Mode of Travel…4-Wheeler

Most farmers around here have at least one 4-Wheeler or Quad as they are called in some parts of the US.  We use them for fun at times but the main reason we have them is for work.John drives one out to the fields to check irrigation every day during the summer.  Some places the pickup can’t go or would get stuck so the 4-Wheeler is the vehicle of choice.  This one has a large tank attached with a sprayer on the back and another hose with a sprayer hand wand on the side.  We use it to spray the ends of the fields and pasture for weeds.  The tank sort of looks like the back of a chair doesn’t it? 

Mode of Travel…4-Wheeler VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

John also uses a 4-Wheeler to check the cows and fences in the pastures.  Again you can maneuver a 4 wheeler where you can’t take a pickup.  If he needs to use it and it is too far to drive John loads it up in the back of the pickup using a folding ramp then drives to where he needs to be and unloads it.  It is not unusual to see farmers around here driving around with their 4-Wheeler in the back of their pickup trucks.

I usually drive this one as it has an automatic shift.  I hate shifting gears so this works pretty slick.  I don’t think I could ever drive it long distances as my arms get tired being stretched out all the time and the throttle is run by the right thumb and pressing it all the gets tiring too. In spite of all these inconveniences or fatigue, they are fun to drive. John and I each rode one down to one of our pastures that is only 2 1/2 miles away tonight.  It was nice out with no wind but the gnats were flying all over.  One thing you learn rather quickly is to ride with your mouth closed at all times…sure don't want to swallow a few of those tiny bugs.  We also noticed a lot of Dragon Flies tonight, especially in the pasture.  I am thinking that maybe they eat gnats but don’t know for sure. 

The cows just looked us over as we drove by and the 3 geriatric horses were happy to have their special treat for the day, some horse pellets.  Sally is 19 and has had some health problems in the past and can’t be ridden anymore, Lucky is 27 and was my father in law’s horse so he will live out his life on the farm and can’t be ridden either. They are both looking good and have put on some weight this summer.

Bandit belongs to a friend and is spending the summer in our pasture to try to get more weight on him as he went down hill for no apparent reason last winter even with unlimited food.  The veterinarian was stumped and attributed it to old age.  I don’t know how old Bandit is but know he is over 20.  He is looking a little better now but old horses can look like they are starved as they have sway backs and sometimes their ribs show even with special food and care.  We take care of them and try to make their life happy how ever long that is.

Lynn

Farming Science

Farmers as scientists ….How you might ask, read on if you are curious.

Late summer after the corn kernels are starting to dent and the moisture or milk stage in the kernel is half way down the kernel, John cuts and puts up silage to be used as feed for the cows this winter and next spring.  Silage starts out as just a pile of finely chopped corn, green stalks, leaves and cobs.  Some changes take place in this corn pile to make the stalks, cobs and leaves palatable and nutritious to the cows.  The cellulose in the corn breaks down into a digestible form during the fermenting process that takes place in the pile of chopped corn.  The chopped corn has to be piled, packed, cut into small size pieces and the moisture content just right to make this all happen the way it should.The first step in this process is the chopping of the corn.  John has the help of a couple of guys to put up the silage each year and the driver of the cutter drives along and cuts a few rows of corn that is then blown into the dump wagon he pulls behind the tractor and chopper.
We have an old farm truck to haul the corn from the field to the pile.  The truck pulls alongside the chopper and the dump wagon dumps the newly chopped corn into the truck.

Chopping Corn VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This truck is not used for much anymore and is retired most of the year but it is the only one that the special end gate was made to fit many years ago.  When this truck finally dies John will have to figure out something else. 

The truck brings the corn to the pile and dumps it all at the base of the pile.  You can see the end gate swings open to let the corn spill out onto the ground.
John drives the tractor with a blade on the loader front and pushes the corn up the pile distributing it along the pile.  The tractor driver pushes all the corn from that load up building the pile higher and higher and by the time it is packed the next load is delivered.  Silage can not ferment correctly if it is not packed really well to get as much of the air out between the pieces.  Oxygen left in the pile will change the end product and it will not be as good a food product for the cattle.  The tractor is very heavy and does this packing with dual wheels as John drives back and forth and back and forth over the pile.  Here are two really good articles that explain the science of the process if you want to read more.  Silage Fermentation and Preservation by North Dakota State University and Corn Silage by the University of Missouri

 

 

The three guys work for about a day and a half to get enough silage for this winter and next spring.  Our cows will be foraging in the harvested stock fields this fall and early winter until about a month before they have their new calves then they will be brought home and kept in the lots and fed the silage.  They really like it even though I think it kind of stinks!

