Just walk it off... I walk three miles, I make feed, I complain about White tractors, I find a rock, I live a life of excitement and thrills, I should be a self-help book

I feel exercise is pretty much overrated. I have been walking 3 miles a day. It takes me an hour and 15 minutes. If I stop and pull weeds out of the new alfalfa field it takes me an extra half hour. 

Today I skipped. I had no motivation. I got another lecture on the beauty of the Dolomite mountains and I kept thinking, "4,000 feet up to see another tree..." I do like trees. I look at them every day. Rocks are nice as well. Sometimes I find interesting rocks on my walk. I should fly 15 hours and climb 8,000 feet and see different rocks, AND trees!

Pushing oneself to take another step is also great. A personal triumph every time. Yesterday I made my three miles in record time. The last mile I did in 18 minutes. But I really had to poop. That was a wonderful reward to the last mile, however, I could have had the same reward by having an extra cup of coffee and not getting out of my easy chair until I was in danger of going blind.

Not to be negative. Just saying...

The weather has stopped hay making. We are done with grass and starting on alfalfa again. Also have oats that are losing a race between reaching proper height and dogfennel. Dogfennel hay doesn't sell well even if  call it Camomile hay and say it is medicinal. The cows will eat it as I just up the rate of molasses I apply with my gatorsprayer. I have 1000 gallons of molasses, might as well use it.

I made 10,000lbs of feed. Sold 6,000lbs. I had 7,000lbs in orders. None of those people actually bought pellets when I notified them as promised. However, another fellow bought 3,000lbs of ground mix and I sold 40 small bags of Super Chick N. 

Now I am out of oats. 

Working on the POS White 2-105. POS should be an official White model. Maybe it is just a generic term for White Tractor. I hope they do not have White tractors in Italy. Probably lots of the POS Fiat that is the POS White 2-60. Perhaps I will meet an Italian farmer and we can talk about how much we hate AGCO. That would be nice.

The POS 2-105, has an internal hydraulic leak. I figured when hydraulic oil ran out of the gearshift  it was time to pull the PTO. But then I looked at a book. This is always a mistake. It could be the charge pump. In fact it probably should be the charge pump because I just rebuilt the POS PTO.

Apparently I forgot an O-ring. 

I pulled the top drain plug. I put a gauge on the pressure line to the PTO. It has 200lbs and oil runs out the drain hole when I run the PTO. It continues when PTO is in neutral. It stops when PTO is in brake. 

This was an important test. Not sure what it means exactly. But, we couldn't do it on the tractor because the lever seems to go into the brake position, but because this tractor is the POS model and someone stuck the PTO lever though the 3-point lift lever hole, it will never actually go into Brake when you are running the tractor.

Maybe I can get a nephew to work on the PTO. They are better mechanics.

I found rocks on my walk. AI says the bottom one is a sharpening stone. I don't know. Top one has quartz in it. I returned them to the field.

The POS 2-155 has a flat front tire. We had Superior Tire Service come out to fix a different tractor tire. I over filled the tire so I could move the tractor near their truck. They couldn't figure out where the leak was because the tire was not flat. Meanwhile air is hissing from the valve stem and around the bead. I would not say they are complete idiots. I mean, they found the farm...

This was Tuesday's walk I think. Yesterday I did about the same but walked a little faster. Pulling annual ryegrass out of the new alfalfa cuts my speed per hour. 

 

What I need to do is find a sponsor for my trip. I have read about the high principles of the Mount Olive Pickle company. Perhaps they would sponsor me! I am partial to the Little Rebel dill variety. 

Apparently the Little Rebel label was dropped after the Southern Poverty Law Center had to drop its support for the label. Too much Turmeric I suppose...

 

I decide to do excercise for the first time in my life...

Today I walked 3 miles in an hour. I forgot to shut off the tracking so it shows the half hour it took me to make breakfast. Probably did 3 miles in an hour and 15 minutes.

 

Two miles was not a big deal. But I can feel the extra mile. 

The main problem is that it takes an hour and I have a pretty hard time dragging my lazy arse out of bed in the morning anyway, not to mention dragging it out to go walk for an hour. I should pack a gun and then I would be a "hunter." 

I saw a coyote this morning. He was catching mice in the ryegrass field. This is an excellent use for coyotes. They don't wake me up now that I have that idiotic sleep apnea machine. Don't hear anything but the plastic lung hissing all night.

It rained last night. The hay is inside and now I have to make feed. Customers have been calling. I need a hobby that doesn't involve noise and dust, or if it does, fun enough to make it worthwhile.

I checked out my instagram while walking. First time in a month. I was going to post alfalfa pictures or look for more Minneapolis-Moline tractor videos.

To my great surprise and somewhat embarrassment my feed was filled with busty girls in leather swimsuits splitting wood. I sincerely would like to know what algorithm produced this result. (Mostly so I could continue it) 

The outfits do seem impractical but they seriously put effort into the swing so I would give a thumbs up!

