Here’s another video version of The Farm Report:
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The Farm Report: Wood Splittin’
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Tom, just a heads up in case nobody has told you this, never give chicks or chickens wet mash in a deep pan. Chickens only breath through their nostrils, not their mouths and if the wet mash is too deep when they peck into the pan it will stick in their nasal passages and suffocate them. I learned this the hard way as a child when I made the mistake of giving the chicks old apple sauce in a dog dish, my dad managed to save half of them by clearing their nostrils but we lost over a dozen chicks in one night.
I wasn’t aware of that. Thanks for the warning.
OMG Tom!
You gave the girls chores to do?
That will take away from their TV time.
They’ll be scarred for life!!!
I hope to scar them up with a sense of responsibility and a belief that reward is largely a function of effort. I want them to grow up to be the kind of people who consider being offered a government subsidy an insult.
Even with a power splitter, cutting wood is a bunch of hard work. Around here, wood goes for about $45 a rick, and that’s delivered and stacked. I’ve cut my own firewood but I sure wouldn’t do it for someone else for that price. Next time you buy some more chicks, consider Bovan’s Browns. A lot of people around here have them and they lay lots of big eggs once they get going.
I appreciate the tip. I don’t recall what breeds we got in this batch.
Tom, just a heads up in case nobody has told you this, never give chicks or chickens wet mash in a deep pan. Chickens only breath through their nostrils, not their mouths and if the wet mash is too deep when they peck into the pan it will stick in their nasal passages and suffocate them. I learned this the hard way as a child when I made the mistake of giving the chicks old apple sauce in a dog dish, my dad managed to save half of them by clearing their nostrils but we lost over a dozen chicks in one night.
I wasn’t aware of that. Thanks for the warning.
OMG Tom!
You gave the girls chores to do?
That will take away from their TV time.
They’ll be scarred for life!!!
I hope to scar them up with a sense of responsibility and a belief that reward is largely a function of effort. I want them to grow up to be the kind of people who consider being offered a government subsidy an insult.
Even with a power splitter, cutting wood is a bunch of hard work. Around here, wood goes for about $45 a rick, and that’s delivered and stacked. I’ve cut my own firewood but I sure wouldn’t do it for someone else for that price. Next time you buy some more chicks, consider Bovan’s Browns. A lot of people around here have them and they lay lots of big eggs once they get going.
I appreciate the tip. I don’t recall what breeds we got in this batch.
I enjoy your blogsite and reading and watching your videos…..and would love to come visit your farm….but I would be a little worried to do so as your daughter stated…”you’re really big, we’ll eat you first”….oh wait, she was talking about the chicken?. Lol.
Let’s just say if there’s ever a serious food shortage, I’m going to hide the knives and sleep with one eye open. I’m the only one in the family who’s reasonably well-marbled.
Tom, speaking of youtube videos. I tell people to go to your youtube site often to see your movie Fat-Head and noticed now they put a warning on it as having adult material and or is not rated and you now have to sign in to watch it! What’s up with that?
I wasn’t aware of that. I guess it’s because we don’t have an official MPAA rating.
Or they may consider The Guy From CSPI to be too terrifying for younger viewers.
I enjoy your blogsite and reading and watching your videos…..and would love to come visit your farm….but I would be a little worried to do so as your daughter stated…”you’re really big, we’ll eat you first”….oh wait, she was talking about the chicken?. Lol.
Let’s just say if there’s ever a serious food shortage, I’m going to hide the knives and sleep with one eye open. I’m the only one in the family who’s reasonably well-marbled.
Once you get a tractor, moving that chicken coop will be a piece of cake! And of course you’ll get a tractor — it’s the manly thing to do!
I’ll buy a manly tractor at some point, and then my wife will probably use it more than I will.
If you don’t have one, you should try a splitting maul. You can tackle a pile of wood quicker than you think.
When I was a young kid, my dad got laid off from his coal mine job (late 80’s). He was 50 years old and could not find a job anywhere, so he started mowing lawns, raking leaves and doing odd jobs to get by. In the late fall and winter he would cut and sell firewood. Sometimes me and my brother would get to go with him. I was too little to do anything, except being gofer boy and stacking the split pieces on the pile. My favorite thing was watching him split the really large pieces that were too big for the splitting maul. He would take one of his wedges and place it on the edge (in a natural crack if possible) and use the blunt side of the maul and drive it in quite a bit, then place another wedge on the other side and do the same. Once it was broken in half or quartered with the wedges, it could be finished off with the maul.
