Good morning!!!!

[Depmandog]

farmer2009

I found a very interesting article (albeit dated) about bio char and one mans use of the process in his chicken operation.

Practitioner's Profile: Using Chicken Litter for Biochar | International Biochar Initiative

Initial costs would be staggering, but sounds like he got grant money to help offset the costs. Is this something viable in your operation? Could you pay for this with propane savings realized by burning the litter? And is the bio char market price high enough to offset the tonnage loss and replace your litter income?

 

[Redneck in training]

farmer2009

I found a very interesting article (albeit dated) about bio char and one mans use of the process in his chicken operation.

Practitioner's Profile: Using Chicken Litter for Biochar | International Biochar Initiative

Initial costs would be staggering, but sounds like he got grant money to help offset the costs. Is this something viable in your operation? Could you pay for this with propane savings realized by burning the litter? And is the bio char market price high enough to offset the tonnage loss and replace your litter income?

I just talked to a guy whose daughter boyfriend is one of the researcher developing the reactors for making biochar from whole spectrum of bio waste. I will try to see it in near future and report back.

 

[RoyJackson]

2015-06-30, 0330

60 right now...high of 80 today. Maybe it'll be dry enough to finish mowing this afternoon.

 

[Eric Salop]

Good morning. The first lambs to fill out have gone to market this morning, averaging just under 40kg.


When I bought this land it came with an unhealthy amount of creeping thistle (Canada thistle) that well and truly covered over 3/4 of the ground. I have heard the seed lasts well upwards of twenty years, so I expect it will still be showing up for some years to come. Some years there is very little, however for the last 3 years it has come back strong. Clopyralid is the most effective spray, very good but still not 100% effective against regrowth and expensive too.

Last year I borrowed a weed wiper and that was very economical on herbicide, only going where it makes contact with the thistle and almost none on the shorter grass. Unfortunately the wiper control box has just died, so I can't use it until I either buy a new one, or make myself a replacement, possibly using an "Arduino" microcontroller board. No chance of repairing the old circuit board, they potted it in black epoxy. Anyway, I did a bit of reading and it seems that most herbicides are more effective if the thistle is "stressed" to use up the root food stores a couple of times before applying herbicide. Cutting just as the bud has formed seems to be the recommended way to stress it, so I will give that a try this year - it also gives me more time to fix the weed wiper.

 

[Buppies]

63 high of 84 later with a stray storm possible later. Used to be another day another dollar now not so sure, more dollars but they don't go as far

 

[ronjhall]

Drinking first cup of coffee. 62° with cloudy skies this morning. Heading to 72° with possibility of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Weatherman missed the forecast yesterday. Turned out to be a very nice day. Cut the lawn. Today I will get back to garden pond project. Still have to get mower off and FEL on tractor.
Good Morning All.

 

[Thomas]

57F now low 89's for high.
Off to work soon,plan on sharpening mower blades both riders for relax time this evening.

Just notice doe heading for Mrs. flower garden.

Enjoy the day all.

 

[wngsprd]

65 headed to 89 and chance of rain. Finally dried out enough late yesterday for me to get half the mowing done. More today.

Drew, I was over on US 1 while that burning bus was backing up I-95. I feel for you - I heard it got up to a 15 mile back up. US 1 and US 301 are great alternatives through Central Virginia if 95 is crawling.

I've jumped off the deep end on my coffee hobby. I've loved it since I was 18 and tried lots of different beans, and visited a number of roasters. I bought some raw green coffee beans and did a trial roast on my grill last week. Well, I finally bought my own home coffee roaster and roasted up my first batch yesterday. Sipping my first cup now. Mmmmm good. Gonna roast another batch this morning experimenting with a slightly different method.

Guess what all my relatives are getting for Christmas presents?

 

[Jim Shooz]

Guess what all my relatives are getting for Christmas presents?

A flat white ??? :cool2:

 

[KevT]

Good Morning 72 at 6 am, and going to 90 today. Lots of work this week before I go on vacation. Just not enough hours in a day.

Eric - I have to tell you that I have managed to follow your "Queens English" quite well till today... :confused3: What is a weed wiper? I wish you luck with the thistle

Drew- Shop is coming along quite nicely, what are you wanting to do out there? I saw some room for a wood lathe and I just happen to have one I want to part with. :laughing:

Farmer - I was always told that chicken poop is rich in nitrogen, I would think it would be great for the hay fields. No chicken farms around here though so I use good old cow manure from the dairy's. Luckily I only have to pay to truck it, it costs me about $45 a dump truck load.

 

[daugen]

Drew. What are you going to do with the angle iron?

I thought it might be helpful to run a one inch piece over the edge of the counter, prevent wear and also keep things from rolling off the counter. But it would eliminate a flat working area so I have pluses and minuses here.
Would have to really prep the steel, and then thought I'd paint it primer grey and then hammered silver, something to match or get close to the drawer pulls. There is a wonderful ironworks in town that made my barn door frames, real pieces of work/welding art, and I went back to them for ideas. Kinda hoping they had something other than steel or aluminum. What I don't know.

It's an idea. May not be a good idea but I'm still pondering it. An alternative was a piece of aluminum but that is soft metal obviously, but at least I would not have to finish it. Originally I thought of a piece of solid oak L trim but couldn't find any.

