Life in the BT era

[F.L. Jennings]

Life in the BT era


When we first moved to our wooded land in the Ouachita foothills of west central Arkansas it was in the B.T. era, that is, before tractor. Buying a tractor at that stage of our life was as far fetched as being able to flap my arms and fly to work. Everything was done by hand. Everything. If you couldn't get to it with the pickup then you grunted it out, whatever it was. A wheelbarrow or the truck were the only load haulers. In working on your land it's amazing how many tasks present themselves where you can't use either one to help out. The dozer guy I hired to push our driveway was less than professional to say the least. I had felled all of the trees and moved the wood aside a piece at a time so that he wouldn't have to find a place to stack so much material. I found out later that all of the anti-freeze he bought did not go into the dozer radiator, and he frequently medicated himself against the cold and rampant outbreaks of malaria. As a consequence, all of the stumps he pushed aside had a huge quantity of dirt pushed with them. Perhaps he actually saw twice as many obstacles in his path than really existed. As a result he left large piles of entangled stumps, saplings, cut logs all covered with a more than generous topping of red clay. Our first dwelling was two hundred yards from the small country road, and this was lined with terrible dozer piles.

I cleared many of these by hand, alternately digging, chopping, pulling, shoveling and cussing. Oh, if I'd only had a tractor! My joints and muscles still groan in remembrance of some of those pioneering adventures. (now that I'm older I realize that the words adventure and trouble are completely interchangeable) Now I know why all of the old timers in those ancient tin types were so grim faced. Being young and strong and with meager funds, I did everything by hand. For our septic tank I dug a round hole about 6 feet in diameter and the same depth. The top few inches of the mountain top was a poor topsoil followed by several feet of red clay strewn with crystal and field stone rock. Below that the clay mixed with increasing amounts of shale. Finally the shale turned into blue shale that sent sparks flying from the pick and pry bar. Deep enough I said, "just right". I formed a hexagonal shape with plywood and set welded wire fabric into the bottom and in the space between the soil and the plywood. The hexagonal shape was to take full advantage of material dimensions. I poured (placed) concrete into this form and I had my tank. Influent and effluent lines had already been set. I also cast a hexagonal tank top of concrete. This was made in halves with a pipe vent cast in, so that I could manhandle it into place.

After digging 150 feet or so of field line in the rock hard earth, I shoveled in crushed stone, laid the field lines (concrete sections of 4" pipe about a foot or so in length were the norm in those days, with an eighth or quarter inch space between them). A double layer of 30 lb. felt over the top of the laid pipe, followed by more gravel, more felt over the top layer of the gravel, and finally, shovel the dirt over the whole mess. If I had one dollar for every pick blow and shovel full of those days I would be able to donate my Social Security to charity.

Years later I installed a septic tank for a friend with my Kubota backhoe. I dug the hole, the field lines, laid the pipe and backfilled all in a day and a half. What a change. All of the good ol' days really weren't.

No matter what work it took we were overjoyed to be on our own little piece of ground. We drug our mobile home to the wooded ten acres in our fourth year of marriage, and actually moved out here on our fifth anniversary. I had cleared with a chain saw a spot out in the hardwoods, leaving many stumps. More than once I fell flat on my face over one of those as I went out the front door and into the yard (actually an area of wooden protuberances. All those stumps just sat there pretending not to smile). One hot summer's day is ingrained into my soul. Actually it was branded in by the broiling sun. I was digging out stumps in our "yard". Early morning start makes no difference when you are digging stumps by hand. Like working on a roof it's hot no matter when or how you do it. Armed with post hole diggers, pick, pry bar and chopping ax, I attacked the s******ing remains of the trees I had felled. I would work like nobody's business for fifteen minutes or as long as I could stand it, then stagger with sweat flowing, to the shade to attempt a physical recovery. After sitting and panting for fifteen minutes or so, all the while contemplating the other wooden wisdom teeth in our homestead yard, I would rise and repeat the whole process again. It was a real victory when I dug out the last stump. We had a small yard and I fought for every inch of it.

How nice to have had a tractor or even a mule to help me labor in those wonderful-awful pioneering days. I was the mule then, just as stubborn and just as determined. That's OK though, you need determination and a face set like a flint to make a home in the wooded hills. You feel a real kinship for those old timers when you come in dog tired at night from trying to make a better life for you and your wife. My fatigue was able to reach across the years to shake hands with theirs.

