2024, animals, Farming Update, home, Seasons, Technology

January

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

Well, now it looks and feels like January in Minnesota. Snow and cold and we haven’t seen the sun in weeks. 

Days like this, I don’t miss the cow chores. Taking care of the chickens fills me with a sense of satisfaction like I used to get from the cows, without nearly the amount of work. With the cold weather predicted I’ll need to pay more attention to keeping the chickens water bucket filled. They drink a surprising amount in a day. It’s fun to watch them drink; they take “sips”, then tip their head back to swallow. Repeat. Just now I googled “how do chickens drink” and it says they don’t have an epiglottis, and their tongue isn’t helpful in this regard, so,… gravity. Google also says chickens drink about a pint or more per day. That means my 45 chickens are going through 5.6 gallons / day. Which seems about right. And with them staying inside more with the snow and cold, it’s a good thing we have a heated bucket. And I’ll need to collect eggs more often before they freeze. 

I’ve ordered seed, fertilizer, and chemicals for spring, so that’s encouraging and exciting and a sign this snow and cold will end. Prices, jeepers. Corn seed is about $300 / bag and plants about 2.5 acres. Soybeans are $60 / bag and does about 1 acre. Oats is $13/ bag and does less than an acre. I don’t even want to tell you how much the fertilizer and spraying totals. It’s over $26,000.  Sigh. And I’m a small farmer! It’s crazy. 

Last week talking about clocks and I should have included this one. I inherited this clock at the college. It was in a cabinet, so it came with the place. 

Peter Max design. Ebay shows them at $600. That’s the thing about Ebay; just because they list that amount doesn’t mean anyone has PAID that amount. 

This cleaver (knife) has been hanging in the machine shed for years.  

I recently found it hanging on a nail in a back corner. And considering it’s been there a long time, it’s in really good shape. What’s the best way to ‘preserve’ it or save it? Oil the wooden handle? Remove the rust on the blade? I don’t know what I would ever do with it besides hang it on a wall, and I’m not up on my antiques. The only printing on it says “Genuine Warranty” and below that a numeral 8. Eight inch blade. I suggested to my family that it’s the actual knife dad dropped on his head when he was 4 years old that he said his mother poured Absorbine Jr. on his head and wrapped it with brown paper, see the scar?? My siblings were dubious and pointed out it was a hatchet, not a knife that he says he split his head with. Spoil sports. 

Tell a story about being groovy. Or a knife story. 

64 thoughts on “January”

  2. Unlikely I was ever groovy. Anyway, I don’t think you’re allowed to claim grooviness for yourself.

    When my Dad died, I inherited a small 6-drawer wooden cabinet with a tambour front that had belonged to my grandfather, who died in 1952. It was full of miscellaneous stuff and my father had kept it untouched, exactly as it had been at his father’s death. A shrine of sorts.

    I had long been fascinated by the cabinet, not least by its time capsule qualities, but with my father’s passing I was the last person with any living memory of my grandfather. Much of the cabinet’s contents were odd bits of hardware but there were a few interesting items, including some green Lucky Strike tins. In one drawer there a few pocket knives. Most were unremarkable plastic-handled multi-bladed knives but there was one a little larger, wooden-handled and stamped with the identifier “TL-29”.

    Early in the pandemic, when we were seriously isolating, I took an online class through Harvard’s EdX program called something like “Tangible History”. In the class we were to select items and research them, then write up the results of our research. I imagine it’s akin to what a curator does.

    One of the items I chose to research was the TL-29 knife. I learned it was likely a military issue knife, the identifier signifying “Tool for Lineman, knife”. The wooden handle indicated it dated to early WWII or earlier, since that style of knife had been manufactured since 1919. It’s very sharp, with the reputation of having very high quality steel blades that make the knives popular with woodcarvers.

    I don’t know how my grandfather came to own that knife. He never served in the military but my father and his brother did. The knives were also widely available as army surplus.

    At Christmas last year I presented the knife to my son-in-law, who is a woodcarver, with a copy of my history of the knife and the comment that if his son, my grandson, inherits the knife he should understand that it came from his great great grandfather.

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      1. The cabinet lives as a side table in our TV/library room where it holds other, more modern, miscellaneous like extraneous remotes, etc.

        We also have a small table that served as a telephone table, with a shallow shelf for a phonebook that sat in my grandparents living room in the early ‘50s.

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      1. I loved the class, which was offered as an abbreviated free class and a more complete class for a fee of $50 or so. I paid the fee so I would be able to submit a final, longer paper.

        My biggest disappointment was that the class was something of an echo chamber, where you would submit your work and it would be reviewed by “peers”, other students, and without any response or comment from instructors or presenters.

