Jump
Back Saving Measures
Early in the pandemic, Nicole scored us 2 enormous loads of compost. They were so big we sold some super cheap, recouped our cost, gave some and spread them generously on the gardens for years. Last Summer, I could see that what was left of the once enormous pile would carry us only one more growing season. And so it was time to get more. We called and called, all prices had doubled to tripled. In the meantime, we have several horse properties around, and they have enormous manure piles they’re trying to get rid of. I’ve tried all sorts of schemes to get some back here, and the hard conclusion I came to was that to do anything significant enough to help us, I couldn’t do it by hand.
So I got a dump trailer, and boy let me tell you… it beats a shovel by a loooong way. I finally went after the manure pile of my next door neighbor. With a tractor and a dump trailer, you can move some serious volume. I worked at it several hours and barely made a dent in it. Clearly I didn’t appreciate just how much I wouldn’t be able to do it by hand.
We now have the means to create and manage big piles that will hopefully yield more than enough top notch compost for us and others. While the trailer is a big cost, like many things we get for the homestead, it should pay for itself within a few years.
Feeling the power with the push of a button
While I had the front loader on, I mixed into our home made compost pile some wood shavings from a planer, and a bucket of ash. This one’s just about ready.
Egg Thief
We couldn’t figure out how we kept losing eggs we temporary placed on the grain cans. The answer is that the chickens became acquainted with this raven. They usually make a ruckus when they’re around, but this guy gets a free pass even as he jumps around trying to make the egg fall.
Flying away, egg in beak
We thought a raven might be it, and so we kept bringing an egg every day around the same time until we could catch whatever it was in the act. We learned that it doesn’t like white eggs, only brown ones. No peanuts either. It really just wants 1 brown egg. For a bit I was dreaming of having a pet raven that would bring me shiny stuff in exchange for eggs, but it seems unreceptive to the idea, so we stopped the expensive daily tribute. I’m still hoping :).
Edit: Raven! it’s a raven not a crow :).