Another Great Migration

The Timberlake Farm Stand has finally arrived at the Rusty Gold Farm!!  Saturday morning started out as normal as you would expect around here, Allyssia left for a clinic in New Gloucester at five thirty and for once I slept in!  So at seven thirty sharp I was up and about.  Cricket and I took care of the horses, gathered up supplies and headed for Livermore Falls.  We made a few pit stops to deliver eggs to a few of our customers and switched into the rack truck at work.  We grabbed the rack truck for the winch that hooks into the tow hitch.  Once we had done all of the things it was time to finally meet Grampa at the old house and load the stand on the trailer.

I used the truck to move it away from the road and into the open where Grampa could back the trailer up to it.  For its size the Farm Stand is surprisingly light and easy to maneuver with just a long pry bar. 









The loading went so quick once we hooked the winch on that I completely missed the opportunity to take pictures.  We were expecting hours to load it but it took us less than ten minutes.  Unfortunately we had to load it with the pitch of the roof facing backwards so strapping the stand proved semi difficult.  But after a short time strapping and chaining it was on the road.







The left picture is what we were going to call good as far as the strapping but we were worried about the roof so we threw a chain and ratchet strap over the roofing to hold it on and keep it from becoming a giant kite. 







Now especially after it loading so easily I for one thought that the unloading was going to be horror.  My father came up to help us unload it and again to my surprise it unloaded with ease.

 We used pry bars and two by sixes to slide the stand down the trailer ramps and once the back was on the ground we drove the trailer out from under the remaining bit. 

 For Saturday I was done with the Farm Stand.  I started on other projects and still had time to get quite a bit of work done.  In the rest of the day I hauled some hay,  ripped up some old chicken fencing, and helped my boss out a little bit.  Sunday morning started like Saturday did except after chores I was staying home to jack the Farm Stand onto some cinder blocks.  These two pictures show the beginning of it and for a while it wasn't pretty. Luckily I have done a little bit of shed moving with other family members so it turned out all right

And around noon time we had our finished product.  Cricket looked just perfect on the Farm Stand.  Now we are just waiting for the soil in the garden to dry a little so that we can plant and start selling out of the cutest little Farm Stand in town!

So Remember to check back often we have so much more exciting happenings going on here and to top it off more cute pictures of Cricket.  Until next time leave a comment and let me know what you think. 

A Rainy Day Update

So its raining here and even though I have this amazing little garage to work in the rain really kills my motivation to work.  Since I am not getting anything done you would think that there is nothing to post about?  Here at the Rusty Gold Farm there is constantly something at least mildly exciting going on.  In the course of a week I do a lot and if I were to write it all on here I would have 500 posts by now and many of them would be semi boring.  All that aside this week I finally hauled a few more tractors onto a trailer and home. 

The front tractor was the first Articulated Bolens tractor that I bought.  I put a lot of time and money into that one and when I got it, the tractor was non running and had no attachments.  The one on the back of the trailer is more or less my parts machine and was the last of the articulated tractors that I bought.  That one was bought mainly for the mower deck and the cab doors. 

A good amount of the parts from the number three machine are gong towards keeping this machine running.  This was the second articulated tractor I bought and it came with a working snowblower and a mower deck that was in sad shape.  I combined the best parts of both mower decks to make the one functioning one that I had just put on the tractor in this picture.

The Bolens Groundskeeper is one of my favorite tractors that I own.  They are so fun to steer and drive and mowing with them is an absolute joy.  The snowblowing part leaves a little bit to be desired but that is to be expected from a two wheel drive machine when you live on a hill.



This particular tractor mows great with the new rebuilt mower deck.  My welder Wayne Adams At Mid State Welding built up and balanced the specialty center blades with stainless steel rod to make the tractor mow better than ever.  to top it off the blades are probably stronger than ever.

 On a note that is not Bolens Groundskeeper tractors, I bought a hot water pressure washer as well.I have always wanted one of these and have many times traveled around to use pressure

washers at different friends places.  I got this one for the right price since the burner doesn't work.   That sounds like it could be a problem except for the fact that I am an oil burner repair man.  I have given it a quick look over and I have tested the pump and boy doesn't it put out some pressure.  It will come in handy for cleaning the mud off from the bongo truck and washing the grease and grime off from all of my tractors, especially before I work on them to keep myself a little bit cleaner.



There will be more on this later once the burner is running and when there is a 220v outlet in my shop or one on the porch that I can hook it up to.

But for tonight I am calling it a close and I will be back soon.  Check back often and don't be afraid to leave me a comment to let me know what you think.  I always love input and new ideas!. take care and come back often!

