Life goes on - Summer 2021

Yup amazing what a little money from the ff industry will get for restrictions against competition. Yet they will frack right up to their property lines.

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This morning it had snowed 4 ", and when I fed the sheep it was a ewe that was about to get a lamb.
It went very slowly, so I had to help pull out the lamb.
Seems to have gone well, alert and the ewe eats.


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Story my accountant told me from when he was working for Com Ed . By the Lasalle county generating station is Grand Ridge wind energy center , Invenergy LLC .
Story is these wind generators are never used and were built so that just to consume government funds for renewable energy with out producing renewable energy .

Henry, is there no exception made for micro wind? Most of those local ordinances have one for turbines serving a private home. Usually its 1.5 times tower height from property line on less than 10kw systems… just curious.

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There are a lot of wind generators and battery shacks . I do not think any have been in use in 50 years . I would not think of trying to put one up . Have produced 44 MWH from 5Kw solar . There is solar acres going in .

David I am not sure what state he is talking about but i think in Ohio it was passes with zero exemptions. I remember reading an article about it a while back because there was a big fight about doing mantaince on an existing windmill that was too close to the property line based on the new ordnance. I never did hear how it worked out. But there is a major battle in the USA between renewable energy and the ff industry. Florida has some very weird anti home owner solar regulations as well. Fortunately here in NH we are still of the mindset that it is your property and your choice how you use it.

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Jan nice looking mommy and baby you have there. Just curious is there a market for the wool? Around here back in the 80s we had a few sheep but if the wool wasn’t 100% white there was zero market for it and very little for white without any volume. One of the reasons I never looked at sheep is the lack of a wool market here.
Glad to hear you where able to help her have the baby. That is alway a high stress time on a farm.

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Hello Dan.
No there is no market for wool here either.
We have them mostly to keep our fields open, and get some meat.
The skins are curly and require a small value.

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There is no market for pull overs made from recycled Pepsi bottles. But for some mad reason the Government pays cash to turn garbage in more expensive garbage. Now I am not saying we should not recycle but lets pay people to keep sheep instead of oil companies and the chemical / plastic industry to invent a product and a solution no one was asking for in the first place.

FISH FUR!!!
Thats the joke material name for the lining in my jacket ( by a stroke of luck I am talking about a Swedish army field jacket I wear all winter long up here. Why would that NOT have a real wool lining, it does have a nice cotton shell I can find no fault with. Best jacket I ever owned to be honest. Its a combination of coverage and just sturdy heavy fabric construction just too bad about the fish fur lining… ( ya people look at you funny when you wear it around town with a ushanka on your head but I’m warm and they can go self consummate if they don’t like it. )

Where was I going with this?
Fur and wool and yarn…
I understand these are now so full of plastic that the micro fibers are becoming a health risk as they are in every the part of the food chain. I think about it every time I see the fluff from the dryer in the garbage.

Its is not snowing here, it has not snowed in several weeks or rained. Except now of course its rain because I am still in lock down and not working…

Please set me free for summer?

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It’s been pushed on for years. Faux fur…yes let me dress in plastic that won’t decompose in a landfill and is purely void of real warmth…no thanks I catch my own fur. Wild. Healthy. Organic. Free range. Renewable. Sustainable. It’s a shame in my home state when I’m doing damage control work if I’m under contract then I can’t legally keep or sell the fur from animals I catch. So I send it off to be tanned and give it to family and friends as a gift. And depending on the animal I consume the meat as well. Way better then the pink slime injected gmo steroid crap in the super market…

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The irrigation water showed up in the channel ditch that is about 90 feet above where my water valve supply is, no pump required for water. So time to get the water going. But first I decided to fix something important.


The big concrete blocks were starting to slide into the hole where my supply valve is. I think it was from the plowtruck pushing snow when plowing the road. So I got the Dodge Dakota over by it, hooked up a come along cable wench to it, and pull it out of the hole. Got some railroad ties and built a berm to keep the water out that comes flooding down the hill when it rains hard.


Lots of sand and small gravel at the bottom of the hill.


That should keep the water water out, and I put a orange pole to mark it in the winter snowy months. We should not see that until November now.
I still didn’t get the water turned on yet. Maybe after my break.
Bob

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I got portable water certification for well , If I had gotten this a year ago things would be different .
I would have kept with organic certification . Both farming and packaging (Processing )
Now I just know my water is safe .

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Finally we have evolved into only two woodstove warming fires a day.
A wake up cold thru the morning fire.
Then a got dark night-evening pleasure viewing fire.
Good thing too. I am down to just maybe six wheel barrows of the good wood in the woodshed. Be paper sack of splinters/chips then.

I get lazy, slack, in April and May and we can have the highest Grid electric heating bills then.

Garden Garden. Garden; tilling again today. Just waiting for the morning frosts to calm now. And those grasses/weeds are growing, needing mowing too.
Regards
Steve Unruh

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I’ve been getting zapped by the heat. Sunblock doesn’t do a dang thing for me. Gotta rinse the pollen off and help the courtesy driver and oh yeah my actual job of being the shop janitor! At least I’ll have a good tan by May.
Also looking into getting a cheap Alaskan saw mill to process these huge oaks I had to chop down over the winter. Too big and dense for my splitter and I have an electric corded chainsaw I can use to not waste fuel. Cut them down to 2x4 sized planks so I can cut them down to nice chunks for turning to charcoal.

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Ya!
I got up this morning and had to start the car for the wife because it was frosty outside. I am tired of that now. Honestly its first frost I have seen in weeks but its still enough to bum you out. I walked by a neighbors green house / garden and he’s got seed in the boxes and I bet there are a lot of people itching to get the plants in ground.

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I have one of the Alaska Mk III chainsaw mills. After I opened the box it was obvious that I could have just made it myself for very little coinage. Of course I got it before I knew about you-tube. I’ve seen many homebuilt excellent working ones now. Never found a ripping chain in a store. I’ve had to buy them on-line.

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There’s a 30 dollar one that just uses a board as the guide, I’m not really looking for perfect. Just something uniform enough to process. I’m thinking of making 2x4 boards so I can build a chop saw chunker that will also be able to cut waste boards without retooling. I’m aiming for cigarette pack sized chunks when all is said and done, and I can use the sawdust for filtration or oil cleanup.

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I bought the $50 Alaskan saw mill from northern tool and supply back a decade ago or more and the right angle attachment that will allow you to run the chainsaw down a guide bar for the first cut. My advice is don’t bother it is way more work than it is worth. I bought a bandsaw mill after milling out one big 2 diameter pine tree and one 18 inch oak tree with my Alaskan mill. I would highly recommend finding a local bandsaw mill that you can either have brought on site or haul your logs to. It is slower and harder work than you think with a chainsaw. You also need the bar without a spinner in the end or you pinch it with the clamp for the Alaskan mill. I literally gave mine away to someone a year ago and he called the other day asking why he doesn’t haul his logs to my bandsaw mill. I said good question I asked you that a year ago.
I also have the Stilh MS460 chainsaw and highly recommend a saw that big for the Alaskan mill.
In my experience chainsaws are simply not designed to make those long contusions cuts. They will do it but they get very hot

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If I had the money to get a bandsaw mill or someone that has one I would jump on it.
Best bet is to figure out the vague instructions on how to make a bandsaw mill myself, I can’t ever find a good build guide to save my life.
Or option two, find a buzzsaw mill after shaking down every ramshackle shed in Western NC :joy:

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This might need to be in the sawmill section, but just for entertainment purposes I really enjoy the stuff this guy builds on youtube. This is the first video in I think a 18 part series of how he built his bandsaw mill

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