The first tractor I had was an Allis-Chalmers WD45 (I get a hoot when the want ads list an "Alice Chalmers" tractor for sale). I bought it for one thousand dollars which was a real fortune to me. It had a wide front end and that was a real improvement over the old tricycle front end. It was two wheel drive of course, but it was heaven sent to me. I used that old orange tractor to do every task I could adapt it to. An old timer neighbor told me that if I ever got it stuck I could cut two 4" to 6" diameter saplings that were 12"-16" longer than the rear tires were in diameter to help me get unstuck. You just chained one of the poles to each drive tire with an equal amount of wood sticking past the tire at each end and used the digging effect to pull the tractor out. I used this method more than once but you had to use a lot of finesse on the clutch! In ignorance I once placed the chain lashing the pole in place in a bad location. I got unstuck alright, but sheared off the valve stem in the process. Fixing a flat on one of those large beasts is also an act I don't care to repeat!

I built a little sawmill back in the 70's and used old Alice to skid felled logs up the mountain from the river bottom. Some of the Sweet Gums I felled were 30 dbh. Wanting to make as few trips as possible I would skid the longest log that the tractor would handle. It got light on the front end with some of those big logs and you could take a nice bite out of the seat when you popped the front end off the ground coming up through the hollow with a 3000 lb log. I welded 300 lbs of elevator weights on the front end to help, but finally started dragging the bigger logs with the tractor backwards and a skid chain underneath going to the logs and skidding tongs. This was a little slower, but kept the chain pull and center of gravity in a safe zone. When I finally sold old Alice several years later I got the same one thousand dollars I had paid for her.

We live a full quarter of a mile from the little country road now and have dwelt in the rural beauty of the Ouachita foothills for over 36 years. We have a little over thirty acres now, and to us there is no place like the country and no life as fulfilling as a simple life connected to the lands and forests.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this brief jaunt into Our little homesteading foray, with and without the benefit of a tractor. If you have a tractor to help you labor, then get down on your knees and thank God. If you are still waiting to be able to get one, then get down on your knees and ask him for one. Fortunately, there was enough of my back left so that when I bought old "Alice" I could still climb up into the seat and really use it! I often get out and just take a cruise around the place just to look over the troubles - errr adventures of the past. My guess is that you do the same thing.

The lower postion of our driveway. We are now one quarter mile from the road after moving farther back in the woods.

This is Martha's field as I 've dubbed it that was whacked out of the woods along our lower drive.

 

[sld]

Great post and beautiful land. I frequent Beaver Lake and just love the hills of Arkansas.

I hope to someday move to the woods and the first thing I will take with me a good tractor. By the time I get there I will be to old to work real hard!

 

[LBrown59]

Life in the BT era
1*When we first moved to our wooded land in the Ouachita foothills of west central Arkansas it was in the B.T. era, that is, before tractor.
2*Buying a tractor at that stage of our life was as far fetched as being able to flap my arms and fly to work.
3*Everything was done by hand.
4* Our first dwelling was two hundred yards from the small country road,
5*For our septic tank I dug a round hole about 6 feet in diameter and the same depth.
6*After digging 150 feet or so of field line in the rock hard earth.
7*I shoveled in crushed stone,
8* laid the field lines (concrete sections of 4" pipe about a foot or so in length were the norm in those days,
9*shovel the dirt over the whole mess.
10*Years later I installed a septic tank for a friend with my Kubota backhoe. change.
11*All of the good ol' days really weren't.
12* We drug our mobile home to the wooded ten acres in our fourth year of marriage, and actually
13* moved out here on our fifth anniversary.
14*How nice to have had a tractor or even a mule to help me labor in those wonderful-awful pioneering days.
15*I was the mule then, just as stubborn and just as determined.
16*We have dwelt in the rural beauty of the Ouachita foothills for over 36 years.
17*We have a little over thirty acres now, and to us there is no place like the country and no life as fulfilling as a simple life connected to the lands and forests.
18*Well, I hope you enjoyed this brief jaunt into Our little homesteading foray, with and without the benefit of a tractor. If you have a tractor to help you labor, then get down on your knees and thank God. If you are still waiting to be able to get one, then get down on your knees and ask him for one.

