Greenhouse starts, adapting an heirloom tractor to current farm needs, planning and brainstorming

I noticed today (Monday) that the starts greenhouse exhaust fan had come on. Another first for the year. The fan thermostat is set at 80 degrees. Last Thursday was John’s first day as greenhouse manager. He started parsley (Italian and curly), chives, a rainbow chard mix, broccoli (two varieties), and cabbage (two green and two red). Today he started lettuce (Romaine, two red, and two green), Napa cabbage (two types), spinach, cauliflower (two white and a purple), hot peppers (7 varieties ranging from mild to hot) and statice (for the cut flower garden). He also starting presprouting the peas. We bury the peas in damp seedling mix for about a week before planting. This gets germination started. Ideally we plant the peas just as they start to pop out their roots and leaves. They will soon take off even in cold soil and will get a good head start on the weeds. John will be back on Thursday.

On Friday Enrique finished spreading compost on the first big field and started spreading on the corn maze and Pumpkin Patch field. The combined field is almost seven acres, so it will take a while to complete.

Some of the fields are just about dry enough to start tilling. From now through June it will be a nail-biting race to fit the fieldwork and planting in around the rain. Unfortunately for planning, the rainstorms are not scheduled for our convenience. The weather reports serve only as a rough guide to planning. We always have to have alternate plans for tomorrow, depending on the weather. The days when conditions are ideal are few, so we need to decide when conditions are “good enough.” We are always thinking how to be more efficient, so we can best use the good-weather opportunities.

Today (Monday) we hooked the mulch thrower up to the Ford 8N. Our idea was to make Enrique’s time more efficient by using different tractors to load and to spread the compost. When using only the John Deere, Enrique has to unhook the mulch thrower each trip back to the compost pile. The John Deere tractor has the loader (see the March 17 entry), so the Ford gets the pulling job. Of course we wouldn’t purchase a second tractor just for this, but it’s handy when we don’t have another task suitable for the Ford.

Enrique using the Ford 8N tractor to spread compost on the corn maze field.

The Ford did a good job when the conditions were fine. However, the Ford is not as easy and simple to drive as the John Deere, and has lower horsepower and two-wheel drive. On wet days when the ground is soft, it is probably more efficient just to use the John Deere for both tasks. We did check out the Ford with the 4-ft deck mower, which works fine, so that might free up the Kubota for other tasks.

We needed to add a couple of safety features to the Ford 8N tractor to bring the power takeoff (the PTO) up to modern safety standards.  We added an override clutch adaptor to the tractor PTO shaft to prevent the momentum of spinning attachments from spinning the tractor PTO and driving the tractor forward unexpectedly. We also added a metal shield around the PTO to guard the operator from the rapidly spinning shaft. Statistics show that a large percentage of serious accidents on farms involve tractor PTO’s. Clothing caught by the spinning shaft can yank an arm or leg in to be mangled. Reading about people being scalped when their hair was caught makes me think about going back to buzz-cut hair.

Safety features added to the Ford 8N tractor PTO. The shield guards the spinning override clutch adaptor.

The override clutch adaptor extends the end of the PTO significantly. I was unhappy to find that the PTO shaft of our Woods rototiller is too long to fit with the Ford. If we cut it down to fit, it would be rather too short for the John Deere. This is an unanticipated quandary. I was looking forward to having the flexibility to till with either tractor, depending on the other fieldwork needs of the day. The Ford won't drive slowly enough to do the initial tilling, but we could use it for finish tilling or incorporating fertilizer. We have gotten by this far without, but it was often a stretch to finish everything. We can’t easily substitute PTO shafts to fit to the tractor used. I’m stuck thinking the only solution would be a second tiller. I can’t say I could justify spending several thousand for a new tiller, but I would sure be tempted if I found a great price on a quality used tiller. On the other hand, there are lots of other places to spend money on the farm.

Saturday we had our monthly management committee meeting and finished most of the budget – talking about how to spend (and not spend) money on the farm. I brought the committee up to date on progress at the farm, we talked about some fun activities and amenities from my idea file and we brainstormed some on the corn maze theme for the year.

What’s playing today in the Jeep CD player? Balkanarama – Nonstop