Spring has Sprung

-
I can tell 'cuz I have to have the truck in four wheel drive to get it around my driveway.

We are transitioning to Berkshires.  The Royal Pig.  Here are a couple of princesses having a late morning nap.

 Having found a plentiful supply of nice gravel on the property we built an all weather road to the loading ramp at the barn.  Had some scary moments trying to extricate the skidsteer from the late spring mud bog that was there previously.  Now, with the addition of a new gate customers can drive right up to the loading dock.  Makes loading piglets a whole lot easier.  Mind you with the P.E.D. scare down south and now back east in Canada we may have to re-think our bio-security procedures.
Of course any road bulding job requires a supervisor..
 The road goes to this loading dock.  This is just the graded underlay before the gravel was applied.  20 loads of gravel and a road that won't suck your gumboots off when you walk on it.  The skid steer can get supplies to the barn in a pouring rainstorm without getting stuck.  Ah, progress.
 We put a culvert in right where the wet area was so run off from the roof isn't a problem anymore.

I really like this old wagon.  Lord knows how old it is.  It was all hand hewn.  Was someones big work saver around homestead time I will bet.
 Not a great picture, but those are three eagles waiting for me to get out of the area so they can enjoy some cow remnants.

This is a gravel sample pit.  Nice angular gravel with sandy fines and very little clay.  I was grinning from ear to ear.  another 120 loads and the whole place should be nicely gravelled.

We have twenty turkeys and 40 layers in the incubator.  With another 100 meat birds coming todays job is to make a few more brooders.  I have been using 500 litre plastic containers split in half - I'll post that as I build it.

Hope your having a great day.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Much Wood

-
Image
I'm late with the annual wood cutting chore.  Certainly I am earlier than last year when I was tunnelling through a kilometre of four foot deep snow to find the cut up wood that was somewhere under a white expanse.  This wood shed and three more like it need to be filled to see us comfortably through the next six months of winter.  Due to some cardiac issues it isn't an option for me to lug heavy rounds of wood around.  The skid-steer helps with that option.  I've tried loading it with the pallet forks and then dropping it into a saw buck but have found that it makes it just as easy to cut it on the forks.  Being careful, of course, to avoid saw parts and metal forks!   I have the green house growing. But need to make some weather proofing amendments to see us through the white times.  The Swiss Chard, Basil and Tomatoes are doing great:     All the leaves are gone.  We've even had a couple of inches of snow.  But it didn't last.  It will take
Read more

I'm Back!

-
Image
Haven't been posting anything for a while.  A combination of moving to different technology - tablets and hand helds  and having my Laptop getting a keyboard replaced.  All nice and spiffy now. But the spell check is not working in Blogger so that should make it interesting. Been wondering about the whole farming thing.  Attending a lot of of courses and reading the farmers messiah, Joel Salatin.  He's been an amazing inspiration.  Here's our new chicken tractor based on his design.  This one has adjustable trailer wheels cuz I was too lazy to build his simple lift and puller.  I will do that when I build some more tractors.  This one comes with a built in spilt feed cleaner!     As you might be able to tell.  This lot's about ready for some processing.  I am getting an urge for baked chicken!  Had a couple of roosters fall prey to what I think was a fox.  Last night all the dogs and I slept out on the veranda to keep a watch.  Well, I tried to sleep.  The Doggies
Read more

We've Sprung a Leak

-
Image
The snow is melting like, well, snow in spring time.  The top of the tire garden is starting to show through the snow.  Those are three logging truck tires on top of each other filled with soil.  So still a bit of snow to go before I have to weed whack the grass.  I will plant some spinach and spring onions before the snow is all gone.  I will put some plastic over the tires to speed up the process.  It's going to be a late spring. Melt water has turned road ruts into impromptu ditches. Fortunately all the water here is diverted onto our Southern fields. Attempting to get to the wood pile.  Not gong to happen until the road gets a bit more solid.  Like in a couple of weeks.  The piggies are partly to blame.  This part of the road is South facing and the snow melted off it first leaving bare ground.  Ideal for rootevators who have just walked on the snow over the fences!  Four sows in stalls, three of which decided to have their babies within a couple of days of
Read more