Tough Life Being A Farmer

[Sir Henry]

Riding a tractor is sure more work than I thought. I mean how hard can just sitting in a seat be, right. No one told me how bumpy it can be and having to lean to the upward side takes a lot of work when you do it for ten hours a day.

I bought a used Simplicity lawn mower from the neighbor who needed a bigger one. Mine is 23 hp and cuts long grass like it was nothing. I only own five acres and mow four of it however with all the flower beds and trees there is a lots of turning to do. I’m thinking of getting a powered walk behind to do the trimming around trees as I’m going over a lot of already mowed lawn just to get that last five square feet.

I want to be a cat in my next life. Here Little Girl just sits around gazing at the hay fields that surround me while I’m out working sunup to sunset.

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[cooperhawk]

OK, well you're obviously overdoing it. I have ten acres but only mow about 10,000 sq ft of it. I let the
rest grow into wild flowers and brush that sustains birds and insects. What I really wanted was a good
fire break around the buildings to protect against grass fires.
BTW, around the trees in the mowed area I planted Phlox and put a plastic grass guard around them.
The Phlox is now all in bloom and looks really nice. I can mow right up to the grass guard and seldom
use the string trimmer.
Right now the Scarlet Tanagers are in residence and they are quite beautiful. They only eat insects
and don't frequent the bird feeders. Just one of the pluses of letting things go natural.

[markiver54]

Our Mulberry tree is full of berries right now. Yesterday a flock of Cedar Waxwings were in it all at once. Probably about 40 of them. The berries are messy though. Carol loves bird watching.

[cooperhawk]

It's amazing how those wax wings show up just in time for the berries. Ours are not ripe yet.
We're a bird watching bunch around here.

[daytime dave]

Congratulations Gene. Seat time is good time as far as I'm concerned.
Simplicity makes a good machine. Get a self propelled for around the trees and such. It's good exercise.

[BigAl52]

Im guessing you made it back from Seattle with the Ford van

[BrokenolMarine]

We had a Simplicity Legacy in VA, which was Tina's. She let me use it once in a while, but for our place, it did the job it needed to do. Our only regret is we didn't order it with the bucket. She had a variety of attachments we bought along the way and sold them all with the tractor when we sold the farm to move to OK.

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It came with a Belly Mower which we removed often, to use the blade or bush hog, but got tired of that. A few years into the decade of ownership we added a finish mower.

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Tina liked to stay busy, even in the winter, and with the blade she kept the 250 yard drive clear and cleared a path to the coops and when we still had horses, all the way back to the horse barn. The 4WD and locking diff came in really handy.

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In the summer she could keep the lower pasture nice for the horses with the bush hog she bought to avoid damaging the finish mower. Once the horses were all gone she sold the bush hog and let the pasture return to nature to stop the constant requests to "pasture board" horses for a few weeks til friends could find a new place. We knew how that would end and didn't want to lose friends over it.

Just before we sold the place, we did an overhaul of the tractor, replacing belts, changing oil and filters, radiator fluid, and putting on brand new tires, going with a much more aggressive tread pattern to prepare for winter. As long as you aren't aggressive when mowing the grass isn't damaged, but in mud or snow they made a great difference in traction.

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We went with the Kubota when we got here as we knew we wanted a bucket and more power, but the simplicity was a great little tractor. Very little trouble over the years. It was a Massey Ferguson under the Simplicity Banner.

[Sir Henry]

Im guessing you made it back from Seattle with the Ford van

Yep. 1865 miles in 40 hours.

[cooperhawk]

Here's how I ring the trees for the mower.

[Sir Henry]

I hired two of the neighbors kids to pull weeds and edge. They worked two hours each and it cost me $40 plus pizza. These farm kids are hard working and got a lot done. I told them I could use them for two hours a week through the end of June.

Their brother had too many farm chores to do so this time I got just the 15 and 11 year old girls. They were both quite knowledgeable about weeds and flowers although the 15 year old told me she didn’t care for flowers because it’s a lot of work and you can’t eat them. She has a vegetable garden for food.

In total there are 9 kids ranging from 27 to 11 or 7. I hasn’t quite sure if she was the youngest or the youngest girl. I’m also not sure of the number of kids. I heard 7 and i heard 9. I think maybe 2 are not living. I didn’t ask.

People think different here. The 15 year old asked me if I hunted because she saw my targets and brass on the ground. I told her no and she told me she hunted and has harvested 2 deer. Then we talked about lever and bolt actions.

Gotta go as I have to plow the south 40. Wait I only have 5 arced

[BrokenolMarine]

I like those farm kids. The girls grow up to be like Miss T. They aren't afraid of work, know how to do things and come home and say:
"I filled the truck up with gas, got it inspected and serviced, and took it thru the wash."
Not, "You need to...."
Gotta love farm girls. Yes, Miss T hunts, kills her own bugs, and is a squirrel assassin.

[cooperhawk]

My neighbor, who grew up with my sons, came over with his rather large John Deere Skid Steer with
a bush hog attachment and we cleared a large area out by the service road. I used to bush hog it
with my little ford 8N, but it got away from me and needed a larger unit to knock down the trees.
Today I will rake it and seed it. Then from now on I will mow it.

[Sir Henry]

I ended up buying a push mower for the steeper sections. It’s a twin blade and has a 30 width cut.

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[markiver54]

Nice! You are very well equiped. Now Ya just gotta teach those kids how to operate them, if they don't already know.

[cooperhawk]

So the neighbor kid called and said he had his John Deere 329D stuck in the woods and did I know of anyone
who could get him pulled out. I took my little Ford over for a look and there was no way I could pull him out,
but I did show him how to use his forks to pull himself foreword and we got it out.
Country boys will survive.

[daytime dave]

Good looking equipment Gene.

[Sir Henry]

Good looking equipment Gene.

Thanks Dave. I’m a real farmer because I’m equipment rich and cash poor.

[The Happy Kaboomer]

All I see here is riding lawn mowers. Where's the farming?

[Sir Henry]

All I see here is riding lawn mowers. Where's the farming?

All in my head. Well I do have a tractor with a front bucket in the garage. I’m buying a grader blade for it.

I live in farm country so to fit in I call myself a farmer. Such is life out here on the homestead.

[BrokenolMarine]

Sir Henry,

You buy overalls yet? Here, they have daily wear they pick up off the floor beside the bed and put back on, and town overalls, you know, for going into town. I have a couple pairs I haven't broken in yet due to range of motion issues in my shoulders, but I'm gettin there. They will work out fine around the farm.