I get nervous each year when they are putting up the silage until the job is done.  I nag John to wear his seat belt in the packing tractor as the sides of the pile are a little soft and I worry that the tractor will tumble down or go over the end of the pile as it grows higher.  There are roll bars built into the tractor cab so that should protect the driver if the seat belt is in use.  I have not heard of any accidents like that recently but remember as a child that my dad and uncle talked of someone rolling a tractor off the side of a silage pile as it was being packed – don’t remember much more than that but remember the man was injured.  I guess that made an impression on me way back then so think of that every year.

John has tried to advise me a little on this post to get my facts right.  Even growing up on a farm and living on a farm my whole married life I am not the “farmer”.  I do understand a lot about farming but don’t want to pass along misinformation so had him read it before I posted.  I had to chuckle as he had a much more detailed explanation of the process that the corn goes through to make silage but I decided to just write the basic steps and let you read more if you want from the links I posted.  After all I am sure most of you are not going to run right out and make a silage pile for yourselves.

Until Later,

Lynn

Tip Time–Vinyl Sewing

I recently learned the best tip about sewing with plastics.  If you have ever tried to sew with these materials you might have found that your presser foot wanted to stick to it and not slide along.  I know I had that trouble when I made all the luggage tags a little over a year ago.  Posted about them here on March 18, 2010.  I used a piece of fabric or paper to help the presser foot to move along and not stick to the vinyl but at times it was a little tricky to keep it under half of the foot and not stitch over it.

I read this tutorial on making bag straps of vinyl on Paradiso Designs by Cheryl Kuczek.  She suggested using a Teflon or roller foot if you have one but the best part was the tip that a regular foot could be modified very easily to slide along on the vinyl.

I decided to give it a try and wonder of wonders it worked great!  OK, here are my photos and what I did following her instructions to modify a regular sewing foot.  First you need to gather your supplies….a roll of Matte Finish cellophane tape, yup that is it.  The shiny kind of tape will not work – only the matte finish will work for this application.Cut off a piece of tape the length of your machine foot and stick it to the bottom of the foot. 

Using an X-Acto knife or scissors and trim off the excess tape between the toes of the foot and the needle hole, sides and front and back of the foot.  Cut off any tape that is not stuck down to the foot.

That’s it, now you can sew vinyl without the foot sticking.  If you are only sewing these materials occasionally it is a lot cheaper to use the matte finish tape over buying a specialty foot.  If you sew with these materials all the time it might be worth it to buy the Teflon coated feet or the rolling foot.

I tried each of the feet pictured above with the tape on the bottom and they all worked like a charm on the vinyl.  I am thinking any foot configuration would do the job with the tape so give your machine feet a try.  I sure wish I would have known this trick last year but better late than never and I will sure use the tape on my presser foot the next time I need to stitch vinyl.  I would like to try it on leather but I don't have any leather to try it on…let me know if you use this trick on leather as I would love to know if it works as well on it.

Here is one of the samples I stitched…if this were a video you would see the foot sliding along just fine, stitch after stitch.  YAY!

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Until later,

Lynn

Blue on Blue…The Top Is Done!

I finally got the borders sewn on the Blue on Blue quilt.  It laid on the floor of my living room for over a month just waiting and waiting and waiting.  This was the week to get it wrapped up and stitch those borders on.  It wasn’t difficult, first 5” border out of cream/navy print, second 5” border of pieced blocks and final 2 1/2” border of the cream/navy print.
Here is a close up photo of the cream/navy print I use for the borders.  I don’t know when I will get this quilted but at least it is all pieced now.  I do plan to bind it in a navy print to finish out the outside edge with a dark color. (Forgot to add that it measures 96x106 so is a very large quilt.)
I now need to figure out what my next project will be so maybe I will have something to write about again that is sewing related.  I am sorry it has been so long between posts but when I was doing no sewing it was hard to post sewing blog posts.  I hope the other posts didn’t bore you too much.

Other posts on making this quilt in case you are interested in looking back to see how I made it.
June 13,15,27,28, July 3,5,6,8,9,10 all under the label Blue on Blue.

Until Later,
Lynn