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  1. J

    How much $ to survey land?

    Quoted 7k 20 years ago for our approx 80 acres in NY State, 17 corners, heavily wooded, sandy terrain with multiple deep ravines, and some swampy areas.
  2. J

    The Thievin' Bas*****

    Sorry the op got robbed by thieving scum bags. Had a friend in a similar situation, meaning valuables locked up on remote property and we came up with the idea of setting up an owl box high on a tree and include a solar panel and hidden camera as one point of surveillance, but never set it up...
  3. J

    Stand-up weed pullers

    Had three of the Fiskars and broke all three, though that was my fault. Fiskars replaced the first two and I never bothered with the third since it worked so well I decimated the plethora of dandelions. What broke it was I was using it to pull trees of heaven saplings that came up due to a crazy...
  4. J

    Using an app to determine proposed boundry lines

    I’ve been laying out our property in NY w/ a view towards subdividing and have had some success using a drawing program (Procreate) to layer multiple images including aerials (mostly Google Earth), screenshots of LiDAR and wetlands (The National Map) and County maps of properties that the GIS...
  5. J

    Walking plow

    New England Gardener, May 20 1865
  6. J

    Cicada invasion

    In the Mid-Atlantic we had a large swarm emerge in 2021, nothing unusual other than the critters everywhere and the sound, no big. Then the oak leaf itch mites (Pyemotes herfsi) started emerging and feeding on the carcasses of the cicadas and suddenly they were everywhere, except you couldn’t...
  7. J

    Free program to sketch scaled drawings on aerials

    One hobby for me is analyzing old road maps and overlaying them over images of the modern terrain using various imagery such as aerials and especially Lidar images. Ive found that the Procreate app ($20) on an aging iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil give great utility yet are fairly intuitive to...
  8. J

    Pull down a high widow maker.

    I just use some chunk charcoal and one of those chimney coal starters and some newspapers and it works every time. Even if the pile is established you can carve out an alcove for the charcoal. I have an old handle-less shovel I place under the pile then dump the red hot coals on it, (used to...
  9. J

    PICS OF BARNS; Any barns; All barns; My barn; Your barn; Not your barn

    It was purchased by my great uncle in 1922 (a lawyer in Manhattan who lived in Westchester Co. who purchased the farm summer retreat). My research shows we were the third owners and the family they purchased it from were elderly (two sisters and a brother w/ no kids) who had aged out of farming...
  10. J

    PICS OF BARNS; Any barns; All barns; My barn; Your barn; Not your barn

    Two photos I recently unearthed from family papers, actually a pile of negatives, that show four barns around 1930 that stood on our NY property. our research shows the house was built by 1855, so the barns were likely 75 years old when the photos were taken. This solves a mystery of a large...
  11. J

    Tree cutting accident

    I also hear high frequency sounds a lot of people can’t hear and yes, we had a cheap stereo that I couldn’t stand the noise when it was turned on. Funny thing, I went to a bunch of rock concerts including a couple of days in front of the speakers at Woodstock. Later I worked crowd security in...
  12. J

    Ash Trees Dying

    Ash trees are rare in our part of Upstate NY, but in Vermont their fighting it and this stood out in this 2019 document Logging danger Trees will start shedding branches within the year, and within 2-3 years have the potential to start snapping. Many noted that trees will only stand for 4-5...
  13. J

    SMOKE

    Assemble a Corsi-Rosenthal filter box. an Inexpensive box fan and 4 or 5 MERV13 filters taped together. Last bad smoke we had in our 1,000+ house we fired it up and the smoke smell was gone within a minute.
  14. J

    What's your average mpg?

