2026, chickens, Farming Update, Uncategorized

More of this and that

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This week’s Farming Update from Ben

It’s been a good busy week on the farm. Got lots of odds and ends done and I’ve marked several things off my ‘To-Do’ list. 

The chickens enjoyed the straw bales left over from Movie Night on the Farm. 

Sunday, we met Son and DiL at an outdoor wood fired pizza place near Waseca. It was perfect weather, and good pizza. As we were leaving, the owner asked us if we’d come back? Daughter loudly proclaimed, “No, I don’t think so.” Well, they asked. 

Monday I got the haybine hooked up and mowed the roadsides. The haybine is the machine that cuts a swath nine feet wide using a sickle that goes back and forth very fast to cut off the stems of alfalfa or grass. Every now and then an individual section will break. Notice the missing one here: 

It has been a lot of years since I had to replace one of those, just because I don’t cut much anymore, and I’ve forgotten what a pain it is to do it. Or maybe I’ve just forgotten the techniques needed. Or maybe it’s because I’m older. I used to do this out in the field with a hammer and chisel to knock off the old rivets, and then a punch to knock the stub out. Then there’s a gadget to smoosch the new rivet to hold the new section in place. I remember it was always a hassle and I’d be hot and sweaty and covered in bugs and I’d be mad about the whole thing. On Monday I was doing in on the concrete in front of the shop. I’ve also forgotten how little room there is in there. I had one end jacked up to give me more room. And I had a cordless grinder instead of a hammer and chisel. And I use a pneumatic air hammer instead of a hammer and punch. I didn’t get so grumpy about it all. But it sure did bring back some memories. 

Daughter had come to the shop for a visit and she rode with me as I was cutting the roadsides. She took this photo.

Padawan 2, Max, was out Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. We moved a bunch of stuff around in the shed and I put things on the pallet racks. The trick is only to put stuff up there that won’t be used very often.  The shop looks big until I try to get a tractor in there sideways. 

Neighbor Dave was down checking fence in a section of pasture. It’s the area where the gully was filled in and the new waterway created, so we needed to build a fence to keep the cattle out of that area for this year. I hooked up the brush mower and mowed a path for the temporary fence, then went to the back of the pasture where Dave said the thistles were taller than he was. 

Boy, yeah they were. It has been a long time since I was back in that corner of the pasture. It’s a valley with lots of smaller valleys bisecting it. It is easy to see how thousands of years of erosion have created our farms rolling hills. 

On Thursday Dave and I built the temp fence. It’s just one hot wire. Meaning it’s an electric fence. And his cows are smart, and they know and respect an electric fence. And by ‘electric fence’ I mean the kind of fence that gives you a good “JOLT”  when you touch it. It won’t kill anything, but it sure makes your arm hurt for 10 minutes. I supposed it’s like a taser. If cows learn about electric fences as calves, they do fine. You can’t take wild cattle and expect them to respect an electric fence. I’ve tried that. Electric fences also require insulators on the posts, and not too many weeds. There’s a whole skill involved in building an electric fence. Different skills than are required when making a 4 strand barbed wire fence like the padawans and I did a couple years ago. 

(One of the blogs here; https://trailbaboon.com/2024/06/29/rusty-summer/)

P2 Max and I reshingled the feed building on Wednesday. The old shingles came off surprisingly easy. I had some left over shingles from doing the south side a few years ago. I bought two more bundles of the cheapest shingles the big box store had. Turned out to be a different color but no one cares or can really see the North side of this shed. 

I’m not sure what look he’s going for here.

I put more stuff on pallet racks. A pallet of steel fence posts, and a pallet of wood blocks. A few years ago when I had to move these blocks out of what would become the shop, and I first put them on a pallet, I remember Clyde talking about all the blocks they had on their farm. And I have some blocks on a lower shelf so I can get them as needed, and I wondered, why am I saving this pallet of wood blocks?? Just what do I think I’ll be doing that I need that many blocks? Evidently I’m saving them for our kids to throw out when we die. And I threw out a few blocks. But still…I think I am saving too many blocks. But you never know. 

Max and I also got the secondary lawn mower running. Then I did something and it wouldn’t run again. Fixed it and then broke it again. But now it’s running! The hood has a big crack in it. I think I’m gonna have to zip tie the crack together. A new hood top is $176 and I don’t think it’s worth that much. I ordered a new bumper, which is the hinge point at the bottom, and that was $76. This was Kelly’s parents lawnmower, so I need to ask her if she wants a zip tie scar across the top. 

