Above 1200 Sq/FT Out on Quaker Road

[drivesitfar]

Looks like you and the neighbors won’t go hungry …..

I love re purposing old stuff and I bet it’s great to have scrap pile, and some decent welding skills too.

Good luck with planting this month cause I’m sure you and the family will be busy!!

 

[jblnut]

You're killing me!

I looked at the picture for a little while and thought it was neat that you were making potatoes and bacon and it looked just the stuff I made and you had the same SS flipper thing. Sometimes my brain doesn’t brain well lol

Looks like you and the neighbors won’t go hungry …..

I love re purposing old stuff and I bet it’s great to have scrap pile, and some decent welding skills too.

Good luck with planting this month cause I’m sure you and the family will be busy!!

I like making food

I do like my scrap pile out back !! And out the side, and in the woods ….. I need to organize things lol.

It’s currently raining again but we have 10 days of clear warm stuff coming up and I’m hopeful we can make it all happen !!

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

So many questions and comments . . .

So is cooking on a level surface (Blackstone) easier or harder than on a conical surface (Wishek-wok)? Different layout for juice migration?

You outdoor furniture is certainly wind proof - but I predict there are comfy cushions in your near future that will require a deck box for storage. Our deck chair cushions are stacked up in the dining room next to the china cabinet, near the sliding door to the deck for easy access.

Super-rolley chair casters are a bit dangerous - I have rollerblade casters on my office chair. Mrs_N_G's chair has normal casters as it would roll away from her as she was sitting down and she'd end up on the floor. Somehow it would be my fault . . .

It's even worse if your floor isn't level - I worked with people in and old office building where they had to put down a throw rug in their office because the floor was so sloped that they would roll away from their desk.

Keep us apprised of your doings when you get the time. We like hearing about life on the farm.

Cheers

Jim

 

[jblnut]

So many questions and comments . . .

I have answers !!

So is cooking on a level surface (Blackstone) easier or harder than on a conical surface (Wishek-wok)? Different layout for juice migration?

I think stuff is generally easier to cook but the overall flavors are not as good. For example when making breakfast on the Wok I’d make the bacon first and drag it out of the center once it’s close to done so it can drain. The potatoes go in the center bacon juice puddle to absorb flavor and get fried. When the bacon is done draining it comes off. When the potatoes are getting close to done I’d drag them to the outside so they can drain, one needs to be health conscious I’ve been told. When the potatoes are done draining the French toast goes on in a ring around the outside and it tastes amazing.

On the Blackstone you may as well just slap everything on at once because a lot of the flavor is going to run out the back just like on a regular grill. The better part of the Blackstone is that I don’t have to chase things around in a damn circle lol. I think the Wok makes better steaks and burgers because of the juice puddle. When making fries and meat on the Blackstone I put the meat in front so the juice can flow through the fries or veggies.

Both have their ups and downs. Overall I like them both but if I had to pick one I’d take the Blackstone. It’s larger and that’s about the only reason as I think the Wok makes better tasting stuffs.

You outdoor furniture is certainly wind proof - but I predict there are comfy cushions in your near future that will require a deck box for storage. Our deck chair cushions are stacked up in the dining room next to the china cabinet, near the sliding door to the deck for easy access.

SWMBO grumped that her **** was cold the first time we ate out there. So yes, I foresee something cushy on there sometime. Plywood is an insulator AND softer than granite …. Hmmmmmm

Super-rolley chair casters are a bit dangerous - I have rollerblade casters on my office chair. Mrs_N_G's chair has normal casters as it would roll away from her as she was sitting down and she'd end up on the floor. Somehow it would be my fault . . .

It's even worse if your floor isn't level - I worked with people in and old office building where they had to put down a throw rug in their office because the floor was so sloped that they would roll away from their desk.

Agreed on the super rolly thing !! Two of these casters have brakes and I applied them ever so slightly. My office floor is quite flat and dirt free and things roll well lol

Keep us apprised of your doings when you get the time. We like hearing about life on the farm.

Cheers

Jim

Thanks Jim !! I try !! I gotta update this thread more instead of or as well as the other random threads I frequent on here.

Thanks for stopping by !!

 

[bugnut]

I can only wish that my children react similarly!

It is one of the many things around here that my children are going to look at one day and go “what the hell dad?”

 

[Jayman17]

What do you do if someone asks to move the bench in a bit closer to the table? Is a forklift involved?

 

[jblnut]

What do you do if someone asks to move the bench in a bit closer to the table? Is a forklift involved?

