Horses Haul Horse Manure 2011

Today was day one of the weekend horse manure haul from the farm behind me. Above is a picture of the 1977 Wheel Horse C-120 with the new Ark Loader along with the 1963 Wheel Horse 753 who had all the back and forth duties from garden to manure pile. That little 753 has so much power for such a small tractor!

Today I was only able to do about 8 loads of manure since I had to take my youngest daughter to an audition in Portland. Tomorrow will be a full day of hauling to all 3 gardens and of course the tilling. I will actually till each garden a minimum of three times due to the straw content of the manure so it really breaks down before planting time. Click on the pictures for a better view.

Making A Chicken Brooder

Last night I made our brooder. As you can see, it's simply made from a 32 gallon Rubber Maid storage container, 2x4 piece of wood, heat lamp, and a small strip of rubber type material (used in a silverware draw) for the bottom. I have a small thermometer on the bottom of the brooder to help me find the right height of the heat lamp to keep it at 95 degrees.

I bought a small waterer and feeder at the local Tractor Supply, so I have about $30 into this brooder now. I hope to get the chicks this weekend and of course I will post some updates. Cannot wait!

April Fools Snow

We had about a foot of snow today. This was real heavy wet snow. Since I had already removed the snowblower from the tractor, I had to use the loader instead. Not very efficient compared to the blower, but it was fun!

I have no idea how long it's going to be before I can get in the gardens. The horse farm behind me has a ton of well composted manure just ready to be hauled, and a week old foal that is now contributing to that pile. Let's hope for some warm rainy weather to make this white stuff go away.