Farm Journal -Cider Hill Farms

[CCF]

FARM JOURNAL #9: PT. 1

As we are changing from July to August, the weather is just as warm as ever, and the weeds are still a problem on the farm. Until October, it is necessary to keep the weeds around the fields mowed down so that they will not grow out into the fields. Today, we took care of mowing around the fields, so now we will not have to worry about mowing until the middle of August.

Today, Garret was sent out on the IH300U and rotary mower to do a bit of mowing around the field. The first area that he mowed had been cut recently, so he was able to cut it quickly:

The weeds in the next area were a bit longer, and took longer to cut than the previous section:

Finishing up the rest of the weeds:

Before the weeds were mowed, and after:

Parking up the tractor and rotary mower in the barnyard:

Hate to say it, but that's all for today folks! More farm progress this weekend.

[Lady Ferguson]

First rate stuff, as always Tim

[CCF]

Thanks Mandy 

[CCF]

FARM JOURNAL #9 : PT.2

Over the past few days, we have been busy on the farm, particularly in weeding. After weeding, the crops appeared to be in better condition than we assumed.

On Friday, the Farm Owner tried to fix the Gator, by propping it up with a few pieces of wood, and sliding under it to fix the problem. Of course, Mandy say him, and tried to comment that he was not safely holding up the Gator. After listening to Mandy try to persuade him to safely lift the Gator in the future, the Farm Owner told her to go clean out the Pig Pen with a disgusted tone. Gavin and Marky began to crack up in the corner of the barn after she left:

The Boss did manage to get the Gator to move again, but it moved much slower, and the gearbox makes a small noise. We will be sending the Gator to the dealer to be properly fixed by the end of the coming week. To make sure that the gearbox would suddenly not fail, the Farm Owner drive the Gator around the farm several times to see if the gearbox would give out again. Fortunately, it did not give any problems:

On Saturday, the farm focused on cleaning up the onion crops of weeds. The crops had some weeds, but definitely not as many as last year:

The Farm received some good and bad news on Saturday morning. The good news was that we were now able to drive out our machinery in the controversial land that we had been leasing, and the bad news was that we were no longer to farm the land, because too high a percentage of the land was deemed to be wetlands. Thankfully though, we had our loader tractor back on Saturday, so the farm employees could throw the weeds in the bucket as they moved along. This year, we only got a little over a loader bucket full of weeds, a good sign:

When the bucket filled up, one farm employee drove the tractor over to the ever expanding compost pile, and dumped the weeds:

When the field was done being weeded, the tractor was parked out of the way in front of the fields:

The fields looked much better after being weeded. Our crop yield is by far the healthiest onion yield in years. It will not be long before we start harvesting some of the onions:

At the end of the day, the farm employees sat around the loader tractor and Gator, and shared a few drinks on the Farm Owner for a job well done on the farm so far this summer:

Hate to say it, but that's all for this week folks! Next week's journal will focus on general summer work around the farmyard, and the fields.

[CCF]

FARM JOURNAL #10

As we are moving into August, the weather begins to change for the better, and the season prepares to shift. Over the past week, the temperatures have been staying relatively low, and we have been having several cool mornings. In just a few days, we will begin transplanting our pumpkin and squash plants to the field, the final crops of the season. So far, this year has been an even bigger success than last year, and we have managed to keep on top of all of the farm tasks. As we go into the fall season, our chances of a good harvest are on the positive side. Over the next few weeks, we will try to maintain our crops as best as possible to get a good harvest in the fall.

Fall seems to be coming a bit early this year. some trees have already started shedding their leaves over the past week:

On Monday, Zane and Martin did a bit of weeding around the farm:

On Tuesday, Mandy informed the farm owner that according to new regulations, a set of professional ramps would have to be used when loading vehicles, or a docking area would have to be used in the future. As the cost of the professional ramps was unjustifiable, we decided to make a loading dock for the farm. After looking around the farm, we found that the cliff from the barnyard overlooking the road to the pond would work with a few adjustments. First, Zane loaded up some dirt in the loader tractor bucket, and dumped it where the new ramp would go:

Next, he spread the dirt with the rear grader blade. We were surprised just how little work this project took. Next time we go rock picking in the fields, we will dump the rocks under the ramp to form a strong base:

On Wednesday, the Gator transmission failed again for the second time. This time, the farm owner decided to let the local dealer have a look at it. This gave us a prime chance to test out our new loading dock. Gavin and Marky pushed the Gator, while Martin steered and braked:

As they got to the ramp, Gavin and Marky gave a final push, and let the Gator roll onto the flatbed truck. Martin put on the E brake, and put blocks of wood under the rear wheels. Mandy watched on in the John Deere loader cab, Safety ticket book in hand. Fortunately, she said that the ramp was very well designed, and complied with safety standards:

