2008-OCT > October Farm Journal

I thought it might be interesting for you to have some insight to what goes on in a typical month at Lynch Creek Farm – here’s a sampling of highlights from October ’08.

Need to cut hay and seed Oats and Clover this month – a little late, but what’s new  – need to rent Seeder – economics to purchase not sensible – only seed in Spring and Fall a few days each – called Billy Boykin in Bailey – OK to use again this year – just call back 1-week ahead . . . Better get tractor in top shape – don’t want it failing when I seed and have rented equipment by the day . . . Take off bent tractor lift arm for Bobbie Gravitt to straighten and weld a stiffening truss to keep it from twisting – seems to work fine – take off other lift arm – big mess – hydraulic must be drained to get rod out – seems like a crazy design to me – lube, fuel and air to all tires . . . buy off-road diesel – really been expensive $4.25+ per gallon – higher than gasoline – crazy . . . weed and bushog rented oat field acreage (15 ac) and light disk to cut through thick clover before seeding – easier said than done . . . tractor won’t start – clean battery terminals and jump – since E&E (John Deere) worked on my high pressure diesel pump the tractor won’t stop running – got to stall it out with the clutch in gear – crazy . . . E&E replaced the solenoid and it still keep running – something wrong with the pump re-build from last Spring . . . working again with Molly (donkey) still having a hoof problem . . . switching cell phone service from Sprint after all these years – hoping to get better reception on the farm – you could die waiting for more bars . . . struggling to get ready for digital TV – we have only had an old UHF antenna and three stations – refuse to pay for TV after all these years – looking to me that the digital conversion is lot more complicated than they would lead you to believe – you really need a converter box, new antenna, pre-amp and rotor as well – get ready to spend $300+ one-time to get TV free OTA . . . finally found the other underground power cable break to the back buildings – Bill Wren came and spliced them – finally running on 220v not just 110v . . . Joey Hite the ferrier stopped by the check on Molly – will wait another month . . . attended another CDPAC (County Planning Meeting) looking out for Ag interests now that I am Ag Board Chair  . . . finally arranged for Haywood Austin to cut and round bale my hay – Talmadge Burgess could not do it this year . . . prep for hay rolls – pickup free pallets in Louisburg area – stage to field perimeters – also cut 10 ft strips of plastic to cover the tubed rounds on palettes . . . buy more Ladino Clover seed – Coastal holding 36 bags of untreated oats in Henderson . . . Haywood and Charles his brother cut, raked and round baled 60 this week – I did pickup, palettes, stacking and tarping myself – too many times off and on the tractor working alone . . . take the fresh eggs I promised to Haywood . . . sold more shallots this week – planning to grow a lot more next year in the hoophouse . . . Nora Mitchell stopped by to check out my fields and new hay and square bales of oat hay and orchardgrass from spring – will be growing more oat hay next year . . . have a new pet kitten Jasper – called SNAP to arrange for her shots and neuter . . . get seeder from Billy and get it done now – two days on the tractor – the latest I have planted in the fall – but it been warmer and wetter than usual – should be OK – I hope.

It’s amazing how much planning and know-how it takes to keep a small farm operation sort-of running. Still behind on many things I believe I should be doing. Just keep doing the best I can.

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