by Ethan
on January 2, 2011
Marion County’s largest NAPA and Knoxville’s best Farm and Home store were closed for the holiday today (it’s the only NAPA and only Farm store … and I work there). That meant I had the whole windy day to work outside on the farm and hopefully catch up on projects that I have been slow to finish. I had a rather long list, but realistically I had a couple of things that I wanted/needed to finish up today. But, most of all I was excited to do chores in the daylight because I was beginning to forget what that was like.
So, as soon as I went out I started feeding pigs and getting ready to water the cows and then everyone else. Yesterday I had brought the hoses in to thaw (after breaking the plastic threads off of one) so I was set … or at least I thought I was set. I hooked up the one good hose to the hydrant and then hooked up my “back-up” hose to the good hose. I went and put the end into the cattle tank and turned on the hydrant … nothing! After some investigation I found that for the first time ever my hydrant was frozen … crazy!
I brought both hoses back inside just to be safe and then attacked the hydrant with boiling water. It worked right away and I ran in (literally) to get the hoses and set everything back up. This time when I turned on the water I could hear it flowing, but my heart sank as I also saw the water flowing out of my “back-up” hose like a sprinkler all the way down the line. On a positive note if I need a soaker hose for the garden next year I have one …
Did I mention that Knoxville’s best Farm and Home store was closed for the holiday? Well … it was! And, Walmart didn’t have any hoses out (not a surprise). All of this led me to the church to borrow a hose which I promptly took back to the farm and hooked up ready to go … oh wait … that hose is frozen as well. I guess that shouldn’t surprise me because I’m pretty sure I was the last one to use the hose way back in August when I was filling up water balloons.
Anyways … to close up this long story … I took that hose inside and let it thaw out (there was a lot of ice in there). And, instead of finishing up the chores in daylight … I watered the livestock in the dark just as usual. Moral of the story? Have good hoses … nice … thick … metal ended hoses! Drain them very well, and if your water hydrant is frozen try boiling water first. If that doesn’t work, my all knowing (I’m serious he knows everything!) uncle told me to pile up straw around it and light it on fire. That would have been so cool … but it was a bit windy 😉
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by Ethan
on January 1, 2011
Tomorrow is the first day of 2011 which means that I’ve had this blog floating around for the past four plus years. In those years I have transitioned from book reading to farm buying and finally to kinda farming. But, one thing that has been consistent over all of those years is the fact that I have made mistakes. I made mistakes in my planning, I made mistakes in my early decisions, I made mistakes in my initial farm ventures, and I’ve made plenty of mistakes after moving to the farm and trying to ramp things up.
They say you are supposed to learn from your mistakes and I guess that is what I’ve been trying today. I’m beginning to feel like I should write a book about my mistakes and the lessons I’ve learned because it seems like the mistakes/lessons grow by multiples of ten! And, I’m beginning to think that sometimes it takes a few repeat mistakes before I figure the lesson out … Here are some lessons that I’ve learned that were in my mind tonight as I was working outside ::
- When you’ve never farmed before there are lots of little things that you would never think about. After a couple years in I’m still finding those little things and I count on finding them as long as I farm … it’s an unpredictable game.
- You have to have shoulders like a rain coat so that things will just roll off of you. There are ups and there are downs … and when you start from scratch there will be plenty of downs.
- Slow down. I don’t like slow, but you need to slow down regardless … unless you have enough capital to just force things along.
- Cold weather just plain stinks … period … end of story.
- Don’t paint yourself in a corner … that means a lot of things at different times, but I think it’s an important lesson!
So, there are just a few of the lessons that I was thinking about tonight as I was outside in the wind (those 60º temps are long gone by the way). One of these days I should write down all of those lessons … all of those little things that never even crossed my mind as I was reading all my farming books and dreaming. Maybe … maybe I’ll just write a book … I always wanted to be a writer when I was a kid, just like I always wanted to be a farmer …
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by Ethan
on December 31, 2010
The old saying says that you have to make hay when the sun shines. I’ve decided that another good saying would be, “When January is coming, pound in fence posts when the temperature hits 60º and the ground is soft!” So … since the all of those factors were the case this evening I spent the night outside with my headlamp and post driver. Here it is almost January and I find myself still preparing for winter … it’s not something I’m happy about, but it is reality so I’m taking it as it comes.
