Project pics, Legacy update, and beautiful weather!!

As I write this we are getting some rain.  It is supposed to rain lightly for most of the day.  Things are starting to dry out for the first time in over a year now due to the early spring we are having this year.  We have been having sunny days with light breezes for several weeks now with occasional rain.  I was actually able to prepare the barn site Friday.  I had to shove a lot of mud off to do it but it turned out pretty nice.  The next two weeks are projected to be around 70 degrees and sunny with one or two days of rain!!!  Phenomenal!


If you have been following the blog very long you will know I am not only a farmer but a Project Manager at Enviroscapes.  I have been working on a large, three year project at work. We are not there full time right now but in and out on some little stuff till the next phase hits.  The homeowners wife asked me to have a railing made up for her natural stone steps after falling during the winter.  We also needed to make an archway for her weeping hemlocks at the entrance to the back yard.  I was put into contact with The Iron Orchid Forge and met with the owner on site to come up with a design.  Here are the results!

 The archway blends in perfectly and within a year or so I will be able to train the hemlocks over so it is completely unseen.  He did such a wonderful job on it that even what is visible now is still a beautiful work of art.

 The railing literally astounded me when I saw it.  I knew if we just did a typical railing it would look very tacky as everything else we have done is very natural and rural themed .  So I proposed some type of curved railing.  The blacksmith suggested he could do a railing that looked like a twisted vine and could make the posts to look like the stems.  The owner is an avid fisherman and we actually changed the pond design to be able to support trout so I suggested he add in a fish feature to look like trout jumping upstream.

I think he nailed it perfectly.  I couldn't imagine a more perfect product than what he produced!  The homeowners were super happy and I am wishing I had one at my house!  Some day I will.


 Now, on to the barn site.  I have plans to completely replace the cow shed this year like I did with the pig shed last year.  Standing between me and those plans was a lot of mud and a really big hole!  Luckily you can rent bulldozers and I know how to operate one.  So I got together with my dad and some neighbors and in order to pay for it I worked out a deal to do work for them and split the cost so we all got a good deal.  Now, this is requiring a lot of my time but in working for them it covers most of my cost and again, everyone gets a pretty good deal as it doesn't cost anyone person very much for the amount of work I am doing. 

I remembered to get a before pic just after I cleaned the muddy mess up.  The barn need to extend out past the existing gate posts another 25-30 feet to accommodate some extra pen space and feeder space as well as a place pad to put a spreader under roof for loading out of the mud!

This is a quick after pic.  I will take more next weekend as I did work all over the farm.  It took me about two ours to do this.  I probably used about 200-300 yards of soil to fill in the hole.   I got the soil by taking down the hill to the left of the picture.  Everything is sand and gravel so it should settle out and pack quickly especially with the cows walking on it.  I am hoping to start construction in June or July.  Lot of work to do between now and then!

Here we have a project I did for dad yesterday.  We have wanted this right of way drive cleaned up and farm-able since he bought the place in 1979.  I was finally able to make that a reality for him yesterday.  I totally forgot to get a before pic but trust me, it is an enormous improvement!

Here is a view up the drive.  I am also regrading all the drives for the neighbor behind.  He is also the owner of the project I have been working on at work. 

Here is a picture of the pigs all sleeping together last night.  Man that is a lot of pork!

I decided with the warm weather and such that it was time to let Legacy out on the pasture again.  He was quickly getting too big for the pen with the pigs and I don't like having the animals penned up so I lifted him out and let him run.  He is getting quite heavy now.  I am guessing him to be about 125-140#'s.  He is growing very fast.  As soon as he got out of the pen he started running and ran for almost 30 minutes strait!

 Here he is saying hi to the matriarch of the herd, 50.

Below is just a pic of him by himself.  

I also have a video of him on youtube.  I wish I had started it sooner as this was near the end of his marathon run but still cute non the less!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCSU5bNAYM4&feature=g-all-u&context=G2879d2eFAAAAAAAAAAA

Lastly I would like to leave you with a little farm history.  I recently found out from dad that our farm name is not the first Conser Run Farms in the family.  In actuality my great grandfather, who owned the 100 acres on the other side of my grandma's place, had named his farm the same name.  I had forgotten about it but vaguely remember seeing that name painted on the front of his barn before my great uncle painted it when I was a kid.  

As an added note, my dad's farm name is Mer-Rick Acres.  It is a combination of his nickname and the family name.  Merrick is our family name and Richard is his first name but a lot of people call him Rick.  Every farm is named a little differently but when you look into it there is usually a history behind it somewhere and it is another way for the family to pass on that history even after they are gone!

Have a great day!!

Kenny