Life of a Farm Blog

 

Wow what a difference just a few days makes. The chickenhouses are dang near done. The guys have been busy daylight to dark hanging curtains and installing equipment. I still have a long list of things that need to be done before the chickens come, but I’m much closer than I was. The 6000 is still a muddy mess. I can’t count the buckets of mud, muck, gravel, and trash I’ve hauled. Just as soon as the weather warms up enough so I won’t catch pneumonia I’m going to give it a bath and a good greasing. I’d hoped to use the skid steer the contractors have rented for more of the cleanup, but with all the mud I kept finding myself sitting there spinning. The concrete trucks had left some huge ruts where we had’nt put down gravel yet. One peice of equipment I’ve been glad to have around is the trackhoe the excavating crew left behind. I was hesitant to use it even though they told me to, but after waiting almost 2 weeks on them to come back to clean up and get things ready for the feed bin pads I had to get things ready. The concrete crew was due back in town around noon so I arranged for a truck and my buddy Kenny and I got the feed bin pads ready for concrete. While we were at it we got all the culverts ready to pour headwalls on.

 

The weather is still crazy here. One day we have snow on the ground and a couple days later it’s highs in the 60s. I geuss the old saying “if you don’t like the weather in Kentucky just stick around it’s going to change” is more true than ever. This week has been full of Christmas parties. Bj and I attended the parties for both Cobb and the McCreary County Museum. Bj won a new digital camera at the Cobb party. We also went to school to eat Christmas dinner with Garett and Mattie this week. It’s good to get together and see everybody and enjoy a meal, but I am always exhausted after these things.

We were lucky enough to get a local drilling rig working on drilling us a water well for the chickenhouses. Water is an expensive utility here. I can’t figure out why water is 3 times more expensive here than in surrounding counties. At any rate the drill is at 165 feet deep and we have some water. The driller says it would be more than enough for a residence, but he’s unsure about capacity for chickenhouses. I’m told the water needs can reach 3500 gallons a day in the summer. Now we must decide whether to go deeper and hope for more water while taking a chance on losing what we have or holding where we are at. Another possibility is that if we go deeper we could get unusable water. Over the years there has been a lot of mining in this area resulting in water heavy in iron and sulfur. I believe we’ll hold what we got and see if it’s enough.

While Kenny was around I got him to help me replace the porch posts on the log house. I gotta say they look much better than the rotten pine posts. I chose the cedar for it’s rustic look. I was planning on leaving the majority of the short limbs on the posts, but decided to saw them off after realizing the kids run and play on the porch a lot and it wouldn’t take but one slip for them to get hurt. As soon as we got the post up Nana asked us to start on a hand rail and rails between the posts.  That meant walking all over the farm trying to find the right size cedar trees. I’ve found the trees and as soon as I can get away from the chicken houses I will finish it up for her.

As always thanks for reading and take a look at the new pics I’ve added. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

 

Well folks it’s official, I’m unemployed. With so much to do here on the farm I decided to quit the off the farm job and get some stuff done before the chickens arrive. Busy as a bee! I’m having so much fun being at home on the farm and with the kids instead of in the factory. I gotta say it’s a lot of work though. I’ve worked almost every day on something. I cut cedar posts for the log house porch and skidded them with the 6000. I’ve cut and split firewood. I finally finished the rabbit cages. I’ve burned brush. I’ve detached the front porch on the double wide and set it on the trailer to move. All the under pinning is now removed. Chainsaws have been sharpened. Now I’m ready to start fencing or working on my tack room in the barn.

I cannot figure this crazy weather out. Just a few days ago there was a dusting of snow on the ground and today temps are right at 70. What preciptation we missed this summer we must be getting now. It seems like every day there is rain. The 6000 is a muddy mess. I’ve been using it to try to keep the drives around the chickenhouses passable. The concrete trucks leave ruts everywhere they go. This building project has been crazy. Every day it’s something. Unfortunately I haven’t taken the time to get back to the local Mahindra dealer and try to hammer out a final deal on a 7010. With all the buzz about a new bigger cab tractor coming in 2008, I’m wondering if I should wait.

The trucks keep rolling in with more peices. Most of the truck drivers are really nice people who don’t want to put you out, but some have been impossible to please. Really it’s not my place to unload them considering this was supposed to be a turn key job, but I’m not the type to rest on my laurels while someone else needs to get going. I’m generally the nicest guy you’ll ever meet, but one truck driver really brought out the bad side of me. I get up early and ready the kids for school and then deliver them because they don’t like to ride the bus. One morning a driver arrived very early and I politely told him I had to take the kids to school, but I would be right back. That didn’t set well with him, but I just smiled and went on. When I got back he flung his truck doors open and said “It’s all yours, I’m not touching a thing”. Half the load wasn’t even on pallets. It was peices of the feed bins and such. I started to climb in and get to work when it hit me. I thought this guy’s a jerk, he needs some of his own medicine. I just stopped and said “you know what, I own this farm and I’ve contracted this job to someone else, they’ll be here soon and they can unload you”. He grumbled his way back to his truck and waited from 7:45 until after 10:30. The contractor finally showed up and unloaded him.

Well the kids are home now and tugging at me to get out and do something with them while it’s not raining. Be sure to check out the pics I’ve added to the site and check back soon! I know we’ve still got a few days to go, but Merry Christmas to all!