Getting Close

We are within days of having the sewer hookup and couldn't be happier. If you have never lived with a failing septic system you probably cant imagine the stress but we live in constant fear of an imminent backup and total failure. I admit it publicly...I hate dealing with bodily fluids unless I am on the scene of an accident as a First Responder and then I go into my zone..otherwise...NO!

We bought the place knowing it needed a new septic but after we were here for a few months we found out we were the last house in this direction not scheduled to be hooked up to the new community sewer project. So I went before the water board and asked if there was any money left over that we be connected (it was a rural development Federal grant) and they said they would look into it. And they did...turns out they had a few Shekels left over and the Feds said it could only be used to hook up new households so we ended up first on the list. Now there are about 15 households that declined when this first came out that now want to be hooked up but we got priority and we are very grateful we were so fortunate.

They have gotten to the point of placing the tank/lift station. We are a couple of miles away and over a ridge so the effluent goes into this tank from the farm house and Judy's mobile home where a macerater grinds everything up and then a float valve triggers a lift pump to get it all down range.

The top of the tank will be a couple inches above grade with a stainless steel hatch to gain access to the pump and its workings...and no I have no intent of ever checking it out once in use and you cant pay me enough money to change my mind. Since this does require electricity to operate the pump and since we are prone to long power outages they are also installing a transfer switch so we can operate the thing with a generator several times a week if the power is out. Like the Boy Scouts say..be prepared.

 

As I have said previously, I like machinery and there is a certain buzz in the air when big projects are happening. Bulldozers, backhoes, end loaders, etc have been operating for a week or so and we find it fascinating.

I am not an engineer but I suspect the amount of concrete they placed was to keep the tank from popping out of the ground when the water table rises and the tank is full. Think of a fishing lure bobber..gotta keep that baby buried.

 

Our hired hand Travis and I have also been busy fencing and we completed this pasture fence last week. The T-Posts in the fore ground only have 4 strands so we still need another strand which will be done when the sewer project is completed.

The actual isolation pasture fence we just completed has 5 strands and that is our standard. Lots of 4 strand pasture fencing around here but we feel the 5 strands give better security and its relatively cheap insurance against a cow from escaping. We plan to use this pasture to isolate sick cattle or to isolate new cows prior to introduction to the herd (sale barns have bargains but you need to be careful about introducing illness etc) and we also plan on experimenting with new pasture mixes in conjunction with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the University of Missouri. Our interest is in finding a forage mix that is indigenous to this area and that provides the nutrient mix we seek for our cattle.

 

The yellow sighting rope you see in this picture looking down on the newly fenced pasture is the border of the next phase of fencing and we already have much of the T-Posts driven for this next fencing project though they aren't shown in this picture (thanks to Travis). We use cheap polypropylene rope strung along the property boundaries to guide us in installing the fences. Some old timers can do it by sight but we cant and I doubt I will ever be able to do that. We also used cattle panels to fence off the end of this pasture because we hit ledge rock limestone and couldn't sink the corner posts as deep as we wanted and we didn't want to stress them by stringing 5 strands of barbed wire.

The plants in this picture that look like feathery trees or bushes is Asparagus and we found a patch while fencing. Sometime in the past this must have been a garden spot as I don't think Asparagus spread from bird guano like many plants but....does anyone know?

 

And to answer a couple of questions we have gotten on the chicken coop, we have 6 nest boxes in the coop  and drop down doors where we can access them from outside. We collect eggs in the morning and evening and find eggs at one time or another in all of the boxes but they often lay in just 2 or 3 of the boxes and as you can see; both the Barred Rocks and the Brown Leghorns lay in the same boxes at times.

 

We have also been working on setting up the pole barn shop, re-pairing the outside wood boiler (next post), splitting wood for winter, prepping the gardens for winter, and we just got the signed permit to widen the drive. But most important of all to us, we are preparing for #1 daughter Jenny and her fiance Steve and # 3 son Matt to visit us for the Thanksgiving Holiday. And did I mention its opening day of deer season Saturday and that #4 son Al is in his last semester at UNC-Charlotte and now wants to pursue his Masters? .....we love this time of year!

 

 

 

 

Relief from the Heat

Early this morning we had a thunder storm roll through and we finally got an inch of much needed rain and...and...a cold front has moved through and humidity is low, temps are going down over the next couple days and in fact it will only be about 68 on Friday. We have had such a great Spring that its hard to even complain about the drought but the rain was really needed.

