Last harvest of the season

Parsnips!

Soil was actually frozen about one half inch down this morning when I harvested these.

I have never cared for parsnips.  Katherine says they are good roasted. I grew these just to see if she can make something tasty out of them!

more preserving!

I baked and pureed pumpkin today.  I have 8 pints in the freezer and 4 quarts in the fridge.  Katherine made a crustless pie with 2 cups and there is 1 cup left int the fridge to use (I am thinking of making some pumpkin soup tomorrow).   So , all told, about 2 gallons of pumpkin.

Also, here is a link to a recipe for pickled cabbage that we are going to try with the cabbage I harvested from the garden here in silver spring (we got a whopping 5 lbs! - LOL).

pickled cabbage

Leaning maple tree down!

I finally got around to cutting down the maple tree that was leaning toward the farm house.  That same tree was probably the tree that was sending roots into the septic tank.  I climbed up the ladder that I leaned against the tree and used the electric chainsaw to cut off the lowest limbs.  Then, after cutting the lowest limbs off, I pushed the ladder up higher into the tree and tied a rope as high as I could.  Then I attached the rope to the tractor and pulled to put some tension on the tree in the direction that I wanted it to fall.  I climbed up the letter and then cut a notch and then back-cut the tree.  I left a good 2x5 thickness of wood uncut to be sure the tree wouldn't fall before I had sufficient tension on the rope with the tractor.  I got down off the letter went to the tractor started up and pulled very gently until the tree came down.  I did this for two sections of the tree.  Then all that was left was the main trunk which I cut down a couple days later.

Here are some pictures:

I ground up some of the brush using the chipper but a key broke (or was thrown?) on the feed gear and I had to stop.  I got a new key at Ridgeline hardware but I didn't have time to install it before I had to come back home.  The key looks small so I will have to shim it I think or else it will just vibrate out again.

While at the farm I also cleaned up the red barn some more.  I screwed down a lot of loose roofing and installed a lockable hook on the door.  At this point my plan is to make a pair of sawhorses for general use and to make another rolling door so that I can close the barn up entirely.  I am considering putting an electric line out there so that I can use the red barn for wood working and the old garage as my metal shop.  We will see.  I haven't even got the electricity into the two nearby garages yet!

Speaking of electricity installations, I have figured that I need a distribution wire of quadraplex, 2-2-2-4, aluminum - 136 feet for the new garage and 25 feet for the old garage. from article " If you install a 100 amp breaker 240 volt in the dwelling, then you may use a 2 awg four wire URD aluminum cable from that dwelling’s panel to that garage disconnect. "  Each garage needs its own ground rod to which the service ground connects.  The neutral from the service is ISOLATED from the ground in the garage boxes (unlike the neutral in the main box, where ground and neutral are connected).  

Also, a note to myself about the lighting needs:  consider getting LED lights!  They don't burn out as fast and don't have the issues of fluorescent lights!

Digging in drainage, and other stuff

Well, work on the Walipini is on hold while I fix up the backhoe, so I will regale you with my other tasks around the 'farm' in the meantime!

First I replaced a old GFCI breaker in my house main circuit panel.  As I suspected, the breaker was the one that controlled the outdoor outlets.  So, now, with the new breaker in place, I have my outdoor outlets working again!  Yay!

I decided that GFCI does sound like a good idea, but instead of the outdoor receptacles, I want to protect the outlets by the sinks inside the house.  Therefore, I added one GFCI outlet near the kitchen sink, and plan on adding another near the bathroom sink.  The bathroom sink has a shared switch cover plate, so I will have to wait until I can find the right cover plate before I can install the GFCI outlet there.

Besides screwing around with the electric system today (and agonizing about how I should install the 2 100 amp garage panels that I bought last week), I also laid out and started digging the front drainage ditches to catch runoff from the house roof and the sump pumps.  Here are some pictures documenting the progress so far:

Note to self: the post seen here is exactly 16 feet from the corner of the house (the south-eastern corner).

I am using the quick-spade thing on the forks of my tractor to dig because using the backhoe here is NOT a good idea.  Besides the fact that the backhoe is leaking hydraulic oil, it also weighs about 9 tons!  There is a sewage line running under this section of the yard that I would rather not have to repair just yet!  The quick-spade is good enough to dig this shallow ditch - only going down, at most, 2 feet.   I do use the pick and shovel to cleanup the ditch after the quick-spade goes through.  The quick-spade doesn't dig near as good as a backhoe - but it digs wonderfully compared to a pick and shovel!  Especially with all the rocks around the foundation of the house....

useful stuff

just some stuff i found around the web:

food stuff:

http://joybileefarm.com/preparing-emergency-food-for-your-bug-out-bag-think-camping/

http://creatingnirvanatoday.blogspot.com/2012/03/can-me-up-over-50-canning-recipes.html

Van Norman stuff milling machine stuff):

http://www.repair-parts-inc.com/index.htm

http://home.earthlink.net/~rchaskell/metalworking/VanNorman/index.html