I don't really understand Instagram.

I generally post pictures of the Moline G1355 cutting hay or driving the Gator into large mud puddles. One would think this would result in similar suggested content. But no...

For a while I got videos of Scandinavian women pushing hay forks on steep hillsides. That was nice as well. Before that were cute girls who were daring each other to touch electric fences, (ok I might have searched for that one)

These seem to be pretty specific niche markets which I have not been searching for. In fact I did not even know they existed. 

I wonder if I talk in my sleep and my phone is listening...? 

But I digress... 

 

Alfalfa bloom when I first started walking and rain was predicted ten days out.

Alfalfa Bloom yesterday morning. It is pretty much 100 percent bloom. The oat field I was going to take for hay is short and in milk stage. We have two-three days of showers.

 

This morning's view of the alfalfa bloom. Looks like deer have discovered the blooms. Some of it is going down from the rain. I wish it would actually rain more than .10 inches. Perhaps do some good.

 

 

 

I am agreeable for five minutes and it bites me in the arse... More adventures

What a week...or two

The hay went from top quality to over ripe essentially in two days. Now it is crap and the last hundred acres seems to be a record yield...

I am waiting for my doctor appointment. Getting my hip looked at as it still hurts from the break two years ago.

I was optimistic for one week and that got me in a lot of trouble. Every morning I need to wake up and say to myself. "Today I will say no..." Just a good way of living my life.

My friend from high school has been bugging me for a year to go on a "walk," though the Dolomite Mountains in Italy, in September.

I said no...

Because, while it may be the trip of a lifetime it is not the trip of my life time. 

September is when I do all my straw baling. We have at least 300 acres of ground to work and plant. I want to get a new dog and don't want to leave it a month, I don't like Italian food, if I wanted to go somewhere I don't speak the language I would got to Mexico, I do not care about pushing myself to hike ten #$%^&*ing miles a day, I do not know anyone from Yale or the Yale crew team, and if I want to look at where my lime comes from I would just drive by the @#$%^&*ing lime shed outside of McMinnville.

I would love to go to Ireland (might even hike there), go to England and see the guy with the little farm that makes berry scoops, go to Canada and see if Ralph would take me for a ride in his Mercury, go visit my friends in Florida and see the Christmas program at the Chicken Church, go to fishing with my friend Tim, go to Christmas Valley and fix a tractor, go to California and buy another Landcruiser with my friend Mark.

If I wanted to work out every day I would do I so I could go motorcycle riding in the woods with my brother. In fact, I need to fix three motor cycles so I could go riding, which is a thing that does bring me actual pleasure.

But no...

I went all Rick Steves on myself and said yes... Chance of a life time. My friend said he would pay... 

Then I got the itinerary, I am back on the group chat. I realize that this is some sort of push yourself to succeed BULLSHITE and I really don't want to walk a fecking eight miles a day in the mountains, dress like a fecking tourist, bond with people, spend money, be in new uncomfortable situations with little return on emotional investment. 

Everyone I tell is laughing about it. 

I am just sort of low level angry.

Started walking. Did two miles a day with no problem. 

My daughter says I have a bad attitude... 

Walking to the river and back in the morning is great. But I have bales on the ground I should be stacking or I should be making feed. I don't have time for exercise for exercise sake. I stacked bales yesterday, that was exercise, I walked a mile to my pickup Tuesday, that was exercise, I pushed in the clutch on the stacker 5 million times yesterday, that was exercise, I saw a tree yesterday, it was scenic...

 UPDATE: Orthopedic doctor says I have arthritis. Says it is a crime against humanity for me not want to go hiking the Dolomites and she won't remove my pins because then I couldn't go... I have to wait. Got a mini lecture from my doctor... 

Her: "You are a farmer, you can do 8 miles a day..."

Me: "But I am lazy..."

Her: "Right...." 

The best addition I made to my Great Plains drill (other than a Loupe Seed Monitor)

The Great Plains 1500 grain drill has one very frustrating short coming. The small seed cups are unprotected and if it rains they get wet. This is especially frustrating if you are planting clay coated seed. The coating melts and makes a sludge in the bottom of the seed cup which plugs up the plastic fluted feed and you have to pressure wash the inside of the small seeds bin to actually get it clean. Super frustrating when using the small seeds to drop slug bait when no-tilling. 

A couple years ago I got a local tent and awning company to make me a fitted grain drill cover. It was expensive but it is essential when it rains and you have seed in the drill. It is made so it folds down over the front and back and has cutouts for the flashers. It folds back up into a compact square and I have a place to store it on the drill.

It rained last night. Not really enough to do much good. But the threat of rain was enough to speed up the hay baling operation significantly.

Unfortunately we still have another 140 acres to go and everything is turning color. It is supposed to be 90 degrees by the end of the week so that will be the end of nice pretty grass hay.