1*Was this back around 1972?
2*I bought a new 1966 Bolens 850 Garden tractor which is the same year we moved here.
3*A lot of stuff was done here by hand too.
4*Our first home here was a 1960 40 x 10 Richardson mobile home. It was only about 100 or 150 feet off the state road.
We bought it from my cousin when we got hitched in 1964 and lived in it on his land till we moved it out here in 1966.
5*Me and my dad and my wife's dad dug the septic tank hole
6*and the leach field/bed trenches by hand .
I bought a steel septic tank
7*Fortunately I had the new Bolens Garden tractor with a 42'' front blade on it to spread the gravel .
8*They didn't have the 4'' x 10' plastic pipe back then. I think I used 3 foot joints of 4'' Clay tile with a bell on one end.
9*Sure felt good back filling it all with the Bolens after all that hard hand digging work.
10*5 years later I had a septic system installed on the opposite side of the property for the new 1972 Double wide we purchased and moved into in Oct of 1971.
By then I was smart enough to stay away from that back breaking shovel and hired a guy with a TLB to dig the 270 feet or so of trench for the gas and water lines.
But I still got to play with the Bolens tractor filling the trenches back in.
11*There were a lot of things that weren't good about them.
12*We drug our first mobile home to this 2.33 acres in our 2nd year of marriage
and moved into it in 1966.
We have been here for 42 years .
13*First 5 years in the 40 x 10 and the past 37 years in the 24 x 60 double wide.
14*I've often thought this about my poor old dad and the years of toil he bore using a shovel and a wheelbarrow.
15*Fits my father to a tee. So was my dad back in his day.
Sometimes I feel a little guilty using my tractors when I think of my poor old dad and how hard he slaved doing the things that I consider joy pleasure .and fun doing with my tractors.
16*We' v Been here for 42 years.
17*Still only 2.33 Acres but just rite for us .
Been great with only one complaint ~ The 42 years have just went to quick.
18* Loved your story an hope you and the others enjoy my tale.
L B

 

[F.L. Jennings]

There are more of us pioneer types out there than anyone knows. The old west may be gone but the pioneering spirit is still around.

 

[Ridgewalker]

Great post! I can feel your pain, I have 50 acres in the St. Francois Mts. of Missouri. It's a great Oak and rock farm. I have about 3 acres cleared so far. I have an old logging road that runs down a ridge to the back of the propertyand have this vision of that tight, twisty road becoming a opening with a 30 yard clearing on either side...don't know if I will get there but I am willing to work at it.

I spent the last two days moving huge rocks up to my fence line, building fence and brushing hogging the trails. It's all fun!

 

[Tig]

Great story, thanks for posting. It brought back memories.
I helped my father do things that way. Pick, shovel, wheel barrow. No cement trucks ever came to our place, just dump trucks with gravel and sand as required. 6' snow drifts were cleared by hand, sometimes daily. Lawn mowers were pushed, not ridden.
When we planned on moving back to that area and building a home, the tractor was bought two years in advance. There's still back breaking work to do, but most things get done faster and with less pain than they did years ago.

 

[F.L. Jennings]

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all of your might.....Ecclesiastes 9:10

My father taught me to love hard work, not just to do it. Though I am growing older, I always remember his labor when I labor.

 

[dodge man]

Nice post. I too had a life BT. I did alot of work by hand, mainly digging and moving dirt. It sounds like you did alot more hand work than I ever will. I also recently bought a log splitter. Between the tractor and the log splitter, I think I can do four times the work, maybe more, in the same amount of time.

 

[steveoutdoorrec]

I too did a lot of things by hand. When I was building my greenhouse I had to dig out an area 30'x50'x2'deep. As I started a friend stopped over and watched for a bit before suggesting that I hire someone with a backhoe to do it. Just told him I had more time then money and I wasn't moving all the dirt at once, just one shovel full at a time and I kept digging. After about a half hour of watching me he grabbed my spare shovel and pitched in. Got it done in one afternoon and he came back to help frame it in.

Must be in the genes. My son would go out past the splitter I bought and split wood by hand just for the fun of it. Now he repairs the trailers for 18 wheelers and enjoys the challenge of a nasty wreck.

 

[F.L. Jennings]

Your back will remember what your brain has forgotten. Mine does and often reminds me.......