On Thursday, Gavin fixed the IH 300U from the damage that the evil Bazza and the Blue man had inflicted on it the previous Sunday. When he was working on the tractor, he got his first safety ticket because he did not disconnect the spark plugs before trying to work on the machine. The ticket Mandy gave him was a $25, because it was his first time:

After a bit of work, Gavin was able to fix the tractor. He mowed down a few long weeds on the farm to test for any problems:

On Friday, Dave did a bit of woodworking on the farm. He made a large fence to go up in back of the barnyard so the deer would not go into the barnyard, and continued working on a new sign for the farm entrance that he had been slowly working on for a few weeks:

On Saturday, the paint dried on the new sign, so we decided to put it up as we had good weather. Garret and Gavin carried the sign out of the barn, and lifted it enough so Dave could slip it on top of a pallet on the skid steer:

Once the sign was on the skid steer, Dave brought it down to the farm entrace with the skid steer, while Garret and Gavin followed on foot:

When they got down to the farm entrance, Garret and Gavin held the sign while Dave slipped it off the pallet and positioned it with the skid steer:

When they were done positioning, Dave shut off the skid steer, and they stood from a distance to make sure that the sign looked good where it was:

A close up of the front and back of the sign:

The sign was placed successfully, so they packed up everything, and left the farm for the day as there was not anything else to do around the farm. Next week, we will put some bark mulch around the sign and plant a few plants around it:

Hate to say it, but that's all for this week folks!

I would like to thank Dave McQuerrey "dmac" for making the sign, fence, and pallets

[Lady Ferguson]

Love the new sign Tim... but this safety stuff is keeping me sooooo busy, I'm soon gonna need a pay rise

[CCF]

Love the new sign Tim... but this safety stuff is keeping me sooooo busy, I'm soon gonna need a pay rise

Ok the farm owner has cut you a deal...he says that you now get 25% of every safety ticket you give to Marky...by the time he pays up, you will be so rich that your children will never have to work!  :D

Thanks Mandy 

[Lady Ferguson]

Ok the farm owner has cut you a deal...he says that you now get 25% of every safety ticket you give to Marky...by the time he pays up, you will be so rich that your children will never have to work!  :D

Thanks Mandy 

That's a deal then Tim... I'll go and write out a load of tickets with Marky's name on them in readiness then

[CCF]

FARM JOURNAL #11- FALL FARM PARTY

Every year some time in the end of September or the beginning of October when most of the crops are harvested, we at Cider Hill Farms like to throw a large party to thank all of our customers for supporting local agriculture for another year. We had another great turn out this year, with over 150 people attending this event, some people from farther places than others. Lots of people met for the first time from near and far, so overall we are very happy with the result. Hopefully the farm will be able to throw this party again next year, local agriculture is on the rise again for the first time in many years.

On Friday, we got our John Deere gator back from the dealers with a new gearbox installed. Marky backed the Gator off of the flatbed trailer, while Mandy watched on, safety tickets in hand:

After he backed off of the flatbed, Gavin hooked up a smaller trailer to the Gator, and they went down to the field to pick up a few pumpkins for the fall party on Saturday:

Once they got down to the field, Marky picked up several good size pumpkins, while Gavin pushed over one of our jumbo pumpkins. Together, they managed to get the pumpkin on the wagon:

Once they got all of the pumpkins onto the wagon, they drove up to the barnyard and parked the gator off to the side. Work was still to be done on the farm before they could set down the pumpkins:

Down by where the pig and sheep pens were, Garret, Martin, and the evil Bazza were busy at work. As the vandalized pens were beyond repair, the farm owner decided that it would be more efficient to put in new and stronger pens later on in the fall. Garret popped out off of the posts with the backhoe, while the evil Bazza shifted the 90lb posts by hand onto the Skid steer pallet forks. When the forks had several posts on them, Martin raised the boom and dropped them into the back of the dump truck. The process went like clockwork with the three of them working together:

For the time being, we have moved around our farm animal's pens. The Pigs are now spending their time inside the barn, while the goats and sheep are occupying the outdoor pig pen in the baryard. Until we have the time to build new pens, this is probably how the animals will stay:

After all of the work was done down by the old pens, Gavin went down with the IH and mower and cleaned up all of the brush and roots sticking up:

The place looked much better once it was mowed:

As we did not have enough light to keep going after the mowing was done, everyone packed up for the day and left. The next day, we found a nice surprise in the farm drive. A few weeks back, the farm owner made the decision that work was not being done fast enough around the farm, and we needed more ways to get around. Therefore, the farm purchased a second Gator, this time a TH series, a faster and larger Gator than the one that the farm has been using. Originally the dealer said that the Gator would not be delivered until next spring due to an availability issue through Deere, but apparently several dealers had backed out of their orders, leaving other dealers a few extra Gators. The farm owner test drove the gator around the farm on Saturday morning, he was pleased by how it performed:

Several hours later, Rick, an old friend of the farm came into the farm from out west for the celebration. He volunteered to help collect firewood in the woods with Marky as he arrived a few hours before the party officially began. Rick had a go at driving the new Gator down into the woods, he seemed to like it:

Once they were out in the woods, they stopped and picked up kindling on the forest floor. As there has been no rain for weeks on end, all of the wood was dry enough to burn in the bonfire. Before they knew it, they had a heeping bed and cart full of kindling:

After they had all the kindling and wood that they needed, they headed back to the area where the part was going to be held:

When they arrived, the Farm Owner and the evil Bazza were busy making a few final preparations for the event. The evil Bazza was digging out a pit by hand for the fire pit, and the Farm Owner was putting rocks around the edge of the pit. When the evil Bazza was finished digging, everyone joined in lining the edge of the pit with rocks:

Once they were done with the rocks, everyone joined in throwing in the kindling into the fire pit. When they had most of the kindling in the pit, they used the dump feature on the Gator to easily empty the bed of the rest of the kindling:

Once they were done setting up the bonfire, everyone went off and finished decorating around the farm. Several employees placed hay bales and pumpkins around the fire pit, while the farm owner got the hay ride set up:

Though it sometimes may seem like it, good favors are not forgotten easily. The local farm that Cider Hill Farms and several other farms took care of around Thanksgiving in their time of need brought up two of their calves for the day to give some of the kids something to look at near the main party area during the party:

With five minutes to spare after everything was set up, Garret and Marky parked the Gators up in the lawnmower barn, while the rest waited for people to show up:

As five o'clock struck, cars and trucks started pouring into the farm drive. We could already see that this would be a popular event by how many people poured in within the first five minutes:

People who visited enjoyed the hay ride, or a nice walk around the farm:

Finally at the end of the day, the farm had their famous Bonfire, certainly one of the main highlights of the party. During the party, people stayed and conversed with others, and enjoyed some of the food brought by visitors of the party. Overall, good spirit was shown by everyone in the party, and the party turned out to be a big success:

For a short video of the bonfire, please click on the photo below:

Hate to say it, but that's all for this week folks! Hope you had as much fun reading the journal as I did making it.

Next week's journal will focus on fall preparation of the farm, and harvesting Onions and Squash.

[Kiwi6920]

Nice story line tim, and you need a special prize mate, this is the only topic on here that can  kill my broad band

[CCF]

Nice story line tim, and you need a special prize mate, this is the only topic on here that can  kill my broad band

Thanks mate, sorry about the Broadband  Perhaps I should post the pictures in several posts, mabey that would be easier for the community as a whole?  \

[DeerMeadowFarm]

Excellent update; keep them coming!

[Tractorman810]

impressive timmy, see you have even got the ftf pensioner (rick) to do some work well done, bout time he earnt his keep aint it :D

[Lord Ferguson]

All I am getting is red crosses... have you moved the pics Timmy B  :'( :'( :'(

[Lady Ferguson]

Wonderful stuff, Tim... and great story line. Are the pics taken with the new camera sweetheart

[Rick]

Good stuff Tim keep them coming........

[FB]

Nice work Timmy B! ;D

[toyfarmer]

you tell a great story, really enjoyable

[CCF]

Cheers chaps, more to come this weekend if the weather permits 

All I am getting is red crosses... have you moved the pics Timmy B  :'( :'( :'(

Not sure why you can't see them mate, haven't moved anything. Can you see them now?  \

Wonderful stuff, Tim... and great story line. Are the pics taken with the new camera sweetheart

Yep took these with the new camera 

[BGU]

Nice pictures. Still a good storyline too.

[CCF]

Nice pictures. Still a good storyline too.

Thanks Kevin 

[CCF]

Did a bit of snowblowing down on the farm today 

Thanks go to JDC for adding the snow blower effects.

[Marmitemania]

Its BACK ;D

[Powerstarâ„¢]

Because I was away for a while, what's happened to Bazza & marky stories?

\

Nice journal this week Tim!

[CCF]

Its BACK ;D

Going to try to do a little more now every week, thanks for the comments

Because I was away for a while, what's happened to Bazza & marky stories?

\

Nice journal this week Tim!

Don't have any ideas for any new ones. If you have an idea, i'd be more than happy to make another episode if you PM your ideas to me