What I’m trying to finish up is the winter area for the pigs. I have the hut for them … I have the straw for them … I have the spot picked out … I don’t have the fence done quite yet. But, I will have it done soon and then hopefully everything will come together quickly. The place I have for them is north of my shed and I’m going to place some tin along the west and north sides of the fence and of course they will have the hut to go inside that will have straw bedding. It should work out this year for the few pigs I have and then I’ll see what happens next year.
Not much on the farm is very permanent and this new pen I’m building fits into that “not very” category. I’m just finding that most of the time I’m not quite sure exactly where I want something on the farm, so it is best to keep things simple and then just change it up if I don’t like it. It may take a little more work in the beginning because I’m always putting up … tearing down … and putting up again, but I think in the future it will make the farm better suited for me and the way I want to farm.
For the time being though … I’ll just take all the 50º plus days I can get!
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by Ethan
on December 30, 2010
The title says it all. Before Christmas the snow came. It wasn’t a lot of snow, but it was enough to give the state a white Christmas and frustrate me (I really was hoping for a no snow winter). Now there are warmer temperatures and there is rain in the forecast (that will create the always exciting mush). And then by this weekend things are forecasted to cool down again and that will turn the mush back into ice (actually … of the three choices I prefer this one the most). All of this is rather irrelevant in the whole scheme of the farm, but it does keep chores interesting and makes me wish that I would have made it a bigger priority to get chains for the tractor this year!
Last winter I pretty much got anything stuck that could get stuck and I decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea to head into another winter without tractor chains. But, as the summer went along and I was never able to find any in the sweet spot of my price range (read inexpensive, but still high quality) I now find myself in a sloppy position with no chains. This isn’t the end of the world though and just means I need to take precautions. One thing I do in if I have want to take the tractor down to the woods or something like that is put a bale on the 3-point spear so that I bit more weight on the back end. It’s not the best solution, but it does help some.
The big thing that is going through my mind right now though is the farmer’s market season. Last year I did my first market and while it was a good experience for learning it didn’t quite make enough sales wise because it was not very well attended. This year I won’t have much more product during the market season than I did last year, but by the time fall comes around I should have more hogs ready to go, a crop of lamb, and maybe a steer (possibly poultry as well). That could mean as many as 18 hogs that would need to be sold, potentially 30 lambs, and some beef. I’m afraid that without making any more customer contacts at a market this summer I will have a tough time selling out in the fall/winter.
Any thoughts on the upcoming market season? I’m open for suggestions …
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by Ethan
on December 22, 2010
When I was a kid my farm was the hardwood floor of my bedroom floor in town. The boards made the perfect rows for my tractors and harvesting equipment and the bottom track for the closet door always became the cattle feed trough. It was a ready made farm and I think I was a pretty good bedroom farmer. I’m pretty sure that I spent countless hours with the rug rolled up in my bedroom farming and dreaming! But, now that I’m a grown up farmer the reality of the farm isn’t quite as romantic as that farm on my bedroom floor … for one thing I don’t have box full of tractors and implements!
When things got tough on my bedroom farm I could just box everything up and call it a day. On my grown up farm I’m not able to pack up and move on to the next game … and sometimes I dwell on that. So tonight I’m forcing myself to come up with three positive things on the farm right now. Three things that I can look at and feel good about … hopefully I’m not up all night thinking!
- Even though the days are going to get colder and I’m pretty sure there will be more snow there is one positive that I can hold onto. Since it is now officially winter the days will begin growing instead of shrinking! According to this calendar I should gain 45 minutes of daylight between the January 1st and 31st. Despite the cold and snow that I know will come over the next month the extra daylight is something I can get excited about! If I’m wrong about this … well just don’t tell me and let me live in my dream …
- Despite the rogue sheep that keep getting out (although with some extra posts they seem to be staying closer to home) I’m pretty pleased with the way they have been adjusting to the farm and handling the winter weather. There haven’t been any super snow storms yet or week long cold snaps, but the wind has blown and it has gotten pretty frigid. It just seems like they sheep flock up and hang-out when the weather gets bad … and they are doing well. I’m hoping this apparent hardiness is something that sticks with them throughout the winter and carries on into the lambing season. That would be just very nice thank you very much …
- I have hay and straw and I think maybe … possibly … hopefully I have enough. I know that I have enough straw on the farm now to last the winter (although I’m not really set-up to use it yet) and with 47 plus bales of hay on the farm I’m thinking it might be enough. Honestly I’m not quite sure how much hay I will need, but I have enough hay for the initial bales I purchased to get through December and then the 47 bales I just purchased to make it until grass shows up. They’re heavy and tightly wrapped bales and I think they will be enough, but with the sheep now and the uncertainties of winter weather I guess I’ll just have to see how it lasts. On the whole though I’m glad to have it and relieved. Last winter it was a constant search and battle for hay … hopefully that will not be the case this year.
