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10/28/2008: "Catching Up On Projects"

After the camp-out I still found time to make it down to the farm to catch up on some long-neglected projects. One of my long-term goals has been to replace the fragile water delivery piping. There are hose bibs scattered around the property, but until recently none of them were frost-proof! This, of course, has led to some problems on frosty mornings; I once got a cell phone message from Ed the neighbor saying, "Ummm, it looks like you've got a fountain going there in the side yard." With Nate's help in digging the hole, I was able to replace this hose bib with a frost-proof hydrant. I had to go through some gyrations of piping to try and get the hydrant set as low in the ground as possible - normally a hydrant like this should be 2 feet below grade! But when the pipe itself is only a foot below ground there isn't much you can do.

There's one more of these vulnerable hose connections out at the west end of the orchard; I've excavated part of the hole, but for some reason this pipe is deeper than the rest and I haven't reached the supply pipe. I may try and get to it later once I've got more proficiency with a backhoe (that's foreshadowing for a future post on a tractor purchase).



Another long-neglected project was the rebuilding of this little side yard gate. Bill T. wiped it out when he dragged his camper onto the property back in 2005(!). A year and a half ago I replaced the posts that he had broken in the fence line; Bill claimed he would finish the repair of the gate, but of course he never did. So, on a lovely September afternoon I set to work, working out of the tailgate of my pickup in the adjacent driveway. I had underestimated the difficulty of one thing: my Skil saw can't cut all the way through a 4x4, so every cut had to be done in two parts. I cut one side, then turned the wood over and cut the other side. By the end of the afternoon I was getting pretty good at matching up the cuts, and I only had to throw away one board. Some of the angles were a little tricky, too.

We've also had some useful fencing just sitting out in the yard exposed to weather for quite a while. Since this is a hazard for mowing, and we're about to head into the rainy season, I though it would be wise to turn this....



and this...



Into this in the barn:



And while I was down there, why not clean up and organize some of the fertilizer bags?



As a side note, Nate and his room-mates are moving out after this growing season ends. He's looking to farm on a larger scale, and I am looking forward to being more hands-on with respect to the farming activity on Living Green Farm. Nate has graciously agreed to help out with some projects before he leaves; I don't have pictures of them, but he replaced a section of fence in the back forty, and he hacked down all the blackberries between the shop and the greenhouse on one morning a couple weeks back. He also helped me pour some concrete to fill the trench that we cut for the electrical conduit. I think I'm finally getting the hang of concrete: the trick is to mix it, pour it, settle it to get rid of bubbles, level it to the forms, and then walk away. Yes, you have to resist the urge to work it and smooth it! Just let it set up for a good half hour or more before you try and do any smoothing, or else all that you will do is bring water to the top and mess it up. In this case I went and did other stuff for forty-five minutes, and came back to find the concrete was just like rubbery clay, perfect for doing the final surface smoothing. Nice.