After a recent misstep on uneven ground--on my bad leg, of course--set me back several days, I wished for a John Deere Gator or Kubota's equivalent. Then I realized we've got something almost as good. So Herb charged up the battery on our Kubota lawnmower, parked it in the garage, and Saturday I tried out my new go-kart.
The big animals in the barnyard were quite suspicious of my noisy transport, and even when I turned the engine off, they were leery. I think Angel and Brandy have their feelings hurt that I haven't been to see them in two months!
But someone was glad to see me! As soon as the chickens heard my voice, they came running to the gate. I wished I had some goodies to reward them for their faithfulness!
Since I didn't, they went after the grass that's greener on the other side of the fence.
Siobhan came close enough for me to get a glimpse of the warts near her eye that Kara had reported to me. The vet is due in a day or so to check on them.
The budding pink tree by Kara's house has been beckoning to me the past couple days, and I was thrilled to take advantage of the sunshine to check it out. Kara was taking advantage of the sunshine to get in some reading. (Yes, this is February!)
On the way back to the house, I followed Zephyr's gleeful barking over to where Herb was shoveling manure into the new compost bins he built from pallets. She still remembers the "Poop Ball" game I used to play with her when she was a puppy: I would throw a forkful of manure from the round pen onto a big pile, and she would bark and chase the balls of manure as they rolled off. Unfortunately for Zephyr, Herb's new compost bins don't let anything roll off!
He's already filled the first bin (at right) and is halfway through with the second one. As they get filled up, he'll add more bins. The goal is to have four bins in a square. When three bins are full, Herb will shovel the third bin into the last one, and each bin will get shoveled into the next empty one and so on down the line, thus turning the compost from all the bins.
There's an easier way to build this system using only 12 pallets, but they have to be more or less the same size. Ours are all different sizes since we hauled them out of the dumpster at Tractor Supply last fall (after asking permission). So at least this provides a good system to contain a large amount of compost in a compact space where the dogs can't dig into it. At the same time, we're improving some bad soil underneath. Not to mention, keeping the barnyard clean, giving Herb some exercise, amusing Zephyr, and giving me something to blog about!
__ __
| | |
| | |
In case anyone is interested, the above diagram shows how 12 pallets can be connected with large hooks and O-rings. This allows them to be opened from the outside for removing compost or to be completely dismantled. That's on my Wish List some day when we find 12 pallets of the same size!
You have beautiful weather there. That will make the cows happy.
ReplyDeleteNice use of the pallets! Did you get my link to the pallet video? I sent a video about so many ways to use pallets. I particularly think you guys should use some to build a kid play house ;-))
ReplyDeleteBrent, yes, the cows are happy, but they'd be a lot happier if we'd let them out of the barnyard onto the grass! However, we need to coddle the grass a bit and let it grow.
ReplyDeleteI did get the link, Jenny. Very interesting! I wish it had gone slower, but it did give me the idea that you can do pretty much anything with pallets! Thanks for passing it on.