There … I did it … three positives from the farm! Now I just need to keep those in the front of my mind and just tackle everything else as it comes …
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by Ethan
on December 21, 2010
“How will the legend of the age of trees
Feel, when the last tree falls in England?
When the concrete spreads and the town conquers
The country’s heart…”
Oddly enough this is not the first time that I have mentioned a poem on my blog (I actually love poetry when my mood is right). In fact not only have I shared poetry more than once, but this is even
the second time I’ve referenced
“The Future of Forestry” by C.S. Lewis. I encourage you to read the poem … and then read it again … and maybe one more time for posterity, because I’m not sure if a poem can sink in the first or second time through. For some reason this poem has been on my mind lately and I’m not exactly sure why, but I do have a few thoughts ::
- While I’m not very convinced that the last tree will ever fall in England (or anywhere for that matter), or that the country will be covered with concrete from shore to shore I do get the concept. I understand what Mr. Lewis was getting at. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but my mom spent 36 years teaching grade school in Waterloo, IA. The same Waterloo, IA that is surrounded by farms in every direction, is the home of multiple John Deere factories, and holds a yearly event called Cattle Congress! But, as the years progressed in her teaching career her students lost the connection to the farm, and even basic knowledge of the farm. My old toy tractors became her teaching tools! It isn’t so much the reality of farms going away that is scary, but rather the connection with them.
- In the middle of the poem the students are asking, “What was a chestnut?” and “What was Autumn?” Think of those questions in farm terms … Is it possible that we could get to a point where children would ask, “Where does bacon come from?” or “What is a farm?” The story of the farm needs to be told. The Farm Bureau is saying that the farm story is needs to be told and local farmers all over the country are saying the story needs to be told. That is probably one major thing both the small-scale/local/natural/direct-marketing farmers and the large-scale industrial agriculture farmers can agree on.
- But really, I think the reason I ended up on this poem again is because the farm kind of has me down lately. I feel like I’m getting knocked backwards more than I am even taking baby steps forwards and it frustrates me. And so with my farming heart in that state I ended up on a poem about forests and concrete and England … and for some reason I was a little renewed and a little more excited about the farm. But, I still don’t know what it’s all going to look like in six months …
I guess what I’m really trying to say is that you should read the poem. I don’t know if I understand it very well (I think I know what I get out of it at this moment though), but I really enjoy it and I’ve been reading it a lot. And, I’ll ask a similar question to the one I asked after I mentioned this poem for the first time back in February of 2009. What are you reading now? More specifically, are you reading anything that is energizing your passion for the farm?
(As for a farm update … I’m still messing around with my tractor that has battery/generator/shorting issues … hopefully sometime I can tell you what the real problem is)
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by Ethan
on December 20, 2010
Saturday and Sunday were both very similar days. Both days included work at my town job (Saturday at NAPA and Sunday at church), and both days included trips down the road to pick up straw and unloading hay at the farm. The good news is that I now have 47 more bales of hay sitting out in front of the winter lot and that makes me very much relieved! Also, in between unloading the hay I was able to make three trips to bring back the large round bales of straw … only 5 more to go! I have a sneaky suspicion that I’ll have more straw than I need, but I’m not going to complain about that because I’m sure I’ll find a use for it. It wasn’t all perfect though … I seem to be having some battery issues with the tractor. Meaning … the battery died while the tractor was running … which kind of was no fun! I’ll have to look into it …
All my time on the tractor and doing chores outside did give me plenty of time to think, and today I thought about trucks. Just in my 1.5 mile trips back and forth to get the straw I saw a lot of pick-up trucks sitting in driveways and along the road (deer season). I’ve decided that I live in some sort of epi-center of trucks. The farmers have them, high school kids have them, and even guys in town that use the truck bed of their truck twice a year have them! I … I have no truck, but that doesn’t mean I’m not trying to find one!
With all the trucks around here you’d think I would be able to get my hands on one that meets all my requirements, but alas I’ve had no luck. I have an app on my phone that alerts me anytime a 3/4 ton truck is posted on Craigslist in the area (the good ones are always a long ways away) and I check the classifieds for the area all the time. But, I’m just not able to find the right one. I guess I’ll just have to be patient … and wait … for the right truck 😉 But, patience isn’t always one of my strong points.