How Many is to Many

Last week I had a week moment and went out and bought myself a new bongo truck because who doesn't need two mini trucks.  In all reality my old mini truck is sadly going up for sale.  It has been a great truck but it being two wheel drive has really put a damper on it's usefulness up on the new farm. 

I have done a lot with the old mini truck and I will most definitely miss it but there comes a time when you have to upgrade.  This old truck had a three cylinder engine with three speed transmission where the new truck has a bigger three cylinder engine and a four speed transmission with high and low range.












The new truck is also in much better shape cosmetically.  My old one here had sustained an accident of sorts and the front end was pretty beat up.   Since the engine is under the seat the only thing that was damaged was the front panels.  I fixed the lights and front bumper and was using it as the farm runabout with no problem.  This new one is all in working order and aside from a few paint blemishes there are no problems at all. 

My old one as can be seen here was a "high top" version.  It had a taller roof and more room in the cab.  The seats aren't nearly as comfortable as the new truck's sears but it was left hand drive so it had that going for it.  I did do a small walk around video to show off the new truck.
                                                      Mini Truck Walk Around
Now somebody has to answer the question! How many mini trucks is to many mini trucks?As the summer progresses the new truck will be featured a lot in many posts doing the hard work it was meant to do.  Until then stay tuned and be ready for more posts!

The First Modification But Not The Last

As promised I have a super video of my new wood splitter taking on some real good sized oak logs and a nice little commentary on how well it works.  As well as the splitter working I have the awesome modification I added to my Supersplit to show off.   Today I am going to end with the video but start with some pictures of the splitter and the Log lift I added to it to make my job easier. 

Here it is! As far as I am concerned probably one of the best attachments I could possibly add to this already amazing machine.  It is made by a different company but it bolted on with just a few small holes and some slight modification to the work table. 

 
On the left is the worktable that had to be removed from the machine to drill holes in the I-Beam and to cut a few small notches in the table.  At the top of the table I had to take just under half an inch off from the table and then a two inch chunk out of the that you can see.  In hindsight that hole could have been slightly smaller but it doesn't hurt the operation at all.  The picture on the right starring my favorite Honda 250sx three wheeler is showing off how wide the log lift makes the splitter for transport.  The lift is also removable with three super easy pins. 

When first fitting it on Allyssia had to come out to the shop and help remove the work table.  It is a fairly heavy chunk of steel and when removing it you also remove the bolts holding the leg onto the splitter. 

Now for what I promised a video of the splitter making light work of some larger logs and the log lift taking the hard work out of getting those logs onto the splitter. 
                                                 Modified Supersplit with Log Lift
I hope you all enjoyed the video.  My video taking skills are getting better and my GoPro makes it so easy to do.  The editing once I have them on the computer is another story but I get it there so I must be doing alright.  As always check back often and with spring coming there will be lots of new projects. 

And a Few Days Later, Unloaded at Home

Sunday we made it home from Pennsylvania late in the afternoon.  Cricket was just overjoyed to see us and almost couldn't contain her excitement (and neither could Allyssia).  This is only her second time being away from us for more than the day and the first time since being in the new house. 

She even came to help unload and welcome the new tractor.  I was in a bit of a predicament unloading the Quadractor as I don't have a big enough tractor to lift it up like we did when loading it.  I decided to unload it using a chain fall from the rafters of Allyssia's indoor arena.

The Quadractor came home with the side covers strapped on but they had to be removed for the unloading process.  With the side and front panels off I was able to use some three inch tow straps to lift it.  Now the rigging was not amazing but as you can see it held up and lifted the Quadractor very evenly up.
                                                 Success Unloading the New Quadractor
After getting it out of the truck the front tires had to go back on and having it slung from the ceiling was the perfect time to do it.  I was able to work at an ideal height. 

Now some of you might notice that I tied a knot in the straps to make them shorter so that my chain fall would lift it high enough. If your not careful this can ruin your strap and make that know near impossible to get out.  What I do in cases like this is place a small chunk of dowel into the center of the knot when tightening it up and then it can be pulled out after dong what you need to do. This leaves you with some slack to loosen the rest of the knot. I probably wouldn't suggest this when picking up real heavy items but the Quadractor weighs less than 500 pounds so it didn't bother the straps. 





Side note here, It looks like Allyssia's indoor is full of my junk but that was all temporary while we were gone to keep it all out of the snow and under cover. 

Another thing to note is that the straps were held under the machine on their correct ends so that they could not slide to the center and let the Quadractor flip.  Again I must say just how surprised I am that it unloaded as easily as it did.  I was worried that it was going to be a production and was thinking about taking Grampa up on his offer to bring it there and unload it from the truck with his tractor and set it on the trailer. 