I will simply say “go ahead and scoot it in if you can”. We’re very accommodating around here.


Ha

 

[jblnut]

The little people squad and I decided to buck some firewood the other daaaaay. They picked up the scrappy pieces and put them in that tote whilst I did chainsaw things.


Grrrrrawr the 041 saw some run time again. I like this saw a lot but can only run it for a tank or so as the only antivibe is your gloves and skin


Handy little lawnmower


The not-so-little-anymore people were jungle-gyming in an empty tote so I decided to do what any responsible father should do and carry them around for a bit. I’m sure it goes without saying that they had a giggling good time and so did their Dad


We got four totes cut up and I got a few more moved to the stove pad. The plan is to stack them two high around the outside and fill the center hole with piled wood. If I have a ring all the way around there will be close to 16 cord in totes and room for another 10+ loosely piles in the hole inside them. We shall see how this works this coming winter. I really want to build a building here but don’t want to spend the likely $10k it’s going cost.

 

[RickP]

If I have a ring all the way around there will be close to 16 cord in totes and room for another 10+ loosely piles in the hole inside them. We shall see how this works this coming winter. I really want to build a building here but don’t want to spend the likely $10k it’s going cost.

That's a LOT of firewood!!! Your boiler must really go through it on bitter cold nights...

I've been debating the cost of a building too. On your farm it must be hard to justify if it's not a money-maker. Could you think of it like this: how much $$ have you saved by not paying to run your house furnace? Is the boiler making you money by allowing the profits from your business to go directly into your pocket, rather than into the furnace?

 

[jblnut]

That's a LOT of firewood!!! Your boiler must really go through it on bitter cold nights...

It's heating the house, farm shop and well house for a total of around 10,000sq/ft. When it's -25f and windy it'll eat a cord in 4-5 days. Granted it's mostly poplar, elm, cottonwood and boxelder with a few pieces of ash mixed in so it's not on the most efficient diet.

I've been debating the cost of a building too. On your farm it must be hard to justify if it's not a money-maker. Could you think of it like this: how much $$ have you saved by not paying to run your house furnace? Is the boiler making you money by allowing the profits from your business to go directly into your pocket, rather than into the furnace?

The wood boiler offsets around 2,500gal of LP a year so this year it saved around $4,000. It'll take a while to pay for it all even saving $4k a year. I figure between the stove, pipe, concrete pad, pumps and everything to make it run I had around $32,000 invested. Then it gets a little iffy with expenses ... such as ... does the $5,200 grapple I bought for the skiddy count against the stove ? The $4,000 wood splitter definitely does. What about the probably $3k in chainsaws and wood cutting stuff .... or the $17,000 dump trailer ..... or even the loader on the lawnmower ? If you count it all in it'll be a 17yr payback with todays LP cost. Not horrid but I want things to cash flow in 7yrs or less, ideally 3-4yrs or less.

The shed adds value to me in the way that I won't have to stand in the cold and wind to load it. That's about it. The stove doesn't really seem to care about a half inch of ice on the wood when it goes in. It'll be a little less efficient of course but I have lots of wood here so the lack of efficiency would have to offset the amount of wood it burns. If it burns another cord or two a year that isn't big a deal really. I can have a cord of wood cut up pretty quickly and I pay nothing for the wood. There are two people and two tree services bringing wood here all year long and I don't honestly know if I can get it all burnt each year so another couple cord if the wood is snowy isn't a big deal at this point.

Plus I'm tight and don't like spending money unless I see a direct benefit to more than just convenience for myself or others.

 

[Prospecter]

Don't forget the annual gym membership you don't need!

 

[jblnut]

Don't forget the annual gym membership you don't need!

Between firewood and 12oz curls I have no need for a gym membership.

 

[68400BIRD]

Make sure to alternate the 12oz curles.

 

[82355]

Planting now?

We have one quarter of beans left to plant. I am field cultivating it right now, plan to plant it tomorrow morning.

You would be sad if you saw all the trees we just buried!

Martin

 

[jblnut]

Make sure to alternate the 12oz curles.

Sometimes I workout with my buddy Jack Daniel’s but we get way less done than when I hang out with the Busch Light crowd.

Planting now?

We have one quarter of beans left to plant. I am field cultivating it right now, plan to plant it tomorrow morning.

You would be sad if you saw all the trees we just buried!

I have all the bean ground prepped and am working on rolling it now.


Seed tender is full and well easily get this empty today if nothing explodes.

