I Built a Pig Tractor

A pig tractor is a movable pig pen.  When my three sons who all eat meat were living at home we raised pigs a few times to feed those boys plus to provide good quality meat to other family members and a few friends.  I recently decided to get a couple of pigs again to raise for the Hoys, friends, family and to use the hogs as rototillers in garden cleanup.  In order to do that I need to be able to easily move the pen around to areas of the garden that need cleanup.  And the pen needs to be strong enough that 250 pound hogs can't get out. Yikes, what they could do to my garden if they got out.    So I came up with a  design in my head. . . 

 Fortunately I have a bunch of scrap metal from having worked in the construction trades for so long.  I went through several of the piles looking for pieces to use.

 I moved the pieces of pipe and angle iron I found over to what would be the assembly area and sorted all of them out by diameter and length.  I used steel pipe.  Galvanized would have been better but I didn't have enough galvanized.  And you have to hold your breath when welding galvanized.  The bottom rails, corner uprights and gateway are all 1 7/8".  The up rights in the middle are 3/4" schedule 80 (thicker walls).  The middle horizontal rails and the top rails are all 3/4".  To buy new would be quite expensive.  My local salvage yard currently sells steel pipe for 10 cents per pound which would have been affordable.  But I salvaged all these pieces myself over many years so all it cost me was time.  

Here I show the tools I would end up using. A chop saw, welder and helmet, a portable drill, two hand held grinders and a magnet to find and pickup small pieces of metal made from cutting and chopping so the lawn mower is not what finds the pieces.  Tape measures, framing square, etc. not shown but they were important.

Using the chop saw, I first cut all the pieces of pipe and angle iron to size and laid out the pieces for assembly.  My garden beds are 3 feet wide and 35 feet long with 3 feet pathways in between.  The pig tractor will be 11 feet wide and 18 feet long.  That way it will cover 1/2 the length of 2 garden beds.  I'll add wheels on the corners when I want to move it over the the other half of the 2 beds.  Or wheels on adjacent corners to move it across to 2 new beds.  (More on the wheels and moving the pig tractor in a later post.)

Everything in place it was time to weld the pieces together.  I'm lucky enough to have a friend who is a good welder and who has a winch truck we could use and who was willing to come to work for pork.  Pork in the future that is. Now there's a deal.  I'll make it worth his while.  He's always good help and I let them fish in my creek all the time.  I'm a believer in mutual benefit.

We made good progress that day. The next morning I clamped the cross pieces into place so that it would be ready for us to finish welding.  I still had a few more pieces to find and cut for completing the gateway and the gate.

To make the gate swing I would need hinges.  Not only do I have piles of scrap metal pipes, angle iron, etc.  I also have many containers of all kinds of miscellaneous metal things.  I found these two pieces in this container.  Since I am building the tractor with pipe these will work perfect.   I'll weld a 1/2" pipe in the gateway corner to the horizontal rails for these hinges to rotate on.

I cut the pieces down with the chop saw.  The four new scraps will go back into the container they came out of and back onto a shelf in the shed.  Almost everything I build here at home is made from recycled materials.  That's why I've got piles of scrap metal lying around. 

The gate is recycled, too.  Probably got it at an auction somewhere.  I added the 3/4" angle iron pieces in the middle making a  star in the gate to add to the gate's strength.  I don't want those hogs getting out.  Then I bolted the hinge pieces to the gate so that it would swing in.  The pen is low enough that I can step over it if I need to get into the pen.  But I will put the pigs in and let them out only through the gate.  Don't want to teach them that they can go over the top of the pen.

After welding all the pieces together I added hog panels to the inside of the pipe.  The hog panels I had to buy new.  When the boys were at home and I raised pigs years ago we used T posts and hog panels to make not movable pens.  However, the old hog panels were used up to build the two movable high tunnels I have now. (I'll tell you how I built the high tunnels in a post later this Fall.) They were also made out of almost all recycled materials  except the plastic and shade cloth, of course.

I added steel wool to fill the ends of all open pipes.  I'll epoxy over the steel wool to cap the pipes so that critters and water can't get in.  Total cost so far was mostly time spent with purchase of 4 hog panels, 4 pounds welding rod, a bag of steel wool, a handful of bolts, washers and nuts for the gate and three feet of chain with two hooks to be the latch for the gates.  Adding up to less than $100 so far not including time.  I like using salvage materials to save dollars but the time to haul home, store, sort through and move around materials can add up.  Then add the time to assemble.  It is easy to underestimate how long it takes to do a project.  Thank Goodness I'm having fun.