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by Ethan
on December 19, 2010
Some tractors have climate controlled cabs (heat, a/c, radio, and all that good stuff). My tractor as the beautiful winter air for cab. But, I’m not complaining because I’m just plain glad to have a working tractor at all (even though my PTO is out … AGAIN!). This morning I was making 1.5 mile trips to pick up some big round bales of straw that I bought. The temperature wasn’t very bad and the trip there was actually pretty comfortable, but the return trip with the west wind blowing caused me to hunch up and retreat into my hood like a turtle. My toes were cold though because I wasn’t smart enough to put on warm socks!
The good news is that I was able to bring over some more of the straw bales that I purchased for deep bedding (although the deep bedding areas aren’t exactly ready yet) and there are now 29 more big round bales of hay on the farm. I’m expecting a few more loads of hay tomorrow and then I think (and hope) there will be enough hay for the winter. I have purchased a lot more hay than I did last year and with all the money I’ve spent I really really really hope I don’t have to buy any more.
My hay purchases this year bring into extreme focus the high costs of starting a grass-fed beef herd. With about a two year turn-around from the time a calf is born until it is processed there is a lot of purchased feed that is needed for both the calf and the cow of course … and the bull has to be factored in as well because he likes to eat in the winter I’m finding. In the future I would like to be able to make my own hay on farm, but that wasn’t possible this year and even if I put up my own hay I have to factor in my labor and equipment prices. In hindsight I’m thinking buying the cattle right at the beginning of the farm wasn’t the best plan of attack …
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by Ethan
on December 16, 2010
Today was another Wednesday … which means another very busy day. Although, this morning when I was dropping off some parts at one of my favorite stops, the woman who works in the office asked me how I was doing. I responded, “Oh you know … just another Tuesday”. After I said that she informed me that it was actually Wednesday … the busy day. I don’t know if I walked out of the shop glad that it was another day further along in the week than I thought it was, or if I was a little depressed because I really had no clue what day it was. Honestly though, with the new job in town and chores in the dark all the days really seem to blend together.
On the farm things are not going exactly as pleased. I might have 11 Katahdin sheep available if you’re interested (and that includes the ram). One thing You should know … five wires of electric won’t keep these rogue sheep in 🙁 I think I’m going to have to order some electric netting from the farm store where I work. I was planning on getting some next spring anyways, but was really hoping to hold off until then. Does anyone have any experience with the electric netting? Any tips or thoughts? I’m almost 100% sure I’ll be going with the Gallagher because of the store discount I receive, but I’m open to all thoughts!
I’m hoping everything will come together this week and on Saturday and Sunday I will receive 4 loads of hay totaling 44 large round bales. I was supposed to be getting them about three weeks ago, but it would just never work out. Hopefully this will be the weekend. It will be such a relief to have them here, because I can’t tell You how often I think about the fact that I need them while I’m out driving around and seeing hay on other people’s farms. I would love to be able to make a little of my own hay next year, but we will have to see how things shake out.
As you can see it is just a little disjointed around the farm right now. I don’t expect that to change anytime soon though 😉 So, I’ll just keep pressing on! It was nice to drop-off a nice load of pork and beef though at the Iowa Food Coop on Monday. Even though I’m not able to make a drop-off at the normal time and talk to other producers and customers it is nice to see some fruit from my labor!
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by Ethan
on December 13, 2010
I hate to say it, but the blizzard beat me this time and now the cold is trying to rub it in my face. This wasn’t a super duper blizzard with an impact that lasts for days, but it was enough snow and wind and drifting to throughly beat me and catch me close to totally unprepared. And now, as if to add insult to injury, the cold is coming behind it with lows expected below zero overnight tonight before it warms up again as the week goes on.
If you have been following the resurgence of my blog lately you will recall that in my last post I was writing about the first official day of winter and how I still had time to get my winter pig area finished up. Well, I had the cold temperatures part correct, but I guess I failed to account for snow and more before the cold arrived. Honestly I haven’t been keeping up on the weather much, and with a limited internet connection at the farm and no TV I wasn’t really expecting that kind of storm … everyone else probably was 😉
It does make me think though … about those first settlers coming to Iowa to start out from scratch. The pioneers! How crazy is it to think of the lives the lived here and the weather that they had to deal with on a day to day business. I’ve been calling my farming style “Pioneer Farming” because of the way I’m trying to work this farm out of the blank slate that was this 40 acres when I bought it and because of my interest in heritage breeds. But, when it comes to the true pioneer adventure … well, my adventure pales in comparison … I mean I at least have a five day forecast 😉
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