what I've been up to...

[frwinks]

it's been my first summer with a tractor and I've been keeping busy I know you guys like pics...so I hope you enjoy
first on the list was trying to restore our garden area after years of neglect from the previous owner...

one by one, we dug up all the beds and replaced the soil with fresh, new material

this will do for this year... the beds are tired and falling apart, so next year we'll move the operation to the open field...

then between reg. property maintenance, planting trees and having a great time, the summer flew by and now it's time to stack the wood again

next on the list was a chicken pen/coop so out came the PHD and some old fence posts. Few hours later I had all the posts in and the chickens/ducks had a 25'x50' run ready for chainlink

I had some old 4x4's lying around, so I figured what better way to use 'em up, a TF chicken coop was built

quick shingling job and some fence and it was ready for it's occupants

then we decided to add some youngens to the mix

after that out came the BH I bought a couple of months before

 

[frwinks]

with the ducks growing fast and our big pond drying up even faster I put the BH to work and dug up an existing seasonal pond near the coop. To keep the water in it at all times, not just spring, we decided to line it with EPDM.

after about 2hr seat time I had dug a 17'x19' hole 4'-5' deep I just wanted to keep going and going and going and going.... but then my GF reminded me about the cost of EPDM

all layed out

the first drop...another 9000+gallons to go

then we moved a bunch of big boulders a buddy of mine dropped off and placed them around the pond, the ducks didn't waste any time...

the ducks are not the only ones appreciating the new feature

time to get back to work

almost there.... just have to run electrical and plumb the pump for the waterfall and cross this one off the list too

next weekend we'll be taking down a 30x40 pole barn, weekend after that is.... umhhhh where did that list go again

 

[VABlue]

Nice work! You've been busy, and that pond looks great. Just another reason I should have sprung for the hoe...

 

[ToadHill]

If you want some work for the winter, The (what looks like) Apple trees in the old garden area can use some pruning. I had some old trees like that when I moved to my place, with a little TLC for a couple seasons they now supply some of the best apples I've ever eaten.

 

[SkunkWerX]

Great Pics!!

Nice pond build.

 

[Nasty135]

Wow!! You are on a roll Mr. Winks , Lots of toys to play with on your tractor Makes life easier...can be fun also if your not too pressed for time.
You've been busy...

Looks Good!!

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Ain't country life GREAT! I would consider that a great summer to get all those projects completed. You done good!!

Looks like a nice old heavy duty PHD you have. What brand?

Do you have to keep adding water to your pond from evaporation?

 

[frwinks]

haha thanks guys, not bad for my first summer as a farmer and yes it is a great life...

don't know what kind of PHD that is,there are no ID tags.. it was left here by the previous owner, it works mint, I'm happy
the pond loost about 1" in two weeks, but then it rainded and it was back up to level.. now it's been raining on and off at least once a week, so it's been OK. Only time will tell, but I'm sure it'll be much easier to top up than our big pond/hole

summer months

same spot in the spring months

perhaps one day I'll figure out a cost effective way of keeping water in it The previous owner spent over $20K digging this hole, was told it would hold water, when it didn't he couldn't stand looking at it and decided to sell the property




TH, that's a pear tree and it does need some trimming indeed.. still lot's of edible fruit on it right now. I also have about 20 different apple trees that have turned wild, so your story gives me hope If you can offer some pointers on pruning "trees gone wild", mucho appreciated

 

[3RRL]

Great pics and a great story!

 

[dieselfuelonly]

Very nice pictures!

 

[TC29-dude]

Do you know if your big pond is clay lined? I am not sure where you are but where I live we line lakes/ponds with a foot or two of red clay all the way to the top of the waterline.

 

[Timber]

Sink a well in the center of the pond and let it fly. It will find its own balance and in time will seal itself. Very cool place, Your a man after my own heart

 

[Tororider]

That pond makes me want to buy a backhoe! Great stuff

 

[frwinks]

thanks, I love that hoe

the big pond isn't lined at all, which I find strange because everywhere I dig I find red clay, then grey clay, and shale...With the size of that hole, they should've had enough red clay to line it even 3feet thick ... instead they trucked all that dirt off the property

A well crossed my mind but do you think the walls would eventually seal themselves up naturally (without any liner material)??

 

[Timber]

Well that depends on the material. It sounds like you have a clay base naturally. Sinking a well will give you a continues water supply. The pond will fill until the pressure equalizes. I would put the question to the pond boss people. There combined knowledge is better than my opinion

 

[Timber]

Well that depends on the material. It sounds like you have a clay base naturally. Sinking a well will give you a continues water supply. The pond will fill until the pressure equalizes. I would put the question to the pond boss people. There combined knowledge is better than my opinion

 

[Tororider]

Do you have laying hens? I think if my neighbor didn't have hens, I would have to do the same thing you did, cause you can't beat farm fresh eggs.

Did you plant those pines yourself, or were they there? We planted about 700 this spring. Lots of work

 

[frwinks]

the two older hens (now I'm down to one, since a coyotee attack a couple of weeks ago ) are laying hens. The little chicks you see in the photos are meat birds. I'm bringin in a couple of more laying hens from a friend of mine before the winter.

We planted 400 norway and white spruce and yes it is a lot of work handplanting into unturned heavy soil. Then we lost about 100 due to this years drought conditions, but the rest are doing great.
This time around I'm going to till the ground this fall, till it again in the spring and plant about 1000 Colorado blue spruce (as they seems to fetch the most $$$ down the road).
As for pines...there's no $$ in pine IMO. We have a 6ac red pine plantation which went through it's first thinning and the wood was only worth $44/cord and that's delivered to the mill The only perk IMO is the property tax break we get for having a woodlot

got wood?
total of 35cord and 14cords of pulp wood left our place

the cab on this badboy was full of joystics and buttons..

 

[Tororider]

Yeah, we planted 450 norway spruce, 150 balsam firs, and 100 black hills spruce. We have been very lucky, the norways I would say we have only lost a handful, the rest probably only 3% loss. We had the same drought here, but we bought a 425 gallon pickup bed water tank and took it out a couple times a week to water the trees. Lots of work, but it paid off in the end, lots of good growth buds that should really take off next year.

We rented a planter from the county, although it didn't work very well, we had to remove the seat and step in the trees, next time we will rent from s private company that actually uses the planter. We will probably plant some more next year as well.