Ta Daa!

A pig tractor.  I'll still need to add a waterer and a feeder and add sides and a roof  in one corner for shade.  Right now it is sitting on short pieces of pipe.  I can roll it on those.  That's how I roll the high tunnels you can see below.  But I'm going to make the pen so that I can add wheels to make it easier to move.  With the pipe rollers I have to keep moving the short roller pieces of pipe from the back to the front as it rolls off of them.   With the wheels I'll be able to put them on to start moving the pen and take them off when it is where I want it to end up.  Quicker and easier than pipe rollers.

Josh is trying to find  piglets to bring here so that I can make them happy, healthy and bigger while they help me clean my garden area.  Mutual benefit.  I'll post pictures of the wheels and the other add-ons after those piggies arrive.   Maybe I will be lucky and they will arrive soon.  Meantime, better put away the tools and put the left over pipe scraps back in one of the piles.  I'll need them later on another project, I'm sure.

Clover Cliff Ranch

When I drive from my house to the Flying W Ranch I pass a magnificent place on the highway about 4 miles east of Clements.  The other day the new owners held an open house to show off their renovations of the home.  I was lucky enough to get to attend.

The ranch was established in the 1860’s with a small cabin that is still part of this lovely building.  From humble beginnings on 160 acres in the mid 1800's to the 3900 plus acres of the ranch today the land has had only a handful of owners.  It has recently been purchased and updated by some neighbors of the Flying W,  Warren and Susie Harshman.  They with help from their children and family are continuing the efforts of the previous owners by operating the main house as a bed and breakfast.  The Harshmans have done significant and marvelous renovations to the buildings and yard and have furnished the house with very nice period antiques. Assuring guests of a delightful place to stay when visiting the Flint Hills .

The Harshmans held the open house to allow people from the area and visitors from a far to view the new in the old.  Here is the main house viewed from the west.  The original home built in the 1860’s is the small room with a door and one window to the left of the back porch . 

The house faces south. Go around to the front porch and you are greeted by a nice looking and welcoming entryway.

Open the front door and straight ahead is a winding staircase with a walnut wood banister leading to the second floor bedrooms.  This was a very common architectural style in this area in the late 1800's.

Go right from the stairway to find the dining room and kitchen. The parlor and study are to the left. Please see the Clover Cliff website listed below for photos of the furnishings in the rooms I’m not showing in this post.

Upstairs, the bedrooms are named for the previous owners.  This is the Blackshere room, the original settlers.  Mrs. J. R. Blackshere’s photo can be seen here to the right of the bed.  Mr. Blackshere’s photo is to the left of the bed.  All of the bedrooms are nicely furnished to provide for the comfort of the guests.

Across the hall is the Donahue room with a wonderful portrait of Jim and Jo Ann .  The Donahues lived a few miles west of me and I am pleased to say they were friends of mine.  One day, some time ago, they pulled into my driveway and  gave me a copy of a book they had just published that tells about the history of Clover Cliff Ranch.  I treasure it. 
When the Donahues purchased Clover Cliff they also did much renovation to the ranch. They then opened the place as a bed and breakfast.  Everyone I know in this area is pleased as punch that the Harshmans are continuing this enterprise.  I believe that the enormous turn out at the open house (where I saw many friends and neighbors a plenty) shows this communities’ enthusiasm.

Down the hall is the Prather room, the owners during the early 20th century.  Like all the rooms this one is  nicely furnished with antiques worth marveling at and, of course, photos of the room's namesakes.

Back downstairs to the back (north) of the house is the small room that was the original part of the house built in the 1860's.  Here’s the north wall of the room.  You can see by the exposed roof line that this house started pretty small.

Burton and Spencer Harshman telling tales.

Throughout the house on the day of the open house Harshman family members were in each room to explain a little history of the place and to answer any questions the throng of visitors had.  Here standing against the southwest corner of the original house are two of Warren and Susie’s children giving information about the J. R. Blackshere’s first years  in the Flint Hills of Kansas and what led to the Blackshere's successes.  I’m always glad to have a chance to see kids my sons went to school with here in Chase County.  I really enjoyed seeing these boys again.  Fine young men.

Back out in the yard looking south my picture does not do the panoramic view justice.  From the front of the house there is an excellent view of the Cottonwood River valley with hills to the south of the river peaking above the trees.  You’ll have to come see it for yourself.  The Harshmans are good people who can help you have a pleasant and enjoyable stay in the middle of the only remaining tall grass prairie in the USA. 