    One vehicle; 2017 VW Touareg w/ 15,500 miles (14,000 on the engine) - 26 mpg highway.
  15. J

    Selling a house, real estate commission

    The putative value of our small city house has tripped over 1 million, so discussion on selling has started up. All the houses around us have either been gutted with large houses built on the footprint and most recently they have started even digging up foundations and selling before the new...
  16. J

    Fighting 'Solar Farm' Installation

    We were offered 7k per year a while back for our field not long before our town enacted a moratorium on solar installations other than residential. We turned it down as we didn’t want to lose our cleared acreage. It looks like the town has completed a law allowing the installations with a lot of...
  17. J

    What do you always carry in your vehicle

    Rain gear, spare eyeglasses and sun glasses, charger for phone, n95 masks, extra pair gloves, space blanket, flashlight, and two inexpensive emergency escape tools to break windows & cut seat belt, one for driver and one for the passenger.
  18. J

    Sizing bridge beams

    I found this US Forest Service guide covering in detail the following bridge types (including CAD templates) very useful. No reason to reinvent the wheel. We have a small stream in a valley we want to span and originally I was thinking a bridge, but realized everywhere close by the spanning of...
  19. J

    Electric UTVs

    I like what I’ve read about the Intimidator and they have a dealer/service in Hoosic Falls not far from our place
  20. J

    Buying land that has a natural gas line on it?

    No easements up in the country (other than a neighbors leach field that projects 15’ over our line) and having a 50’ ravine bisecting the property discourages North-South pipelines in our area of which there are none other than the NG line that runs along the road servicing the houses. We did...
  21. J

    trail clearing technique and tools

    Handlebars? Caravaggi makes a leaf blower attachment for the walk behind like my BCS that retails for a little over $1,000. Not as powerful as the highest power Stihl backpack, but a respectable 1300 CFM, 175 MPH, plus not having to carry it! screen grab from Earth Tools video…
  22. J

    My Brothers Estate

    My condolences as well. Lost a younger sister to an auto accident and extended hospitalization/coma and know how hard these types of decisions are. She was married, so other than the massive medical bills there were not a lot of estate questions to worry about. I handled my mom’s estate and we...
  23. J

    trail clearing technique and tools

    For high branches that were dead and hung up high in a tree over the old pathway behind the house I used an arborist throw weight and line to pull up a rope and yank it down.
  24. J

    Google Earth

    Google Maps & Google Earth seem to be synchronized as to street information. We discovered they had roads crossing our property where no roads ever existed. We suspect they were there as an Easter egg type of thing to easily identify other services that were stealing their maps to use as their...
  25. J

    Mini-saw reviews?

    The Stihl GTA 26 garden pruner pictured in OP.
  26. J

    Mini-saw reviews?

    Got one recently and fired it up this week and on its first charge I was able to limb and cut up a volunteer peach tree on my neighbors yard that fell on our fence during a recent storm (definitely punching above it’s weight class) and afterwards prune back a bunch of overgrown fig trees...
  27. J

    trail clearing technique and tools

    We had to focus on the house and getting our field mostly cleared having been neglected last year, so here is a sped up 3x vid of mowing saplings taller than me w/ the Del Morino brush mower on my BCS. Planning to grapple w/ the trails next trip in August when the shade will be appreciated. Left...
  28. J

    A good way to get a burn pile going with green wood

    Nah, the best way I’ve found is a small buckets worth of chunk charcoal started in one of those bar-b-que chimney charcoal starters that use a few sheets of newspaper. Have an old flat shovel missing it’s handle we set under the center of the pile with plenty of fuel above it to dry out and...
  29. J

    Need to move an 800+ pound concrete slab.

    Magnatrac makes a stone boat kit onto which you bolt a piece of plywood (better pictures here) that I believe could do what you want. Similar to using an old auto hood as suggested, but purpose designed for dragging stuff around.
  30. J

    Fence Line App for my phone?

    Eddie, you might find the USGS National Map useful for determining terrain and visualizing Plans. I took the liberty of overlaying your lines over a couple of screen grabs from the map. One is the stretched Hillshade and contour lines that are a product of drone Lidar. The second is an aerial...
  31. J

    Intimidator side ×side anyone own one

    We are considering their base model, the Classic, in the electric version and have generally heard good things and they appear well built and I noted their roll cages are said to comply with voluntary guidelines for strength (“ROHVA (Recreation Off-Highway Vehicle Association) certified Roll...
  32. J

    Anyone have a Swisher Versa?