We had a nice relaxing Memorial Day and I was gratified to see so many people attend to the various cemetaries around here and honor our war veterans. Some news punditrs may not understand the meaning of this day but we do and so do most of the folks around here.

I was wandering around our place today and it was so peaceful and I took a few pictures to share. Life can be so chaotic at times and we used to be on the same treadmill most folks are....but I can tell you that checking out from most of society is really really satisfying for us. We are busy, go to bed tired, and we are never bored....not much more you could ask from life.

Caulking and painting done, now working on the doors.

Our Memorial Day BBQ consisted of a couple of New York Strip steaks, baked potatoes on the grill, and grilled corn on the cob from last years harvest. The extra grilled corn we dont eat will be made into a corn and tomato salad for another day.

It took two years but we finally mastered growing leeks which we use a lot to cook with. This beauty went into a summer mushroom soup. I have been asked about the Got Tiger? shirt before and I am betting most people who served in the Army know what it is. Tiger is a beer in Korea and is one of my favorites...as a matter of fact I love Korean cuisine, culture, and attitude. We are going to take a vacation to Korea in the future.

Its 29 May and the Crysanthemums are starting to bloom.....I dont know about anyone else but we are about a month ahead of normal.

These are Lillies just like you get at Easter...Judy planted them and I was skeptical but they are thriving. The greenery in the background is Wisteria and was planted as a single twig two years ago when we moved here...must be the magical Ozark climate.

This grape vine is a volunteer probably dropped by a bird. We have carefully cultivated and nurtured the gifts that we have been given on this farm and it almost feels like desecration to cut down some of these things so we mostly let them have free reign. This one actually works pretty good.

On our road trip to Missouri to look for a farm in 2009 we noticed all of the Black Eyed Susans which is one of my favorite flowers and Judy planted these for me. I mean look at them...there is just something about their symetry that pleases.

We also really like Hydrangeas and these are just a couple that are now blooming. We have planted and continue to plant more around the farm and I doubt we could ever have enough. They are not only nice to look at as a flower they make a nice shrub and you can experiment with the colour by adding amendments to the soil.

We try to plant in harmony with our local flora and fauna and we specifically plant to deter pests and attract beneficial insects and animals. This specimine is a butterfly perching on one of our...butterfly bushes. Missouri is blessed with an abundance of butterflys and we are slowly expanding our butterfly garden. If you take the time to truly look at the world around you you could never in a million years be bored...I believe I could spend a lifetime just studying butterflys. 

This is Sal the rooster and my how he has grown. He and Carmine serenade us each morning at about 0600 with a series of cock a doodle dos that sound like something out of a grade B movie. I have never had chickens or a rooster (though Holly and Judy have) before but I remember as a kid watching Lassie (the one with June Lockhart where they lived on a farm) and Mayberry RFD and sometimes hearing the rooster in the background and wishing I had that life.

Our onions are going great again this year. These are candy whites and they are getting huge; next year we are going to plant enough to fill an entire garden plot so we can sell them. 

This was taken this evening..it was about 72, a light breeze, low humidity and so quiet. The chickens were making the low key satisfied sounds that those who raise chickens would recognize, there was an ocasional sound of a bee...a cow bellowing in the distance..peaceful.

Judy planted Nasturtiums in the old planter and they are doing well in the shade of the Persimon trees.

I had someone a while back make a remark that we paint things all rosey but real life isnt all peace and happiness...they really sounded bitter. I feel sorry for that person. Of course life isnt all rosey all the time but its how you face adversity and deal with the travails we all face that dictates your perception. All of us on the farm have medical issues and chronic pain, we have worries about finances and the future, and with as many kids as we have someone is bound to be in crisis at least once per month..welcome to life. This is an actuator for the electric deck lift on our expensive and just 2 year old garden tractor. This is the second time its broken and we have had to replace it at $119 a pop and the access to get the broken one out and the new one in is limited to stick figure people as my large arms dont quite fit. So I take the tractor apart piece by piece until I can get to it, I cuss a bit, and I bemoan the moron who designed such a mechanism. Seriously, this is a bad design all way round. The gears are plastic and the housing (including the bracket surrounding the worm gear that raises the deck) is made of Delrin. Please introduce me to the engineer who signed off on this design so I can $%#$*$#&*(&^   his   )_*)(&&*%^$  with a @#!^#@.

So we found a drive belt for the Husqvarna we are working on in a local town (60 mile round trip) and a gas tank but the gas tank wont arive until tomorrow...rats. But in taking off the mower deck (you have to to replace the drive belt) I found this. This is a tensioner pulley that normally has a bearing race in the center and its fried..note the bearing race is actually GONE! So we have to go back to town for a new pulley but since we needed to go back to get the gas tank anyway its a wash. Heavy sigh.