 I am happy to report that the Flying W Ranch will be working closely with Clover Cliff to provide horseback trail riding for both of the ranches' guests.  And Master Chef Josh Hoy of the Flying W will also be working with the Harshmans to provide superb meals to any of Clover Cliff’s guests who have catering needs.  A win/win situation for both ranches, for this area, and for you, too, if you’re lucky enough to get a chance to come stay here in the middle of the Flint Hills of Kansas.   We'll be looking forward to seeing you.

To find more information about staying and better pictures of the rooms I’ve shown as well as pictures of the rooms I haven’t shown please visit Clover Cliff's website at

www.clovercliffranch.com

Devil’s Claw Plant

A weed for most people is defined as a plant that is growing where you don’t want it to grow.  I have volunteer tomatoes, basil, borage and other edible plants that I pull as weeds because they are growing where I don’t want them to grow. For example, blights in the tomato plants I am choosing to grow can be caused from infected volunteer plants.  I pull them.  I don’t let them grow.  They spread like crazy. They are weeds to me.

And then there are other weeds.  Some I try to never let grow.  Such as poison ivy.  Until this year that is the way I have felt about Devil’s Claw.

Plato posing with Devil's Claw plant 

I pictured this plant in a previous post.  I said that maybe I would let this one grow so that I could show it to you on my blog.  So here’s today’s view.  In the previous post’s picture this plant was about 3 foot in diameter and maybe a foot or so tall.  Today the plant is more than 9 feet in diameter and almost 3 feet tall and growing fast.   I said before and I will say again. This is only July. It may grow to be more than 20 feet in diameter if I let it.  I’m letting it grow for now.  We’ll see.

It does have pretty flowers.  And really, it is a cool looking plant.   I’m assuming it’s in the squash family because that’s what it looks like to me.   I may be wrong.  (edit on July 31st, 2014:  A friend of mine who is a professional Naturalist informed me today that Devil's Claw is in the unicorn plant family.  I stand corrected)

Way back in either 1977 or maybe ’78, I had a young friend (of course, I was young then, too) came to visit and stayed for a month or so.  He was studying entomology at Cornell. He got real excited when he saw the Devil’s Claw plant in my garden.  I said, “It’s a weed.”  He said, “It’s an endangered weed.  They’re rare”  OK. . . so I let that one plant grow that year.  It got huge. It was every bit of 20 foot in diameter and maybe 30 foot.  What was funny was that when he went back to Cornell and told people there about the plant it turned out there were a bunch of people who got excited about the weed in my garden.  Three or four times that summer a group of two to four people would fly to Kansas City from Cornell, rent a car and drive out to my place to see the endangered weed.  They all took pictures and carried on about how excited they were to see it.  For me, of course, it was always a good party for a couple of days while each group was here.  People, who all ended up with impressive careers in Botany, Biology, etc.  It was great fun.

Here you can see the green seed pods forming.  The plant that I let grow some 35 years ago produced enormous numbers of these seed pods with bagillions of seeds.  Every year I pull 10’s  of newly germinated devil’s claw plants out of my garden.   That’s why I may not let the plant this year grow too much longer.  I want it to produce mature dried seed pods so that I can show them to you.  But as soon as that happens, I will probably pull and burn the plant.  There will still be plenty of seeds in the ground from past years to take its place next year, I’m sure.  I'm also sure that I will pull them all.

One of the things that is funny about the folks coming out from Cornell just to see the plant in my garden, is that the following year I drove out to western Kansas and saw vast fields of the durn plants.  Acres and acres.  How could this be an endangered plant?  They fight it like a noxious weed out there in some areas of western Kansas.  However, other people do look at it as a medicinal plant.   My understanding is that they use the roots and tubers.  I guess I'll find out what those look like when I pull it.   Let me know if you are interested in purchasing a natural medicine and, maybe, I'll let it keep growing.  haha,  Maybe.

Anyway, it sure was fun meeting those folks those many years ago.  And I'm glad I'm getting a chance to show this plant to you this year.  That's fun, too.

Garden update:

Tomatoes are finally starting to ripen.  Finally!  I have been picking a few pounds of cherry tomatoes each week these last few weeks but now they are really starting to come on.

And luckily, the slicers are starting to ripen, too.  Finally! Soon they will be many.  It's about time.

