The title pretty much says it all. There will be a lot of farming related posts here as well as some ancient family history and photos. Another family history blog I have is at....
http://nevardblog.blogspot.com/
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Showing posts with label the hundred acre woods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the hundred acre woods. Show all posts
No, not fencing with swords but pliers, crowbar and sledge hammer. With receding water levels some of the fence that runs through sloughs is starting to re-appear. Or rather, the lack of fence. It has mostly disappeared under the water and willow growth and its a bit of a miracle the cattle did not find their way out of the pasture . Pretty much impossible to get out there to rebuild until the water freezes over as it has now. I was able to chain saw the dead growth away, string out some "new" wire and punch holes in the ice for a few fence posts. Needs the extra long ones because there is still close to 3 feet of water under the ice in places so the posts don't stick up very far once I hammer them down with the big sledge.
That second hand barbed wire was a bit of a nightmare to untangle and string out but I got it done. There was no wind and it was plenty warm working with temps in the high 30s but still better than summer when there are mosquitos, wood ticks and real hot weather to work in.
And in other news, there are changes coming to the hundred acre woods. I took a drive through there today to shoot some video of whats new there.
And it is raining pretty good today. I've been busy as usual trying to keep up but its a struggle. One job not finished and the next one needing to be done. This was a week of grain hauling. I'd built up quite an inventory and suddenly decided it was time for it to go. With the uncertainty of grain markets due to tariff wars, GMOs, etc and other excuses, I was pretty sure prices were headed even lower. Thanks to the 108 horsepower vacuum cleaner we loaded a good many semi loads from Monday to Thursday and emptied at least 12 bins if I recall right. No grain dust to breathe and less back strain compared to the old fashioned way of moving grain.
Crops looking pretty good thanks to the rain that finally showed up just in time. Patchy canola fields due to some poor emergence but they are filling in and will make a decent crop.
I need to be hitched onto the haybine cutting hay as it matured a bit early due to lack of spring rains. Although with today's soaker it is just as well to be still standing and not rotting in the swath.
Weed spraying is late of course. My canola will only get one application of Roundup but it was not bad for weeds compared to some years. Still got a field or two of oats need spraying for broad leaf weeds but that won't likely happen for a couple of days now as it is mud everywhere. I saw 20 mm in the gauge this morning but have not checked it since this afternoon's downpour. Got to be well over an inch now I'd guess.
Somehow I managed to work in a short crop tour to the hundred acre woods with the Merc last weekend. Got a bit of drone video of it.
It was a good day to be in the shelter of the poplar groves of the hundred acre woods today. Wild East wind just won't quit. Nice enough working indoors in the cab but anytime I get out it nearly takes my hat off. Toque and jacket in the morning but AC needed by mid morning.
Making progress slowly although I am a week behind where I should be thanks to the flax holdup. Finally got all the straw burned, field sprayed and now anhydroused.
Not without holdups and problems but overall not bad. That flat front tire on the tractor was repairable and back in service the next day. Thank goodness for the reliable services at the local Co-op that help keep the wheels turning. They got that leaking hydraulic hose fixed up for me too.
Have to say the soil conditions are the driest I have seen in a while and it is a nice change not fighting mud and stuck tractors. That might change in the next few days if the forecast it right.
Its not often we see a combine on the road in March here in Sask. but I caught up to this one today. Probably on the way back from the dealer's Green light service or something.
In other news, our Hundred Acre Woods I often refer to, is getting a little smaller each day this week. The municipality has the theory that the trees along the road were shading too much and preventing the road from drying out. So the cutting machine is working away taking down a 30-40 foot strip of trees along the full mile. Personally I think its a waste of time and the tax payer's money but who are we to stand in the way of progress and better roads.
First the good news. There is a fine crop of hay in some parts of the Hundred Acre Woods. The bad news,,, I broke the haybine within the first hour of cutting. Bounced over a huge subterranean boulder that I must have been cutting over for the past dozen years without previous injuries. Today it put a nasty bend in two guards and broke a couple of sickles. I could have struggled with it and the few rudimentary tools I had with me but opted to take the easy, but long way, and drive the 5 miles home. A workshop full of tools and most of the spare parts I need makes any repair job less stressful. Probably less mosquitos and wood ticks to deal with too.
Nice crop of Saskatoons in places and ready to pick. A little earlier than some years.
Smoke hangs heavy over the "hundred acre woods" for the third day in a row. Forest fires in Northern Sask. are responsible. Some experts claim climate change is responsible for it. Whatever the case, it seems to be keeping our temperatures down which is beneficial to the crops right now. Since we can't seem to get a good rain anymore.
Not me but the sky. Filled with blue smoke from Northern forest fires that has found it's way down to East central Sask.
Thick enough that it actually burns the throat after being out most of the morning. I baled up the last three hay bales that were near home.
The hot and dry conditions yesterday caused the baler to regurgitate the hay as fast as the pickup tried to push it in. Resulted in plugging up with fine chopped and dusty hay that was no fun to clean out *(By hand, twice!). I tried again after dark and there was enough moisture to promote good feeding and the hay rolled up into bales just the way it was intended to.
I was planning to head for the hundred acre woods and cut more hay today but rain showers are in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow. We do need the rain. This cloudy and smokey morning is giving the crops a break from the relentless blazing heat of the sun we had yesterday. Long term forecast is not looking good at all. Hot and dry. Some of the folks on Agriville have pretty much given up on their crops. We are not that bad here yet.
Or smaller, depending on your point of view. As the farm had only sixty cultivated acres on it I called it the hundred acre woods. As of today I finished planting flax there and only came up with 45 acres. So that means there are now 115 acres of "woods" although a good percentage of that is now under water. Every slough is full to running over. The field was always cut up in small pieces. Well now there are more smaller pieces. Folding up machinery wings and transporting from one patch to another is getting old. When will this excess water disappear? If my grandfather and uncles, who lived an farmed there all their lives, came back and saw it they would be amazed
