Above 1200 Sq/FT Little House on the Prairie at The Bootheel Farm

[west_perf]

@west_perf

I know you're a fan of JD. Here is a little history video about where I work. Thought you might like some of the old pictures and videos.

Love the video! I enjoyed seeing all the old John Deeres. I'd love to have a JD snowgo but no idea where I'd use it.

We had a Christmas party and my 1947 John Deere A was the talk of the party, when I fired it up and took the kids on a trailer ride around the block (down south - not at the farm). There's something soothing about riding around that old 2-cylinder machine with the engine popping away.

I'll soon post up some John Deere pics from the "Gathering of the Green" - a biennial show celebrating JD heritage I attended in Wisconsin back in June.

Finally, my long term plan is to make the barn a replica of a 1950s John Deere dealership. I've been collecting toys, signs, tractors, and such to make it a reality. Just picked up a John Deere chainsaw to add to the reality. If you ever get a spare JD dealer hat feel free to send it over!

 

[Boostingaz]

Love the video! I enjoyed seeing all the old John Deeres. I'd love to have a JD snowgo but no idea where I'd use it.

We had a Christmas party and my 1947 John Deere A was the talk of the party, when I fired it up and took the kids on a trailer ride around the block (down south - not at the farm). There's something soothing about riding around that old 2-cylinder machine with the engine popping away.

I'll soon post up some John Deere pics from the "Gathering of the Green" - a biennial show celebrating JD heritage I attended in Wisconsin back in June.

Finally, my long term plan is to make the barn a replica of a 1950s John Deere dealership. I've been collecting toys, signs, tractors, and such to make it a reality. Just picked up a John Deere chainsaw to add to the reality. If you ever get a spare JD dealer hat feel free to send it over!

Here is our hay ride every year at our family fall fest at the farm.

 

[west_perf]

Shortest day of the year here. I've watched the sun set from the Santa Monica pier and I enjoy this one more.

 

[west_perf]

I'm stuck on something. This house has the 60s hardwood paneling for all the walls. It really makes it feel like a cabin and rustic, which I like. My original idea was to tear down all the ceiling and drywall it - and I'm still going to do that. The walls I will need to drywall as well, but I'm having indigestion over it because I like the paneling, and I'm not wanting to make it "generic". If I pull the paneling down and just replace a couple walls with drywall I'd have enough good paneling to fix the areas that aren't so good.

Anyways the wall piece that's coming out is between the doorway and the ladder - this is a load bearing wall so it's going to be done correctly.



For being a smaller house it feels like it has plenty of room.

I want to do one room at a time, ceilings/walls/subfloor. I have two weeks uninterrupted coming up so will see what I can get done then.

 

[west_perf]

Headed back south for the holidays and worked around the properties I have down there. Wanted to refocus on getting some things done, so Friday afternoon I hopped on a flight and came back up this way to get to it. I ended up overnighting in St. Louis and ended up down here after dark on Saturday.

First thing was to drool at the stars and the darkness. Having spend the last 25 years living in city/suburbs, I'm still in awe at going outside at night and the stars being so bright. Photo taken with an iPhone 17. This is looking down my road, my house is at the light right on the horizon in the center. It's much darker out here than this picture would show.



Today I got my new stove installed. It came prepped for natural gas, so I had to change the burner orfices and a quick YouTube video explained it. I'm happy with the way it fit, works good, and I'm going to have rebuild the counter to make it the appropriate size. It will come back out when I redo the floor so no rush for now.



Running the wood stove has become a very enjoyable part of my routine. Growing up we had a couple wood stoves and living in the warmer areas it's one thing I've really missed. 29 years later, I'm back in a house with one. One thing I noticed was that stove warmed the area but not like I remember. Doing some research, it's a Drolet so there is a blower available that circulates warm air from around the heat jacket of the stove. The reviews online were mixed but I got one and installed it. What a difference that makes, I went from using the wood stove as a supplement for the propane heater to using the wood stove as a primary source.

 

[jollygreengiant]

The clear night skies are one of the best advantages to country living. Plus the sunsets/sunrises, and the occasional glimpse of the northern lights up here.