Survived the Big Storm Last Night

We had very high winds, heavy rain, and large hail last night that left a swath of devastation and death across several states including Missouri. Locally, there was damage to several residences and shopping areas in Lebanon, some damage in Conway, Branson was hit hard, and Buffalo was smacked hard. Even our little berg had some damage but we came out of it pretty lightly and I mostly slept through it.

We were lucky....this was the extent of our damage. I am not making light of what some have had to go through, just trying to put some family members at ease and make them hopefully understand that its a real crap shoot. A mile away from us a trailer was seriously damaged while we didnt really even notice the storm until morning.

So spring is here, at least for now. Tornados, hail, thinderstorms, unstable air....it will be 73 degrees tomorrow. And the early spring flowers are blooming...

Daffodils are up, the crocus' are up, the Iris' have their leaves in full march towards the sun and even the Hollyhocks are leafing out.

These little guys are Autumn crocus' which around here are called Naked Ladies. They have these green leaves that sort of look like Iris' and they sprout up for a couple months then litterally disappear all summer. Come fall a stem will shoot up overnight (no leaves) with a delicate pink and white flower.

We continue to get the new chicken coop ready and thankfully we didnt put stuff off. We anchored it to the ground with 4 three foot ground augers that were through bolted to the runners and we nailed heavy hardware cloth all around the bottom (to help keep out predators) that was then filled with a cubic yard of #1 gravel. Needless to say it held up to the 71mph max gust we got last night rather well. We (Holly and Judy) have also begun painting the roosts and nest boxes to make cleaning easier.

The ground anchor you see in the background (black square) has a 3 foot auger that is burrowed into the rocky ground and then bolted through the side runner of the coop...and we have 4 of them. These are the same type of augers they use for mobile homes so we feel pretty secure that its not going to fly away. Best advice I can give here is to not delay these projects.....our storm last night would likely have destroyed this coop if we handt taken these precautions. The hardware cloth is nailed all along the perimeter pressure treated wood we added to deter burrowing predators.

We then took a cubic yard of gravel to put on top of the hardware cloth. Chris is currently going to truck driving school and still working his old job but he got pressed into service here and we got the job done in short order.

In the coop itself, we will top this gravel with dirt and then a layer of wood shavings and in the outside run the gravel will be covered with sand.

Mother and daughter hard at work painting their coop...their enthusiasm and participation in this grand adventure is very very satisfying to me and the fact that we can all share this is just..perfect.

I just had to include this picture of my best friend and beautiful wife. After all these years she still makes my heart sing.

While the gals were busy with the coop I had some projects of my own to tackle. I decided to stick close to the house and put off more fencing because I wasnt feeling very good (and may want to wuss out) and for the fact we have been called out multiple times a day lately for brush fires (low humidity, very dry). So on to the well house renovation project that has been put off for far too long.

The windows were completely gone and I had to do some mortar work and add some wood framing to get the new windows in.

I am one of these people who seems disorganized but I have a method to my chaos. Here is a tool bucket, water bucket and mortar bucket along with the new window and an old folding chair marked for an Army National Guard Unit that was disbanded during the Viet Nam war.

Once you get the window framed in you have to put the new window in then trim it out inside and out. In this case, because this is an old stone building with no straight lines or right angles it was a bit of a challenge and I ended up chiseling out a lot more stone and mortar than contemplated to make everything fit.

Looks better than a gaping hole ne'?

I am still in the process of re-tuck pointing the mortar in this building and once that is done it will be sealed and the color will all blend into the house ad look nice. The windows will remain white but the wood and the mortar bed I redid around the window will be hunter green. 

And the other side of the building is complete (as far as the window anyway) as well. All of the mortar between the stones will be redone, then sealed and painted to match the house. The roof doesnt leak and I am debating whether to just recoat it and paint it or replace it. The front (towards the right in this picture has a door I am repairing and it will be painted hunter green as well and the back (to the left) has a 4 light paned window that I am repairing and it will be white mullions with the hunter green trim like the side windows. All the door and the paned window neds is a little repair and some glazing compound...too easy.

Tools of the trade. If you are going to own a stone house or do much concrete work (and we do a lot) get some basic tools. For re-tuck pointing and jobs like this these are my basics. And if you get to a point where you are tempted by the cheap tool bins at Lowes or Home Depot or anywhere else run away. You will note my mortar point and trowel are Kobalt which I find makes a good product even though its sold at Lowes but for the most part I purchase top quality tools because they last.

