Mystang's Homesteading Circus

Bruce said:
Hmmm, the problem with the chicken pen compost processing is that a lot of what goes into my compost bin is the shavings and chicken poo FROM their coop! It definitely isn't "soil" at that point. Sure wish it was.
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I guess I mean mostly kitchen scraps go in the chicken pen. The corral and coop cleanings get spread out on bare ground for sheet composting. I rotate through the bare areas, so there are usually two years before it gets layered on again. The improvement in weed vigor is amazing! lol. I also have a small mountain of cleanings that I use in the garden after it has decomposed for a year.
 
Spent the day working on lawnmowers and cutting peices for beehive frames. Nothing else really got done, (besides school) but you have to finish the preparation before the project.
Bought a new (to me) push mower for my son since I tilled the other one to death. Yes, you did read that correct, that is NOT a typo. I'll let that just sit with you got a moment...
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Ok, so went out to get this mower from some guy on Craigslist. Just needed something cheap. Saw one for 85$ and figured if go for it. When I looked at it, it needed an oil change and the air filter was missing but everything else looked ok. (Everything else you normally look at anyway.) Paid for it, stopped and picked up an air filter, ($9), then got home. Didn't think about it again till my son was making sure everything was ready to use. (Gas, oil, cleaning the deck etc. New toy, for once he was excited to mow).

I wanted to make sure it was done right so I helped him out. Also wanted to make sure he wasn't going to scalp the grass so I wanted to set the depth. Moved the front wheels to the highest setting, (my grass is almost half way to my knee atm) then went to the back so I could change the depth. Nothing. Literally, nothing to change the depth. The entire depth assembly was gone. In it's place was a couple wood blocks, bolted into the frame of the mower, with a couple of metal bands screwed to the blocks which held the wheel axel to the mower....:th
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I've had my share of lawnmowers I've looked at before and checked over. Never before have I thought, "Hey, I wander if this has the rear wheel adjuster that come stuck on ever lawnmower."

In other news we planted some of the garden yesterday. Green beans, peas, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, peppers, and cabbage. I wanted to plant rhubarb, zucchini and spinach but all greenhouse were saying it wasn't time. You know, I'd agree IF the weather this year was the same temp as all the previous years but it's much warmer this year. I think all chances of frost on my area is done. I like to plant according to the weather, not according to a book which doesn't know what the weather actually is in April. But that's just me.
 
Bruce said:
Bummer about the mower, hopefully you can use it at that height. If not I guess you can make your own custom height adjustment blocks.
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Lol, that's what I told my wife. Strangely enough, she simply looked at me those that, blank look in her eyes.

My son did get his mowing done today thankfully. I finally aired up the tired on my 48 in, adjusted the blade height, greased up the fittings, (along with all grease fittings I could find on the tractor, Baler, and haybine) and put a velky I had left over on the back. All that finished, I decided I'd start bush hogging my yard with this mower, putting it through a good test since it would be the first time if ever used it.

About 1/3rd way through the front yard I heard a real loud metal on metal scraping sounds. Turned it off and found out the reason. The spindle on one of the three blades was bent so it wasn't tightening all the way and all that blade was doing was free spinning. Took another spindle I had left over, replaced it and continued on, getting around 1/2 way through the yard, then the blades just stopped spinning. This time the belt had completely slipped off. Besides the pulleys being too hot and the exhaust too near where my hand was going to be, I decided the good Lord simply wanted me to move on to other things.

So, since it's supposed to rain tonight, I figured it would be a good time to plant the plants I've had sitting in their pots for the past few days. PLEASE let it rain tonight!

My daughter and I have made it a routine of watering the garden by hand since planting it. That takes about 30 minutes ish, but it's time well spent I think. We do it in the morning after letting out the sheep so it's cool, beautiful, calm and relaxing and she can hopefully cultivate more than just plants, but also I love of nature, good work habits and a green thumb. (That way when I'm older age can plant my garden cause I've got a black thumb!
 
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