Hurricane Farm

A while back I was stuck in the mud with my Farmall Cub tractor.  I was furiously running the throttle up and down, back and forth trying to get enough momentum to break free and get the tractor moving forward instead of downward into the mud.  I eventually drove out (with the help of some come-alongs), but I had bent the throttle rod slightly.  I thought that I could bend it back, but when I tried the throttle adjusting lever that connects the rod to the governor broke off.  Ooops! 

The solution at the time was a washer and some cold welding compound.  I used J-B Weld, which seems to always do the trick.  The first two photos show the piece with the welded washer. 

This worked for a while, but I knew that I had to get in there and put a new piece in before the snow starts to fall and before it gets too cold to want to mess around with small parts under the hood of an antique tractor.

The unfortunate thing was...I had to remove the hood/gas tank to get the old part off.  After unhooking the lights and a few bolts, off came the hood.

While I was in there I was able to tighten up a squeaking belt by adjusting the alternator, so I was able to get two tasks done at once.

I wanted to replace the belt on the alternator, but that required removing the fan, the main drive belt, and a bunch of other things that were in the way.  Simply tightening the belt, however, worked out in the long run. 

Once I had the hood off, I thought that I could easily slip off the broken piece on the throttle lever/governor unit.  No so.  I had to take off the entire governor.  I was a bit nervous, but it went right back together.  I snapped several photos to be sure to have evidence of where everything went in case I got lost on the re-assembly.

I wish I had the luxury of having the hood off when I was wiring the tractor up for lights, switches, and the amp meter...everything is so easy to get to!  I remember bashing my knuckles trying to remove the manifold with the hood on.  It would have been alot easier with the tractor like this!

Here is a close-up of the welded piece.  It served its purpose, but I didn't think it would last the winter with the workout that plowing snow puts on the tractor.

Below is the new piece all attached and ready to receive the throttle rod.  They don't manufacture this piece anymore, but I was able to find a used one, all sand-blasted and painted, from a used tractor parts dealer in Texas.

The next shot shows the extent of my dismantling...I had to remove lots of parts--parts that were not even near the area that I was working on.  Amazing engineering on these little tractors.

Here is the governor just about to be pushed back together.  It was a perfect fit, lucky for me.

While the throttle rod was unattached, I was able to straighten it out.  Now that everything is back together, the throttle travels the full range perfectly.  Also, no more alternator belt squeal! 

Bring on the snow!

Just got word today from a wood-cutter friend several towns over that he has 76 more cedar logs for us. 

Perfect timing for some of my upcoming building projects.  I was starting to use up the first load with all the fencing that we put up in our satellite field and with the construction of the sugaring pavillion.

Now I can build pole buildings in each of the pasture areas for the livestock who stay out all summer as well as a nice lean-to alongside the brook out in the woods.  Everyone should have a nice quiet place in nature to which to escape--even if for a few moments.

If I have enough larger logs, I might even get a start on the hay shed and the machine shed (my Farmall Cub would surely be happy to be in out of the elements!).

We finally found someone to shear our sheep.  We'd placed an ad and had several reponses, but people tend to get busy, time slips by, and before you know it the sheep are sporting dreadlocks.  (And not the nice ones like Erica's!)

We eventually found a "shearer" through our friends at Terrabyte Farm in Canterbury, CT who was not only willing to come over, but who was interested in bartering for some of our meats as well.  Nice.

We ended up with a couple of usable fleeces, and the rest went to various other uses, including bedding for the cat, nesting for some birds, and unknown uses by whatever animal dragged it off into the wetlands (whatever it was left a nice trail, though).

I won't go into the details of our own attempts to shear the sheep in the past.  Suffice it to say we used the old-fashioned hand shears and took about 1000% longer than we should.  We gave it our best, a couple of times even.  But now that we have so many other tasks to keep up with on the farm it was not practical for us to spend so much time at what ended up taking a "real shearer" only a few minutes.

Our "shearer" will return in the Spring to take care of the fleeces on the lambs.  And so the cycle continues.

Is there a term that I should be using instead of "shearer"?  Maybe.  But I kind of like the sound of "shearer."

Hello electric shears!

Erica returned to WNPR, Connecticut Public Radio, on Monday, November 9th.  Find the link to a recording of the interview segment here.

She was involved in an engaging discussion about the feasibility of eating meat with author Jonathan Safran Foer.  The discussion of his new book Eating Animals provided an opportunity to juxtapose the sustainable practices of local farmers with the ecologically unsound practices of large factory farms.

On Friday, November 6th, my wife Erica was a guest on the Colin McEnroe show on WNPR, Connecticut Public Radio.  She discussed our farm, the farming life, and locally raised meats. 

You can find the link to stream a recording of the radio show here.  It went well and she was invited back for a segment with Jonathan Safran Foer, author of the new book Eating Animals.  They had an engaging conversation that aired today.  Link to follow.

The days are getting shorter.  So much in fact that we had to carve our annual Halloween pumpkins by lamplight at 3:00 in the afternoon!  Overcast conditions coupled with Standard Daylight Time makes for some early evenings.

The kids and I worked hard to open up and empty out the squash while Erica was at the smokehouse picking up the latest round of bacon and ham.  The kids were especially attentive to the separation of the meat from the seeds.  They love roasted pumpkin seeds.  Amost as much as the hogs love the rest of the pumpkins!

We grew many different types of pumpkins this year, including a unique heirloom "Cinderella" variety.  The sugar pumpkin that Violet is working on in the above photo earned me an "I told you so" upon Erica's return.  It seems that we were saving all the sugar pumpkins for pies.  Violet had mentioned something about not carving those...ooops. 

The pumpkin scrapers that the kids are using above were given to them for Christmas by their Aunt Julie.  I had no idea where they were but Violet and Liev found them on their first attempt.  Maybe I'll get the two of them to organize my sock drawer.

We carved a few on our own, and then when Erica returned the fancy carving began.  Erica has made some elaborate carvings in the past, including a sweet "PHISH" logo (google it, it looked just like that!), a pumpkin that sported our name, HURRICANE FARM, and a scary witch this year.

The kids have their own carving tools and they did an excellent job on their very own Jack-O-Lantern designs.

They worked for hours on about 10 or so pumpkins.  I think that they have me licked on this.  The one that I carved pales in comparison to the masterpieces the rest of the family created.  Spooky!  Scary!  Funny!  Check out Liev's with the four square eyes (bottom right below).  The witch on a broomstick is in the top right.

And there they are, hard at work keeping evil spirits at bay, welcoming wayward trick-or-treaters, and serving as the sole beacon of light in the ever-increasing darkness of Standard Daylight Time.