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#homestead

9 posts6 participants0 posts today
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mk30

New path section. Very happy with it so far. 💓 A few months ago, this area was an impassible tangle of waiawi, puna rose, wild orchid, and other junk.

As I've discovered, putting a path through an area is the first step to bringing it into some semblance of not-overgrown-mess lol.

Plus, I appreciate the metaphorical import of making my own path.

A section of rock path in the middle of a sunny jungle
#gardening#offgrid#diy
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Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

Picked the best of the old roller triplet and filled it with water ballast. I did actually find a cap for them in the garage junk, but it was too rusted and bent to fit, so I just made a wooden bung and banged it in with some inner tube.

Held fine but was quite difficult to pry back out after! The former mud pit is now blended with woodchips, hay and rolled somewhat flat. Could be more level, but oh well. I'll sprinkle some grass seed and see what happens.

An agricultural roller for towing behind a tractor. Actually this is one part of a three-roller but that would be too large and the other wasn't in good shape. A blue hose is stuck into the filler hole, slowly filling the inside of the roller with water ballast to increase its weight to about 250 kg give or take.
A threaded lid held in a gloved hand. The lid has a rusty thread that is somewhat perished and has been cleaned with a drill wire brush. The lid is also deformed, distorting the thread. It has two flanges for turning while the top remains flat.
The roller again, now filled with water, some of which has spilled over it. A wooden bung is hammered into the hole surrounded by some black rubber material bunching up around it. The bung has been cut down to be flush with the roller drum.
A man wearing a knitted hat sitting on a small blue tractor, turned to look backwards over the rear to the roller that is now attached to the tractors draw bar and towed behind through a grassy yard somewhat torn up by tractor tyres.
#Homestead#Tractor#Roller
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Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

Garden tilled. The rotavator dug up a brick, a few more concrete chunks, some plastic, a pipe and a massive fucking steel beam. Luckily it seems I didn't break any of the tines. The guard door on the right was bent slightly, but it was easy to unbolt and bang straight again, didn't even chip the paint. Japanese steel won over Soviet steel 😁

Figured out what the feedback lever does, too!

Some tricky driving to get in the corners.

A bunch of things the rotavator revealed, including a pipe, a bit of plastic on the left and a big steel C-beam covered in soil. The rear of a blue tractor with rotavator is visible in the freshly tilled field behind.
The tilled garden/field, with neat rows on the right where there was nothing in the way and somewhat less tidy at an angle on the left where there was a fence and a big tree with large roots. The soil looks dark and fertile.
#Homestead#Tractor#Rotavator
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Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

Short work day because morning shenanigans in town, but then I retrieved the rotavator from the tractor barn. Fixed a few small problems and greased all the things, as it was nicely painted but not a drop of grease anywhere.

Some studying of Japanese manuals (translated) and wrestling the thing on and off the 3PH twice and then... magic!

Turning the concrete field into fluffy garden soil. At sunset, sadly, so just a quick test run.

A blue Iseki RA 1360 rotavator. It's a tractor attachment, here sitting on a plank for maintenance. There's a chain drive on one side, a flap door with large springs and safety guards on either side. It's built very solidly. Under neath, invisible from this angle, is a thick shaft with spinning blades that chew up the soil and aerate it nicely.
A small blue tractor with said rotavator now attached and lowered into the ground for work. It has taken an oval run around the former overgrown and concrete strew garden and where it has been, dark, finely crumbling soil is now leveled out behind it. In the center, for comparison, the overgrown mess with deep grooves from concrete beams remains.
#Rotavator#Tractor#Iseki
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Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

Good spot for a small sawmill?

Under the five oaks the predecessor planted 40 years ago.

Easy access with the tractor, can pull a log alongside and stack drying lumber in front where the wind ventilates it. Away from the house for noise and dust.

Maybe some point foundations to roll the beam onto. And need to pick a second good beam as the other one supposed to go here crumbled to bits.

The leaves might be a bit annoying in late autumn.

A large old barn with five oaks in a row. A long concrete beam is laid down in front of them. A lot of brown leaves cover the uneven ground. A fence and gate are on the right.
#Homestead#Sawmill#DIY
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Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

We had this weird steel bridge in the back of the barn leading to a disused outhouse. It was in the way of todays operations, so I hooked it up and dragged it away. Alas, as I turned around to see if it's following nicely, I see a field mouse sprinting away in panic mode, the steel roof of its previously impenetrable fortress ripped away by force majeure, its safe tunnels and carefully stored acorn stashes exposed to open air!

Oops. Sorry mouse.

Small blue tractor towing away a 2m long steel bridge that is mostly covered in rust, leaves and moss, looking much like the surroundings.
Underneath the bridge, now exposed, a network of mouse tunnels. Two cul-de-sacs are carefully stashed with acorns from the nearby oaks.
#Homestead#Farm#Mouse
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Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

It's done! Here's the epic moment after the 11m concrete beam has left the yard (leaving a nice brown skidmark).

I was going to film it, but the gusty wind blew the camera over before it got interesting.

The other beam was damaged and broke in half, leading to some sketchy cutting of rebar under load (ping!) and dragging two halves out. Had to shovel the concrete debris out of the garden, that took even longer.

No more stupid concrete in the garden 🥳

A crooked gate leading out of the yard and into the meadow with two barns. A giant 11m concrete beam has been dragged through the gate, leaving torn up dark soil and mud. It's now resting in the leaves under some 40 year old oaks.
A large concrete beam has been pulled sideways with a tractor and steel cable. It's broken in half, leaving a mess of crumbling concrete, rebar and for some reason a plastic pipe embedded inside of it. The soil is churned up thoroughly and muddy.
Close-up of the front of a concrete beam well buried in the soil. A chain leads around the front, connects to a wire rope and goes over a small steel car wheel (without tyre) and off into the distance. The wheel sits on a wooden plank shoved under the beam.
#Homestead#Farm#DIY
Replied in thread
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The Perpetually Curious!