 

[jblnut]

Pops getting some soybeans in the ground !!


I rolled a bunch of ground and went to do more tillage. Once I had enough done for tomorrow I hauled a load of wood home.


That load doesn’t look very large when it’s dumped on the pile

 

[jollygreengiant]

$10k for a building? Come now, for a man of your ingenuity I don't see why you couldn't put one up yourself for a lot less than that. Maybe some used telephone poles or straight trees, some salvaged ribbed steel sheets and bam! Done.

 

[jblnut]

$10k for a building? Come now, for a man of your ingenuity I don't see why you couldn't put one up yourself for a lot less than that. Maybe some used telephone poles or straight trees, some salvaged ribbed steel sheets and bam! Done.

You are 100% correct but I made the mistake of building the first things around here with nice looking new materials and I just can’t bring myself to build a redneck shed in the middle of my yard

 

[Boostingaz]

You are 100% correct but I made the mistake of building the first things around here with nice looking new materials and I just can’t bring myself to build a redneck shed in the middle of my yard

Hear hear. For me it's always, "I can....but depending on how it turns out do I want to look at it for the next 10 years" haha.

 

[jblnut]

Hear hear. For me it's always, "I can....but depending on how it turns out do I want to look at it for the next 10 years" haha.

That’s 100% it. It’s one of the first things you’d see coming in the yard and I’d like it all to look the same. Somehow an ugly woodpile doesn’t bother me but I know a mismatched building will lol.

 

[Boostingaz]

That’s 100% it. It’s one of the first things you’d see coming in the yard and I’d like it all to look the same. Somehow an ugly woodpile doesn’t bother me but I know a mismatched building will lol.

Priorities. And with the light of a match the ugly woodpile can disappear. The building.....I guess you could use the same tactic but......

Unless I got a building at like 50% off to make it worth it, yea it's gotta match.

 

[82355]

If you put the same tin over the outside, you won’t be able to see what is under it!

Martin

 

[Sifan]

says the John Deere guy

 

[jblnut]

What a beautiful morning to do a soybean test plot !! 10 varieties along with a population trial on the end.


Plant in the dust and the bins will bust. Or so they say. We’ll see !!


Once the plot was done it was back to the air conditioned office.


We spread some rye on frozen ground last fall to see what would happen. It actually germinated and grew quite well. This was sort of fun to work in.


We took a short recess to plant some sweet corn. Three varieties and around a half acre again.


No AutoTrac on this tractor but the planter does have a seed placement and population monitor. See him walking behind the planter

 

[Sifan]

is he as sensitive as the other sensors?

 

[jblnut]

This road is mine. Meeting traffic is fun


Throwing dust again !!

 

[Boostingaz]

This road is mine. Meeting traffic is fun


Throwing dust again !!

I'm my experience they will move, the bigger guy wins lol.

 

[Sifan]

not always ...

https://youtu.be/ZyUcfZ7J6sM?t=2067

Not my doing

 

[Sifan]

So far, my 4 day contribution to farming 2025:
Pumping 175 gallons of diesel into tillage tractor & replacing two bearings on soil finisher.

rain, rain and more rain

 

[Boostingaz]

not always ...

https://youtu.be/ZyUcfZ7J6sM?t=2067

Not my doing

I didn't hear anything about another car he said he lost control coming down the hill.

 

[Sifan]

yeah, the hill won

 

[jblnut]

not always ...

https://youtu.be/ZyUcfZ7J6sM?t=2067

Not my doing

An 8440 pulling a 34' disc with a crumbler. That poor tractor !!

I love watching someone use a rotator to it's potential. It's amazing the power packed into such a small package !!

 

[82355]

Rain? What is that???



It is bone dry here, everyone is irrigating. Crazy early for such silliness. The picture is from flushing the sand trap on a pivot, so the end gun would work.

Martin

 

[jollygreengiant]

We are way ahead of last year around here. Probably 75% of the corn is in the ground and a good chunk of soys. Earliest planted corn is up now. Last year a good amount of corn didn't get planted until June. I really need to get my but in gear and get the garden planted before we get our usual May to July drought.

Are you guys ahead of normal there?

 

[cvairwerks]

This road is mine. Meeting traffic is fun

I get the willies about this time of the year around here when it gets close to dark and the farmers are still moving equipment down the road. Had a local moving a 60+ footer down a winding road, in the dark with no ******. I nearly hit the left wing joint before I saw him. The 17 year old that was about 45 seconds behind me didn't miss....I'm pretty sure it cost him well into the 6 figures to settle that suit.

