We are doing some serious drainage trenching with the backhoe to create a drainage plan on a farm road for a client. Last year our client had difficulty getting a fertilizer truck to his rear pasture due to the axle deep mud in the path, so now we are going to fix that drainage problem. Also had fun getting the backhoe stuck in a swampy area today.
Farming is sometimes very unpleasant. Sometimes an animal dies unexpectedly. I had to get out the backhoe to bury a friend’s cow. Luckily it was not August.
A client has a miniature horse who is a companion horse for a full size horse. The mini is a new arrival to the farm and needs to be able to see his buddy horse in the adjacent stall. That way both horses will remain calm. We cut a viewing portal at just the right height in the stall divider for the mini to see the big horse. There are two happy horses now who can both see each other.
Doing some recycling of masonry rubble from old masonry demolition jobs. Crumbled and jack-hammered to the right size, it makes an excellent road base. Top dressing with a few inches of ABC stone. Fixing this mud problem.
Moved the 14 week old piglets from the small shed to the big shed and lower pasture. They are ready to free range and root around. Yesterday and the prior weekend, we had installed the lower hot wire, filled in a gate jamb, and pig proofed the perimeter the best we could. When pigs are rooting, they don’t look where they are going and will plow right through if there isn’t a hot wire to remind them of boundaries. Even so, it is a chore keeping that line clean from all the rooting buildup at the edges.
Stretching the plastic this morning. Still have the end walls to install. Will be planting some spinach, carrots, and others this weekend.
All of the things that we find out have freeze damage have to be repaired now that spring is coming. We had to dig up this hydrant and fix the connection at the elbow. Although it was 2 feet down, it appears that frost heaving near the surface levitated the hydrant upwards thus disconnecting it.
This is the tip of the iceberg. There are probably upwards of 25 eggs underneath, but I dare not disturb. One goose is hoarding most of the other geese eggs.
Now that the rain has stopped, I have been trying to finish up re-erecting an old hoop house. Just need to cover it with plastic now and then we can get started on some early plantings. But here comes the rain again. That is okay, we will capture some more water.