        Frankly, I didn’t feel I had any peers, in that the reviews and comments were exceedingly shallow and brief and the pieces that I was called upon to review were insubstantial.
        I could tell that many of the other student participants were young and their sense of history was correspondingly narrow and that no doubt colored my response to their entries but I also could tell that many were investing as little effort as they thought necessary to research and analyze their subjects.

        I had been hoping for controversy and discussion.

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        1. the world today i’m afraid

          good conversations may be more easily found in the meetup app
          folks with specific interests that have intelligent conversation

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        2. I looked into Meetup, found one that potentially interested me and even signed up. Then I discovered it was online, zoom-based and limited to sixteen participants at any one “meeting”. There was a waiting list to qualify as a participant.
          Not what I had in mind.

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        3. every meetup group is different

          the other interesting aspect of meetup is that if you click on the individual people signed up you can see the other groups they are involved in and look into those possibilities as well

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  3. I at one time had 32 carving knives and gouges. Sold or gave away all but three of them. I love knives. Sort of weird. is it not. My son inherited the fault. My father carried a knife when he hunted. It was a USN-issued knife, issued to boatswains mates, along with a pair of marlin spikes for repairing and splicing ropes. I wanted to have him teach me his rope skills, some of which he had before the war. He could make halters out of rope. But if I had asked him he would have refused.

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  4. My knife story isn’t much compared to the others so far. When Dad and I first began doing canoe trips in 1965, he always carried a small sheathed knife on his belt. He used it on occasion, cutting fishing line, shredding sticks for kindling, etc. I never carried a knife on those trips because I could always use Dad’s.

    Fast forward to my adult years, and I began carrying my own small sheathed knife on my belt when I went on canoe trips. I used mine less than Dad used his, mainly to cut fishing line. Eventually, I tired of looping the sheath onto my belt, adjusting it so it wasn’t in the way or poking me in the hip, and taking it in and out of the sheath to use.

    So I started bringing a Swiss Army knife on canoe trips. That worked for a few years, but then I discovered Leatherman products and bought a multi-tool knife that also featured a pair of pliers. Perfect size for removing fish hooks from fish mouths. It also folds into a little pouch on my belt that doesn’t get in the way.

    However, I eventually didn’t bother looping the pouch onto my belt. I just put the Leatherman in the breast pocket of my PFD along with my other emergency gear (bear spray, space blanket, whistle, etc.

    Like father, like son, although with a slight evolution.

    Chris in Owatonna

    *glad I’m not Ben who needs to brave the outdoors to get to the barn and tend the animals. Too much responsibility for me. Hats off to you, Ben, for doing what needs to be done.*

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    1. like ben says you do what needs to be done
      chickens are less than cows
      we have dogs whose highlight of every day is a walk to the corner to get outside their fenced domain where the squirrels and chipmunks tease and harass

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    3. i had discovered a company that made leatherman variations from china with costs ranging from 1-$5 the big fancy ones were $5
      i picked out about 50-75 and told the company person these were the ones i wanted. she hesitated and said yes but you have to pay for them. she was surprised when i agreed, tallied up the total and paid her a couple hundred bucks.
      when i was moving out of my warehouse i had one guy who was very helpful and wanted to be paid in stuff rather than hourly wage
      he like the leatherman like box and i told him to sort through it and let me know which ones he liked
      he took them all and i didn’t see it coming so i have 1 or two left that had missed the box but i sure love leatherman stuff
      i remember carrying swiss army knives on airline flights prior to the terrorist concerns post 2001

      i had a guy who i bought a couple high end borsalino hats from included in the shipment a smallish pea green handled pocket knife with a note attached that read
      every man needs to have a blade
      makes me cock my head every time i see and pick up that knife

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  5. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    That clock is a hoot! Very, very 1970s.

    My mother had distinctive knives in the knife drawer where she kept her cooking utensils. She insisted on using her knives, even the expensive ones, to pry things open–paint cans, cleaning supplies like paste wax, sticky honey jars, etc. Every last cooking knife that she owned had the tip broken off from her episodes of prying. I would try to suggest keeping a screwdriver in the drawer, but for some reason she refused to keep a small flat screwdriver where she could easily access it. Mom was notoriously impatient and stubborn and would only do things her own way. The result of this was that she had a drawer full of broken knives.

    Lou owns his late, great grandfather’s pocket knife. This knife holds memories of life on the farm with his beloved Grandpa John. Grandpa John used this pocket knife for every task imaginable. He would open mail envelopes, packages, and anything held with string. He wrestled open burlap bags of farm supplies with this knife. But Lou also saw Grandpa John castrate a pig with this same knife, then fold it up and put it back in his pocket, dirty and bloody, until the next task arose. This knife was rarely, if ever, cleaned. It sits in the top drawer of Lou’s desk, spreading germs.

