[Carl Russell]

We’ve done midget whites. Ended up with a breeding pair, then the sow walked over her fence in the deep snow and flushed the turkeys out of the green house, and the coyotes got ’em. They are interesting animals, quite different than the big double breasted meat birds. Lisa’s hatching out some other Naragansetts this summer, and we have several birds of black and dry grass varieties.

We are working to get breeding pairs of all of the livestock we raise here, so that we don’t have to buy in every year. Trying our own heavy meat chicken crosses, not sure how that will work out, it may end up that we just raise turkeys for meat production, and keep the chickens for eggs.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

I intend to let as much rot back into the soil as possible. Probably will have to handle some of the bigger wood, but I have pastured animals around fallen trees for years, and they eventually break down nicely, same with the stumps, I don’t want to disturb the soil.

I will be making pasture paddocks for the pigs this summer, fanning them out from the enclosure they’re in right now, so they will make a pretty good start, then probably winter over some cattle on the ground where footing is good, accumulating manure, mulch, and seed. Pigs may have another go at it next year too. Usually get pretty good grass growing in 2-3 years.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Carl Russell;715 wrote:

At present Earthwise Farm and Forest is a lot more forest than farm. When my grandfather bought this place there were fields all around the house and barn, but being post-depression they had fallen into neglect. As he was of failing health and knew that he would not be able to rebuild the farm, he planted thirty acres to white and red pine, and norway spruce.

So, as of now we move our cattle and horses around to fields in the neighborhood. Beside the moving time, this is not the most efficient way to manage animals, nor pasture.

The plantations are 60 years old now, and I have been improving them over the last twenty years to where there is a large concentration of high quality trees throughout. We have just started the planning process to return the entire area back to agricultural use.

We intend to clearcut sections 5-10 acres at a time. We will then follow with a livestock rotation including pigs, poultry, cattle and horses, to create pasture and hay land, that will be one large centrally located area on our own farm.

This will have to be another pasture-cam project. Carl

I started the project this winter, harvesting about 3 acres of white pine sawlogs. We windrowed the trees when we cut them down, making places where there are piles of brush, and some places that are more open.

I attached the first of the progression of photos.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Good thing I went to take pictures, I wasn’t very accurate.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Take 3 heavy truck (16″-17″ min.) tires, cut them in half like a bagel, using a saz-all. Lay them out 3-2-3 and bolt them together every where a tire meets another. In the middle of the outer tires in the front 3 place eye bolts to attach clevises, and chain. I put a piece of 1 1/2″ pipe as a spreader into the loop of chain, making a letter “A”, so that the chain won’t just fold the tires up when pulling.

Good to go.

If I get a pic of mine ‘ll post it.

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Carl

[Carl Russell]

I agree with Jason, when I cut a lot of hay, I always favored Timothy, with red clover, and I rarely cut hay before July 1, just getting two cuts, or at least pasturing the second growth. There is definitely more ways to manage grass than the conventional grow fast and cut often, especially if you think of growing soil as the primary product.

I just mulched-mowed a pretty good crop of browning tall lodging feed with a brush-hog. Can’t feed it to the animals, but fed the soil, and made way for second growth.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

There is a lot of brush to cut around here. I haven’t had a photographer with me yet, but possibly soon. Otherwise it will be demonstrated at NEAPFD.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Yeah, I gotta say I was a little out of sorts. Made me think what life was like pre-DAP.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Just came in from 4 hours of brush-hogging with my horses. We bought a 13HP DR tow behind field/brush mower, and it runs pretty quietly, mows heavy grass, and mulches saplings the size of my thumb.

With all the rain recently, I can’t get in the garden, or the woods, so it felt really good today to knock back some of the brush that has been encroaching on me.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

The IH reversible rakes had a differential with a shifting fork, so that the axle could engage the bars in the opposite direction. The bars also are adjustable so that the tines can be positioned to toss the hay into the air. And the gear ratio is different than when raking, probably 2x as fast when tedding.

I would say that you could probably succeed if you find some way to remove the sprocket and turn it around on the axle so that the bars rotate the other way. You may need to drill new holes for the bolts holding the tines on and experiment with the right angle so that the hay doesn’t just get balled up in the works.

Yeah IH tedder/rakes, and Nicholson and Grimm tedders are hedgerow junk around here. I actually have a couple, but I bet shipping would be ridiculous, besides they’re part of my “gold mine”, waiting for the day when i can cut them apart to make some kind gizmo.

Actually, I meant to say that Nicholson tedders were made in England, so they are not as regionally located.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

These got left out for some reason, Sorry, Carl

Image: http://zorro.skogshastenblekinge.se/#3.1

Image: http://zorro.skogshastenblekinge.se/#3.2

Image: http://zorro.skogshastenblekinge.se/#3.3

Image: http://zorro.skogshastenblekinge.se/#3.5

[Carl Russell]

Hi Robert, Welcome to DAP, I hope you can find what you are seeking. This is a great group of people to ask.

For any others reading this, he is all he says he is and more. A very likable and capable person, I’m sure he can bring more than he needs in return.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

And it’s even more amazing when I realize how little I knew twenty years ago, but it apparently was enough to get started with.:rolleyes:

Carl

[Carl Russell]

I have attached a few pics of the house we built. Every stick in the house cane to the site with horse power right from my own wood land. I hand cut every joint. I chose log and post and beam purely for functionality. There is in my mind very little reason to build a stick frame structure. Far too restrictive from the very beginning.

I built the entire frame before I made commitments to style and placement for any windows, doors, and interior walls. And as far as cost, using only my own materials, obviously costs were lower than if I had purchased it, but in terms of lumber utilization and structural integrity for the amount of lumber used, P&B is superior.

Also with my octagon P&B was far better way to tie the structure together.

Oh yeah, there is definitely an aesthetic value as well, and the listers charge my more because I live in a log home, never mind that I designed and built the whole thing myself, and there is very little about this home that would attract the normal home buyer.

And. we have a Wood Mizer LT15 that we bought for the house project. It was paid for just with the house, and I use it regularly for more current work. Just sawed out a small P&B for the White River Partnership, 12 X 16 to be raffled off for a fund raiser.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

ngcmcn;9545 wrote:

Carl,
I’m assuming you’re using a bore cut. When you are on a 32′ or bigger butt are you cutting through your hinge through a small window(through your face cut) pivoting your saw then finishing up the bore from the sides.?

Thanks

Neal

Yes. I don’t cut that many trees that big, so I carry the bar that gives me the best all around functionality. Boring from the face cut gives that advantage on the big ‘uns. I do have a few longer bars to use for take-down, big old maples or the like.

I don’t carry sharpened chains. I sharpen in the woods, That’s one reason why the shorter bar/chain is my preference. I haven’t used the skip chain yet, but I understand that it helps with power/chain speed.

I touch up the saw as soon as it feels like it’s losing its edge. Just because it has a motor, doesn’t mean that the cutting edge shouldn’t be sharp. I have found over the years that when the chain starts to dull I lose more production and energy then if I just stop and sharpen it.

Carl

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