I went up to farm Friday morning, made it there around 9:30 I think. I called seth fenby at que sales, inc to confirm that I was going to stop by to look at the equipment. I tried to connect the trailer to the van, but without the tractor to move the trailer out of garage (no hydraulics hose meant I couldn't lift the FEL) I got the van and trailer stuck on the garage door!
So I left in the SUV, after locking up as best I could around the van, to go see the equipment. I found the place, eventually, and met Seth. He showed me the crawler-loader and proceeded to demo the unit by driving it. However, while driving it he had some problems; it couldn't turn right! I told him that I was more interested in the backhoe, so we moved on. The backhoe started up and he drove it around a little and then let me drive it! I drove it around - it hydro so I was already used to the control. I then tried to use the backhoe portion of the machine. It worked, but a bit jerky (which I learned later is normal for a backhoe).
I asked him for a better price and we eventually haggled to $6,700 cash and delivered. I mentioned that I don't like carrying that much cash around. He said it helps keep the tax off the books so he makes more money in the pocket. I sympathized, but again, I wasn't sure I could even GET that kind of cash on a Friday afternoon, far away from my bank. Anyway, I looked at the machine a bit closer and noticed some oil on the engine... I wondered if head gasket leaking.. although there was no unusual smoke. I did take note that while the pins are tight, they don't look like they have been lubed for a awhile. I told him I would consult my wife to see what she said. I think he thought I was passing on the deal (which I was STRONGLY considering). As I was leaving he mentioned that he could do check if cash wasn't possible, but that it would just take longer. I made a mental note, but had to keep moving...I left to rush back home to get septic tank pumped!
Before I got home though I stopped to get hydraulic hoses made at the Fulton Tractor Kubota dealer. The service man couldn't make the house with 1/2 " hose but could with 3/8" hose. I couldn't see a reason why that wouldn't work so he went ahead and did it. Only cost about $37and was done in less then 10 mins!! LOL. So I wasted time and money going to TSC! Oh well, live and learn!
At that point I was seriously running behind schedule! I rushed home to find that the County Septic truck was in my driveway up near the septic tank! I drove up and met the guy - turns out that he was running late too and that he had only just got there 10 mins earlier! Whew!
So we got the tank pumped out and then I went to install the new hoses on the tractor. After installing the hoses I used the tractor to de-tangled the trailer and van. Then I used the tractor to go over to the red-barn and knock down some of the trees and crap that grew up around there this year (well, last several years). I just knocked the trees and fence down, I didn't pull the roots or saw off any trees or mow. I wanted to keep moving before it got dark.
Then I went to pick the tomatoes in the big patch. There were many tomatoes that were goig bad and not many that were ripe. I hope that we get at least another hundred pounds of ripe tomatoes from these gardens, but now I am not sure. Anyway, by the time I got done picking the tomatoes, pumpkin, squash, melon, etc it was getting dark. I put the produce on the porch and sorted the tomatoes out a bit according to ripeness.
Saturday, when I got up (I got up late!), I noticed the sky was cloudy. I checked the weather and it predicted rain (90% chance) around noon! I really wanted to get the cover crop in the big patch (the tillage radish is critical to break up the clay there!) So I rushed out and began clearing the plastic ground cover from the patch. 3 HOURS later! ugh - that's a lot of work and messy! The pumpkin and cucumber vines are like ROPES and really make life hard. But I got the plastic up! I took the electric fence down around the garden and then took the one end of the garden fence down so I could get the tractor and tiller in to prep for planting the radishes! Here is what the patch looked like after the tilling:
It was starting to sprinkle around this time - about 1 PM! I was literally RUNNING to get the seed! Fortunately, I found that the radish could be planted with the manual seeder machine I got earlier this year (but was unable to use because of the amount of sod in the early season tilled gardens). I used the "beet" plate and planted the whole space with radishes in about 10-15 mins! Wonderful! By then it was doing a consistent light rain and I was scrambling hard. I got the hairy vetch seeds and found a broadcast seeder in the old garage and started seeding my butt off! I finished before it started really coming down! Here it is all seeded:
I saved the tomatoes and eggplant! Everything else is gone from the big patch! Well, there is a pumpkin vine or two that are trying to survive - but their roots are gone!
I rested a bit and did some more internet studies on the backhoe.
I ate dinner then got to work canning the sauerkraut! The kraut was fermented PERFECTLY! It was sooo good and crisp - it was a perfect ferment! I am so happy! I think I will do the rest of the cabbage up there into sauerkraut. One thing to note, however: canning sauerkraut is kind of a pain! The "fibers" of cabbage stick to everything and don't want to go into the jars easily. Eventually, I got it all in jars and canned - totaled about 10 quarts (counting about a pint of mostly juice in the last pint). I gave mom and dad a pint and took a quart back to SS (along with the pint of juice). Anyway, here is a pic of the kraut all canned:
Sunday morning, I got up late again! I rushed out to re-install the fences on the patch and decided to mow the orchard while I was there! Fences back up and electric fence on!
I picked the tomatoes out of the other two patches, as well as the green beans out of the paw-paw patch. Then cleaned dishes, packed and took off for mom and dad's. I gave the green beans to them, as well as a pint of the sauerkraut I had made. Then i took off for home.
Katherine put up 7 pints of roasted tomato sauce Sunday night (lastnight).
