Where is Ralph? Well he is at the tire shop, ahh that old saying for the want of a horseshoe nail the shoe was lost! Well we found the horseshoe nail! One thing about Amish country is a nail hazzard. However this is the rub, the tire went flat in the field, the jack would not lift the pickup, it just sank into the ground.
Of course this was on Sunday when we had just watered the transplants before heading back to Virginia.
A tow truck call after a two mile hike for a phone showed Ralph can still march like the Marine he was.
The pickup in the field, waiting for the tow truck.
The good news is we have turned earth with the Grillo and rotary plow!
Grillo 110 with Berta Reversible Rotary plow.
The Berta Rotary plow is a great piece of land working equiptment, it turns the earth a good 12 inches deep and breaks sod into garden quality loose earth in one pass. This version has a system where you can turn the plow and come back along the same side of the row you have just worked.
Ralph also cleared fencing with the flail mower and it is better than expected, it can take down tall grass and weeds or mow lawn smoothly. It is heavy and we have to get the wheel weights mounted to the tractor for this piece of equipment to be easier to work, it is front heavy without the extra weight.
Here is Ralph clearing the entry gate area to the field.
We ended up with the road fenceline cleared using the 34 inch Flail Mower. With the Berta Rotary plow Ralph had plowed a furrow, almost like a raised bed for the plants. The soil is excellent and Ralph only hit 2 rocks of any sized. The way the rotary plow works means rocks are thrown to the side and the tractor does not jump like a roto tiller.
The strange thing was despite the heat and several days of no rain, the ground was really a bit too wet to work. We had enough tilled to plant 40 pepper plants, they looked so happy in dirt after a harrowing plant oddessy, in travelling from Virginia.
We called it a day, it was 92 with a heat index of 105. We had had a great day with plans made to do a final planting and watering in the morning. We would then head back to Virginia for the next load.
The young couple were outside so we stopped at the house to say hello and keep them up to date on our plans. They invited us to sit, we took advantage of comfy lawn chairs by the house in the shade of a tree.
We had a marvelous time, talking about the farm, watching wild turkeys in the lower field and keeping an eye on the little boy.
It was a successful day!
Ahh Ralph is back.....new tire on the pickup and things to do.
More adventures are on the way and we keep meeting wonderful people.
God bless you all!
Posting a day late.....but strangely we are now in a very posh waiting room, at a GMC- MERCEDES Dealership in Huntington, WV.
ReplyDeleteLast night as it got dark and we were well on the way back to VA., the lights on the pickup got very dim.
The alternator is toast and the battery as well. Murphy is on a roll!
It is interesting that you are planting your garden before you even live there. I would venture to say that there aren't a lot of folks that would let you do that. Any news on a move in date?
ReplyDeleteSounds like your truck may be telling you something....
Fern
Ralph is determined to get some of our own produce. The gardening was one of the first things he asked about. The young Amish man is a logger and they have no livestock but the horse. He just gets a share of the hay so once it was gone the land is of no use to them.
DeleteAs to the pickup....it is frustrating to put in top line GMC parts to have them fail in a short time. Ralph is at the dealership that did the original work today.
The couple has found a new place and are starting to make the move.