Another Dodge and a Fall Garden Update

A neighbor thinks I need therapy but a screaming deal came to us on a 1991 Dodge pickup and we picked it up to flip. If your counting, we now have a black one (in the pole barn getting some work done), ole Blue which is my daily driver, and this new red one. I don't know why I like First Generation Dodge Pickups but I do. They don't have many aftermarket parts available so you have to hit the scrap yards to keep them going but they are easy to work on and when you see someone else with one (they are fairly rare around here) and he has a rusty cab roof, his truck wanders a bit on the highway, and he has the window down on even the hottest days because the AC no longer works you just knowingly smile and nod or maybe even wave in acknowledgement. First gen Dodge trucks were never cush and were technological dinosaurs even when new; I like that.

Its a 1991 D-150 with a 3.9L V6 (a 318 with two cylinders lopped off), 3 speed automatic, Air and that's about it. You have to roll your own windows up and down with a crank, it has rubber floor mats and a vinyl seat, and not a speck of rust on it which is very unusual for Dodges of this vintage (as you can tell from the 1990 next to it -old Blue).

It started life as an Air Force parts runner but was given to the State of Mo Dept of Conservation who in turn lent it to a Rural Fire Dept as a fire support vehicle and one of their stipulations was that it had to be stored inside, maintained etc (we have some in my dept with the same stipulations) which is why its in such good shape.

Just basic truck like they used to make and not even a tear in the vinyl seat. The heater and AC actually work but the genuine Chrysler radio has a mind of its own.

Everything works on the truck and the suspension is tight so its a nice driving little truck.

Holly likes the red paint mostly because it isn't blue and not rust colored. The red paint is actually just International Harvester red implement paint that we use in the fire service and its never going to be a show truck but it works great and doesn't look bad.

One of the benefits of a rig like this is that its never been molested or mangled by those who fancy themselves as mechanically inclined. The 3.9 of this vintage is pretty primitive and a bit lacking in smoothness and power but paired with the automatic is drives pretty good and its quiet. Everything is stock, all maintenance records are there and though we plan on selling this, it will be tough to part with it.

The fall garden is coming along and our carrots are going strong...

We have lots of beef steak tomatoes almost ready to harvest..

And the Spinach, broccoli and cabbage are in.

Its been hot enough that we have a bumper crop of hot peppers still and since we have purchased a small dehydrator now we plan on drying a bunch.

The second crop of snap peas are ready and selling well.

Even our second crop of cucumbers is doing well. All and all its been a good growing year this year and we feel pretty good with our productivity.

And finally, Whiskers and Piglet have taken to laying at the entrance to the barnyard to great any visitors. Its not a hard job but everyone has to pull their weight around here.

 

 

Sheep

Its been a busy month here on the farm and as we close out summer we look forward to the bit of rest that fall always promises.

Fire Fighting school continues through 14 Dec and though it can be a pain to drive the 80 miles round trip to school a couple times a week I am finding that its rewarding in many ways. I am certainly learning a lot and I also like the camaraderie from the Fire Fighters from various departments. We have had some drop out but we all just finished the Hazardous Materials Operations level course which is a prerequisite to getting certified as a Level II Fire Fighter and I think the rest of us are hard core enough to stick it out to the end.

We have the fall garden going well, we are getting ready to do our second cutting of hay and as the title of this post alludes to..we have a couple of sheep now. We are also getting ready for number 1 daughter Jenny's wedding next month....and I for one am ready for things to slow down (what happened to the Simple Life?).

We have been getting rain on and off so things are still green here which pleases me as a farmer but its not making the bow hunters too happy...yes its deer season already though I don't hunt until the rifle season in November.

I enjoy these little vignettes around the farm and particularly in fall and spring. The haying equipment is staged waiting for a 4 or 5 day dry period so we can cut, dry, windrow, and bale. 

