While I had been busy getting firewood done Lucy has been busy prepping the gardens at Owls Nest. Last year I had dug out the hillside and put up two canoes and a rowboat as a raised garden. This year we built two raised gardens from 1"x20" by 16 foot boards beside the garage. We had been talking of bricking over the yard here and putting up a pergola but today it is raised gardens! Once Lucy had the sides nailed and staked in place I loaded four trailers with sand and half filled them.
I got the truck started (oh yes, I found the key I lost last fall. It was on the driveway buried in the snow all winter) and picked up the old 4x8 trailer that had spent the winter out back. I was smart enough to bring the compressor and to fill the tires but once I got a bucket load of sand dumped in I noticed that one of the tires was still low. Now the compressor plugs into the cigarette lighter of the truck and the cord wasn't long enough to stretch all that way back to the trailer. What to do? I couldn't unlatch and lift the trailer by hand when it was full of sand so I brought the tractor in close, wrapped a chain around the trailer tongue and lifted it. Then I drove the truck around, filled the tire and got everything back together again. The tire still seemed low as I drove to the house. It held air with no load but it must have a small leak as the tire got flatter and flatter as I drove to the house. Just as I got up the hill to the driveway it went flat, but I managed to drive it right to the back of the house.
It took quite a bit of work to shovel sand into a wheelbarrow, wheel it about 20 feet to the raised garden shells and shovel it all in. About 10 wheelbarrow loads emptied the trailer and 1/2 filled the bigger garden shell. I switched to the smaller green ATV trailer and two of those was enough to 1/2 fill the second shell.
Now that the bottoms are full of sand it was time to fill the wheelbarrow with earth. We had purchased 10 yards of garden soil that came in a big dump truck and got dumped on the back lawn. Lucy has been busy putting soil on all the gardens but we still have a lot left. It took me about another 10 wheelbarrows to fill the raised garden shells. Lucy was quite pleased and immediately planted potatoes and beans in them. It was time for more sand again to fill in around the outside of the containers and smooth it all out.
Of course now that we had the new gardens in it was time for wood chips. Now sweetie had been reminding me for a while that we needed more chips but I had been busy with other things. Now it was time. The plan was to take the backhoe off the tractor, put the chipper on, get the sawmill running, cut up a bunch of slabs small enough to fit in the chipper and chip away. Now what could go wrong?
Actually it all went well. I got the backhoe off easily, the first time I had it off. The chipper went on easily too. The sawmill was running and I 1/2 loaded it twice with slab and cut them down to six inches. I also pulled out a lot of smaller pieces from the slab pile and I had quite the pile ready. The black flies are at their peak now so I am wearing a bug hat, long pants and shirt, etc.
I got the big trailer hooked up to the truck and got it 3/4 full of wood chips before running out of wood. That's when I noticed rad fluid leaking from the top of the cab over my head. Now what is rad fluid doing all the way up there. It turns out that there is a heater up there and the rad hoses run up and back down. I never use heat in the cab so I plan on disconnecting the hoses and bypassing the leak.
I dropped off the trailer at the house and in a couple of hours it was empty. I headed back to the slab pile and managed to find enough wood to chip another 1/2 trailer full, all the while keeping an eye on that rad lead and the engine temperature guage ( the engine temp stayed steady). Sweetie has emptied that trailer as well and I am sure at least another couple of trailers full of chips are needed. Oh, the trailer is 10'x6'x2' high walls or 4 cubic yards of material when full. So that is about 5 cubic yards so far with another 8 needed here. The plan is to saw up more slab (there is lots) and chip enough for the next two years (20 cubic yards maybe?) so I will not need the chipper again for a while. There is lots of deadfall along the trails so I might try driving the tractor and splitter down the ones I can get to and just chipping it all along the trail. First I have to fix that rad leak though.
I got the truck started (oh yes, I found the key I lost last fall. It was on the driveway buried in the snow all winter) and picked up the old 4x8 trailer that had spent the winter out back. I was smart enough to bring the compressor and to fill the tires but once I got a bucket load of sand dumped in I noticed that one of the tires was still low. Now the compressor plugs into the cigarette lighter of the truck and the cord wasn't long enough to stretch all that way back to the trailer. What to do? I couldn't unlatch and lift the trailer by hand when it was full of sand so I brought the tractor in close, wrapped a chain around the trailer tongue and lifted it. Then I drove the truck around, filled the tire and got everything back together again. The tire still seemed low as I drove to the house. It held air with no load but it must have a small leak as the tire got flatter and flatter as I drove to the house. Just as I got up the hill to the driveway it went flat, but I managed to drive it right to the back of the house.
It took quite a bit of work to shovel sand into a wheelbarrow, wheel it about 20 feet to the raised garden shells and shovel it all in. About 10 wheelbarrow loads emptied the trailer and 1/2 filled the bigger garden shell. I switched to the smaller green ATV trailer and two of those was enough to 1/2 fill the second shell.
Now that the bottoms are full of sand it was time to fill the wheelbarrow with earth. We had purchased 10 yards of garden soil that came in a big dump truck and got dumped on the back lawn. Lucy has been busy putting soil on all the gardens but we still have a lot left. It took me about another 10 wheelbarrows to fill the raised garden shells. Lucy was quite pleased and immediately planted potatoes and beans in them. It was time for more sand again to fill in around the outside of the containers and smooth it all out.
Of course now that we had the new gardens in it was time for wood chips. Now sweetie had been reminding me for a while that we needed more chips but I had been busy with other things. Now it was time. The plan was to take the backhoe off the tractor, put the chipper on, get the sawmill running, cut up a bunch of slabs small enough to fit in the chipper and chip away. Now what could go wrong?
Actually it all went well. I got the backhoe off easily, the first time I had it off. The chipper went on easily too. The sawmill was running and I 1/2 loaded it twice with slab and cut them down to six inches. I also pulled out a lot of smaller pieces from the slab pile and I had quite the pile ready. The black flies are at their peak now so I am wearing a bug hat, long pants and shirt, etc.
I got the big trailer hooked up to the truck and got it 3/4 full of wood chips before running out of wood. That's when I noticed rad fluid leaking from the top of the cab over my head. Now what is rad fluid doing all the way up there. It turns out that there is a heater up there and the rad hoses run up and back down. I never use heat in the cab so I plan on disconnecting the hoses and bypassing the leak.
I dropped off the trailer at the house and in a couple of hours it was empty. I headed back to the slab pile and managed to find enough wood to chip another 1/2 trailer full, all the while keeping an eye on that rad lead and the engine temperature guage ( the engine temp stayed steady). Sweetie has emptied that trailer as well and I am sure at least another couple of trailers full of chips are needed. Oh, the trailer is 10'x6'x2' high walls or 4 cubic yards of material when full. So that is about 5 cubic yards so far with another 8 needed here. The plan is to saw up more slab (there is lots) and chip enough for the next two years (20 cubic yards maybe?) so I will not need the chipper again for a while. There is lots of deadfall along the trails so I might try driving the tractor and splitter down the ones I can get to and just chipping it all along the trail. First I have to fix that rad leak though.
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