This weeks Farming Update from Ben
I’m back to Work work at the college, so that’s interrupting my home schedule. If only we didn’t live in a capitalistic society so focused on the paycheck. Thoughts on that? Should we consider the barter system?
Last Saturday afternoon I pulled the bale elevator out of the weeds and greased it and oiled the chains and was going to get that set up in the pole barn for unloading straw. And then the hitch broke off the front. It broke off a few years ago and I welded it back on, but evidently not all that well. Now I have a different welder. So I rolled it around to the shed door and moved the welder to the new outlet outside the shop, and used the grinder and cleaned up the edges and welded it back on. Again.
I can be a good welder if I’m welding in a down position, and steel thicker than a pencil. But this is thin and upside down, and thin metal is harder to weld with an old fashioned ‘stick’ welder like I have. Not impossible, and good welders can make it work. I’m not that good of a welder. As they say, practice makes perfect, so I gave it a shot and tried different welding rods and different amperages on the welder and I got it enough to hold for another few years. That’s me in the welding helmet on the cover photo.
On Monday, Noah, Padawan 1 came out. We got the elevator in place, then I took him out and taught him how to rake straw. He doesn’t like driving tractors in the first place, and he said this was really boring. I said yes it is, why does he think I had him doing it? You rake, I’m gonna go find something better to do.
I took a video of him. Let’s try a youtube link:
https://youtu.be/9efkw-5N9XI?si=Q5w-_vbLhI8vzHp9
While he was going round and round, I was checking out the soybeans. Some of them look really good. Waist tall. And then the deer come in and graze off the tops.
And I did random stuff in the shed. Got the pole saw out and trimmed some branches. Several other small random things.
I decided to climb one of the silos because I haven’t been in them in 23 years, since we sold the cows. The silage has decomposed and settled a long ways. The old silo unloaded is still hanging in there.
Tuesday I worked elections all day in our township.
Wednesday was back to work at the college. I did NOT wear sleeves, rebel that I am. I went home an hour early, and got out and baled two loads of straw.
Another video!
Baling straw
https://youtube.com/shorts/fiUmCrJOSaQ?feature=share
But on Thursday I wore sleeves and made the rounds; Talked with my dean, and several other people and got caught up on all the gossip. Friday I was without sleeves again and just stayed back in the shop.
P1 is bringing a friend to help unload straw on Saturday afternoon. P2 is on vacation this week and goes back to school next week. Besides, he sprained his ankle at home last week and is wearing an ankle brace. So, we’ll see how P3 does.
The basement bathroom is nearly finished. The maple trim is back ordered, but everything else is done and it’s a useable bathroom. Need some art for the walls yet.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
SQUARES OR CIRCLES?
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SHAPE?
Trail Baboon 
The commercial.
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LOL! When Joel was two, he heard me say something about exercising to get my body in shape; he piped up: “My body’s already shaped.”
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And now for the record product.
The Wrecking Crew documentary is well worth watching. T-Bones was an invented band from an elite group of studio musicians.
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Great to see these videos, Ben, esp. that bale finally popping out! It’s cool to hear the sounds as well as see images.
And I will say the new bathroom is more restful…
I prefer circles to squares, I guess – I’m just making this up.
Thinking…
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Ooh, I take it back. Both! Depends on what it’s needed for.
Squares are much more efficient for storage, of even multiple round things, including people (houses come to mind).
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RIse and Shine, Baboons,
I do not think I have any preference at all of circles and squares. it would have to depend on the surroundings and what worked the best in a particular situation. For example, I could never play hopscotch with circles. Well, actually, at this point in life I don’t play hopscotch at all.
Love the dance video at American Bandstand.
Ben, my favorite part of the report today is your distinction between “I wore sleeves” and “it was a no sleeve day”. That is how you distinguish your work lives. Does anyone ever comment on it? It makes me chuckle.
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Oh yes, I get talked to every few years by some Dean or supervisor. And I try to tow the line for a while. But then they move on and I get lazy. No, I get comfortable.
Obviously if there’s an event or I’m in meetings I will wear sleeves. If it’s just me back in the shop, building, who cares; I’m working. I kind of suspect it’s the head of Security. Because he randomly walks through. Of course anybody may step in the back doors of the theater and catch me working without my sleeves. Our director Jerry wrote it into a script once. Put Velcro on all the sleeves and had the actors rip their sleeves off in the middle of the show.
So it goes.
“You’re not the boss of me!” Well, sort of…
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Reverting to your first paragraph musings about capitalism and the barter system, in 1851 Josiah Warren, along with Stephen Pearl Andrews—interesting guys, incidentally—established a Time Store in his experimental community of Modern Times and issued time currency, the basis for which was time spent in labor rather than silver or gold. Participants in the system could use the currency to formalize the barter of their labor and, as I understand it, to purchase goods at the time store.
Of course in those days everyone’s labor was a good deal more concrete and utilitarian. The concept may not translate to 2026. I wonder what 2 hours of an influencer’s time would be worth?
https://commonplace.online/article/josiah-warrens-labor-notes/
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