August 30th, 2015 Work Day

There are plenty of tasks to tackle at the farm, but we’ve settled into a little routine. We send the kids down the hill to fetch a pail of water. So far no one has fallen down and no crowns have been broken, so we’re in good shape. The creek is much lower now than it was earlier in the year, but we’re still able to get some water and use it for washing and cleaning up after we eat.

Going to the Creek

Going to the Creek

We also had the pleasure of taking one of Jaron’s friends, Alan. He was a great help, and he loved working with the tractor. We now know what to expect if we have two 17 year old boys helping out with the tractor. It looks something like this.

Jaron and Alan on the Tractor

Jaron and Alan on the Tractor

This is a true redneck collage. Notice the smoking tractor, and the three of us working on the cutter and the mid-mount for the mower deck. The blackberry brambles are thick and a lot of debris is kicked up as the tractor plows through it. Some of that debris accumulated on the screen that the cooling fan pulls air through. The tractor overheated and the anti-freeze overflowed onto the engine. It is a very common problem with tractors, particularly those without front end loaders. In our case, it was the screen on the other side that got clogged. You can actually see the brownish film on the grate next to Jaron’s leg in the picture above. We also broke the shear bolt on the cutter. Again, this is a common occurrence. The shear bolt is meant to shear. It protects the gears. I made a quick trip to the TSC in Farmville, which isn’t that far, and replaced it. Now that I’ve done some tractor repairs, I can check that box off of my farmer credentials card.

The boys did make a lot of progress clearing the brambles, which is our primary task. We’re leaving as many of the trees up as we can, and we’ll figure out what to do with them once we’ve cleared the bushes. Here’s a picture of the cleared area as seen from the street.

View of Shed From Street

View of Shed From Street

We also took the opportunity this trip to meet our “next door” neighbors. They are a friendly couple, as many rural folks are, and offered to have us over for a cookout, or to use their four wheeler. It was neat to hang out with them and to know that we’ve got good people near us. We also want to meet the neighbors across the street who raise grass fed cattle.

We were pleasantly surprised to find a large American Persimmon tree growing near the entrance. There’s supposed to be a wild cherry tree closer to the stream, and we’ve found a bunch of black walnut trees. We’re not experts at identifying flora yet, but since we’re going to use permaculture design patterns, we’re going to have to learn. From what we can tell, there’s a lot to work with.

To see more pictures from the weekend check out this Google Photos Link.

American Persimmon

American Persimmon

 

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