An Orchard fit for Owen

Back on the farm in Peru my little orchard was one of the star features.  I built a fence around the whole orchard mapped it out and planted the best trees and carefully trimmed them and mowed around them keeping the orchard beautiful. 

For a very short time I fell behind mowing the orchard when I sold my big mower that I was using and I was even willing to mow the knee deep grass with a push mower to keep my trees looking nice.  None of my trees were big enough for me to get any fruit off from them before I sold the property but the new owner was almost as excited about the orchard as I was when I first put it in.

In my first orchard I had two pear trees, two apple trees, a cherry tree and two peach trees with room for two more trees inside the fence.  With my new orchard I got all of the same trees except I traded out the peach trees for plum trees.  I love peach slices but I have a hard time eating them straight off the tree because the fuzz on the peaches.  We are going to get some peach trees eventually because Allyssia likes them and she will make peach jam and cobbler and other assorted goodies.

The other big difference is that this orchard isn't fenced in.  For my old orchard I got all of the chain link fence for free and the new owners wanted to keep it.  Up in Peru the fence was really needed because I wasn't there all the time and so the animals could do a lot of damage without anyone noticing..

So again with careful planning and measuring we started our new orchard.  In an earlier blog I mapped out where the orchard was going to lie and we stayed pretty true to the map.  The orchard area has been a work in progress as it was one of the first places that I sickle mowed and have since been keeping it mowed with the zero-turn. 

I have two rows of trees running parallel with the road.  The trees came from Starks Brothers as bare root, pruned trees.  That means that there are no leaves on the tree so that in this first year the tree will focus on putting in a good root system rather than trying to grow leaves and fruit.  A couple of my trees came from Robin's Flower Pot, they have leaves and came with a big root ball in a plant pot.
It was quite the family event with Cricket even participating in the tree planting fun,even though she thought they were sticks to try to play with

All of the trees went in well even though in some parts the soil was not the best.  We did mix some fertilizer in with the topsoil when back filling the hole as well as a root growth helper. 

As you can see Cricket is trying to figure out why she can't chew on the leafy stick and really can't figure out why it is getting stuck in the ground straight up.
After planting I got rid of all the sod chunks that were left over, raked around the trees and added a thick layer of shavings around them to keep the moisture in.  When I get the time I am going to get a truckload of wood chips from my brother to mulch around the trees and Allyssia's hydrangea bushes.
Luckily it has been raining since I planted the trees and they haven't needed much extra water but only time will tell if they will take root and flourish. 

And there they are all planted and ready to grow. I am hoping that they will grow as good as my Peru orchard did and in a few years I will have blooming, producing fruit trees.  As always check back often and let me know how I am doing and what you think of the farm!

Case Sickle Mowers?!

When asked what the purpose of all my old tractors are, I am usually happy to reply that I just like to drive them around. With that being true I love it even more when I have a task for my old equipment.  I brought Old Smokey home because I love the tractor itself and it has a lot of sentimental value.  I also have a properly dated Case Sickle mower that goes on it.  I showed the picture earlier of Grampa digging the mower off from the stone wall where it sat for over twenty years.  I got the mower home, hooked up, and properly lubricated and it worked decently until the Pittman arm end broke.

 
Since this mower is from the 50's this part is very obscure and nobody can find one for me, so I did what any respectable man would do and I bought a whole new sickle mower.  The new one is a 7 foot mower compared to Grampa's old 6 footer.



The new mower is a case mower as well but it was made to go on a VAC case so it fits a little bit differently.  It was a bit of a pain to get on the tractor but with Allyssia's help we got it on. 

The new mower is complete with the part on the end of the mower to clear the grass off from the end of the blade.  There are a few quirks to this mower such as it doesn't angle up when you lift it off the ground - but that is fixable.  After getting some new Pittman arms made, I cut one to length, installed it on the new mower and got to test it out.  It worked great for almost a whole minute until I hit a t-post with the end of the sickle and shattered the Pittman arm.  After cutting, drilling, and installing a new arm I was able to mow just like new again.

This new mower does well in the thick tall hay because it has the serrated cutter teeth and rock guards.  After mowing for a good hour I happened to break the opposite Pittman arm end.  It had been welded before and I believe that weakened it considerably.  Now I am back to waiting for Wayne to weld the ends back up so that I can go back to mowing. 

      Case DC with EH7 sickle mower

So while I wait for the parts I am working and dreaming of mowing some more.  I have quite a few projects going now that I will share with you all very soon. Be prepared for a rapid succession of blog posts over he next few days.
  Until then stay tuned and make sure to let me know what you think.

A NEW Lawnmower

Now today I don't have the word New in the title capitalized for nothing.  I am trying to tell you all that we have a brand new machine at the house. I am the type that even if an old tractor doesn't leave the finest of cuts or look pretty, I still love to mow with it.  There are times that (even though it doesn't make sense) you spend more time getting the tractor running than you do mowing.  Especially now where we have a huge lawn and I cant just push mow it when my big tractor decides not to run. 

For the last few years I have mowed with my Bolens Groundskeeper.  Not this tractor is a great tractor but it is also from 1968.  It is a tired old tractor and it is rather rigged up to start so Allyssia is not overly attracted to mowing the lawn with it.  Because of that I had been mowing the lawn until all hell broke loose and the mower deck broke down.  I fixed the deck and not ten minutes later the tractor died and refused to start back up.  That of course was the last straw and I vowed that we were going to get a mower that worked consistently with a warranty and then Allyssia could mow the lawn.

