The year of the house

The Year of the House material for my blog was written yesterday, over 3 pages worth and then the disc fried, urgggggggggggggggh, so I’ll try again.

2/23/06

I built our cabin in 1986 and besides a new roof two years ago not much has been done to it other than a yearly spray with gray fence spray. During the last ten years we have collected and collected and collected “stuff”, in the eves (we don’t have an attic) in the basement, in the sheds, in the yard, everywhere.

Sheryl and I decided it was time to have a year where we focused mainly on the house, with me seeing my 60th birthday I need to reduce my work around the house and farm, so we started by renting a dumpster, we filled it, now we have another that we are slowly filling with “stuff”, the house seems to have grown a few inches after being rid of all the extra weight of “Stuff” that we haven’t seen or used in years.

20 Ton of stone was purchased by my folks and I spread it on Laurence Eleanor Street which is our dirt road. That was done about two months ago and with all the rain, frost and warmth that we have had it needs to be graded again, luckily we have a grader blade for our tractor. All the pot holes and bumps do tend to slow people down but we need to maintain a nice drive what with all the visitors we have now.

Sheryl and I purchased 30 more ton of stone and we had it delivered to our parking area, the morning I was to spread it I started Jethro the tractor and noticed the fan was not turning….so we sent it out for a new fan, new clutch, starter work (which they never did do) and we also had them wire up four flood lights that I had put on to the canopy opur the driver seat. It sure is nice to be able to work at night and actually see in all directions.

Next we ordered all new windows with a “R” value of 5, these are being specially made and will be installed in the next month. Once they are in I will apply ½ plywood over the entire cabin and then install red cedar shingles. Our up stairs is not logs but T 111 so I will need to put shims under the plywood to bring the face even with the plywood face that will cover the logs. The ends of the logs will need to be cut off and from the outside you won’t be able to tell that our house is a log cabin.

Sheryl wanted a retaining wall built so as to enlarge our parking area for customers. I have that all done except to back fill and nail it all together. It is much easier now for people to park and back out.

When we are finished we should have a much more presentable place for our visitor to see, next year I hope to do something with the lawn and also get the gardenms all back in shape.

If only I didn’t need the Post Office job…..

Millie STILL has not gone home so she is going to stay a while, after building a pinch chute and spending $500.00 for materials I am frustrated at her reluctance to leave Newt the Bull. All the cows are now in the eastern most lot in the ox pasture and will stay in there until the fields have 6” or more in grass growth. Perry, Olive and Petunia who are in the four acre lot will stay there until right after I spread the seed, them they will move in to the lane way and stay there until the cows have been moved out of the ox pasture and the huts erected in that lot.

I am now working on 3 new brooders. With the removal of so much “stuff” we don’t want to start the chicks and poults in the basement as in the past, we actually might even start to finish the basement by painting it first. I’ll get some pictures of the brooders and also the port a huts and put them on here. I need to get these done this weekend as the first batch is coming next week.

We still have not had the time to build any more chicken tractors and we really MUST have at least one new one for the turkeys, I want to put them in to the house lot pasture this year and get them completely away from the chickens. I had hoped to build at least 6 for this year but with everything else there just isn’t time nor money right now and I expect once I start siding anything extra will take a back seat.

Jonathan from the Secchiaroli Piggery invited me over a week or so ago and showed me how to clip piglets teeth and a new way to castrate the boys all using a small pair of wire snips, it’s fast, easy and I don’t need to get anyone to help me. Now if I purchased the fence sections I need to attach to the new portahuts the other issue that is a problem would be solved. That problem is out running the sow when it’s time to take her piglets for ear notching, castrating etc. I have tried doing the deed when the piglets are a couple of days old because both Mom and baby are slow, but the testes are too small and sometimes hard to get “up”, I hate this task so I want it done fast and clean therefore I wait about a week before I do it, consequently Mom is a heck of a lot faster and for some reason my sows never read the book that a sow can be controlled with a bushel basket.

We tried a new cow feed during my last trip to CCC feeds http://www.cccfeeds.com/ and I am headed up tonight to get 1400 pounds of this “16 Treat” I mix it 50% with my wheat middling mix and can use it full strength for the pigs, plus it has quite a bit of molasses in it which my Grandfather always believed in.

One of the nice things about running a farm, having a web site and being available to the public is that folks who want to get in to farming contact us to learn more, we have had four such couples in the past year.

They come and ask questions, follow me around as I do my chores and sometimes even volunteer to come back and clear some brush although I have had only one person actually show up at a work party…dreaming is easy, doing is something else.
Anyway I try to not discourage anyone and always I make he point that I am just a rookie myself and I am learning everyday, changing every day and being humbled everyday by these great animals.

Next month will be a special month for us, the inspector from Certified Humane is supposed to inspect our farm as the second step in being able to call ourselves a “Certified Humane Farm” to me this is THE BIGGEST AND MOST IMPORTANT Label there is. I’ll keep you posted on how we are doing.

Also before I forget I had a great conversation with the Ct Dept of Ag to be sure we are doing things right and to see if I could find a USDA certified slaughter house in the state that does pigs, they tell me there is none and the way we sell our pork is absolutely the best way to do it.
I am completely satisfied with Maurice’s Slaughter house in Canterbury Ct, they do a great job, are great people and close enough so that the pigs don’t have to be trucked far, I know the ride scares them and I don’t want it to take any longer than needed. I just hope we can get the processing paperwork done and have them inspected at the same time the farm is.
Some folks have asked what I am doing about the bird flu, as I see it there is nothing to do but be diligent and observant. Our chicken tractors do have tarps covering their “roof’s” so there shouldn’t be an issue with a overflying bird dropping something on one and spreading the flu. We have read that it is safe to eat a bird once cooked. We won’t do the chicken little thing but will watch wait and be prepared to do whatever is needed to prevent the passage of the disease on.

I did read that some countries in Europe have outlawed the outside raising of birds, that would effectively shut down that operation until the danger is over, time will tell but until I have reason to change what we are doing, it ain’t going to be changed. Someone should pass a common sense law in this country.