We got .6” of rain on Tuesday evening. A real nice gentle rain. 

I got the roadsides raked and baled on Friday. It wasn’t much. Only 25 bales.

Next week the hot weather is back. I’m thinking of inside jobs. 

EVER SHOCKED YOURSELF? I mean electrically, but whatever makes a good story.

KNOW ANYONE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING?

30 thoughts on “More of this and that”

  1. when i moved to minneapolis in 1958 we were the house on the edge of civilazation. across the street from us were the drogie’s the andrews and the bruggemeiers. their back yards had boxelder trees as a border that stood there just before the 20’drop pff that went down to the farmers field. the farmers field ran for 3 or 4 blocks before it hit the main road and then beyond that was open field. grass and sky as far as the eye could see. 3 miles to dead mans curve. off to the left was the masonic home where old people lived on the river bank and the only thing back there was mrs staples house. she was the old lady who lived on the corner by the main road in a two room shack with no heat or electricity. she owned the farmers field and rented it out to the heages who farmed it and paid her enough to make it a good deal for everyone. well it was kid heaven. the river was down by the masonic home just past the woods and between the farmers field the river and the opportunities that showed up being in the last outpost before the open prairies of north dakota we had lots of wander in us. fences with electric charge were not common but not uncommon and you absolutely remembered which ones held the jolt. the big kids would watch as the little kids climbed the fences to cut through the fields and get zapped by touching the top wire. if they were positioned correctly they could talk a little kids climbed into peeing on the fence and really raise shrieks of laughters as the little kid felt the electric charge zap his tiny unsuspecting penis out there on the prairie. i think all that was required after you realized it was electric was a stick to raise the wire up with so you could crawl under but if the wire came off the stick as you were going through… zap was the result. if the stick was wet… zap was the result. if you slipped … zap was the result. the cows and horses would look at us and winder how stupid we were getting zapped as we cut through the fields. they werent going over there.
    was it really 35 years ago hazeltine held the us open out in chanhassen? i had tickets for all the rounds and took various friends. mike helmer who was a very good golfer and i were there on a day when 3 or 4 hours into the round the golfers walked over and stuck a tee in the ground picked up their balls and walked off for cover. mike said that meant a storm wwas coming and they had suspended play. we went for cover. there was a group of app trees with enough leaves to offer protection from the rain and we stopped there with a bunch of others. as the rain intensified and the black sky, wind gusts and serious pelting rain started to hit us harder we opted to run from our cover up a nearby hill to a concession stand with a tarp roof and stood next to the big ice refrigerators as the storm hit its full glory. we were glad to be there and the thunder and rain roared. you know how you see the lightning and count to see how far away it is? well i didnt make it to one and craaaaccck!!! there it was like right next to us. we waited for 3 or 4 minutes for the storm to finish rolling through then walked back to our spot down the hill past the apple trees.
    there in the apple orchard were 15 people who took cover when we did but didnt leave when we did who were all hit by lightning. people were gathered round offering help to the victims. some sitting up stunned. some laying down (a couple died) some folks were trying to regain balance but their eyes were rolling around. some had hd their shoes blown off and the swollen feet looked like when you take off socks that leave those sock marks in your ankles but the swollen spot where the shoe was was a 1 inch swell that ended where the shoe was before it got blown off. in hindsight i should have stopped to offer help but the were lots of people there and i may never have seen quite so traumatic occurrence in the heat of the moment. i was feeling ill in a huge way. trying to hold back from vomiting. lucky. traumatized. responding to gut instincts. ambulances roared in. the golfers returned and resumed play but holy cow. what a lasting vision. try never to stand under a tree in a thunderstorm. by the time you realize youre in the wrong place its too late.

    ill tell happy 4th of july stories about hanging out with my fargo cousins at detroit lakes every summer of my youth. huck finn instead of stephen king.

    https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=2HJCN3upMHE&si=ecEFkKOjFN2M5TUN

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  3. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    OT: I am at a Master Gardener conference yesterday and today. I learned that my raspberries have not produced for years due to a tiny insect called Spotted Wing Drosophila which have invaded raspberry patches everywhere. The good news is that high tunnels made of garden mesh have reduced the impact. Otherwise, pesticides (not healthy) are used to manage it. Never-the-less, my patch is coming out because I do not have time to maintain it. David, maybe the garden mesh would soften that raspberry bed from yesterday’s discussion. Renee and VS, keep this critter in mind as you try to manage raspberries. VS, I know yours have not born much and this is probably why.

