, I worked on admin work some more, primarily formalizing our planting plans and getting the greenhouse ready. We have made plans for both acreage at the Breeze farm, as well as our own. For posterity, I am including links to both plot plans.
Woodcrest Garden Plot Plan
Breeze Farm Plan
akgreen Farm Journal
Most of today was spent in necessary administration, not a bad choice since it is still unseasonably cold. I am reasonably close to closing out the books for 2009 and it wasn’t a bad year. Not profitable, but we showed real growth.
Jason showed up late morning and the two of us went out to the Breeze farm for a few hours to finalize the plans for the cooler and equipment shed extensions. Back at the ranch, I worked on revising drawings, did some forge work on Nii Lamote’s cross, and in the evening continued to work on plot plans for the garden. Chris has us planting beginning March 15th, which means that we have to have seeds started this week. The following sketch shows the proposed shed extension Jason and I would build.
akgreen Farm Journal