 

[west_perf]

Yesterday was nice so I went out and worked in the barn. I Posted earlier about the mess that is called the electrical system, there isn't a shutoff for the barn, only the main shutoff which affects the entire property.

First, I started by taping up the wires which had an insulation break. Before climbing up the ladder I depowered everything and checked twice. Getting zapped out here means that the wife probably finds me dead in 2 days because I didn't answer the phone and she came up to check on the situation. Just the simple reality of rural living.

 

[west_perf]

Snow! Real cold, well is frozen over!

 

[west_perf]

Got a new front door installed. The old one leaked and ruined part of the floor decking so I replaced that at the same time.



All sealed up and much more weathertight.

 

[west_perf]

Here's a few pics from my trip back home. I was lucky to get out to the main highway, my 4x4 truck just made it there. It was 6-8" deep, icy snow with some higher drifts. It exposed a hole in my preps but that is soon to be fixed.






Southern TN was decimated in snow and ice. I ended up stopping to overnight in a hotel just a couple hours into the drive, and I should have stayed a second night. I had snow in the bed of my truck all the way down into north central Florida.

 

[west_perf]

I felt like @Boostingaz today, towing a tractor home. Unfortunately this happened and I lost a wheel 25 miles from my place in north FL. Got lucky it could have been much worse or in a further location.
i unloaded the tractor on the side of the highway and limped the trailer home.

this is the hub.

And Then drove the tractor 25 miles home at night

 

[Boostingaz]

I felt like @Boostingaz today, towing a tractor home. Unfortunately this happened and I lost a wheel 25 miles from my place in north FL. Got lucky it could have been much worse or in a further location.
i unloaded the tractor on the side of the highway and limped the trailer home.

this is the hub.

And Then drove the tractor 25 miles home at night

What's that Cub Cadet your trying to hide back there ..... that's the wrong color lol.

And holy....25 miles. That's a long haul, how long did that take.

 

[west_perf]

What's that Cub Cadet your trying to hide back there ..... that's the wrong color lol.

And holy....25 miles. That's a long haul, how long did that take.

The Cub Cadet tiller is a good workhorse! I don't think JD makes one.

It took 2 hours to drive home. Was pretty peaceful evening and an experience to remember, hopefully not repeat.

It's going to cost about $500 to fix the trailer hubs/wheels. The lugnuts were loose on both of the wheels on the right. Glad it happened when it did, because the second wheel was just a short time from failing too.

 

[Boostingaz]

The Cub Cadet tiller is a good workhorse! I don't think JD makes one.

It took 2 hours to drive home. Was pretty peaceful evening and an experience to remember, hopefully not repeat.

It's going to cost about $500 to fix the trailer hubs/wheels. The lugnuts were loose on both of the wheels on the right. Glad it happened when it did, because the second wheel was just a short time from failing too.

Glad you and the equipment came out unscathed! That could have been a bad day.

 

[west_perf]

Glad you and the equipment came out unscathed! That could have been a bad day.

Darn right, the wheel popped off when I rounded a 90 degree turn at a stop light, so my speed was very low, there was no one beside me, and nothing got damaged. Just a few minutes earlier, or a few minutes later (at 55 MPH) it could have been a different story. Thank the good Lord the only cost to repair is less than what I would have paid to tow the equipment home, a patient wife who drove 5 hours to give me a 25 mile ride. and some good weather.

Here's the wheel, it's easy to see how the holes are enlarged. Either both wheels were overtorqued, or undertorqued. This is a lesson to check the lugs more regularly.

 

[west_perf]

The great freeze got me. I mentioned earlier I was behind the curve in getting my well house heated, it's pretty solid and well insulated but I forgot to turn on the heat that night before I went to bed and it cost me. When I did get it going, it couldn't get it up to temp. The temps stayed below freezing for almost 10 days so that bring us to today.

Easy to see some of the fittings are broken, but more importantly the pump housing is busted. Drats!

 

[twinfin]

Nice write up. Looks like a nice little “bugout” spot. Sorry the well plumbing bit the dust but now you know what you need to do to harden the water system against future freezes.

 

[jollygreengiant]

It's always interesting to see how things are done in different areas. Here, all the well equipment is put in the basement of houses. Gets them into a warm (er) space so we don't have to worry about them over winter.

