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12/18/2008: "Preparing for Winter"

As I write this, there's snow on the ground here in Oregon, and temperatures have plunged into the low teens during the nights. Luckily, I was able to finish my frostproofing of the outbuilding water system in advance of the cold. The photo above shows the last frost-free hydrant, installed courtesy of the backhoe work described in the previous post. I don't worry so much about the water system in the winter now.

Part of preparing for winter is also getting implements under cover. To make that easier, I was able to gin up this simple dolly for the tiller.



It's basically an open-frame of 4x4's and 2x4's, with heavy duty hard plastic caster wheels under the weight bearing points. Originally I was going to do this with a metal frame, figuring that the 700 lb weight of the tiller would require the strength of steel. I even got out my old engineering textbooks and calculated the deflections of the beams due to the weight! However, when I ran the numbers I found that the deflections were going to be less than three thousandths of an inch on the steel frame, so I figured wood would probably be good enough. So far it looks like it is going to be OK; I only have about twenty bucks invested in the wood, so if I eventually rebuild it into a metal frame and re-use the caster wheels that's OK, too.

In other news, the bees seem to be reasonably healthy, even in the low temperatures. Our city bees have more stored honey than the farm bees! Go figure. I did wrap the hives with insulation for now; I'll remove it when temperatures are likely to be above freezing for an extended period. I'm holding off on feeding them for now; I have to strike a careful balance between keeping them alive with enough food, and overstimulating them into thinking that it is time to bulk up the population for nectar gathering. This year I'm committed to managing them well, so as to get onto a more standard routine for them.