Late fall is a scramble here at the farm. Everything has the same deadline, the same super priority and the same penalty for not beating the cold, blustery, snowy weather. The penalty is usually way more work than you would have to do if you could complete the project while the weather was good or (my personal favorite) you get to go out in the cold, blustery, snowy weather and complete the project. The best part of working outside in the middle of winter is there is almost no discernable progress at the end of the day. Sometimes depending on the amount of snow or ice, things actually go backwards. So I try very, very hard to get everything done that we can while the weather is with us.
Currently, we are trying to get the gravel bank opened up and usable. This would be easier if the gravel bank weren't (as the name implies) on the side of a hill. Our dump truck is sporting four bald tires on the back where the rubber meets the road or should meet the road if there were any rubber. Couple that with rain every few days and the truck can find a dip or incline a transit would have trouble dectecting. Before you know it, you've blocked off the woods road to the gravel pit for the winter or perhaps the first dry spell next summer or maybe forever.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
In the Beginning....
I can't seem to locate where I should be starting a project. I begin where I think the beginning is only to find I am nowhere near the spot I should have started. I am trying to build a goat barn. So, I started by clearing the land where we wanted the barn to be located. I am a sucker for this type of straight line logic. After spending a month clearing, cutting up firewood, and chipping brush, I was looking forward to Kris shaping the land with the excavator and building a rock retaining wall.
Soon it was apparent that we were going to need back fill for each layer of rock wall as it went up. We were going to need gravel. We have needed to take the excavator out back and open a small gravel pit for a long time, but have managed to avoid it up until "now". "Now" we have to. There is no other way to build in this particular spot. Soooo, after Kris stumped and shaped the area for the Barn, she took the excavator outback. We are racing the snowfall to get the barn sills in and this is a delay. Delays are always indeterminate amorphous things that seem to have a mind of there own. To terminate a delay requires someone to beat it death. I was hoping that just by sending Kris and the excavator out back that my next involvement would be jumping in the dump truck and hauling gravel. I am not sure what I expected her to do with the trees and stumps and jack firs that are so thick you can't walk or even see the ground.
As it turns out unless you want a real mess, I mean a REAL MESS, you need to clear the area before the excavator starts. So I am back to clearing land. This could be where the beginning of the barn project should have started or it could be only an intermediary step. I won't know that until I finish clearing the area we hope will be the gravel pit and I haul gravel to the barn site. Then if nothing else comes up, the gravel pit actually was the area I should have started in.
Clearing land is a fair weather project. Since we need fair weather and we're pressed for time, we are getting rain. On the plus side, we located the gravel pit in an area with few trees large enough to cut up into firewood. Cutting trees into firewood is another delay (see delay above) and jack firs are small enough that they can be cut and dragged out of the area. This is all chainsaw and hand labor performed in the shadow of a huge excavator that seems to be enjoying our puny efforts. I have spent part of three days clearing (part of a day is plenty for me) and am going to be done on the next sunny day. Then, Kris can stump it, move the topsoil and finally, a week later we will be moving gravel.
As much as I complain about it, the gravel pit really will change things around here in a big way. It is creating another piece of the puzzle that enables future projects. The twitch trails can be made passable by the pick up truck and the dump truck. Gravel pads for out buildings and gravel for road maintenance will be readily available at no expense. This really is huge. All this for a few more days of land clearing. I really shouldn't complain.
Most of our best gravel occurs in the top four or five feet, just under the topsoil. By 10 feet you are into marine clay. I intend to strip mine the gravel and cover the area we have used in the topsoil we moved and then plant it into pasture. This will keep it from becoming a large gravel pit even if we use a lot of gravel over the years. We can bury the stumps from the pit surface and other areas before we cover it over and this will reduce the change in ground surface level. We'll see how this works out. The brush piles will make good small wildlife refuges in an area of heavy coyote density.
I am heartened by how fast the jackfirs clear. I have about five acres of them that we are going to try to put into goat pasture. Goats, unfortunately, do not eat jackfirs or pines or maples. We are going to clear these and let birches, blackberries, raspberries and other scrub fill the area, thus creating a veritable feast of goat forages. I suppose we will do this in our spare time as soon as we get some.
Anyway, I am hopeful the gravel pit is the last beginning I find for the goat barn. It is so depressing going backwards when your trying so hard to go forward. I can feel winter breathing down my back. Brrrr!
Soon it was apparent that we were going to need back fill for each layer of rock wall as it went up. We were going to need gravel. We have needed to take the excavator out back and open a small gravel pit for a long time, but have managed to avoid it up until "now". "Now" we have to. There is no other way to build in this particular spot. Soooo, after Kris stumped and shaped the area for the Barn, she took the excavator outback. We are racing the snowfall to get the barn sills in and this is a delay. Delays are always indeterminate amorphous things that seem to have a mind of there own. To terminate a delay requires someone to beat it death. I was hoping that just by sending Kris and the excavator out back that my next involvement would be jumping in the dump truck and hauling gravel. I am not sure what I expected her to do with the trees and stumps and jack firs that are so thick you can't walk or even see the ground.
As it turns out unless you want a real mess, I mean a REAL MESS, you need to clear the area before the excavator starts. So I am back to clearing land. This could be where the beginning of the barn project should have started or it could be only an intermediary step. I won't know that until I finish clearing the area we hope will be the gravel pit and I haul gravel to the barn site. Then if nothing else comes up, the gravel pit actually was the area I should have started in.
Clearing land is a fair weather project. Since we need fair weather and we're pressed for time, we are getting rain. On the plus side, we located the gravel pit in an area with few trees large enough to cut up into firewood. Cutting trees into firewood is another delay (see delay above) and jack firs are small enough that they can be cut and dragged out of the area. This is all chainsaw and hand labor performed in the shadow of a huge excavator that seems to be enjoying our puny efforts. I have spent part of three days clearing (part of a day is plenty for me) and am going to be done on the next sunny day. Then, Kris can stump it, move the topsoil and finally, a week later we will be moving gravel.
As much as I complain about it, the gravel pit really will change things around here in a big way. It is creating another piece of the puzzle that enables future projects. The twitch trails can be made passable by the pick up truck and the dump truck. Gravel pads for out buildings and gravel for road maintenance will be readily available at no expense. This really is huge. All this for a few more days of land clearing. I really shouldn't complain.
Most of our best gravel occurs in the top four or five feet, just under the topsoil. By 10 feet you are into marine clay. I intend to strip mine the gravel and cover the area we have used in the topsoil we moved and then plant it into pasture. This will keep it from becoming a large gravel pit even if we use a lot of gravel over the years. We can bury the stumps from the pit surface and other areas before we cover it over and this will reduce the change in ground surface level. We'll see how this works out. The brush piles will make good small wildlife refuges in an area of heavy coyote density.
I am heartened by how fast the jackfirs clear. I have about five acres of them that we are going to try to put into goat pasture. Goats, unfortunately, do not eat jackfirs or pines or maples. We are going to clear these and let birches, blackberries, raspberries and other scrub fill the area, thus creating a veritable feast of goat forages. I suppose we will do this in our spare time as soon as we get some.
Anyway, I am hopeful the gravel pit is the last beginning I find for the goat barn. It is so depressing going backwards when your trying so hard to go forward. I can feel winter breathing down my back. Brrrr!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
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