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  6. Try selling the cleaver on Ebay… maybe price it at 26,000 to cover expenses! : )

    I got a lot of points with son Joel when I told him I had gotten to see the Grateful Dead in person… that may be as close to groovy as I’ve ever been.

    Trying to remember a knife story.

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  8. It is -66° windchill here this morning. Feeling groovy just staying home today.

    We had a French friend in Winnipeg who was worried because we kept our kitchen knives in a knife block instead of in a drawer. He thought that we could get into an argument or annoy each other somehow while cooking and it would be too easy to grab knives out of the knife block and stab each other. That never happened, even though we have three knife blocks now.

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    2. Today we have successfully maneuvered around each other in the kitchen without attacking one another while I make lamb Rogan gosh and a pie from our garden butternut squash, and Husband cleans in the kitchen and makes a broth from the lamb bones and some goat shanks and a beef shank. Any meat off the bones will be given to the dog. Why do we have goat shanks? Well, we have friends who raise goats and they like to share.

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  10. I carry the smallest of the Swiss army knife family (the “classic” I think it is) – small blade, file, scissors, tweezers… I find I use the scissors and tweezers as much as the blade. I got my first one as a gift from a friend – that one unfortunately got lost, along with one or two more, but I still keep one in my pocket most days. Not red – first one was black and I have had black, blue, and one brilliant pink one, but never red. I have a Leatherman that I used to carry in my backpack or purse, but found it to be too heavy and bulky for daily carrying about and not quite as useful in a general way, plus it doesn’t have the all-too-essential-tweezers – so classic Swiss army knife it is. Besides the utility, it still makes me think of the friend who gave me the first one – a man known for gifting things on general principle (not always waiting for a birthday or holiday) and for being remarkably practical in how he lived and navigated the world. He died a few years ago, but the knife in my pocket as a sort-of extended gift makes me smile.

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  11. I don’t think I’ve ever been groovy. I have felt groovy on occasion, but not often. I’m not sure groovy describes me very well, if at all.

    No real knife stories either. I’ve managed to cut myself with knives when I was being too hasty. Cutting up large vegetables like squash can be dangerous if you’re not careful and/or trying to hurry.

    Today is not a good day for small dogs who have to go out to do their business. It’s not groovy for them and the ground probably feels like knives stabbing into their little feet.

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    1. My two have looked downright offended when they come back in from the couple of minutes they spend outside. One held up a paw as if to say, “this ice between my toes is on you!”

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  12. Totally OT, but I had an experience yesterday. I take my organic kitchen waste to a compost drop-off near home. I had cleaned out the fridge today so had a heavy load to take. It was a very cold day, below zero wind-chill, so I was in a hurry and I left my purse and phone in the car and opened the gate to the enclosure. Because my bag was so full and heavy, I had to set it down to fully open the dumpster cover. As I set the bag down, the wind blew the gate closed. That didn’t really alarm me until I tried to open it from inside and couldn’t! My first thought was that my phone was in the car, so I couldn’t call anyone for help. That was as far as I got in planning my escape, because just then a woman’s voice said “I saw what happened, I’m coming to let you out!” She was there in seconds, opened the gate and held the dumpster lid open while I dropped in my load of compostables. I waited for her to get her bag and held the lid for her. We discovered then that there is a very non-descript black rubber button on the inside of the gate that releases the latch when you pull it. I’m not sure how long it would have taken me to figure it out if she hadn’t come to my rescue. I’m going to put a little laminated sign by the button on the gate for any future victims of the wind-powered gate closer!

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    3. Wow, good thing the other woman showed up. In a case like that it would be handy to have an iWatch. Your phone in your car was probably in close enough proximity that you could call for help from your watch.

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  13. I cringe at the notion of good chef’s knives sliding around in a drawer. We have two blocks that hold all of our knives, each in it’s own specific slot.

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    1. Due to lack of counter space, I have one chef’s knife that came with its own plastic cover and another for which I designed a cardboard cover so that they can slide around in the drawer.

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  14. Let’s see, there’s:
    Knives Out, a mystery film starring Daniel Craig with an ensemble cast, including Jamie Lee Curtis (one of my favorites)

    – here are 40 books with knives on the cover:
    https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/116497.Books_With_Knives_on_The_Cover
    (but neglects to show Knife by Jo Nesbo)

    – one of my nephew’s favorite denigrating phrases: “S/he’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer…”

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  15. I was about 14. Sonny and Cher had been popular recently. I thought that. A vest with hair on it would look cool. My brother had a coat with a removable liner tht was slightly fuzzy. It didn’t make me look cool, not in the least bit.

