A new toy

I've been looking at garden tractor loaders off and on for a couple years now. I even bought plans to build my own which of course was relegated to the "round tuit" pile.

Today I picked up a 1977 Cub Cadet 1650 (16hp, hydrostatic drive) with a loader on it. I think the loader was homemade with some modifications after initial construction.

I paid $1200 which is about half what I would normally expect to pay for such a thing. The electric PTO clutch doesn't work so I can't engage the hydraulics to run the loader but it starts easily even in the teens and is able to slide the loader bucket along pretty well.

I've been researching the PTO clutch and as with most things I won't really know whats up until I dig into it, the clutch itself is pretty simple and only about $150 if I find it needs replacement. The previous owner said it worked and then started blowing fuses, the wiring is a little hacked but not too bad so I'll pull it apart and see whats going on.

The hydraulics look like they were rigged by a halfwit, I plan to replace some of the hoses with hard lines since they're too short to route better than they already are. I'd like to replace the single cylinder currently hooked up for the bucket with two cylinders on the lift arms. Getting that stupid looking big cylinder out of the way would allow the hood to open correctly.

Anyway its a fun new toy and as I told the neighbor it'll keep my out of the bars.

Firewood rack Mark 2

I like firewood. In fact I probably like producing firewood as much as I like producing wood fires. I'm not much of a carpenter or carver or sculptor but I'm a good cutter and splitter. As a good firewood producer theres nothing worse than watching your hard work go for naught as it rots or gets wet or is buried under snow. Over the years I've toyed with a few different techniques for keeping the wood off the ground and dry. Heres the mark 1 wood rack:

It doesn't look like much now but 9 years ago this was the top notch of my wood storage empire. The design is very simple, 2x 8' 2x4s laid parallel, 2x 4' 2x4s as uprights at each end and some spacers. The parallels are separated by one foot. I've since tried wider spacing but one foot is about as close to perfect as you can get. Not shown in this picture are 2 angle braces holding the backs of the uprights. I'm not sure these really add all that much but they don't cost much and are probably worth doing. Theres a rope across the top which helps to keep the tops from bowing out and helps to hold a tarp as seen in this shot of the second mark 1 rack which sits in my backyard:

This is the same basic design as mark 1 but displayed here with a tarp over the wood. This does a pretty good job keeping the wood dry but has a few problems. The first is that tarps don't really last all that well. I use leftover tarps once they're not good enough to cover other things so while they're "mostly waterproof" some water gets through. This is not a big problem, dry firewood sheds water naturally anyway. Another issue is snow which builds up on the tarp and has to be removed. This is a drag because its hard on the tarp. High winds will tug the tarp around, at best this means the wood gets uncovered at worst it means the tarp gets shredded or lost. Oh sure you could strap the tarp down tight so it doesn't move but then getting the wood out is a hassle. Any method for holding the tarp is going to end up being a compromise between weather proofing and convenience. I use hardwood blocks cut from old pallets tied to the corners. I've also used bricks with holes in them which work well but are somewhat fragile when tossed around by a tarp in the wind.

Finally a tarp covered woodpile is at a distinct disadvantage when in comes to drying. This is a drag because the basic design of this pile is great for drying. The wood is supported only by 4 inches of 2x4 and gets airflow all around. but then we trap that moist air with a plastic tarp, bad plan.

As you can see from the original rack using untreated wood for this is a bad plan, that rack has rotted badly and isn't held together by much...

Enter wood rack Mark II:

Shown here partially complete on the deck at camp. This features pressure treated 2x4s for the lower end which is actually in contact with the wood, with standard 2x4s forming a 2'x8' roof on a 6 in 12 pitch which is probably too much, before I finish it I'll probably lower that to 4 in 12 which will give better coverage over the wood. I chose 2'x8' because I can cover 2 with a single sheet of OSB or plywood but in reality 2.5'x8' would be better as again it would better cover the firewood. Before final construction is complete the upper wood will all be painted or polyurethaned for greater protection. It will be covered with a piece of 3/8" OSB which will also be painted or polyurethaned, a metal drip edge installed and then asphalt shingles for roofing.
Its hard to see but there are a pair of 2x4s halfway down to give more structure to the roof. I didn't trust an 8 foot span with snow load.

Unfortunately I got caught by rain and wasn't able to finish this wood rack on my recent trip to camp but I'm confident I can easily get it done on my next trip. This is an important addition to our camp because with recent improvement inside the camp we have the ability to go there in the winter. Assuming we can make it to camp on snowmobile we will need good, dry wood to heat the place...

On cooking

In previous posts about my crazy homesteading idea I talked about having fuel to get me through and also providing for water. Cooking of course requires both.
I figure I'll start my time with a normal load of groceries. Seems like a smart settler would bring groceries along. That'll probably last a week. After that it'll be mostly beans and rice.
Why beans and rice? Outside of the US beans and rice is a major staple food, it keeps well, is easy to cook and is shelf stable. Keep the animals, air and moisture out and it'll keep a good long time.

I'll also do some foraging which will at least provide counterpoint to my rice and beans. Won't probably be enough to survive on though. A priority will be to get a garden growing. Things like spinach grow quickly and again will provide variety. Longer term squashes are very easy to grow and provide heavily. I'm told tomatoes are difficult but I've never had any problem. New England is a very forgiving climate for gardening and I intend to take advantage of that.