And at the end of today (it got up to 63 degrees) we BBQ'd some ribs. Start with a dry rub and smoke over a smoldering fire that you have loaded with wet oak chunks you cut yourself...

About an hour or an hour and a half later take the ribs and put them in tin foil and add some of your favorite BBQ sauce (this is ours) and wrap them up and return to smoke heavily for another hour...

And...perfection. A fitting end to a productive and enjoyable spring day. I can hardly wait to tackle the things we have planned for tomorrow!!!!







Fencing Repair Project and the New Chicken Coop

Last spring we did some fencing where we drilled into what at the time seemed like solid concrete to set corner posts. It was so solid I (and it was my mistake and I take the blame) decided we didnt need to set them in concrete.....big mistake. Over the year the soil off and on would become saturated and the posts gradually loosened which has bugged me for about 6 months and to be honest embrarassed me somewhat.

But you learn from your mistakes and instead of moping about it we finally decided to fix the problem as you will see below. And along with that project that has been put off for far too long was my 2 year old promise to Holly and Judy to build them a chicken coop. Ahhh you may be thinking....he finally got off his duff and built it for them. Not exactly. Last Friday we went to the Spring Farm and Garden show in Springfield where I thought we would spend no more than about $5 - $10 on some small trinket or something to eat. But as soon as we walked in there it was; a 12 foot long chicken coop in our farm colors (hunter green and cream), it had 6 nesting boxes, an enclosed chicken yard, two walk in people doors, windows for ventilation, and all for not a whole lot more than it would have cost me to build it from scratch (picture a lightbulb going off right above my head at this point). Poof - a 2 year promise fulfilled!!!

We all pitched in and dug out the posts, mixed the concrete and poured. I used the Kubota with a chain hooked to the bucket to pull the posts into line and hold them while the concrete set and it worked great.

We should have done this in the first place and I wont make that mistake again. Some folks just pour sackrette into the holes dry (it will eventually set up from the ground moisture) and they even make a post setting mix that has no aggregate but I prefer quick setting concrete with the aggregate and I have found better success with actually mixing the concrete and then pouring wet. Its a personal preference deal as there are likely several variants that would work but I tend to stick with what has worked for me in the past.

I will tell you that if you are contemplating owning a little bit of property and can afford only one piece of equipment it ought to be a small utility tractor with a FEL (front end loader). We use the little Kubota for all kinds of things around the farm and even though we have a couple of larger tractors for plowing and such, this one gets used the most.

Holly poured the water into the bucket, I handled the 80lb bags of concrete mix and added it to the bucket to get the consistentcy I was after and Chris had the hardest job of mixing everything. As for consistency of the mix, I go for a pancake batter consistency which I have found works well for setting posts.

We slowly worked our way down the line of posts. Past this point we will be driving T-Posts to continue our pasture fence and this will become a turnout pasture or isolation pasture.

It sure feels good to be working outside again and doing physical labor. We have been lifting weights and running which has us in pretty good condition for the start of spring and with my back in pretty good shape now I plan on getting lots of projects completed this year. Being layed up most of last year with the spinal surgery was a bummer.

And thar she blows (appolgies to Capt Ahab). It has a nice coop with man door for easy cleaning and a 6'x6' chicken yard which we will eventually expand.

It was dropped off in the drive and we dragged it to here with the tractor (its on skids...thus portable....thus not subject to property tax!!!). The coop itself has an opening window on each end for ventilation, a skylight, and chicken doors so they can move from the coop to the yard and from the chicken yard to the outside if we want to let them free range (which is our intent).

Inside has roosts and a hanging feeder...

And six nesting boxes.

The nesting boxes can be accessed from outside for egg collection.

We chose this spot because it will have shade in the summer, I can run electricity to it from the greenhouse, it is next to a frost free water hydrant, and we can see it from the house (lots of coyotes and other predators around here).

The bottom will be completely encased with heavy wire mesh to keep out racoons, opossums, etc and we likely will have to just keep on top of the snakes. We have a lot of snakes and in general I like them and dont mind their presence but snakes like eggs and chicks so.......the barn cats will have to earn their keep.

And there you have it, Miss Hollie's and Grandma Judy's beginnings of a chicken empire. I have a lot of work to do to finish setting it up for them (gravel, flooring, a waterer, running electricity to it etc) but we think it looks good and it will be ready for the spring chick delivery.