Thursday, August 1, 2013

Mending Fences

So my four hooved, furry brush clearing machine and his little Bish Wether managed to escape their paddock this morning. As I was taking the son in to his math class this early AM they were standing in the driveway looking at us just as I checked the rear window to back out.

Needless to say we were a tad late getting to class.

It appears the very old and falling down wooden fence row I was hoping they would clear out was in much worse shape than I thought and the Ram managed to find himself a board that would break easily which allowed him and his buddy an easy escape route.

After getting back to the Small-Hold the rest of the morning and a large chunk of the afternoon were spent making a sheep proof fence out of the old rotting fence row that (I hope) will last until they get it all eaten and I can pull the entire mess out with the tractor. The sheep do such a good job turning an overgrown area into packed earth that I hate to not use them. These guys do a better job than four gallons of Roundup and a blade on the tractor let me tell you. They even kill all the little weed trees dead.

While I was rounding up the two escapees the neighbor dog showed up for a visit and the ram chased him around the barn a few times. For a big impressively muscled dog he sure did run away from that ram in fear let me tell you. This particular ram is a funny one anyway as he will only obey my step dad or me and he wasn't too sure about me until I showed him the power of a monkey with a stick one day. After one little rap on the head with an axe handle he now goes exactly where I direct him to even without a grain bucket. In fact he has managed to escape so many times now that when he sees me coming towards him he just goes to the stall door that is his and waits for me to open it now.

Unless of course there is a dog to chase :)

After that I cleared an area out for the old plow and got everything ready for moving it out of the truck bed when I had some help arrive. It somehow seems disloyal that I am trying to collect implements for the old 8N Ford but yet I had to fire up the massy to move the plow. Two grown men can carry that hunk of iron a few feet but I wasn't going to risk lowering it off the bed of the truck by hand. The plow part might be dull and rusted but if it fell it would take a foot off easily.

All is in place now though safely out of the weather and ready for restoration. A bit of muratic acid I think is in order first to start removing the rust and get the frozen swivel going again. Followed swiftly by some penetrating oil and grease.

To tell you the truth I would have never thought my sustainable projects would ever extend to restoring 1950's era farm equipment but it seems a natural progression of things. I certainly don't need 50K price tag equipment to work a small organic farm that's for sure. Regardless finding the old implements maybe as much fun as restoring them provided we have the time.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!



10 comments:

  1. So it looks like you had a slow day around the farm ;)

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    Replies
    1. Rob - Well I didn't have to run all over that kinda makes it a slow day.

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  2. Replies
    1. Bah I am on a permanent vacation right now. This kinda stuff is more fun than anything I would do on a vacation :)

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  3. You'd like it here. There are lots of old farm tractors just sitting out on the edge of fields, rusting away. I have often thought it was a shame they weren't salvaged and restored.

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    Replies
    1. HF - It used to be that way up here but not so much now. all the old stuff seems to be disappearing as Swampdog mentioned on his blog last night.

      Sad

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  4. Yes, a slow day indeed. Maybe you need a hobby ... ;^)

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    Replies
    1. RP - seems I might have a new one restoring old farm equipment :)

      Actually my bet is it is going to be a bit too expensive for a hobby right now.

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  5. oh keep us updated on the old farm tools restoration project! you know that jam is drooling!

    your friend,
    kymber

    ReplyDelete

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