 

[west_perf]

The local hardware store had the same exact pump, so I went and picked it up. Plumbed it it and was all ready to go in about an hour, it all seemed to good to be true.



The manual said fill with cold water, let the pump run 3-5 minutes to prime. After 5 minutes nothing. I filled it up again, tried again. No dice. After day 2 of no water, I called the well company. I asked them to come out and look, they said it wouldn't be worth the money since most likely the new pump was defective and gave me a couple suggestions. Well, I put the old pump back in the sure enough it primed and pressurized the system, even though it was leaking. At least I had water.

 

[west_perf]

It wasn't all good though, I determined a pipe was split under the house, a hot water pipe. And of course there's no shutoff on the water heater, so add another task to my list of fixes. Oh well at least I have this to enjoy.

 

[west_perf]

Let's pick up where I left off.

When springtime came, I decided to plant a few trees and start an orchard.



I planted 7 Oak trees and two peach trees. I'm pleased to say that 2 months in all the trees are putting out buds and new leaves. I noticed two at the very end of my property got a little residual roundup from the farmers and I hope they'll recover. They looked good last week but sad today.

 

[west_perf]

Then I finally redid the well, with a pump I picked up at tractor supply on clearance, she pumped right up. So I had cold water in the house, as I installed a shutoff for the hot water as the line was still broken.

Well that's also history, as I cut the floor open and found the stub line (CPVC) had split. The line actually went nowhere so I just pulled it, capped off the copper split, and now I'm back to working hot and cold water.

 

[west_perf]

Here's a picture of the stressed tree, I hope it makes it. I put 5 gals of water on her tonight.

 

[west_perf]

Then I noticed that my truck had a terrible steering wheel vibration and wanted to pull strongly to the right. This truck has always been rock solid since new, nothing has been changed not even an alignment (15 years). Being unexpected, I noticed the front left wheel felt like it had an indentation in the middle of the tread. Almost like it was under inflated, but it was 40 PSI like the rest of them. I figured I'd rotate it to the back and see if that fixed the vibration and pulling, and it certainly did. But now I feel the vibration in the back, so the solution will be a new set of tires.

Speaking of tires, they're Nitto Terra Grappler G2s from 2017, I ordered the wheels and tires from Discount Tire. I would not recommend buying wheels there, they were about 1/2 price of the dealer, but they have a cheap *** center cap that I can't replace, and most of the tabs broke due to the brittle cheap plastic. Not happy about it, but I have the OEM wheels in the shed I'll throw new rubber on them and put them back on.



I got to use my new jack too (the purple super duty). The local HF store had it in their clearance section, with an additional 15% off so I got it for just under $200. Score!

 

[west_perf]

Here's a couple pics of enjoying freedom again. We had some good storms come through, the lightning was impressive.

 

[west_perf]

My dad gave me an old air compressor he had. I remember going down to pick it up at Montgomery Ward in May 1989, he shopped both Sears and MW and after at least a year of searching we went and picked it up one Saturday afternoon. Still works! I cleaned it up and put it away, hope I can use it a long time.
Back when things were made in the USA and proudly.

 

[jollygreengiant]

Nice updates!

Regarding your tree, are there any new buds on it? If not, cut the tip off of one of the newest branches and see what the tissue inside looks like.

 

[west_perf]

Nice updates!

Regarding your tree, are there any new buds on it? If not, cut the tip off of one of the newest branches and see what the tissue inside looks like.

Yes, there are buds on all of them (minus 1) - and I also am able to bend some branches without snapping them. There is hope. I dumped a ton of water and fertilizer on them so will keep you all updated.

 

[west_perf]

Early August Update:

I've got a lot to share, but let's start with this:
I made it up here with my camper, to explore a couple local places. The grass was about a foot tall, which is good as we've had a lot of rain, the better is I got a chance to cut it twice to make it look good.




Then I took old fleabags out for a ride on the SxS to look at the country. She doesn't like it much, the other dogs like it a lot better but I left them down south.



Lots of work going on. But to close this post, when's the last time you used a gas pump like this? I love it! I texted this picture to a friend who replied with a string of expletives I can't post here, but the gist was "It's nice to see a pump without a tv screen on it like man and God intended it to be".