 

[blueriver]

Have you ever considered writing a book? Your post are always so enjoyable to read ....

 

[F.L. Jennings]

Have you ever considered writing a book? Your post are always so enjoyable to read ....

Thanks, yes I have BR. Maybe someday. Not nearly as many people read books today and lots of publishers are having hard times. Seems everyone reads everything on the net. I have a lot of non-tractor, but country living related articles I've written about experiences in my short life and lives of very interesting people I have known.

 

[steveoutdoorrec]

You should explore the idea of writing for publications like Mother Earth News. I'm sure they are always looking for new articles about how to do things for less. Or maybe a website/blog about life BT

 

[Sackett2]

Great post!
I would suggest "Country" Magazine, readers do a lot of the writing.

As for the BT era, that was us until this summer- Dad and I had our first lesson on working more efficiently when taking a tree out for firewood. it fell into the blackberries in the winter. first we tromped the berrybushes down, then drug pieces out to cut them up in a field. We quickly realized that we could now drag the big branch next to the burn pile, rather than moving the brush later. We cut up the wood and started hauling it to the truck. I looked at dad and said "Why don't we back the truck up closer to the wood?" we were so use to cutting wood where it lay then packing it to the truck. we now look at the job and think about how the tractor could make it easier. We are so programed to do it the hard way...

 

[F.L. Jennings]

Great post!
I would suggest "Country" Magazine, readers do a lot of the writing.

As for the BT era, that was us until this summer- Dad and I had our first lesson on working more efficiently when taking a tree out for firewood. it fell into the blackberries in the winter. first we tromped the berrybushes down, then drug pieces out to cut them up in a field. We quickly realized that we could now drag the big branch next to the burn pile, rather than moving the brush later. We cut up the wood and started hauling it to the truck. I looked at dad and said "Why don't we back the truck up closer to the wood?" we were so use to cutting wood where it lay then packing it to the truck. we now look at the job and think about how the tractor could make it easier. We are so programed to do it the hard way...

Even with a tractor and hydraulic wood splitter mounted on the backhoe boom I still have to break down those 30" plus diameter Red Oak cookies sawn 16" long from the chunks in the photo, with a maul and steel wedges to get them to a size so a normal human that doesn't wear leotard tights and a cape can grunt them into the labor saver. Unless I want to saw all those big chunks into pieces.

I can see now that there is only so much labor my poor back/damaged rotator cuffs can afford to save.....alas and alack. All these have been cut into 250lb cookies and about half of them quartered, but they all still have to be lifted into the splitter. In the bad old days BT, it would have been worked up right where the hurricane winds and high water dropped it. Now I can haul 1000lb, maybe 1400lb logs where ever I need them to be. Progress is wonderful. I'm 64, soon to be 65 but look 90. If I'd had a tractor SOONER then I would appear only a youngish 85. Haw!

Next summer - Lord willing - I still have to cut off a 20 ft. butt end log from this tree that buried itself in the flood covered bottom and dig out that nice sized stump.
That log is better than 36" dia where it meets the dirt.

1. excavate along the log so you can get a chainsaw to bore from the top down, a little sideways.

2. Drag the log out of its nest.

3. Dig all of the dirt from the stump that will drop off.

4. Start pushing/pulling/working the stump from its fox hole.

5. Breathe a sigh of relief when it's on level ground, and roll it over to the woods.

6. Start filling in the crater so it will be nicely compacted by fall planting time.

7. Wait for the next big tree to drop into your nice field in a very awkward place and at the wrong time of the year.

 

[LBrown59]

Great post!
I would suggest "Country" Magazine, readers do a lot of the writing.

We are so programed to do it the hard way...

I could never get programed to do it;let alone the hard way.

 

[horse7]

Ah yes, the BT days.

using a brushwacker to clear acres of 12' high bushes (the bigger ones needing a bow saw, no chainsaws). Heck of a lot easier with a bush hog, FEL, and chainsaw....

750000 to 1000000 lb of earth and fill moved with a shovel and wheelbarrow. Makes you appreciate both how easy the pyramids are to build with infinite slave labor, and how little such an impressive sounding number really is.

Living on site in a tiny insulated building (inside dimensions 4'x8') and that included the shower, water tanks, electrical subpanels/heaters, and bed... with the door swinging inwards. Now at least in the warmer weather I can live in part of the house that is still under construction.