    Meanwhile, my friend John used to be an electrical wire worker. He was shocked by a live line. The electricity jolted through his body and exited out of one of his fingers. That fingernail is still disfigured. He was lucky that this did not kill him. He left that career following this, and became a police officer who specialized in Child Protective interventions, which is how I met him. I was the social worker on the team. Off to my conference.

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  4. When I was at the VA hospital doing my internship I was taught to always ask patients who I was doing psychological evals on if they had been struck by lightning. I continued to ask that question for thevtedt of my career, since you would surprised how many people had need struck by lightning.

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  5. I touched an electric fence once when I was a kid. I fell on my butt. I never touched one again. Fortunately, I don’t know anyone who was struck by lightning.

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  6. my buddy, who taught me how to do home remodeling was an insurance worker guy who did drywall and plaster patching coming out of a stucco background, and he taught me when you rewiring ceiling light fixtures and such try and handle the wires with your right hand so when the shock goes through you, it doesn’t go through your heart. It goes through the other side . It’s come in handy more than once boy that zap gets your attention.

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  7. I don’t know anyone struck by lightning… Biggest shock I can recall was a zap once when I was hurriedly plugging something into a broken wall socket..

    A time I shocked myself was when I attended a Wedge Co-op Annual Meeting for the first time. They were describing what was required for board members, and asking for people to run for the Board – I realized my hand was in the air, and the rest is history… been on several boards since then..

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  8. A workmate was operating the buffing machine we used for sanding concrete. I heard him yell for help. His foot was stuck to the housing of the still running machine. I kicked the cord out of the wall socket rather than touching him or the shorting out buffer. He wasn’t being jolted. He said the electricity was pulsing up his leg, through the heart and hands with each rotation of the buffer. Scary.

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  9. This is Clyde. So many stories about fixing broken sickle bar plates. Had to be done in the shop. When my father riveted them back in place. The old fashioned way with a ball peened hammer, I had to hold the bar flat. I mean FLAT on the anvil, hard to do at age 9, but he had no patience.
    And many electric fence stories. Might tell a couple later.
    We had and kept the wood blocking because people would hire my dad to level up buildings

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  10. My father walked onto a wet garage floor carrying a metal bucket filled with something or other, and didn’t realize his wet vac, which was running unattended, had a live wire on the pavement. He immediately felt the electric surge up his body up to the bucket, but couldn’t drop the bucket, so he twirled around until centrifugal force took the bucket out of his fingers and he could escape.

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  11. Wow, you all have some astoundingly shocking stories!
    I’ve hit the electric fence — only by accident– just a few times. More often, it was the fence shorted out somewhere, and then I find a wire twisted around another wire (probably thanks to a deer jumping over. ALMOST jumping over) and then I’m using a stick and trying to untangle it… Or sometimes you make another easy to fix short, then untangle the worse one, then go back and fix the easy one.

    I’ve “tingled” myself a couple times on electrical wires. Thank goodness for fuses.

    No lightning strikes for me or anyone I know.

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  13. I missed yesterday but caught up today and must tell you that one of my favorite things I own is a rock engraved with, “Nothing is Written In Stone.” I’d like to have it mark my final resting place. ~Occasionally Anonymous

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  15. I was kind of hoping as the day went by that I would think of something that I could add here, but no. Have never been shocked by electricity, never been hit by lightning, never known anyone who was hit by lightning. Boring.

    But it was an absolutely gorgeous morning for picking strawberries.

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  16. In late August we would put electric fence around a portion of our hay field and let the animals come in. One wet year we could not feel the charge in the loop. We always set the charge level low to test. A key point was where the wire from the charger connected to the loop. No spark. We checked every post to see the insulator was not grounding. We spend most of a day on it in a drizzle, My father got fed up and turned the charger up to full. Nothing. My father got two long handled pliers, knelt down in the wet ground to make sure the charger connection to the loop was as tight as he could. He got the pliers firmly gripped on the wire and screamed in pain. We forgot because of the wet ground we were wearing our rubber boots.
    Clyde

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  17. When we pulled up the posts and the wire in October we used the horse drawn wagon. Horses don’t burn gasoline. But the horse wouldn’t get within ten feet of the fence. So we had to carry everything that ten feet over and over again.

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  20. OK, I tried to post a link, but it was apparently suspicious to the filters that be. Maybe it will show up later. A friend made the news on the local FOX news station when his home was struck by lightning and he couldn’t call 911 because his phone was zapped on its charger. He ran to the fire station.

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