    Before the Swisher I would consider a BCS 2-wheel tractor. Very sturdy, flexible, many attachments available and mainly, no belts to maintain and replace. My guess is all things considered resale price would hold up better than the Swisher.
  33. J

    Looking for a work capable and light recreational UTV.

    Throwing another make into the mix, we’ve been considering an Intimidator Classic, their base model. In our case we’re considering their EV model that adds to the price, but pricing out the Classic with the 750cc Kohler gas (they offer a diesel upgrade as well), and some upgrades including the...
  34. J

    Anyone cut firewood for health/exercise?

    Not heating with wood, but have split plenty w/ a maul for camp fires and giving wood to friends who heat w/ wood, but wanted to highlight a tool we got last year that has made splitting wood a much easier chore for small amounts, the Logosol hand splitter. A friend, who does heat w/ wood, his...
  35. J

    Creating a property map

    Google Earth Pro can be useful, especially the desktop program that has a lot more functionality over the app. It even used to have property boundaries in our area, but that was removed years ago. My favorite map program for plotting stuff is the USGS National Map that has a lot useful layers...
  36. J

    horse etiquette

    I wouldn’t use horse manure on a garden w/o a bio-assay test to test for presence of herbicides and certainly composting as mentioned, but something I was unaware of was peoples dogs getting sick from eating road apples due to the presence of Ivermectin in horse poo of treated horses...
  37. J

    Christmas dinner... What are you cooking..

    My wife does an excellent job with turkeys and this one was exceptional this year.
  38. J

    Bcs 205

    Will this help?
  39. J

    WiFi Thermometer

    We use a wifi Temp Stick to monitor temp and humidity in our second home and are happy with its performance. You can set alerts for highs and lows and it gives you a nice chart of whatever range of time you need. Batteries (2x AA) last over a year w/o replacement.
  40. J

    trail clearing technique and tools

    Here’s a couple more on top of the hill, before and during (made progress but forgot to get a pic) the ravine is to the right and trail opens up on a clearing down the hill.
  41. J

    trail clearing technique and tools

    Sorry for being so piano. Here is a before and after pair of shots looking SW from the first pic I posted a few days ago (sitting on the deadfall). The trail continues on down the other side of the hill and a deep 30 foot ravine is just over to the right. There is also a branch to the right that...
  42. J

    trail clearing technique and tools

    Finally managing to get some seat shoe time with my BCS.
  43. J

    Funeral Costs

    Condolences on your loss. When my dad & stepmom passed they had signed up with a cremation service and everything was handled. I traveled to Florida to visit him after he passed and bring his ashes back for scattering per his wishes (mixed w/ my stepmother who pre-deceased him). When my mom...
  44. J

    DR Power Stump Grinders

    Been mulling buying the Caravaggi stump grinder implement for my BCS walk behind. Looks pretty good in the pictures and video on the linked page, won’t take up a lot of space in our shed. The DR looks ok but not a fan of fan belts and maintaining another engine that will sit around a lot.
  45. J

    Never had pain like this before!!

    I’ve cut myself too many times to remember over 60+ years, once down to the bone on my thumb, but usually it was sharp knives so the cutting didn’t hurt as bad as the healing. I like to cook and do it a lot so my knife skills keep getting better and I am pretty fast prepping stuff and rarely...
  46. J

    Ida Incoming

    Saw images of the largest dairy farm in New Jersey that was torn up bad by Ida with barns damaged, silos toppled and 3 cows killed
  47. J

    Need spray to kill these woody plants

    I would be tempted to us try using a scythe to clear weeds under those trees periodically. Disadvantage of a scythe is the need to sharpen frequently and peen occasionally. One advantage is it can be used while everything is wet and in fact if using for grass wet is preferable (nice for early...
  48. J