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    1. Yes, Ben, we have a cleaver like that in our kitchen. We’ve had it for many years. Ours is extremely sharp, and it’s a great tool for cutting those hard winter squashes in half. It actually has quite a few uses as well. I use use it for cutting roasts into appropriate size squares for stew, both pork and beef. As the strength in my hands has diminished due to arthritis, I sometimes rely on the weight of the cleaver to help slice large portions of vegetables like potatoes for scalloped potatoes. Most people would use a mandoline for that, but I gave mine to a friend as I considered it too dangerous to use, and it took up too much space when not in use.

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  18. I only have one knife story and it’s pretty low-key. Before I went to China to bring YA home, I read Coming Home Crazy by Bill Holm. It’s a collection of essays from his time living and teaching in China. Anyway, one of them was about a Swiss army knife and he recommended it as the best and most important tool to take with you if you’re going to spend time traveling in China. it was impressive to me so I went out and bought a Swiss Army knife and did in fact use it several times in China most notably to cut up and crush pills because the medicine that the Chinese hospital gave me for YA was not liquid.

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  19. i discovered my groovy post didn’t get listed yesterday
    i’ll try again

    i was too groovy to use the term groovy
    it turned into a far out (john denver) foughpah
    and was avoided post 1966

    i had peace pendants like mercedes hood ornaments
    big velour flop hats
    blouse sleeved big collared large floral patterned shirts that when coupled with cool pants and shoes made cool be a obvious conclusion .

    being groovy was unthinkable in catholic school but my transfer to public middle school led to the opposite of blue shirt pants and necktie options

    fashion in your face choices r us was the mantra

    i had fun and while groovy was never spoken whatever replaced it was where i hung my hat. i’d worn hats as a kid. cowboy hats captains hats ringo caps and now that freedom was possible i roostered up and strived to be happy as a flower child of the peter max counter culture

    i loved peter max
    still do
    had an opportunity to pick up peter max original art and ansel adam’s original prints for prices that were affordable

    still remember and realize i missed an opportunity

    i have that cleaver ben in my tool box

    too big and heavy to consider as an everyday kitchen item

    always figured it was for meat processors to use to seperate joints on whole pigs cows and turkeys
    nothing i need even for the firmest tofu

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  20. Paul Simon said he was sorry he wrote and more sorry they recorded the 59th Street Bridge Song.
    I don’t take groovy to mean cool.
    In some of the meditations I use and now especially for the one I compiled for myself, I am to imagine myself back in a place where I was completely relaxed and remember the sensual stimuli of that place. It’s a tool for lowering stress and anxiety. I imagine that song portraying such an experience. I have several listed for my own meditation but the one my mind takes me to first is the clover fields right before we cut them. I used to lie in the clover in one special spot and just be there, often with Boots.
    Where would be your spot?
    Clyde

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    1. One of mine is on the shores of Lake Superior near Grand Marais – all that lake and lapping waves. Another is a spot near where I grew up where I could like on a grassy hill with the sun on my face.

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    3. There is a long, cold, stony beach northeast of Grand Marais. That’s my place. I like it best when no one else is there, so the summer months are out. I can usually go there right before Memorial Day or right after Labor Day and find it vacant, most of the time. I listen to Lake Superior, look at the stones and the clear water, and I really start to feel right.

      I was thinking about groovy. I think “being” groovy and “feeling” groovy are different things. I wouldn’t describe myself as “being” groovy at all. I have felt groovy many times. Besides being at peace, I would also say that there must be a sense of joy and well-being.

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    4. I have several such spots in my memory bank. I visit them quite regularly, and not just when I meditate.

      One is in a small clearance in a Danish beech forest on a sunny summer afternoon. Birds are singing and butterflies are flitting about visiting the wildflowers.

      Another is sunny meadow of tall grasses with red poppies, blue bachelor buttons, and white daisies on a gently rolling hill.

      There are several others. Like in Clyde’s example, the two spots mentioned above are very specific places that I know from my childhood. They are serene, and there are no other people there, and it’s always sunny and warm. I feel so fortunately to have so many such places tucked away in my mind, and I’m grateful to have access to them whenever the spirit moves me. Thanks, Clyde, for the question. I made a quick visit this afternoon. They were as serene as ever despite all of the hubbub in Denmark today in connection with Queen Margrethe II abdicating after 52 years on the throne. She’s passed the resign to her 55 year old son, who is now King Frederik X.

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  21. We watched Yellow Submarine last night – I don’t think I had ever seen the whole thing – just film clips. Very cleaver (!) dialogue, easy to miss a lot – maybe we should watch it wonce more. The word groovy showed up several times, kind of tongue-in-cheek…

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