Pondering gets better after a little observation and a cold beer. Am beginning to think aluminum might make more sense, and sure be easier to put up. And would match the drawer pulls.
It's the advantage of having a lip versus a totally flat surface I'm still mulling. Am used to "lips" on boats.

am off food shopping and then lunch at the CC. Have to use my food minimum so am taking the dockmaster and groundsmaster out to lunch; they are both close buddies and usually eat lunch together anyway. I need to confirm a new slip for my hopefully new boat. Going to keep it outside this time and not under the shed. Just can't deal with the bird and spider poop.

and then home for some seat time mowing the small amount of fields I have. One of my neighbors asked, correctly..., whether I could mow the whole place with my big mower and stay in a/c. I probably could with this flat land and in drier conditions but wonder what I'd scalp in the process. 7 foot mower versus 5.
What I find interesting is that JD garden tractor's Yanmar gulps diesel too at mowing speeds, so the fuel difference is not as large as I thought. And when it's 95 and 95 out, and it hasn't rained in awhile so one chokes on lawn dust on the turns, that tractor is looking mighty inviting.

 

[riptides]

66 out this AM. Took a city day job. Ahh, desk work.... LOL.

Started cutting out my bulk milk cooler from my milk house yesterday. An old 1940's or so setup. Lots of copper and lead. Stainless steel 200 gallon cooler. Cannot seem to find a home for it. Might haul it to the scrap yard. Shame. What to do as far as re-purpose? SO even called some micro-breweries, wine makers and old milk farms, no joy.

Have a great day all! Grass needs cutting, looks like I am on a three day plan. You can watch it grow!

 

[daugen]

I have a router I've never used and a welder I've never used. I am determined to get somewhat skilled in both.
And I'm getting real close to firing up that welder too. Not in this room though...roll it outside easily.

Would be nice to route a design on the drawer fronts...someday.

and when I've done that...perhaps a lathe. Perhaps i could turn intricate totems of turtles...
Seems CNC has taken over in so many ways, but a lathe, even a small one, is a good way to learn the "spinning arts".
But I have to get more linear in my approach and get things crossed off the list before I add more on.
Already have plenty of "this would make a good project" clutter. Like many of us who don't want to part with useful machinery or material. Possibly a preservationist gene at work.

 

[dave1949]

66 out this AM. Took a city day job. Ahh, desk work.... LOL.

Started cutting out my bulk milk cooler from my milk house yesterday. An old 1940's or so setup. Lots of copper and lead. Stainless steel 200 gallon cooler. Cannot seem to find a home for it. Might haul it to the scrap yard. Shame. What to do as far as re-purpose? SO even called some micro-breweries, wine makers and old milk farms, no joy.

Have a great day all! Grass needs cutting, looks like I am on a three day plan. You can watch it grow!

Could the tank become a pig roaster or similar? wngsprd might take it as a coffee roasting chamber.

Farmer2009 I could use a couple semi loads of your chicken litter. I'm told it can be gotten here with lime mixed in. I see dump truck loads once in a while in hay fields.

Around 80F today with very light winds and partly cloudy. I'm going to pick up the 3pt spreader later today. The Frontier/Deere models were more expensive than Landpride. The County Line spreaders from TSC get very mixed reviews except all agree they rust out quickly.

 

[bakerg]

Good morning all, 61F heading to 75F with a 70% chance of more rain this afternoon. May get sometime tonight to work on the replica.

 

[deerseeker001]

60 degrees with clouds this Morning, had a Storm go through last night was pouring for a short while.We will have a high of 72.I am going to try and get into my Barber Today.

 

[txdon]

Good morning! 74˚ heading to 94˚.

It took me 3 days to mow and weed eat the yard and front entrance (retirement speed) and I noticed it could use another mowing today. However I do not miss the drought when I mowed just twice during the summer and it was mostly kicking up the sand.

 

[farmer2009]

62 this morning and headed to 88. Currently 79. Just getting a break this morning. Last two houses leave tonight. Managed to find some help with the washing. So that should speed things up. I'm now hopeful of getting to leave Saturday and not be a week behind when I return.

Drew. For work benches I prefer flat. Use your router to inlay the metal. But if you turn the angle over to where the lip is out then you have a clamping point. .

Dave. Come get it but I think the trucking is the killer.

 

[farmer2009]

farmer2009 I found a very interesting article (albeit dated) about bio char and one mans use of the process in his chicken operation. Practitioner's Profile: Using Chicken Litter for Biochar | International Biochar Initiative Initial costs would be staggering, but sounds like he got grant money to help offset the costs. Is this something viable in your operation? Could you pay for this with propane savings realized by burning the litter? And is the bio char market price high enough to offset the tonnage loss and replace your litter income?

Nice read. This will be our first year buying our own propane. The integrator has been buying it. So we'll see why the cost are. At the prices in the article it wouldn't be feasible for me. But I already get more for my litter than he is. There's good demand here for it. Lots of row crops. But I'm not sure people around here would pay the premium for the char.

I have given some thought to adding a wood burner. With propane backup. But I'm going to run a couple of years of propane to get a feel of cost. Right now. It wouldn't pay. Time is worth something.

 

[farmer2009]

Kev. The rule of thumb around here is 50-50-50 per ton. Some get it tested but most use that rule. But even the ones that test say that rule isn't far off. So you have to be careful of phosphorus build up in the soil. But you're sandy enough it may not be a problem.