2024, animals, Family, Farming Update, Nature, Seasons, Uncategorized

Winter Chores

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Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben.

Only getting about three to five eggs a day lately. Not sure what’s up with that. Might be because I ordered roosters this spring, I’m not sure.
I’ve got the chickens heated water bucket going, I’ve got the tank heater going down by the barn, and I’ve got the heat running in the shop, the wellhouse heater is on for the really cold nights, plus a heat lamp over a water bucket for Bailey. And I plugged a tractor in. This time of the year I go out and do chicken chores before I go to work, rather than doing them in the afternoon when I come home. I give the chickens fresh water, (I don’t know how many chickens we have these days. Maybe 40 or 50 and they drink about two gallons a day). I throw out a bucket of corn in the morning. If I throw it out in the afternoon or evening, the deer eat it overnight before the chickens ever get to it. Coming down our driveway at dusk, there are deer all over! One night when it was fairly pleasant out, I bet I counted 35 deer in different spots- and that’s all in a mile just on our property! And most of those are does. Stupid deer.

 
A lot of years, the weekend after Thanksgiving, Kelly and I put up the snow fence. This year the weather wasn’t conducive to that so our plan is to do it this weekend as it’s supposed to be in the 40s. It will be complicated a little bit by the tall grass in there, because my cow people never ran their cattle in this pasture and I didn’t have the brush mower. I tried mowing it down with the lawnmower, but the grass was just too tall and thick. The brush mower has been repaired now and I’ll pick it up next week. They fixed a lot of extra cracks and honestly it should be better than new. It wasn’t cheap, but it cost less than a new mower.

I’ve started filling our birdfeeders again: an ear of corn, a suet block, a log with the holes drilled in it for the suet pegs, and then one feeder for sunflower seeds, and one feeder for a mix. In the fall after combining, and while I’m chisel plowing, I will pick up ears of corn that I see in the fields and bring them home and put in a bucket and that’s what I use for the birds. This fall as I was picking up corn I was thinking to myself that I thought there was a place on the tractor to I put these 20 or 30 ears so they weren’t rolling around in the cab with me. And then I remembered, under one of the steps there’s a little storage area and when I opened it up, it was full of cobs from last year. Mice had gotten into it and eaten all the kernels. I chuckled to myself as I sort of remember thinking last year to remember to go get that corn, which evidently I never did. This year they were probably in the tractor a week before I remembered  to go get them, and was surprised to discover the mice had already found them and cleaned off a couple ears.

My summer Padawan came out the other night with a friend of his and they wanted to work on a car in the shop.

I told him they couldn’t get into the heated part yet, but they could use the other part of the shed. And it was gonna be cold in there. He was fine with that and said it wouldn’t be a problem. It was Wednesday night when it was 8° out and the wind blowing like crazy. The thermometer in the shed said 20 degrees and here he is in shorts, because that young man does not own a pair of pants. He picked up a different car recently and he’s fixing it up by adding things I don’t understand, but things to improve the performance: custom air filters, something called an air dump, performance spark plugs, and he’s got a chip coming for it to boost engine performance. It’s a pretty slick looking car in the first place (a Kia something) I have to admit, and he is learning a lot, and this is keeping him out of trouble. He certainly had more willpower and stamina than I did at 18, I don’t think I would’ve worked in a 20° shop in shorts. For three hours.  I offered him sweatpants but he wouldn’t take them. He did ask for gloves once, but I didn’t have any that fit, and I gave him some of the nitril work gloves that I wear, and they keep your hands very warm, but the next time I went out he didn’t have those on either. He said they had gotten in the way. I offered help as needed, and I helped them find the right tools, and really, he was focused and determined. His buddy didn’t quite know what they would be doing that night. He thought they were just gonna hang out and at the last minute Padawan said ‘I know a guy with a shed, let’s go work on the car.’  They’d come into the shop area to warm up as needed, and by 10:15 PM they had the car running again and they headed for home.  And again, more power to them I guess. The second kid was a very nice young man. He and his family had lived in the UAE for a couple years because his mom was working over there. He builds computers for people. It was fun talking to him. The next night, Padawan and my other summer helper came out. One still in shorts, and the other without a jacket. But he had just left it somewhere and gladly accepted my jacket. Padawan was back the third night IN SWEATPANTS!

I’m making progress on the shop. Just a couple pieces of steel yet in a corner of the inside, and all the steel on the outside wall. But that will go quick.