Majors Trail Ride

 At the Flying W Ranch just south of Clements, Kansas, we are lucky enough to host guests from around the world and from all over the USA.   One of the activities we  offer our guests is the opportunity to ride horses across tall grass prairie.  Not just along well established trails with one horse following another but rather each rider choosing their horses own path across the working cattle ranch.  We help people who have never ridden before (even those afraid of horses) as well as providing horses with spirit for the experienced riders.  

Recently, the Flying W had the opportunity to host 16 British Army Majors for a weekend of riding and fine food.  The Majors had flown from London to Fort Leavenworth for a couple of weeks of training.  This group decided to experience the beauty of the Flint Hills by viewing the prairie on horseback while  in Kansas.  Some of them were new riders, some had ridden a little bit and some were very experienced riders.  We were able to help them all have a great weekend.  Here's how it started.

The Majors relaxing after their arrival

The evening the majors arrived I got them signed in and directed to their lodging.  After settling in, the group began to enjoy each other and the lovely evening with a drink on the lodge porch.  I walked up to the north end of the porch with a camera in hand and hollered, “Hey Major, look at me.”  They all turned towards me smiling and laughing and I shot this picture.  That’s my kind of humor.  I’m really bad about remembering people names but that weekend was easy.  I just called everyone Major and they always responded.  What fun!  I'm really glad they came.

saddled horses

 All the trail rides start with us saddling enough horses.  It almost looks like a scene from another century.  A long line of horses tied up to hitching rails waiting to be mounted and ridden.

Tica and Pudge

The horses like the rides, too.  Here is Tica looking at me as if asking, "Where’s my bridle?  Pudge has one. Isn’t it my turn?"

 Waiting to Mount

Looking across Button’s saddle you can see that the Majors were waiting for their turns, too.

They were ready and eager to get on a horse and ride.

 Adjusting stirrups for Major Roland Spiller

For the trail rides at the ranch we help each person mount their horse, tell them the name of the horse they are riding. We make sure the stirrups are adjusted properly for each rider and that the saddle is secure to the horse and ready for the ride.  Here is one of our cowboys, Thomas, and our ranch hand, Ann, adjusting the saddle on Smoky while in the background you can see Josh preparing Buster to be mounted.

 Behinds, the scene

When all our guests and our crew are mounted everyone is gathered in a group to receive instructions from Josh and Gwen  on how to ride and advice on how to treat their horse while riding.  Here you can see all the Majors facing our crew who are from left to right Jim Hoy (Josh's Dad) on Pudge, Ann Stollsteimer (our summer cowgirl) on Cricket, Thomas Coirier (a farrier, cowhand and grill cook) on Old Greg, Gwen Hoy on Button and Josh Hoy on Quannah.   Josh and Gwen are excellent at making everyone feel comfortable on their horses.  Our crew is there and ready to help everyone have a good time and answer any questions they may have before and during the trail ride.

 Majors Behinds, the scene

As you can see, the Majors all paid attention to Josh’s directions as they prepared to ride.  One of the directions Josh gives is that our crew won’t necessarily remember each rider’s name so the each rider needs to remember their horse’s name. That way everyone knows that if we holler the horse’s name while out riding, we’re talking to the rider not the horse.  In this picture the horses in the back row from far left to right are Tica, Hunk Papa, Smoky, Billy, Ox, Sis and Peanuts.  They are being ridden by Major, Major, Major, Major, Major, Major, and Major  (Sorry, my kind of humor)  all ready for a good ride.

Major Fred Wells on Brutus

As they headed out I took a picture of the Major on Brutus.  Brutus was pictured in one of my previous blog post.  He’s a draft horse as well as a saddle horse.  He’s a good horse.  I like him, but, of course, I like all the horses. 

One final note:  As the weekend of trail rides ended and the Majors prepared to head back for Fort Leavenworth I heard many of them say that they were sore in their butt and thighs from riding and they were sunburned. But they all had had a wonderful time and would love to do it again.  Maybe they’ll be lucky enough and we’ll be lucky enough to see some of them return to the Flying W.  Take Care Majors! We enjoyed having youall as much as youall enjoyed being here.

You can learn more about our events and lodging at the Flying W Guest Ranch website

 http://www.flinthillsflyingw.com/

Riding horses is fun! Come on out and see for yourself!

My Back Yard

On my side of the creek I have most of the ground in garden.  On the other side of the creek is pasture.  I only have 40 acres but between my road and the next road east there is about 80 square miles of tall grass prairie with no roads through it.  I don’t own it but my neighbors are nice enough to let me hike in it. 