The Black Walnut trees are some of the first trees to start shedding leaves and though they aren't colorful, their scattering on the ground means fall is soon to come even though its still hot during the day. The weather people are saying that we will have a rough winter and a colorful fall...its time (actually passed time) to start thinking of cutting wood for the wood boiler.

We stated at the beginning of the year in a blog post that we were going to start fixing up the old barn this year and get electric to the pole barn shop and we have now started both projects. Maybe a little late in the year but we have been busy and sometimes things just get pushed to one side for awhile.

The previous owner had built barn doors out of interior grade tongue and groove paneling with no cross bracing and he attached everything with paneling nails. I guess it was an attempt but as you can imagine it didn't last long and we have been putting off fixing this issue ever since we bought this place. Holly and I have now replaced a couple of the doors with heavy 2x6 planks with Z bracing and the doors now open to the inside instead of the reverse like they were. Its satisfying work, very satisfying.

And this is why we finally got around to fixing up the barn and doing a bunch of fencing around the place. This is Tulip, a pregnant Dorper Ewe that we traded the old golf cart for (along with a little mixed Ram).

Tulip and Nike have adjusted well to their new surroundings and they have the run of the stall inside the barn, the barnyard in front and the two paddocks behind the barn.

Nike was bottle fed and is very affectionate and likes to be petted and have his ears scratched while Tulip is more reserved.

They make a bit of noise once in a while, Bandit and Rose have already made friends with them, and the cattle are curious as all get out and spend hours next to the paddock fence bellowing to them or just staring at them and watching everything they do. They add a lot to the farm and we hope to grow the herd.

 

 

Fall Color and a New Chicken Run

After such a long hot summer we have had a fantastic fall and after a couple nights of frost we have had the most colorful display of foliage since we moved here. Days have been mostly warm and sunny with crisp cool nights and we have really enjoyed the mild weather.

It also continues to be busy at the Rock House Farm, the sewer project is making steady headway, we are in the process of replacing the culvert to our driveway and widening it, we continue fencing, and we lucked into a deal on expanding the chicken run.

Speaking of fencing, last night we were working on the chicken run and Holly looked up into the pasture and saw one, two, three, four...five...cattle then a couple more when we only have three right now. Turns out the neighbor has a bull, we have a couple of heifers in heat, bull decides to visit our heifers and a bunch of calves and one of his heifers follows. So we called them up and we all soon got them sorted out and back where they belonged but we could only temporarily patch the fence because it was getting dark. So this morning we cut out a section of fence and strung some field fencing and a couple strands of barbed wire and the problem is solved. During all of this we also made plans to formally expose our heifers to his bull this week end so we will see what happens.

This picture is across the fence behind our pole barn shop and that heifer is one of the escapees that came for a visit last night.

Our wood lot is also displaying a vivid color scheme.

 

A wider view to the north across our pasture fence; we are surrounded by color.

Our back pasture has some huge Oaks and they have had a bumper acorn crop and are giving good color as well.

 

This picture is across our back pasture fence looking East; a sea of autumn color and the pasture here is full of deer and wild turkeys in the morning and early evening.

This is in front of the farmhouse looking south just about sunset. Its hard to get the brilliance of the colors to come across in these pictures but its warm in this picture (about 75 degrees), there was a slight breeze blowing, leaves were gently falling in the breeze and it is very peaceful.

 

Even the Oak grove behind the big barn is colorful.

One of the things we like around here is that we have a succession of flowering plants and this is the second blooming of Mums this year.

 

One of our neighbors is a bachelor and after the raccoons got most of his chickens he gave up the ghost and got rid of the rest of them so he had a 10' x 10' dog run he had used as a chicken run for sale for $100. We had planned on expanding the chicken run anyway but were holding off because the heavier duty runs like this one cost over $300 so we took advantage of the opportunity.

We already have a small chicken door to the outside from our existing run so this was easy to set up. We assembled the run, laid some chicken wire over the top, and cut a hole for the door from the existing run to open into the new run. We will let the chickens have access to their new run during the day and then lock them up at night. The chicken wire over the top is just to keep the hawks at bay and keep the chickens from flying out as we don't clip their wings.

