The New Chicken Coop

First it was the foxes, so we got electroplastic netting, then it was the hawks, so we built "THE GEODESIC CHICKEN DOME" (inspired by Buckminster Fuller, of course). Introducing the (somewhat) portable chicken containment and protection system. The outer mesh is charged with 8,000 volts of predator (and feed stealing goats) repellent. We have not lost a chicken since. Sure beats coming out to a half eaten chicken everyday! Soon after finishing it we sold the flock down to 6 birds which has worked out great. Just enough eggs for us and a few friends and family.

Tractor Mod

Winter seemed long this years, so yet another tractor project was spawned. The idea was to stretch the tractor and add a bed for hauling things around the homestead. Things were going well until a chain broke, and unfortunately with this design, if a chain breaks, you lose your breaks! Not too cool, thankfully I was still testing, aware of this fault and no damage was done. Oh well, another project shelved until next winter...

Wheel Weights and Chains

We have had a lot of rain and snow this winter which has made it a little tough to haul wood around with the garden tractors, so I went to work building wheel weights and chains. The weights are made out of recast tire weights and added 170 lbs to the tractor. Between the weights and chains, it made a HUGE difference. I was even able to pull our 4x8 utility trailer (300 lbs+-)up the steep part of our hill with 6 inches of snow on it.

New Trailer for Garden Tractors

With some help from our friend, Josh, we converted a pallet tote into an additional trailer for the garden tractors, it holds much more than the wagon and the kids got a big kick out of the "train". Sure is a lot of fun to weld up something useful!

New Tractors

After siezing up the motor on my old Roper (did you know you have to check the oil?) Went to a mower guy to buy a salvage engine and a c. 1970 Sears 8XL followed me home. Had so much fun with it, a Sears Suburban 12 (complete with mowing deck, 3 pt hitch, and scrape blade) soon joined the fold. The 8XL runs like a champ, the 12 needed some work, however during the repairs it managed to throw the pully off the flywheel. So back to the salvage man...looks like plowing snow will have to wait until next winter...

Snow

Got the biggest snow in 6 years this winter, around 10 inches. The kids loved it and did plently of sledding here at the farm. The animals on the other hand didn't really care for it!