 

[Sifan]

Harvest will be different in central Illinois ... county bridge is out of commission ... detour will double time and distance and detoured road has portable scales location.

Farmer/ins co versus county as to who fixes the bridge. Going one way, the bridge has a 20 ton/40,000# load limit, going the other direction, has a post but no load limit sign on it. On the no sign side, farmer with a 4wd tractor and full 1000 bu/60,000 grain cart crossed and heard a loud popping sound. Tractor or grain cart by itself exceeds 20 ton, but no sign on that side.

I never got excited about the sign because I run semi tractor/trailer. Licensed to carry 40 ton/80,000# but bridge is short enough that tractor is off the bridge before the trailer goes on.

 

[jblnut]

Rain? What is that???



It is bone dry here, everyone is irrigating. Crazy early for such silliness. The picture is from flushing the sand trap on a pivot, so the end gun would work.

Martin

It is bone dry here as well. Hopefully we get a shot of rain soon !!

We are way ahead of last year around here. Probably 75% of the corn is in the ground and a good chunk of soys. Earliest planted corn is up now. Last year a good amount of corn didn't get planted until June. I really need to get my but in gear and get the garden planted before we get our usual May to July drought.

Are you guys ahead of normal there?

We finished last night with everything. Now on to laying down pre-emerge and fixing broken stuff.

I get the willies about this time of the year around here when it gets close to dark and the farmers are still moving equipment down the road. Had a local moving a 60+ footer down a winding road, in the dark with no ******. I nearly hit the left wing joint before I saw him. The 17 year old that was about 45 seconds behind me didn't miss....I'm pretty sure it cost him well into the 6 figures to settle that suit.

We have lights all over the place on most of the things we may be using at night. The wide stuff is lit up like a Christmas tree. That doesn’t mean everyone realizes what it is and how large it actually is. We’ve had a few close calls but luckily it’s only been a smashed mailbox or two over the years. They’re easy to replace.

Harvest will be different in central Illinois ... county bridge is out of commission ... detour will double time and distance and detoured road has portable scales location.

Farmer/ins co versus county as to who fixes the bridge. Going one way, the bridge has a 20 ton/40,000# load limit, going the other direction, has a post but no load limit sign on it. On the no sign side, farmer with a 4wd tractor and full 1000 bu/60,000 grain cart crossed and heard a loud popping sound. Tractor or grain cart by itself exceeds 20 ton, but no sign on that side.

I never got excited about the sign because I run semi tractor/trailer. Licensed to carry 40 ton/80,000# but bridge is short enough that tractor is off the bridge before the trailer goes on.

I’d have no mercy on that farmer if there was a sign on one side and not the other. Although not technically posted he quite likely absolutely knew he was too heavy. People like that drive me nuts “well it wasn’t posted so I didn’t know”. Yeah right mmmmmhmmmmm. Dumb.

 

[82355]

Strange to be driving a loaded grain cart down the road.

Martin

 

[jblnut]

Strange to be driving a loaded grain cart down the road.

Martin

I reread it and I agree. I initially read it as a 1000bu commodity cart and seeder. No good reason for a loaded grain cart to be hauled down the road but who knows

 

[jollygreengiant]

Harvest will be different in central Illinois ... county bridge is out of commission ... detour will double time and distance and detoured road has portable scales location.

Farmer/ins co versus county as to who fixes the bridge. Going one way, the bridge has a 20 ton/40,000# load limit, going the other direction, has a post but no load limit sign on it. On the no sign side, farmer with a 4wd tractor and full 1000 bu/60,000 grain cart crossed and heard a loud popping sound. Tractor or grain cart by itself exceeds 20 ton, but no sign on that side.

I never got excited about the sign because I run semi tractor/trailer. Licensed to carry 40 ton/80,000# but bridge is short enough that tractor is off the bridge before the trailer goes on.

Unless that was his first trip across I can't see the "didn't see the sign" argument holding water. His first trip back the other way he would have seen it.

I'm also surprised your county roads have lower weight limits than normal road traffic. Up here county bridges are all built to withstand the same load as normal legal loads, in our case that's 140,000 lbs. Don't get me wrong, we have lots of reduced load bridges but those are all on township roads.

Strange to be driving a loaded grain cart down the road.

Martin

That happens frequently here, especially during a wet harvest. Trucks will park on the side of the road to not get stuck and the cart will come out to fill them.