 

Just some fall scenes from the Rock House Farm.

 

 

 

 

Day Before the Big Freeze

Yesterday it was 83, today it was 70, and tonight we will be around 30 with below freezing nights for the next three days (though the weekend will be warm again) so we had to harvest the remaining summer garden items, cover the fall garden with row covers, and prep for cold weather. Of course compared to Number 1 daughter Jen and her partner Steve who already have lots of snow, we are still enjoying a warm fall.

Boo Boo has decided its winter even though its still warm out during the day and in the evenings he has to be held and he likes being covered with a blanket. He is sound asleep in this picture with his front legs stretched out. Keep in mind this was a feral cat that we found almost frozen to death in Alaska one winter about 10 years ago...he is semi retired and enjoying the good life on the farm.

We completed our third and final black eyed pea harvest yesterday.

All together, we got almost 7 pounds of shelled black eyed peas that we have dried and stored for the winter.

And because of the pending hard frost we harvested the last of the tomatoes, the sweet and hot peppers, a couple small egg plants, and the last of the okra along with some rainbow swiss chard.

We have harvested so many cayene peppers this year and we have a ton dried and stored but we harvested more today and left about a hundred still green on the vine. We have Jalapenos, sweet banana peppers, cayene, and some little red and orange pepper we cant remember the name of that are spicy hot. We like peppers...

Maybelle comes running up and wont leave you alone if she sees you with a feed bucket and now Louise is losing her shyness and doing the same thing. We set a small feed bucket to one side for Maybelle since she is smaller than the other two but they all mob from one feed trough to another.

Thelma is still shy but what a magnificent looking animal. She has excellent lines, a shiney coat and her muscles ripple when she moves.

All three of the heifers get on well and we enjoy the nightly routine where they come down to the barnyard mooing and hollering for their treats.

And of course Louise is my favorite...and she is a chow hound. Always the last to leave the feed trough.

We also harvested the gourds today. These will be dried and finished for bird houses and spoons.

We actually use our old garden tractors to work around the farm when we dont want to use the bigger tractors and here we are hauling the gourds to the barn.

We never get tired of this and try to turn chores into fun events...why not?

Not a bad haul eh? And an update on the old Allis Chalmers, I got the tire patched up but the valve stem is rotten and wont hold air so still some more work to do. We will move it up to the shop for a winters project and we hope to be plowing with it next year.

This is just a picture of our back pasture and deer plot. Its hidden from the world and it is so peaceful in the fall. We have a ton of acorns this year and the squirrels, rabbits, deer and wild Turkeys are thick back here. Unfortunately, so are the coyotes and we think we lost the barn cats to the coyotes.

This is looking towards another of our wood lots and Bandit is busy looking for neon rainbows. Fall is a great time of the year and my favorite.

Chris planted carrots and they are doing great but he is impatient and had to pull one to check his progress.

Not much production for all that greenery! But they will get lots bigger over the next couple weeks and they are SWEET.

We also cut another load of wood yesterday and still need to split this.

And if you look at it, its all Black Walnut. Black Walnut is an expensive wood and hard as nails so it burns for a long time and very hot. We got these from trees that had been hit by lightening on a ranch where we work occasionally and it somehow seems wrong to be burning this type of wood for heat but it would have just rotted otherwise and it was too damaged to sell for commercial use.

Judy's old dog Jesse died last year and is burried up in the oak grove behind the barn. I am going to take this piece of wood, drill holes in the bottom and sink two pieces of rebar into it and make a headstone for Jesse. It will have Jesse's name and a few words on the front and then it will be varnished before we place it.

Just another fall scene of the old planter.

And at the end of the day we play best 2 out of 3 in games of yard darts to see who has to do the dishes. Judy and I are usually on the same team playing against Holly and Chris and we rarely have to do dishes......we play well because we really really dont like to do dishes.