I love splitting it the old fashioned way. It’s better than any gym workout you can get, and therapeutic too (maybe it’s the smell of the fresh cut wood). Even though you are physically worn out from swinging the maul for hours, you feel great, or maybe it’s just me, because it brings back such fond memories of my dad and childhood. If I lived close to you, I would definitely come over with my maul and wedges and help you whittle away at it.
Your dad sounds like a good man.
I wouldn’t mind splitting some of the wood manually, but given the size of that wood pile, we figured we’d best process most of it as efficiently as possible and get it done.
Once you get a tractor, moving that chicken coop will be a piece of cake! And of course you’ll get a tractor — it’s the manly thing to do!
I’ll buy a manly tractor at some point, and then my wife will probably use it more than I will.
If you don’t have one, you should try a splitting maul. You can tackle a pile of wood quicker than you think.
When I was a young kid, my dad got laid off from his coal mine job (late 80’s). He was 50 years old and could not find a job anywhere, so he started mowing lawns, raking leaves and doing odd jobs to get by. In the late fall and winter he would cut and sell firewood. Sometimes me and my brother would get to go with him. I was too little to do anything, except being gofer boy and stacking the split pieces on the pile. My favorite thing was watching him split the really large pieces that were too big for the splitting maul. He would take one of his wedges and place it on the edge (in a natural crack if possible) and use the blunt side of the maul and drive it in quite a bit, then place another wedge on the other side and do the same. Once it was broken in half or quartered with the wedges, it could be finished off with the maul.
I love splitting it the old fashioned way. It’s better than any gym workout you can get, and therapeutic too (maybe it’s the smell of the fresh cut wood). Even though you are physically worn out from swinging the maul for hours, you feel great, or maybe it’s just me, because it brings back such fond memories of my dad and childhood. If I lived close to you, I would definitely come over with my maul and wedges and help you whittle away at it.
Your dad sounds like a good man.
I wouldn’t mind splitting some of the wood manually, but given the size of that wood pile, we figured we’d best process most of it as efficiently as possible and get it done.
I noticed the girls weren’t wearing work gloves while stacking the split logs. Is there a danger from splinters when working with cut wood like that?
I suppose so, but they didn’t get any splinters.
I noticed the girls weren’t wearing work gloves while stacking the split logs. Is there a danger from splinters when working with cut wood like that?
I suppose so, but they didn’t get any splinters.
Thought of something you could use to replace the wheels of portable chicken coop, Sled runners you should be able to get some the length of your chicken coop and since you’re on relatively flat land should have no issues pulling it around yourself or with tractor and unlike wheels they are far less likely likely to jam, break off, or need repair and they can relatively turn on a dime.
We’re actually on hilly land, but that’s not a bad idea nonetheless.
Oh sorry, I just watched your videos of your farm and it seemed quite flat *compared to some of the farms I’ve been on*
It’s hillier than it looks on camera, especially since I usually videotape us working in the flatter areas.
Thought of something you could use to replace the wheels of portable chicken coop, Sled runners you should be able to get some the length of your chicken coop and since you’re on relatively flat land should have no issues pulling it around yourself or with tractor and unlike wheels they are far less likely likely to jam, break off, or need repair and they can relatively turn on a dime.
We’re actually on hilly land, but that’s not a bad idea nonetheless.
Oh sorry, I just watched your videos of your farm and it seemed quite flat *compared to some of the farms I’ve been on*
It’s hillier than it looks on camera, especially since I usually videotape us working in the flatter areas.
Anyone watching those old westerns would find nice scenes of log splitting. Just came back from our State fair, and enjoyed seeing all the small livestock of all kinds. I did not know those roosters/chickens come in so many beautiful colors. We did not make it to the horse and cattle barns though. On a side note, here is a good video on a sustainable farming system in Vietnam. Cooking gas comes from the pigs. Do you have a pond?
http://www.fao.org/news/audio-video/detail-video/en/?uid=10102&wmode=1&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social%20media&utm_campaign=FAOnews&utm_content=gk
http://news.yahoo.com/no-waste-fish-hog-vegetable-fruit-farm-genius-004707985.html
No pond yet. We have a creek that I wouldn’t mind digging into a pond someday.
