spring is in the air
but all I can smell is burnt rubber, as the soles of our shoes (boots) melt from the constant running around.
Farmer Jon here and boy have we been busy. Which has become our new normal since we moved out here but lately we've been even busier than usual. Here are a few examples:
Our dark cornish chicks are a few weeks old and growing a little every day
Our Pekin ducklings arrived on Saturday and some of them are already HUGE!
The Khaki Campbell ducklings are doing well and can be moved to their permanent home soon.
The broiler chicks are doing really well. We were expecting more issues since they are a commercial breed but they have actually done really well so far.
And of course, we're still moving the sheep around.
And the bulls...
And the yearling steers and heifers...
And the cows and calves...
And don't forget ol' 14. She's still hanging in there.
I've had two equipment failures while trying to lift her up twice a day but I hope she will make some good progress this weekend.
Jamie's been working hard on the garden.
Here are her strawberries!
Did I mention the turbine was hit by lightning AGAIN! My renewable energy dealer/repairman thought I was joking. He said that has never happened. Luckily, I know how to take it down now. So I lowered it last night but I still have to wait for the part, now that the wind is blowing like crazy today...
See that little white thing. That's what needs replaced...
"...Did I mention the turbine was hit by lightning AGAIN!..."
I helped my dad put up a wind generator back in the '80's.
It was on a fixed 80 foot tall tower that we built (you need either a crane or a gin pole to put it up or take it down which can be a bear-and-a-half).
The first generator was hit by lightning and destroyed, so the insurance company bought the second generator. We beefed up the grounding around the tower when the second one was put up.
Then, the second one was hit by lightning, but was fixed by climbing to the top of the tower to replace parts and replacing the control panel on the ground.
After the second lightning strike, we doubled up on the existing grounding on the tower and all the guy wires. And, the insurance company cancelled my parent's homeowners insurance policy.
It worked for a few years after the repairs, then the control panel developed problems, and because it's so old the control panel would need to be upgraded. Now it's basically a gigantic wind vane.
But when it was actually working, it did a halfway decent job of reducing the electric bill.
Wow, putting up a wind generator in the 80's is very impressive. Not to mention on a homemade tower!
Our turbine has been hit twice this year already! Luckily it hasn't damaged the turbine yet.