    Economical means for treating wooden fence posts

    I believe your referring to this publication: PROTECTING WOODWORK AGAINST DECAY WITHOUT CHEMICAL PRESERVATIVES have some window sills just like the photos in the article
  49. J

    Shopping for a UTV with front PTO for snowblower

    Will consider a thread at some point for sure. I see trails and snow in a paragraph and start thinking of grooming trails 😀 as to the front PTO for a snowblower and the op’s 1000 ft driveway, I would be bereft to not mention the walk behind tractor (BCS/GRILLO) have a front PTO and a variety of...
  50. J

    Shopping for a UTV with front PTO for snowblower

    We have about two miles of trails through our woods and have thought about clearing trails when we start spending winter there, but operating a snow blower through woodland trails seems like a miserable job fraught with hazards hidden in the snow. Besides, you end up despoiling the pristine area...
  51. J

    If this can happen to a really smart guy like me. . . well...

    I’ve been lucky recovering data from mechanical hard drives and once was approached with a western digital that was unresponsive containing irreplaceable data. Suspecting the circuit board, I found the same model on eBay for $15. I ordered it and swapped the circuit board and the dead drive came...
  52. J

    Pole barn drainage questions

    Nice looking barn! First thing I would do is install gutters on the high side to give all the water from the roof somewhere to go. You could possibly route the water through the enclosed space under the porch roof over to the low side of the buildings terrain. My choice would be the big...
  53. J

    trail clearing technique and tools

    Came foe the trail clearing tips…stayed for pics of the trail doggo
  54. J

    Do you know what the purple paint law is?

    First became aware of the purple paint law perusing hunting forums where it and trespassing issues generally were discussed endlessly. Never seen them in the wild in our slice of heaven where the yellow posted sign holds sway and likely won’t bother and stay w/ signs. on our south side the...
  55. J

    Battery based electric vehicles of today and tomorrow.

    Our current paid for 2017 SUV is low mileage since we even in busy years pre Covid barely topped 4,000 miles a year, it would be hard to justify replacing this year. But that 2022 Ford Maverick Hybrid caught our attention. With the options I like priced around $30k and I like the Flexbed setup...
  56. J

    2021 summer fires

    Post in thread 'Pacific North West - Excessive heat warning issued' Pacific North West - Excessive heat warning issued
  57. J

    Pacific North West - Excessive heat warning issued

    Reposting this link to the design for an inexpensive (like $150), high volume filter made up of a box fan, 4-5 MERV-13 filters and tape that should be able to remove smoke from interior air. A Variation on the "Box Fan with MERV 13 Filter" Air Cleaner
  58. J

    Pacific North West - Excessive heat warning issued

    For those dealing with smoke, maybe something like this inexpensive Box fan with MERV13 filter setup could help.
  59. J

    Swimming Pool options

    Recent Wall Street journal seems pertinent (requires sub): Natural Pool Owners Are Kissing Chlorine and Orher Chemical Goodbye. We’re looking to restore our old spring fed pond, but as it’s a 350 foot walk away from the house, having a pool nearby, and in view of the house, would be nice. A few...
  60. J

    Anybody familiar with owning/operating a bug farm?

    Funny, just came across this article published yesterday: French bug farm thrives on demand for pesticide free fruit
  61. J

    Ideas on how to chip deadfall aspen?

    I wonder what it would cost to bring in someone with or rent a skidsteer with a forestry mulching blade for a day? Come and grind everything up where it lays/leans, leaving you with a manageable cleanup. I agree bucking the logs in place is hazardous, heck, even just limbing deadfall can lead to...
  62. J

    Battery based electric vehicles of today and tomorrow.