There are many sources of pot meat that folks in the north don't tend to think of and the big one on our farm is the groundhog. Also known as a woodchuck we're talking here about marmota monax. Since our farm hasn't been actively worked for nearly a decade at this point our fields are frequented by the fat critters. A .22 rifle makes short work of one and once I start gardening removing them as pests will be a requirement. There is no fixed season on groundhogs so this is all totally legal. Also legal year round are squirrels, unfortunately northern Maine isn't home to big fat squirrels like the grey and fox squirrels you see down south, we only get the little reds. Still if all you'd been eating was rice and beans I suspect a little squirrel meat would be welcome.

The biggest problem will be a shortage of fuel. If I limit myself to the initial fuel load I will certainly at some point be forced to burn wood to cook with. Early on while the weather is cold I could cook on the woodstove in the cabin. However warmer weather will certainly make that impractical. Back in the old days they had summer kitchens, a kitchen outside to keep the heat out of the house. I like this and ideally I'll source another small boxwood stove like we have in the camp to provide for such. I could extend the roof off of the shower house and with a good brick floor it would be pleasant. Otherwise I'd need to build a firepit and tripod. I could cook in a dutch oven over the open fire. For things like basic rice and beans this wouldn't be too bad. Still it'd be a world of dirty pots and smokey fires.

Fuel for wood fires is plentiful. No real timber harvesting has been done on our land in more than 50 years. We're mostly grown in with spruce and poplar. The latter is actually quaking aspen and not poplar proper. Both make decent fire wood although generally referred to as "gopher wood" in that as soon as you load the stove you need to go-fer wood because it burns up so quickly. Considering the relatively small amounts of wood needed for cooking I would start by thinning the trees around the camp, our woods are badly grown in with inter-meshing branches that stunt growth and cut down on animal traffic. Historically these dead low branches are called squaw wood and clearing them out is good for the forest, it lets the trees get bigger and keeps forest fires at bay. I presume over 6 months or so I'd get to the point where I'd have to start foraging fairly far from the camp which is good news. Very long term there would be a need to actually cut some trees for wood. The rule of thumb is usually that you can cut a cord of wood per acre per year without damaging the land. We've got probably 10 or more acres in trees so I basically can't ever cut too many trees as long as I spread my cutting around...

On water

Water is important. You can live for weeks without food but not even days without water. If I'm going to be able to live at camp long term I'll need clean water. Even if I can find sufficient food if I can't find water I'm doomed.

Fortunately we've got a pond, even in the worst of droughts we've got water. I've seen the pond down several feet but never dry. Unfortunately we've also got beavers. Beavers are an issue because they carry giardia, a little parasite thats no fun at all.

An ideal way around this would be to sink a well, it'd be awesome to sink a well right next to the camp and have a pump inside but that would run into serious money so it ain't happening. Instead I'll need a filter.

At home we've got a Multi-pure filter, ours sits under the sink and is pretty terrific. I could rig up a similar system but I'd need so way to feed the filter which would be a pain. Enter the Berkey filter, its a canister filter, pour questionable water in the top get clean water out the tap at the bottom. I like the stainless steel construction and the replaceable filters and they're priced reasonably. There are other systems that use plastic buckets for "emergency water filtering" but I feel like the Berkey is a much more significant unit and if/when I make this great experiment thats probably what I'll get.

Crazy ideas

Do you ever get crazy ideas? I get 'em pretty frequently, some are dumb, some are just crazy, some are dumb and crazy...
Lately I've been thinking about how much I'd love to have a job that worked on my schedule in my location. The only thing I could really do that meets that is to be a writer. I've thought about that for years and years but of course its a difficult gig to break into.

A couple months ago I read "Twelve by Twelve: A One-Room Cabin off the Grid and Beyond the American Dream" by William Powers. Powers is a kind of greenie weenie activist. Honestly he's kind of a dork and I didn't really like the book that much (want it? Just ask, I've got loads of books that need good homes) but it got me thinking about my own remote cabin off the grid. Our camp is actually quite a bit bigger than Powers' (its not actually his, he borrowed but you get the idea) cabin, we've got a 16x24' main camp and 10x12' bunkhouse but they're similar in that we've got no electricity or running water. I've also read "Into The Wild" by John Krakauer which is a very good book telling the story of Chris McCandless and his adventure and untimely death in Alaska. Together they've gotten me thinking about attempting a long term stay at camp, a sort of "Walden Pond" for the 21st century.

How long? I'm thinking 6 months, mid-April through mid-November. With me I'd bring rice and beans and some other basic staples with the idea of becoming basically self sufficient by July. Self sufficient means no added inputs in fuel or food, I'd survive on what I brought and what I could find/grow. In support of this future idea (and to attract wildlife) this spring I planted what is essentially a big garden of corn. This was an important first step since most of our fields haven't been planted in a decade or more and the sod was TOUGH to break through. It'll be a big help to have a section of garden already started. I'll still need to do a lot of wild gathering as it'll take time for the garden to produce a significant amount of food.

Since we're off grid theres no electricity and since we use propane for cooking and light I'll need to be stingy with it, I also won't be using it for showers, fortunately we've already got a solar shower I can use. I'll supplement with a jug of kerosene (I have a kerosene stove I haven't yet written about here) and another of white gas. Finally we've got loads of dead trees and live spruce trees are usually loaded with dead branches so I'll have to set up a fire pit and do a lot of my cooking (especially for rice and beans) over a wood fire.

Anyway crazy right? I've got a mortgage that needs keeping up with, I'd need considerable financial buffer to make this idea work but the idea sticks with me. Over the next couple years expect to see me working on the skills that will be required to make it work. I'll mark posts related to the idea as "homesteading" because thats really what I'm talking about...