   

   To hike the pastures  first I head for the creek to my (I wish it were) lower crossing.

Up out of the creek bed gives  the view of my pasture looking towards the hills.

                           With all the rain we have had this year  the wild flowers are doing quite well.

We are in the tall grass prairie.  On a normal year the grass can get to be 6 to 8 feet tall.  This Big Bluestem is about 6 foot tall now.  It will probably grow a bit more.  I have seen really wet years where the grass grew to almost 12 feet but not very often.

Up the slope leads to our upper pasture.

The first time I was ever here (before I bought the property) I hiked up this hill and found this throne.

The view when sitting on the throne helped me realize that I wanted to live here. 

Looking to the east one can see the outcroppings of rock that preserved this prairie. You can’t farm ground that has shallow soil and big rocks.   That’s why in this area only the creek and river bottoms are farmed.   The rest is the only remaining tall grass prairie left in the USA.  Before white immigrants came the tall grass prairie covered about 100 million acres or more.  Now there is still about 4 million acres.  A narrow band of hills running from Oklahoma almost to Nebraska

I’m lucky enough to get to live in the middle of it.

Frost in July?

No,  just a brief scare.  It got down to 46 degrees the other morning.  I had the windows open in the bedroom that night and had to get up and get a blanket in the middle of the night.  It felt cold.  When I got up at daybreak and looked out the window the asparagus and the ground around looked white like frost.  I freaked out.  Got dressed in seconds and ran out the door.  Grabbed the thermometer.  Relief.  It read 46.  We can have a frost at 38 degrees if the wind is still and especially if the sky is clear.   Both of which it was that night.  But I calmed down.  It was a very heavy dew refracting sunlight that made it look like frost.   Nothing to worry about.  We did have frosts and freezes in May this year.  That was bad enough.   A frost in July would be devastating to a garden and to agricultural crops. 

  

There have been frosts in Kansas in July.  In Europe we have records of nasty cold crop killing weather in the summer going back many centuries.  Here in the USA we have a few records of cold damaged crops.  If my memory serves me well the year without a summer was 1816.  According to the records in New England, January and February of that year were warm and spring like. March was cold and stormy. Vegetation had gotten well along in April when real winter set in. Sleet and snow fell on seventeen different days in May. In June there was either frost or snow every night but three. The snow was five inches deep for several days in succession in the interior of New York and from ten inches to three feet in Vermont and Maine. July was cold and frosty, ice formed as thick as window panes in every one of the New England States.  August was still worse.  Ice formed nearly an inch in thickness, and killed nearly every green thing in the United States and in Europe.  Of course we don't have records of what was happening in this area we call Kassas in 1816.  But it was in the 1880's that we had what they called "the little ice age" in the USA and Europe.  Here in Kansas during that cold spell we had one summer that had a frost every month.  What a blow that was for anyone farming.  I hope I never see that.    

Meantime. . . 

Crops here are doing well.  I sprayed seaweed extract to protect tomato and pepper flower blooms from the cold the afternoon before the temperature dropped below 50.  The blooms all survived and will continue growing into tomatoes.   Yeah!  Without the seaweed spray the blooms would have most likely dropped off the plants from the cold.  As it is plants are loaded with fruit and covered with new blooms.  That's lucky.  Now if only the tomatoes would ripen a little quicker.

Here is a picture of one amber raspberry already ripe.  That’s earlier than usual.  Turns out there were two and they both were sooooo good.  The amber raspberries have so much sugar in them that they are like eating candy.  They don’t store well but it sure is a taste treat to graze on them.  I have neighbors and friends who tease me that they wait to see when I’m gone so they can come and eat their fill.  Ha ha.  The truth is they are welcome anytime and they know it.   These amber raspberries will continue to bear fruit till the real frost comes this Fall.  I am lucky enough to have handfuls of the sweet little berries daily.  That is lucky!

My middle son, Robyn, asked if I could make a foot bridge using the sycamore that blew down at the creek.  Looks like it, Rob.  I guess this calls for another play day.

History disclaimer:

In today’s world a person can do fact checking on the internet.  But it takes time.  Time I don’t want to spend.  So I will rely on my sometimes not so good memory when writing these posts.  I'm good at remembering historical trivia most of the time.  But, if my facts are wrong you are welcome to let me know and the next time I tell the story I’ll be more accurate.