Category: Construction and Maintenance
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Flat Stanley
Flat Stanley arrived from Tennessee to visit us for a while. Here he is with Larry and Andrew as they work on the new elk fence. Continue reading
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Larry’s Back!
Larry’s back to do the next section of the big elk fence. This will be the last tall fence we put in. It will go from the hay barn to behind the house, and it’ll enclose a small section of the cedars pasture. We had to start taking down parts of the old fence so… Continue reading
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Shop Heater
Just in time for Halloween and a coming storm next week, the new shop heater is installed. The trench has also been filled in where the propane line runs. In a quick test, it heated up the shop after being on for just a few minutes. We’ll see how well it works once we get… Continue reading
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Farm Blather
Today (why always on a weekend?), Becky came in with a huge gash on her side. We have no idea what she did, but after a trip to the emergency vet in Delta 30 miles away, she’s been stitched up. We were given some stuff to keep her from chewing the drain and stitches, but… Continue reading
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Solar Start-Up Issues
The solar system is finished, but on one of the first days, something went wrong. In spite of the various sensors and pumps, the circulator pump stopped working. Temperatures at the top of the collector reached nearly 350 degrees! Ken put tarps up to shade the panels until the plumber could come and fix it.… Continue reading
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Cool Tool!
Every year, we tear down our welded wire pens so the manure can be scraped out. Then, we have to rebuild them. This usually means several days or weeks of pounding in t-posts by hand. Blisters and sore muscles are just a few hazards of the job. It’s getting very old, very fast, so we… Continue reading
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Solar Controls
With the panels up, work now moves back inside. Sensors, controllers, expansion tanks, pumps, and valves all had to be hooked up. Continue reading
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Solar Panels on the Roof
September 16th: it’s the Big Day! It’s time to get the solar panels on the roof. Our system is designed to have five panels initially, but it’s also designed to take an extra panel if we need it later. First, we had to get our ropes and ladders set, then get safety lines tied to… Continue reading
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Fall Farm Work
While the solar system was being installed, we continued fall farm work. One task was to clean out one of our ditches. Ken used the backhoe to clean it out on September 11th. This area is where we will rebuild the pens for the rams for winter. We have an apple crop this year, and… Continue reading
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More Solar Work
On August 25th, the heat dump loop was completed. Next, we had to work on the actual panel mounting structure. The first step was to get the blocks that would provide the spacing for the braces. That was finished on September 11th. The next day, we started the mounting structure. With the blocks secured, we… Continue reading