I am trying to plant alfalfa. We had to wait on lime and I didn't get it planted early like I wanted to do. I also decided to water the ground before planting. The plan was to plant into the moisture rather than plant into dry dirt and then irrigate. This was a solid plan but then I needed to do hay and then I started seeing a broad leaf sprout so I decided to harrow it all again. I should have waited till the rain was past and then I really would have had a sprout to work up but I got in a rush because I thought I could plant yesterday.

But then there was a flat tire, and apparently there is something in the fuel tank because the tractor kept dying when I turned right, then it completely quit and it took me an hour to bleed the lines and get it started again.

I planted 10 acres of Teff but didn't start on the alfalfa as I didn't want to plant the alfalfa in the dark. 

This morning I got to the field just in time to tarp the grain drill. Spent the rest of the morning working on hay equipment in the rain.

 

It is going to be a great day I can feel it in my bones

The week loomed but failed to inspire me into great production levels. So far I have not accomplished what I should have but more than I would have. It sounds better on paper than it looks in real life...

I finished working 25 acres for alfalfa. While the neighbors endlessly flogged 200 acres. I got tired of moving clods the size of small pebbles around and got the Nephew to put out irrigation. Of course it turned out there was considerably less hose on the irrigator than we thought so that kind of went south...

Yesterday I cut 20 more acres of alfalfa. Some of it was getting very rank and had annual ryegrass choking it. The alfalfa in the picture is short and light green with yellow tinged leaves. Might have a little bit of a deficiency. I of course can't remember the blend I used in the spring. 0-0-50-18? Should probably add more, also write things down and not lose the tablet. Of course the Weather forecast on the TV this morning says possible showers Wednesday. Maybe I should cut the 30 acres of red clover also. If you are going down people enjoy the show more if you add flames.

Big Old Jetliner, was circling the farm yesterday. Probably signal jamming my GPS so my field lines are crooked as some sort of a nefarious plot to disrupt my sanity. I showed them as my sanity was already disrupted and I can't drive straight regardless of GPS. If I had autosteer I would probably still auto wander...

 

 

The week looms ahead of me

I need a service truck. An air compressor mounted on a Chevy Luv trailer is not the ideal setup. 

Over the years I worked off the farm all my farm equipment suffered. Especially my service truck, a 1989 Ford F250 with a 460. (Lack of exhaust plumbing under the engine seems to have confused the O2 sensor and my helper put the front wheel drive assembly together wrong. And something is wrong with the electrics so it doesn't start reliably and shuts off randomly while driving)

I left the grain drill next to the field I need to plant. It had two flat tires. On the same side. The two tires I just had repaired.

If only I was not lazy and would get more work done...

This week, need to spray weed patches with Gator Sprayer, Plant alfalfa, make cow feed, cut hay, fix brakes on Moline 1355, fix rain spout so my wife can steal water from the state of Oregon for her garden, fix the tire on my LN8000, and clean my shop.

If I do one thing on the list it will be a success...

 

I observe how to farm in the modern way

I have been watching the megafarmer's helper work ground next to my hay making misadventure. It is amazing and depressing at the same time.

This is probably 300 acres of river bottom ground and they are flogging it hard. I think it is going in to corn again.

They started with one of those huge John Deere articulated tracked machines and like a 20 foot disk ripper. Ripped it at least twice and now using second one with a heavy harrow and roller set up to smooth and break clods.

Earlier in the week I watched the tractor operator dig mud out of the rolling baskets behind the ripper at one end of the field, while raising dust at the other end and could see where this was all going. 

The ground is in the dreaded golf ball round clod stage and has no moisture, but I don't think it is going to matter, with that much weight and horsepower, it will break down.

If it doesn't, they will just plant the corn into dry soil and apply so much water that the ground melts together. The cost and time do not really matter. 

My neighbor that owned the place was one of the really good old school farmers. He has been gone a good ten years and the ground is rented out for a lot of money.

I remember him out at my Uncle's farm store at coffee time talking about working ground. Talking about the different soil types on his farm. The good Chehalis soil by the river and how to work the heavy clay Wapato on the wet ground. 

Back when a really big tractor was 110hp, and irrigation was hand lines or a big awkward Vermeer, knowing how to work your ground was incredibly important.  

You didn't work up more ground then you could get packed back down before it dried out. If you were under a dust cloud when spring farming, you were in trouble.

I actually bought his 16 foot equipment and have been using it to work up 20 acres to plant alfalfa. I thought I was doing it wrong when I plowed 30 acres and let it get a little too dry on top. In fact I am fighting that problem with the alfalfa ground.

But the newer and better farmer is doing 300 acres at once and that is modern efficiency. I keep thinking of my farming advocate neighbor who likes to quote USDA stats about how one modern farmer produces more that 20 old time farmers. 

I think it is more like one modern farmer has displaced 50 farmers who knew their land and lived their local farm existence. 

Progress... 

I am watching out the window of my ancient New Holland 1085 stacker as my neighbor works ground the right way. I have a friend that keeps sending me Tristan Swartz videos where he talks about his small scale dairy farming. The old ways are never coming back.