    Looking a Verge article it states the extended version has “420kW of total power (563 horsepower) and 775 pound-feet of torque”
  63. J

    Water storage solutions in a drought

    One possibility for water storage is the modular concept that involves a hole lined with a waterproof liner and the volume held up by plastic components such as milk crate type boxes or plastic pipes. The apparent advantage is not needing a structural tank and flexibility in placement and size.
  64. J

    Water storage solutions in a drought

    I remember with a sense of panic when our shallow well went dry back in the 80’s, but a friend quickly drove a new 25’ point a short distance away and we were back in business. Hope you always have the water you need. The drought map is looking ugly (we have entered abnormally dry territory in...
  65. J

    Raising an extension ladder

    Years ago while while renovating my moms house so she could sell it our 40‘ ladder couldn’t reach up to the 3rd story peak to prep & paint the trim, so a friend and I built a six foot high platform in a couple of hours out of junk wood and anchored it by driving metal fence posts into the ground...
  66. J

    Help Identifying BCS tiller model

    The number between the two stars is the serial number of your model: This PDF should help narrow it down (the 10 hp Acme came on the 600, 700 & 800 series models and were stamped like yours).
  67. J

    Inexpensive Laser Level

    I’ve used this method to level a wracked structure and a patio, but with windshield washing fluid instead (easier to read at a distance). After finishing I simply emptied the tube back into the plastic jugs.
  68. J

    How’s Eddie?

    Getting first Pfizer Saturday.
  69. J

    Tracks on a UTV

    The walk behinds can be a bear or a pussycat depending on the circumstances. Riding along on established trails with gradual turns shouldn’t present too much of an issue. Wrestling my 853 over uneven ground brush hogging is a workout, not recommended if you don’t have the upper body strength...
  70. J

    Tracks on a UTV

    Watching this guy bombing around the woods on a BCS fitted with tracks pulling a sled makes me want to outfit my walk behind. Maybe we could groom some of our two miles of trails for cross country skiing
  71. J

    Electric UTV Thread - What is Available?

    Thought a thread devoted to electric off-road EV for work or recreation on the homestead would be useful. I had put this together previously but lost it to a crash, so here is my research on whats available recreated. Our main reason for leaning towards EV is mainly for the quiet operation...
  72. J

    Could our small farm go all electric?

    Of course anything is possible and was hoping a discussion could help us refine our ideas and contribute towards furthering our goals. Recently I retired and our time frame for locating to the property is a couple of years on. Financially we do not want to over extend ourselves finacially...
  73. J

    My dogs killed neighbors chicken

    Based on the info so far I would not judge anyone as particularly to blame for anything. Kind of unusual for someone walking up all friendly like to just get bitten, and the op seemed to be aware of the danger as he was trying to wave her off. All my dogs have always been so friendly that a...
  74. J

    Getting a Donkey for guard duty

    The cyclist should have watched the horses ears for the clue; "I'm going to chomp on your arm buddy!"
  75. J

    Lighting options for shed with no electrical.

    Not to hijack the OP's thread, but I'm at least a couple of years away from actually restoring the dam, but you know I will be sharing pics and discussions on my work as it progresses. The dam was breached some years ago as a result of neglect following some logging and the subsequent skidding...
  76. J

    Check out this big ole' bad boy!

    Old pine close to the NW corner of my place in Upstate NY (had to stitch two pics together in ps to get this much in a single frame).
  77. J

    Property Line Hunters

    Is the property posted? I see you are in Missouri and did a quick Google and found this: Purple paint law Landowners may post or define the boundaries of their property by marking trees and fence posts with purple paint. In a court of law, a property boundary marked with purple paint is the...
  78. J

    Just getting started

    Since I already posted a question about purchasing a Massey Ferguson 150, I thought I should introduce myself. I currently live and work in Washington DC and own 80 acres in Upstate NY. The property is mostly wooded and my wife and I have purchased a barn which we will be putting up as a home...
  79. J

    Price Check  Price for 1965 MF 150 Gas w/ implements

    Hello all. I'm being offered a one owner 1965 gas 150 fixed wide front which has been reputed to be well maintained by it's now deceased owner for $6,000. My research would indicate this price might be a bit high. The tractor started when the key was turned and has good oil pressure and is...
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