Storm damage
It’s one of those metaphysical questions of the angels dancing on the head of a pin variety. Did my recent purchase of a deluxe 17 horsepower DK chipper in some way precipitate the arrival and resultant destruction a few weeks ago of three intense storms?
I ponder this useless intellectual speculation as I operate three chainsaws (but not at the same time) in conjunction with the above-referenced chipper. The question, like that of the sound of the tree falling in the forest, is just a way to amuse myself while tackling the vast amount of work I haven’t made time for amidst my other mountains of farm work still needing to be done. Its role in bringing on the storms aside, the chipper is useful in clearing the driveway of fallen limbs and reducing them to a hefty pile of woodchips. As for why I need three chainsaws? Only someone who has never used a chainsaw and is therefore unfamiliar with its temperamental ways would have to ask.
As I drive the pickup back up the gravel driveway after one of my several chipping, cutting, mulching, sweating excursions, I glance over to the front of the barn, where through the foot-high pigweed I spy an ancient manure spreader buried in the overgrowth. Someday, someday soon, I think.
I’ve been thinking this same thought for a few months now, that I’ll be needing the manure spreader when I do the annual barn cleaning. The plan is to hitch the piece of equipment to the big Kubota, employ the bucket on the smaller Kubota to clean out the barn and dump the manure and bedding into the spreader, and then use the larger tractor pulling the spreader to scatter the load across the fields as a fertilizer.
Straightforward in conception if not execution. When I pulled out the spreader from where it is kept parked in the sawmill yard, one of the two massive tires shredded into dry-rotted clumps of rubber. Considering that these were original tires on a piece of equipment as old as I am, well, let’s just say I’m not surprised. I backed the spreader under an overhang attached to the barn, got the jack, and removed the tire. A couple of weeks later and $450 poorer, we brought home a new tire on the old rim, which I then mounted onto the manure spreader … and left it right where it was and returned to tackling all those other things to do on the farm.
There it sat all summer until late July, when on one rare sunny afternoon sandwiched between endless days of gloom, wind, and rain, I backed the truck up to the spreader, hooked it up, and pulled it to the side of the barn to service. That is when I noticed the other tire was flat. Ten minutes later, with the air compressor (the one that needs a nut to hold the axle bolt in place—another item on the list of things I never seem to get around to repairing), I filled the tire … which just as quickly wheezed all the air out through the rotted inner tube around the valve stem.
I won’t burden you with all the details of the next stage, but suffice to say it took another two weeks to complete and involved the following:
- Getting on the schedule of the tire department at the farmers co-op, in the middle of one of the service’s chronic “we all quit” cycles, not once but twice.
- Having the tire rim returned because it was too rusted to support a tube.
- Sanding and scraping the rim back into shape so it would hold the tube without puncturing it.
- Searching for and ordering a new replacement tire, at a savings of $100 over the co-op’s price.
- Bringing the tire and the rim back to the co-op, and shelling out another $50 to have the tire mounted.
- Bringing the new tire and tube on the old rim back to the farm.
- Putting the tire back on the manure spreader.
- Moving the spreader to the front of the barn, ready for action.
Which is where it sits. Because last week we were blessed with a string of beautiful cool and dry days, so I took advantage and spent each day catching up on the mowing and weed-eating around the farm. Now, thanks to all of that work, I can see clearly the spreader and also my new, hefty pile of wood chips. But alas, it is now hay cutting season. Perhaps I’ll be cleaning the barn in October?
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Reading this week: On The Border With Crook (J. Bourke). The Seven Ranges: ground zero for the staging of America (W. Hoyt)
I FEEL your pain!
Before we bought our farm, I always wondered why farms were invariably so cluttered. Little did I know that they’re all time-sucking black holes.
But in a good way, right? At least I’m telling myself that each day.
I’m not sure if it’s possible to have too many chainsaws, Brian. My current cohort – what would be the collective noun? a whine of chainsaws? an agony of chainsaws? a frustration of chainsaws? a inoperability of chainsaws? – includes an AEG battery model which is light and easy to carry around and use on smaller logs, trimming branches etc, a medium sized Huskie workhorse with a 60cm bar, a Stihl 660 which I bought for chainsaw milling with a 100cm bar but haven’t used much recently and the largest Huskie forestry saw which I bought for crosscutting big logs into rounds for woodworking but have been too terrified to use.
I have an excellent,cheap small motor mechanic close by who does engine etc maintenance. I sharpen with some success but get the chains sharpened every now and then by aforementioned fella.
We are heading into what looks like it will be a brute of a summer. So fire preparedness by keeping grass etc under control is front of mind.