PHOTO

Just got AC installed, mostly to help with humidity in the summer. It’s not a ‘Man-cave’ I keep telling Kelly!

PHOTO

This was a used unit I brought home from one of the theaters and I didn’t want it sitting open all winter.

Kelly, daughter, and I saw ‘Les Mis’ at the Orpheum last week and that was as good as I remembered.

Next week is ‘Book of Mormon’, but we decided daughter didn’t need to see that one. Too many things I didn’t want to explain yet.

WHAT’S IN YOUR SHE SHED / MAN CAVE? 

ARE  YOU BIRD OR A BEE?

33 thoughts on “Winter Chores”

  2. Husband doesn’t have a man cave but has a grilling nook that is moving inside with the purchase of an electric indoor pellet smoker. It allegedly doesn’t smoke up the house. We shall aee.

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  3. I have to ask my wife what’s in my man cave she organizes it and put things where they belong. It takes me forever to find my stuff bee. I must be a bird. I love birds bees. I enjoy them and admire their work ethic, but collecting honey and being worker bees are exactly what I’m trying to avoid
    so your shop doesn’t have to be above freezing

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    1. Tim, I meant to reply to this the other day and forgot to send it.
      I keep the shop at 40°, and turn it up when I’m working in there.
      There are no water lines in there, but I want it above freezing for the chemicals, paint, and tools.

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  4. My man cave is called the She Studio. In addition to way more crafting stuff than one woman needs, our printer and sewing machine also live in there. And right now three big bins of holiday gifts, paper, ribbon, etc.

    Bee. No doubt about it.

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  7. Our anal neighbors across the street probably think we have the messiest flower beds as we don’t trim anything down until late spring so the pollinators can winter over and hatch. We are bees.

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  8. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    Beeeeee. And right at this moment I am an angry bee because I am on hold for customer service at our credit union. It has been awhile. BZZZZZ.. Note to self–the CS person did not make this problem. BEEE nice. The CS person did not make this problem. BEEEE nice. The CS person did not make this problem. BEEEEE nice.

    I do like birds, too. But we have to be careful feeding them. If the feeder gets too close to the house, then the spilled seeds attract mice.

    Ben, it appears to me you could rent out your shed (cash only–no record keeping) and make some profit now that you have this masterpiece man shed nearly completed. I love Padawan’s request use this.

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  15. My she shed must be my living room. I tried to keep all this stuff in the spare bedroom upstairs, but it just didn’t work. I like to be in the living room most of the time. I have my books, my instruments, and my yarn and fiber craft stuff here. It feels like a sanctuary when I get home.

    Well, I’ve been really busy this fall, but I’m hoping it’s just a passing phase. I don’t think I’m a bee. I’m a bit flighty, choosing to change my location on a whim. Like the quick but fun trip I just made up to Two Harbors… I stopped in and visited our old friend Barb and her S.B. in Duluth. They seem to be doing well.

    So, anyway, I guess I’m a bird!

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      1. No, I’ve never met Cynthia in person. I’m well acquainted with Barb and Steve though, and I enjoy seeing them at least once a year. They have an amazing view of Lake Superior from their living room.

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  16. My downstairs office is not very man cavey. I have two computers down there (one old and the one that replaced it), a scanner, and two printers, a laser and a large format inkjet. There are five bookcases filled mostly with nineteenth century material (and five more just outside the door). There are two metal cabinets for art supplies and two flat files for various kinds of paper, the flat files stacked to provide a work surface, topped with a cutting mat. That’s where I do my book binding and repair. There’s a drawing table. Across the back wall where I keep more art supplies, bookbinding supplies, my sewing machine, sewing paraphernalia and a lot of miscellaneous.

    Robin’s she-shed, as it were, encompasses the entire second floor—one large room. In it, she houses a futon couch and television, a couple shelves of vintage Japanese fabric as well as about 250 vintage Japanese kimonos and other garments, about five bookcases, some full of fiber art related books, two sewing machines, two spinning wheels, collections of various kinds, a closet with a hanging rack of kimonos and a double row of tubs for yarn and wool. Other closets contain miscellaneous art supplies. She also has an alcove with a computer and laser printer. There is a cabinet and other shelves for myriad collections.

    So, magpies maybe.

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  18. I suppose I would be a bird, as birds remain somewhat active in winter and bees don’t. I have a workspace with a lot of stuff that may be useful for some project or another…but it does not qualify as a she shed. I do have a friend that has a real she shed, with a seating area and a table for games and puzzles and such. It’s a lovely place to be.

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