Been spending a lot of time clearing windfall. Firewood stocks for next winter are looking good already. Should have that mostly done in a few weeks. If I could attach photos I could show you what a large windfall eucalypt does to a fenceline.
I'm upgrading a Huskie 565 to a 592XP with a 32" bar. I want to try cutting rough boards freehand from some of the bigger windfall logs.
I should also get the chainsaw mill running again.
Lambing underway. Small flock that mostly look after themselves.
Nephew has just done some ground preparation for potatoes etc The 50 year old Fiat 500 keeps on going. Family bought that new from memory. Used it to move some fair sized stumps the other day.
I'm doing some farm smart energy stuff. That will be interesting.
How was your year? Seem to be getting a lot of weather in the southern US.
Feel free to shoot me pics in an email (address is in the "about" section.) I sold our sawmill, a Norwood, to a younger neighbor. The agreement is that he will mill some logs for me from time to time. But, I think, that like me, it will be under-utilized. Good luck with the cutting, may the only limbs you remove be on trees.
And good luck, also, with lambing this year. We just put our ram in with the flock. We are using a Texel on a mixed flock of both wool and hair breeds. This is our third year using a Texel as a terminal sire. Weight gains average 25% higher. The trade-off is there are more birthing issues. Or, at least there have been. We've culled all of the ewes that needed "extensive" assists.
I'm off to butcher the spring roosters. We have enough to keep me in gumbo for the winter months.
Gawd, so many wild and weird associations come to mind, unschooled by useful experience on a farm. For example, any number of jokes about chickens witnessing the farmer's approach, hatchet in hand, betray projection of human foresight onto far less aware farm animals. The notion of porcine compassion is a similar fiction, I suspect, compatible with the dogs and chickens happy enough to feed without compunction off of droppings and extras. The spectacle of some species of African deer grazing calmly in relatively close proximity to the big cat that that has spent its short energy allotment on the hunt before succumbing to overheating and brain fog, whether or not successful, is also the stuff of nature documentaries. Are the surviving deer gratified not to be the unfortunate slow one culled from the herd?
All this is to say that remote machinations of predation and food production are not entirely unknown to me, but they still sit at some remove, as though viewed through a screen or civilizing filter. The actual work of harvesting plants and animals remains for me something roughly theoretical.
It is odd, and similar, how indifferent animals are to others sufferings. Yet, we often witness acts of protection/sacrifice, love/devotion, however you care to describe. And we had a goose who mourned the loss of her mate for weeks. It was enough to melt any heart. Then of course there are the young gilts (female pigs) who gather around and snarf up the discarded testicles when we castrate the young barrows.
Great piece. We still have a couple of old gas stations grills here that still know the secret of a good burger. But gas stations such as these seem to be dying out as well.
I cannot count the times I chanted that cheer at LSU football games.
When I brought my wife-to-be home to meet my parents in Metairie, she stared dumbfounded at daiquiri stores. “You can get daiquiris to go?”
“Why?” I said. “Is something wrong?”
She was from Shreveport. That was 52 years ago, and she still talks about it.
Classic response.
Wonderful piece, Brian. You are very fortunate to have an extended family that gathers and shares in this fashion.
Thanks, David. Hope all is well on the land this spring?
Been spending a lot of time clearing windfall. Firewood stocks for next winter are looking good already. Should have that mostly done in a few weeks. If I could attach photos I could show you what a large windfall eucalypt does to a fenceline.
I'm upgrading a Huskie 565 to a 592XP with a 32" bar. I want to try cutting rough boards freehand from some of the bigger windfall logs.
I should also get the chainsaw mill running again.
Lambing underway. Small flock that mostly look after themselves.
Nephew has just done some ground preparation for potatoes etc The 50 year old Fiat 500 keeps on going. Family bought that new from memory. Used it to move some fair sized stumps the other day.
I'm doing some farm smart energy stuff. That will be interesting.
How was your year? Seem to be getting a lot of weather in the southern US.
David,
Feel free to shoot me pics in an email (address is in the "about" section.) I sold our sawmill, a Norwood, to a younger neighbor. The agreement is that he will mill some logs for me from time to time. But, I think, that like me, it will be under-utilized. Good luck with the cutting, may the only limbs you remove be on trees.
And good luck, also, with lambing this year. We just put our ram in with the flock. We are using a Texel on a mixed flock of both wool and hair breeds. This is our third year using a Texel as a terminal sire. Weight gains average 25% higher. The trade-off is there are more birthing issues. Or, at least there have been. We've culled all of the ewes that needed "extensive" assists.
I'm off to butcher the spring roosters. We have enough to keep me in gumbo for the winter months.
Cheers,
Brian
Gawd, so many wild and weird associations come to mind, unschooled by useful experience on a farm. For example, any number of jokes about chickens witnessing the farmer's approach, hatchet in hand, betray projection of human foresight onto far less aware farm animals. The notion of porcine compassion is a similar fiction, I suspect, compatible with the dogs and chickens happy enough to feed without compunction off of droppings and extras. The spectacle of some species of African deer grazing calmly in relatively close proximity to the big cat that that has spent its short energy allotment on the hunt before succumbing to overheating and brain fog, whether or not successful, is also the stuff of nature documentaries. Are the surviving deer gratified not to be the unfortunate slow one culled from the herd?
All this is to say that remote machinations of predation and food production are not entirely unknown to me, but they still sit at some remove, as though viewed through a screen or civilizing filter. The actual work of harvesting plants and animals remains for me something roughly theoretical.
It is odd, and similar, how indifferent animals are to others sufferings. Yet, we often witness acts of protection/sacrifice, love/devotion, however you care to describe. And we had a goose who mourned the loss of her mate for weeks. It was enough to melt any heart. Then of course there are the young gilts (female pigs) who gather around and snarf up the discarded testicles when we castrate the young barrows.
Great piece. We still have a couple of old gas stations grills here that still know the secret of a good burger. But gas stations such as these seem to be dying out as well.
Fast food chains have killed regional fare.