When it was finally unloaded it needed to be removed from the indoor and what better tool to use to move a Quadractor, than a Quadractor!  With the tow truck boom on my running tractor it was a cinch to pull the new Quadractor over in front of the garage so that I can work on it. 

And finally the three point hitch.  This was a big part of why I wanted this tractor is for the hitch.  I will end up putting that on my running machine.  I might even attempt to turn this Quadractor into a runable machine but that is a decision for another day,  As for me I am just happy to have it home and have a second Quadractor.  Stay tuned later this week when I have my wood splitter review and I split some real logs with it to show off my modifications to it.  Stay tuned and check back often!

On the Road For Rusty Gold

With over a month in planning - on Friday, Allyssia and I started out on a long distance tractor acquisition trip.  It started when I was surfing Craigslist and came across a tractor that I just had to have.  The biggest problem with this tractor was it's location.  At nine hours away in Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania I had a bit of a predicament. 

As you can see it is a heck of a trip down here but your asking what could possibly be worth driving that far to get?  Well, it is nothing short of a Quadractor!!

This Quadractor was used quite hard but it is still a great find.  The gentleman I bought it from was a dealer back when Quadractor was first made.  He used this machine for years on his own woodlot hauling firewood. 
The best part of this particular Quadractor is the factory three point hitch and spare parts.  When I showed up the owner of the Quadractor had the tires inflated after twenty years of sitting and had it hooked up to his tractor like shown to the left. 
A little side note here, if you all couldn't tell the truck in the picture is not my truck, but Grampa's truck.  His truck is better on fuel mileage a lot more comfortable for long trips, plus the cruise control works.  So thankfully Grampa let me borrow his truck and all his ratchet straps for the trip. 












What you see here is just the bare tractor but he did have the two side panels two front hoods and a tailgate as well as chains for all four tires. 

We tried to fit the tractor in the truck bed but even though I measured my tractor at home this one would not fit.  We started out by taking just the ditch side front tire off to get it to fit but I was worried about tearing the bed liner up because it was still tight so we removed the drivers side front tire as well.

After removing both front tires it became a problem rolling it forward in the truck so we put some boards under the hubs and up over the wheel wells for the hubs to slide up.  Bill then picked the rear of the Quadractor by the three point hitch and slowly pushed it forward. 

Luckily the Quadractor was built to be a light machine so it was easy to pick up and move around the bed of the truck.  We left the rear wheels on and left them setting on the tailgate and strapped it like that.  I also put a load lock behind the front two axle mechanisms.  After it was loaded I put the side panels on and strapped them to the machine.  Tomorrow morning I will post a short update with some more pictures of the 3 point hitch and the tractor completely loaded and strapped.  We still have a five hour drive ahead of us from Coxsackie, New York.  I am very excited to get the three point hitch on my Quadractor and get this one unloaded and assess it a little more.

Still Working at it Slowly

Slowly we are making progress around the farm. With the snow melting and the days getting warmer and staying light later I am able to work on all of the things more.  I have been cleaning the indoor out so that Allyssia can start riding and teaching lessons.  She has gotten Gina out riding in the arena a couple times since. 

Gina really likes the indoor and it keeps them both out of the wind!
I hauled two full loads of scrap wood to the dump out of the indoor and kept a huge pile of wood for some of my own projects.  There was also shelving that went into my garage and lots and lots of chicken wire that I relocated.

 We still have some leveling to do with a bigger tractor but I was able to do quite a bit with just my little skid steer.  We also got a spike drag to dig up the arena footing a little bit.  The drag was from my Grampa and it works excellent.  It is smaller than my homemade drag which we will see in a later post but for the indoor it works great. 

 The warm weather is most definitely a leading factor in all the work that is getting done here at the farm.  Allyssia is out riding again and we got out fence posts home to start fencing soon. 

It looks like a huge pile of fence posts because it is a huge pile of fence posts. There are two hundred and fifty two posts in all and once the ground is thawed - all of them will be in the ground with electric fence wire on it. 







Lastly for today is a quick video of Allyssia and Gina on their first ride down Webster road together.  The road is bumpy enough that people go slow and don't bother the horses when they go by. 

In the coming weeks there are a few updates that you can expect around here! 
Number one I have already modified my wood splitter for the better and I will be doing a YouTube review on it.
Two, Allyssia and I are going on a trip this weekend chasing after some rusty gold (I wonder what it is).
Three, the start of the mudroom project, the windows came in so now I have to start working on it.  Four, Fencing when the frost is out of the ground.
Lastly my mobile chicken coop and some more tractors will be moving north to their new home.  So stay tuned and check back often to see whats going on here at the Rusty Gold Farm.