🦛 Baby Donkeys | Baby Animals Series | Extended #9.1

Gentle, intelligent, and full of life—donkey foals captivate with their playful spirit and keen curiosity. Watch as they explore, bond, and embrace the joys of their early days. A tribute to their resilience and charm, this glimpse into their world is sure to warm hearts. 🐴✨

👉 👁️ If you would like to see more, watch here: ✅🛡️🔗▶️ TPC8.short.gy/7X9iRJQ1

tpc8.short.gy- YouTubeEnjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
#donkeys#donkey#animals
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T.J. Hob

We ate our first veg harvest of the year tonight - #sunchoke tarts. I hadn't had them before and thought they were quite tasty. They were cooked in lemon juice to reduce the infamous "ill effects" and it seems to have worked.

Overall, easy to grow, harvest, and cook. 10/10... for now at least.

#homestead
Continued thread
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Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

After I finally got the beam out of the garden, I hooked up the other end and turned it 90 degrees so it can go thick end first towards the gate behind which I want it to be.

But before I can pull it the rest of the way, I had to tidy up the other beams spread out in the yard. Luckily our tractor fits between fruit trees, sheds and old bee hives and I could pull them all into a pile, one at a time. One shattered!

This took the rest of the day 😓

A crumbled concrete beam exposing several long pieces of rebar. The rest is pulled together next to it.
Small blue tractor standing under some large apple trees next to an old dog house, rear towards a couple concrete beams it has pulled into an orderly array. The sun is shining and some snow covers the mud and moss.
The yard at sunset. Some snowy lines show where the concrete beams used to be, now they're all on the right, packed tightly with the short pieces on top.
#Concrete#Beam#Homestead
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Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

Got Mr. Beam moved. Schlepped a long wire rope from the grain store, massive 20mm ø. An hour undoing a stupid knot in the middle of it with steel spikes and hammer. Long enough to reach a distant spruce with the 3 ton hand winch.

It moved but this pace got boring fast, so I used the tractor to pull sideways at the midpoint of the tensioned rope. That moved it much faster!

The soil there was much more solid, so I could pull it by tractor the rest of the way.

A stubborn concrete beam is connected by a chain around it to a long, thick wire rope that leads off into the distance to a far away tree near a house. Lots of churned up half frozen mud is all around.
At the other end, a thick cargo strap is led around a tree and connected to a 3 ton hand winch that pulls the wire rope with a short chain extension. The rope is tensioned and suspended in the air.
Mr. Beam, now completely out of the garden, resting alongside a fence before being rehitched to get pulled from the other end. The sun shines through some puffy clouds.
#Homestead#Concrete#Beam
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T.J. Hob

Got the lovey eyes from Holiday this evening as well as a nose boop and gave her lots of scritches. She's usually our least friendly gal, so you know those lambing hormones are kicking in. Not long now.

Also finally got syrup jarred. We couldn't sanitize enough jars so the two right side up are fridge bound.

Totals: ~100.15 gals of sap, ~1.875 gals of syrup. Maybe 10 gals in the boiler?

Photo of 5 quart jars and one quart jar of maple syrup cooling on a cluttered kitchen counter.
#homestead
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Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

Ok, giving up for now. I'll check how long I need the beam to be for the sawmill foundation and then I'll cut it into parts.

It's just too heavy to pull from the soft soil there. Dug over half the yard with the wheels. Broke off the concrete crown with the chain. Even fetched the stone sled from the forest and winched it onto that (actually winched the sled under the beam, because beam don't move). Even with that it won't budge more than a few mm at a time.

Infernal concrete beam, now with the concrete crown shattered in two pieces, exposing a thick steel pipe, steel plate and four nuts holding the pre-stressed reinforcements together. A piece of thick chain, pickaxe and thick wire rope are laying around.
Pulling the beam sideways out of its groove worked, but did not improve things greatly. Here the tractor is in the garden, pulling at a 90 degree angle and the beam has left its slot in the dirt over the entire length.
The problem. The tractor is hitched to the beam with a thick chain. The tyres are dug deep into the soft and moist soil there. Lifting the three point hitch up and down does sometimes gain a few cms but not enough. It's just not enough traction.
A final attempt, with an old home welded steel sled for dragging behind a tractor while workers toss fieldstones onto the sled for retrieval. Here a hand winch is trying to pull the beam over an old plow share set up as a ramp onto the sled with the chain. This worked, except the winch pulled tractor and sled backwards under the beam, which did not budge.
#Homestead#Farm#Tractor
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Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

Paying the price for social life today, got a cold plus headache.

I drag on anyways. Still can't shift the big beam further, even though it moved 10cm. So I'm moving the rest out first, then I have more space to try things.

The rest moves well, I'm almost through, although the end is all small pieces, which are annoying: Too big to lift and lots of work hooking each up individually. I don't have enough chain to connect several at a time.

A garden with two huge steel reinforced concrete beams laying along it. Other empty channels of fresh dark dirt show where more beams have already been removed. A small blue tractor is attached to the far end of a concrete beam with a massive wire rope. The soil is churned up behind the tractor. A car is parked in front of a yellow house.
The rear end of the massive concrete beam. There is a gap between it and the soil of about 10cm, showing it has moved at least a little. Two rubber booted feet are standing next to it.
Many long beams of steel reinforced concrete next to each other, loosely parallel, amongst marks of tractor tires and grass torn up from dragging the beams over it. One has a large chain around it connected with a shackle. This one has also been patched with a lump of poured concrete, leaving it with a kink.
#Homestead#Farm#DIY
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