A slow week
Not a whole lot to do on the farm this week. Just the normal feeding of the animals. We did finally get the signs right and change the pigs I bought that were males. I still don’t know what I will do with all the meat from those pigs. My aunt Sandy in Cincinatti Ohio has agreed to take one after it’s processed. On Saturday a neighbor, Mr. Wilson called me. He had a cow fall and injure herself bad enough that she could not get up. As luck would have it, she was in a very rough area. After trying for a couple hours to get her up and seeing how much pain she was in we finally made the decision to put her down. Due to knowing the nature of her injury he wanted to take her to the slaughter house to be made into hamburger. I used the 6000 4WD to load her onto a trailer for him.
I got another 26 tons of #2 gravel spread and I believe that will be enough for the drive to the double-wide. Now after the winter of freezing and thawing it should settle in. Then I can put some 57’s or dense grade on top of them and have a good solid smooth driveway. Progress continues on the log house improvements. We like the vinyl windows that were put in the room we added so well we are considering putting them in the whole house. That will cut into our land clearing budget allotment a little, but I believe it’s a worthwhile investment. A friend from high school runs a sawmill locally cutting pallet boards. I had mentioned to him that I would be clearing some more land shortly. There isn’t much on the land besides stuff that could be used for pallets. I worked out a deal with some boys who cut for him to get as much of it cleared as could be used. They should start soon.
Took a little time off work to spend with the kids this week. Madison turns 6 on Tuesday and we had her a little party. Then we went to rent some movies for us and the friends she had over. Forecasters are giving ice tonight. I’m keeping my fingers crossed it doesn’t come.
We’ve achieved a milestone at work. We have gone a calender year with no recordable incidents. In turn we get our choice of a Jacket, a Case xx knife, or a Wal Mart gift certificate. As much as I dislike Wal Mart for their anti-union actions, I picked the gift certificate because the knife wasn’t worth $75 and I sure don’t need a jacket like they are giving away. We try to do most of our grocery shopping at Kroger due to their connection with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.
I’ll go for now………….. but check out the pics I’m adding here.
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:00 pm
You don’t know what to do with all of the meat from the pigs? Well, you can send some hog flesh this way!
Nice blog, by the way!
January 23rd, 2007 at 5:02 pm
What a nice blog! If, as it appears, you are truly working, farming, and raising 3 kids on your own simultaneously you are REALLY amazing! What a nice legacy you are giving your children.
Ever consider offering “pay to play” vacations as a source of side income? You offer a set period of time (a week or whatever) for a fee and during that time your “guest” participates in the work and lives like a farmhand. The fee offsets the extra time you spend supervising and redoing their work LOL. Just a thought… would be a cool experience for a city child who never sees a vegetable in its original form…
Hoping your year goes well,
Cat
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Cat,
I gotta admit I get lots of help from both the mother of my children and my parents. When my ex and I split we agreed that we both wanted to be parents to the children and that we would not try to keep one another from that. We’ve tossed around the idea of a pumpkin patch for a while now. Where children could come and be a part of the farm. Never really given much thought to having grown ups around a lot. I do want to share the experience at some point if it can be profitable. We also thought of turning the cabin into a bed and breakfast. Insurance becomes an issue if you have other folks around much. A local bed and breakfast “The Farm House Inn” could only get insurance at affordable rates if the geusts were not involved in any activities on the farm other than gathering eggs. We’ve also considered offering the local sheriff use of part of the farm as a “sheriff’s ranch”
January 24th, 2007 at 9:31 am
I admire young men like you. As a Blogger I take on the name of Hillbilly willy because I truly enjoy the life of rural Arkansas, but as a professional I am an agriculture lender by day. Many times I get the opportunity to help people like you. It is then that I truly find my job as a blessing. I do realize that your blog is sponsored by Mahindra Tractors, but I find it refreshing that through commercial appeal that they will help a story as yours get told.
Keep up the good work.
10-4 Willy
January 24th, 2007 at 11:56 am
Oh, my God, do I have flashbacks of growing up on the farm! Thanks for the warm memories I’m enjoying this morning…as good as a warm bowl of oatmeal on a cold winter morning.
January 30th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
I don’t blame you, I would have taken the gift certificate also; but I do feel the same way that you do about the Mart. A little tractor theraopy with the gravel, huh. I enjoyed reading the colume. There is frost on the pumpkin in Dixie also.
February 3rd, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Kathy
Glad I can bring back memorieds of the farm. Hope you will keep reading!
February 7th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
I just came across your blog, and it is very interesting! Have you figured out what you will do about the pigs? I live in the Cincinnati area, and would be interested.
Could you let me know? I have an email link on the right hand side of my blog, if you are still looking to get rid of some!
February 8th, 2007 at 1:18 am
Jill,
I couldn’t get the email link to work so I’ll respond here.
Legally I can’t sell anyone anything other than live animals. I’m down to 4 as of now and have asked some folks at work who are supposed to let me know this week. I’m sure there will be more after these so when the time comes we’ll try to work out a plan.
February 9th, 2007 at 7:59 am
That s fine, here is my email address…
thismom@gmail.com
Just email me when you find something out, and we will go from there!