 

[west_perf]

After I cut the grass, I sat down to have a glass of iced tea (unsweetened - of course) and got to witness one of the great pictures of the top of a thunderstorm being sheared off - it was a severe storm about 60 miles west of here. It moved to the SE and I got a good lightning show from the distance.



Then I decided to check Marketplace and a metal canoe popped up nearby for sale.

I thought WTH and dropped very little cash for it.



I promptly put it in the barn and went to work polishing. I used aluminum cleaner, then polished with a drill attachment. It looks pretty good now, not perfect, but pretty good.

 

[west_perf]

My grandpa always had a gravity fed gas tank, you can see it in this old picture from 1986, behind the "new" 86 GMC.




(That picture was taken just down the road from here)

I ended up driving over to Tennessee, but I have my own tank now. I don't plan to use it, I have to fix the hose fitting but it's mostly for show. It's worth noting it cost more in diesel to go get it than to pay for it.




And a teaser for what comes next:

 

[zanyad]

It's nice to see a pump without a tv screen on it like man and God intended it to be

Amen!

 

[west_perf]

Yes, there are buds on all of them (minus 1) - and I also am able to bend some branches without snapping them. There is hope. I dumped a ton of water and fertilizer on them so will keep you all updated.

5 of the original 5 oak trees are dead! The two that I planted back in June are looking great.

Sad, they were looking pretty good until the round up applicator came around and sprayed the fields.

 

[Boostingaz]

5 of the original 5 oak trees are dead! The two that I planted back in June are looking great.

Sad, they were looking pretty good until the round up applicator came around and sprayed the fields.

Sorry to hear about the trees. That stinks!

If you want to have a word with the operator......

 

[west_perf]

Alright guys I screwed up (possibly).

Once a month I check the FBMP for classic John Deere tractors that are priced well to add to my collection. I have done a couple virtual auctions this summer, looking for a 70d (diesel) or a 50/520. About a month ago I saw a 70d that was for sale nearby, and had been for sale for a long time, so I just threw the owner a message and they replied and suggested I come to check it out. It's been sitting for a couple years so I couldn't run it, but I liked it.

The 70 diesel, and later 720 diesels, have two engines. The tractor is powered by a 6.2L 2-cylinder diesel engine. That engine is started by a small (pony) gas engine, that the operator starts then uses that engine to crank over the diesel by coupling the flywheels together. Kind of a cool, albeit difficult system.

Here's a video explaining it:

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[west_perf]

Continued: Not being able to run the engines is an obvious concern, but he stated it was parked 2 years ago. I threw him an offer I was comfortable with, knowing I can junk it for nearly the same amount if necessary. I only decided to do this because it's complete, unmolested, original, and priced right. He bought it from the original owner back in 2024 with hopes of restoring it, but it's just sat and he decided to move it along. It had a terribly torn tarp covering it.

Well, I went and picked it up today. Glad I didn't check the oil before I loaded it up or I'd have passed.

I noticed some water dripping from the bottom of the flywheel cover and decided to pull it an investigate. was surprised by a lot of water, and then decided to drain out the oil and check that.,

I drained about 1.5 gallons of rainwater out of the crankcase, and then another 2 gallons of good looking diesel oil. I already checked that it's not coolant and the coolant is full and good.

I was hoping this would be an easy project, the pony engine needs new fuel lines at a minimum, but now I'm hoping the main engine isn't frozen up!

 

[west_perf]

One reason I was willing to give this one a chance is the (previous) owner told me all about finding it in the barn of the original owner. He says they pull started it, which is common with these old machines, when people don't wan to mess with pony engines, which are quite a bit of $$ to fix. The 6-volt, pos ground starting battery is below, and the story matches with the date on this battery which is likely 1990.

I believe the pony hasn't run for 35ish years, and the diesel engine for 2 years. Fingers crossed they both run without much work.

 

[Krfjkm]

What kind of engine is the pony engine?

 

[west_perf]

What kind of engine is the pony engine?

It's JD - 18 cubic inches, a V-4 with little 2" pistons.

 

[west_perf]

Crisis averted?? Big Engine spins OK and has compression. Little engine looks solid too.