It’s possible I might have one or two pieces of equipment in the hayshed that need attention. We had a very long, tough Covid lockdown that restricted getting around to do stuff. Time to get things sorted.
Per your recommendation, I am mulling over adding an electric limbing saw to the mix. I do have an old cross-cut saw, though, in case all else fails.
Hoping your wildfire season is minimal,
Brian
The Huski battery saw seems to get generally good reviews. But isn’t cheap. Ego battery saw might be a cheaper option.
Bought the AEG in 2017. Ego wasn’t available in Australia at that time. State of the art has improved since then. I haven’t kept up with AEG saws.
5-7 year warranty on battery is handy.
If you have rooftop solar – very common in Australia but less so in the US where for some reason it’s 2-3x the price it is here – charging the battery from onsite free power is very satisfying.
Consider buying two batteries so you can swap out in the field and keep on cuttin’ when you flatten the first battery.
The battery gets warm as it discharges. Best to avoid use on a hot day as the battery management system will turn itself off if the battery gets too hot.
It is nice being out in the trees without billowing clouds of 2-stroke smoke and a saw that’s quiet when you’re moving rounds, limbs etc
I’ve found the AEG fine cutting up to about 15cm diameter of green hardwood.
David,
Good info, that helps. In return, I’d suggest buying an electric chainsaw sharpener. In the US this one is available (https://www.harborfreight.com/electric-chain-saw-sharpener-63803.html). It is inexpensive and a variation on what your buddy uses to resharpen your chains (I’m betting).
As for solar, we aren’t really interested in simple and affordable in this country. We prefer large, bloated, expensive, with vast cost overruns, and short operating lifespans. And, as a bonus, hopefully something that needs a remote work-from-home member of the Federal bureaucracy to guide us through the complexities and paperwork.
Cheers,
Brian
Lawks! That sounds like our utility scale stuff here but rooftop at residential scale is generally straightforward.
Installer will organise all the paperwork as part of the install price.
Larger residential systems can raise some issues with maximum export.
I’ll have a look at one of those sharpeners. My sister and I just inherited half of my parents’ farm. Excellent sheds and a lot of shelterbelt timber that falls over regularly into paddocks and across tracks. So will be using a saw even more.
Re my previously mentioned sister the chef, what do you think about this list of Southern recipes?
https://www.southernliving.com/food/dish/famous-southern-food-recipes
and I’m rereading Noodling for Flatheads:
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/burkhard-bilger/noodling-for-flatheads/
Maybe you could do a blog post sometime on a recommended Southern reading list?
I’ve seen the film of Where the Red Fern Grows. I should read the book.
David,
Food: The Southern cooking website is decent. It has a lot of classic dishes, albeit with modern twists (which is not always a bad thing). I’d suggest two books:
1. Butterbeans to Blackberries: recipes from the Southern garden (R. Lundy). This book gets to the heart and soul of good Southern cooking, the garden.
2. A Gracious Plenty: recipes and recollections from the American South (J.T. Edge). This collection draws on local and regional cookbooks, of the type usually produced by ladies auxiliaries to raise money. As such it gives you a terrific range of regional dishes.
A couple of things to keep in mind about Southern cooking. The South is a huge and varied region. Even in a narrowly defined area like south-west Louisiana there will be as many variations on classic dishes as there are cooks. The other is that good Southern cooking is about using what is at hand that you have raised, grown, caught, or shot.
Southern Fiction: again, there is no monolithic South. The literature is vast. I’ve been rereading Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi, which is always fascinating and captures a world where we now only currently live in the ruins. But here are a few different favorite titles that resonate with me:
1. All the King’s Men (R. P. Warren): it is called the definitive book about American politics. But is also the definitive book about Louisiana politics and is simply majestic in the scope, beauty, and tragedy as the story unfolds. A favorite I need to reread.
2. To Kill a Mockingbird (H. Lee): a beautiful pre-war look at small-town life (and much else) in a small Southern town. A book that has become too popular that no one experiences without preconceptions, unfortunately.
3. A Lesson Before Dying (E. Gaines): an intimate portrait of the complex world of the black and white communities in a rural Louisiana parish, centered around an ignorant young black man sentenced to die, and the educated black man “sentenced” to impart learning and pride to him before he is executed.
4. Port William Novels & Stories: The Civil War to World War 2 (W. Berry): until this Library of America volume came out, I had never read any Berry fiction. What a mistake. Even at 985 pages it is way too short. I am eagerly waiting for the second volume.
Finally, you mentioned the movie Where the Red Fern Grows. The book is definitely worth a read. It was one of those children’s books that I read a number of times. But I’m sure it would still hold up if one read it again as an adult. And no doubt would still make me tear up at the end.
Cheers,
Brian