Anyone watching those old westerns would find nice scenes of log splitting. Just came back from our State fair, and enjoyed seeing all the small livestock of all kinds. I did not know those roosters/chickens come in so many beautiful colors. We did not make it to the horse and cattle barns though. On a side note, here is a good video on a sustainable farming system in Vietnam. Cooking gas comes from the pigs. Do you have a pond?
http://www.fao.org/news/audio-video/detail-video/en/?uid=10102&wmode=1&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social%20media&utm_campaign=FAOnews&utm_content=gk
http://news.yahoo.com/no-waste-fish-hog-vegetable-fruit-farm-genius-004707985.html
No pond yet. We have a creek that I wouldn’t mind digging into a pond someday.
Tom:
I find that when you’re working with stuff that splits easy, a splitting maul is actually a lot faster and not much more effort than a hydraulic device. We don’t try to split the crooked grain bits that are a headache.
Also, for really large log butts we still sometimes resort to using a wedge and sledge to bust it right down the middle, but it’s usually easier to get the split going by using the maul to take chord angles from one point on the circumfrence to another, rather than go down the middle.
And remember, the weight of the splitting maul does most of the work. No need to “grunt” into it, especially if you want to be able to split all day.
Yeah, that hollow, crooked butt end you’re sawing on in the first chainsaw still looks like a discard from our (power-splitterless) perspective 🙂
Tom:
I find that when you’re working with stuff that splits easy, a splitting maul is actually a lot faster and not much more effort than a hydraulic device. We don’t try to split the crooked grain bits that are a headache.
Also, for really large log butts we still sometimes resort to using a wedge and sledge to bust it right down the middle, but it’s usually easier to get the split going by using the maul to take chord angles from one point on the circumfrence to another, rather than go down the middle.
And remember, the weight of the splitting maul does most of the work. No need to “grunt” into it, especially if you want to be able to split all day.
Yeah, that hollow, crooked butt end you’re sawing on in the first chainsaw still looks like a discard from our (power-splitterless) perspective 🙂
Enjoyed the video. Could you post a link to the chicken coop design? Thanks!
This is the basic design:
http://www.raincreekpottery.com/Pages/HoopCoopChickenTractor.aspx
Enjoyed the video. Could you post a link to the chicken coop design? Thanks!
This is the basic design:
http://www.raincreekpottery.com/Pages/HoopCoopChickenTractor.aspx
What he is saying is not garbage. I used to be quite fat and was EXTREMELY unhealthy in maaany ways. Look at my profile picture now. I t w o r k s. I stopped eating carbs and sugar for 5 months, ate plenty every day, whole foods, was never hungry, and lost the 75lbs that I was overweight. I have now been healthy for 20+ months, no relapse of weight gain, no insane harshness when I started to include some carbs and some sugars again….no negative side effects whatsoever. I went from 230lbs and unfit, unhealthy, bad skin, and the beginning stages of a few heart issues….to 155 lbs of lean muscle, skin is great, heart is now strong like an ox, and I am happier than I have ever been in my life. Ohh and additionally, if you are doing what you should and eating lots of green veggies….those little guys have carbs in them, good healthy carbs….so even while eating zero pure carb sources, if your eating your veggies, you won’t actually be so carbless that you could hurt your organs. If you are a largely muscled person and lifting heavily you can double down on sweet potatoes, unbleached rices, carb heavy veggies, ect to supply a larger muscle mass while still avoiding wheat crap and refined sugar. Elliott knows his $#!%, rock on brother.
What he is saying is not garbage. I used to be quite fat and was EXTREMELY unhealthy in maaany ways. Look at my profile picture now. I t w o r k s. I stopped eating carbs and sugar for 5 months, ate plenty every day, whole foods, was never hungry, and lost the 75lbs that I was overweight. I have now been healthy for 20+ months, no relapse of weight gain, no insane harshness when I started to include some carbs and some sugars again….no negative side effects whatsoever. I went from 230lbs and unfit, unhealthy, bad skin, and the beginning stages of a few heart issues….to 155 lbs of lean muscle, skin is great, heart is now strong like an ox, and I am happier than I have ever been in my life. Ohh and additionally, if you are doing what you should and eating lots of green veggies….those little guys have carbs in them, good healthy carbs….so even while eating zero pure carb sources, if your eating your veggies, you won’t actually be so carbless that you could hurt your organs. If you are a largely muscled person and lifting heavily you can double down on sweet potatoes, unbleached rices, carb heavy veggies, ect to supply a larger muscle mass while still avoiding wheat crap and refined sugar. Elliott knows his $#!%, rock on brother.