After talking to my brother who had just bought a Simplicity, we tested his and decided that was the mower for us!!  After waiting through the long holiday weekend (Memorial Day)  Allyssia and I went to Manchester Motors on Tuesday afternoon.  We didn't even have to test the tractors as we knew what we wanted so, we signed paperwork and bought a zero turn!  Allyssia took the truck and trailer to work the next day to pick it up so that guaranteed that she would be the first to mow with it.

Sure enough I got home and she already had over an hour on the darn thing.  I couldn't even kick her off because I had to hook onto the lawn sweeper with the three wheeler and sweep up the clippings because the lawn had gotten so tall.  I did a little video review of the tractor for any of you looking into a zero turn.  Grampa even went out and bought himself one!
                                                            Simplicity Tractor Review
Even with a brand new tractor in the picture my old Bolens isn't junk yet.  I replaced all of the belts on the mower deck and changed the points and condenser to get the tractor running again and I will continue using it to mow the lower field and the path down to the lower field and stream.  With the six foot cut on my Bolens compared to the fifty two inches on the new Simplicity I can mow the large flat field considerably quicker but around the house the zero turn is much more maneuverable.

          So for the first time ever I think we have a brand new piece of equipment on the farm!
                            As always stay tuned for more excitement and check back often.  

A Short Video Tour

Today's post will be a short one with a video link.  I took my mini truck on a nice little trip around the property.  I had to avoid one whole side of the property as it is still wet and I am trying not to rut it up any more than I have so far.  As a matter of fact I am actively fixing and filling in the ruts that I have already caused.                              
                                                      A Bongo Truck Video tour
One of my favorite parts of the property aside from my very own garage of course is the stream!  We drove the whole length of the stream where it borders the property and every inch of it is just so calming and peaceful.  Down on the corner of the stream we want to build a gazebo this summer and have a nice fire pit. The small black square in the corner is the tentative spot for the Gazebo.

Overall for a thirteen acre lot it is more than big enough for us and everything is just so beautiful.  The fields are perfect for the horses and there is still enough room for me to play around mowing plowing and just plain out driving around. It could be argued that I do a lot of just driving around but I enjoy it.  I also did a little ride around on Old Smokey because I couldn't resist. 
                                                                  Video tour via Old Smokey
 I am also ordering all of my fruit trees to plant along the road in that smaller section of field.  On the picture the little blue ovals are where the fruit trees will be.  Very slowly we are making the place ours!  Stay tuned and remember to check back often.  and be sure to check out the YouTube Links

Not just Another Dead Tractor

So you all must remember a few weeks ago Grampa and I pushed and pulled Old Smokie onto the trailer and hauled it home.  When I got it home I rode Old Smokie off the trailer and with the pickup pulled it into a parking spot to work on it.  The day after Smokie was home I pulled the carburetor off and tore it down to soak in sea foam.  After the carburetor was off it set for almost a week before I continued.  When I did continue I pieced the carburetor back together and tore into the magneto and made sure there was proper spark.  Doing all of that did get Old Smokie running but only temporarily.  The tractor would run just enough to drive around the yard and then die.  Since I only had two gallons of gas in the tank I decided to drain the tank to see if it was a fuel issue.  As I was pulling all of the fuel line apart I saw this - boy what a shock.

The fuel line came out of the tank with a 3/8" ninety and nipple and was plugged solid.  After draining the tank and rinsing it with kerosene and then gas to clean the rest of the debris and rust out I started re-piping the fuel line.  I wanted to get rid of the solid line to make servicing easier.  I did keep it as original as I could and left the sediment bowl but added a fuel filter for extra protection.

Once the fuel line was changed we were in business and I drove around for around half an hour and Allyssia even took a turn on it.  The tractor runs great now and even though the steering is a bit wonky I had it all around the field.  Now that Smokie is running right I have been driving all over the farm with it. 
                                                  Case Model DC A.K.A Old Smokie
Sorry for such a time between posts but we have been busy at the farm here and along with busy we have been tired and out late! As usual check back often and leave a comment when you can!

Suddenly a Garden Shed Appears

Over the past weekend Allyssia and I started to plant our garden.  As usual my old equipment came to save the day and I rototilled the garden with my old custom Bolens garden tractor.

It is a small little tractor but since I did the diesel engine swap the tractor has been extremely reliable and the best little tractor that I have.

There are so many attachments that come with the Bolens tube frame but all I have is the rototiller the plow and a nice sleeve hitch with a Brinley land plow.





We started planting the garden and of course did not get the garden planted and in the process of planting we had quite a few tools strewn down to the garden and I had to carry them back and fourth to the garage.  Its not like I had to work hard though because I had the bongo truck but I like to think that I had to work hard.  So to save myself all kinds of time and work I spent two days of hard work to build a shed to save some time.  Once built I tipped it onto the bongo truck with the sides down and headed to where it was going to sit.

The shed didnt cost very much to build.  All that I really have in it is the screws.  All of the 2x4's Grampa sawed out as well as the pine boards.  The roofing was left over from another project and was just big enough to fit. 

I didn't have to strap it on because I was only going a a short way but it did want to bounce around. 






I build a little pad out of cinder blocks and set the shed on the cinder blocks.  Even though the shed was a little crooked the pad was level and made up for it. 

As you can see it seems like a lot of work but I swear that this is going to make it easier. 

After the shed was set we could get back to the garden three days later!  We bought a seeder and went to town seeding.  We did buy a bunch of pre-started plants but everything else is just seeds for now.

Now that Its all planted it's just time to to wait for the seeds to sprout and then on to the weeding.  I don't mind weeding but Allyssia hates it!  Anyhow that's it for now but I have better things coming later this week! Stay tuned and check back often!!