[Simple Living]

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all. May your Table be surrounded by loved ones, and your hearts filled with joy as we all give thanks for the lives that we are so blessed to have.

Gordon & Melissa & family

[Simple Living]

Hey Carl,
I’m not from Vt. or a Farmer and I still want to go!! Sounds like a great place for some really good fellowship, really good food, and if you like it, some good music as well.

Gordon

[Simple Living]

Just thought I would share a couple of pics my son took this spring as I was plowing up the small garden up by the house. Have not had time to plow this fall yet. It does seem to get in your blood thats for sure. I’m using 2 of my Haflinger mares on an Oliver #11, no pole(all flat land here), with a 14″ bottom and a slatted mouldboard. I hope you enjoy!

Gordon

[Simple Living]

Don’t forget to use the Google webpage translater. Not perfect, but works well enough to get the most out of a site. Video links are a bit scary, but something to learn from as well.

Gordon

[Simple Living]

Pssssst….John, What are you doing in my dream?…….

I do have to say that it sounds good to me. Although I am afraid of what the world would have to go through. I think after reading your post that I would like to get together with you some day. I am close to the Mi, In,Oh. borders, Not so far from you I think. Like you I also wish that we were closer to the northeast so that we could have went to the NEAPFD. I’ve been to Horse Progress Days, It is great if you just want to spend money, but if you want the personal attn. type small workshops, its not there. Here’s hoping we can see that dream come true..

Gordon

[Simple Living]

Here is another place with some goat related items from harness to milkers. I have never purchased anything from them so I will leave the link with a warning of buyer beware.

http://hoeggergoatsupply.com/xcart/home.php?cat=21

Gordon

[Simple Living]

In Sam Moore’s book Implements for Farming with Horses & Mules – A Modern All-In-One Manual, He shows a picture of an I&J 2 shank subsoiler being pulled in some heavy ground by what looks to be 8 Horses. Seems to me if my memory has not gone bad that White Horse also makes a subsoiler. May be worth looking at some pictures if nothing else.

Gordon

[Simple Living]

If you go to the Google webpage there is a translation tool (just to the right of the main box you enter text into) that seems to work very well, just click on the words Language Tools. I’ve used it for years. All you have to do is enter the address into a box and mark what language you need translated from and to. It does the rest. I believe it works about 98% of the time. Even with that you can get the most out of the site. Hope this helps!

Gordon

[Simple Living]

In looking for other things on the internet we often find things we had no clue were there. Some of them good and some others not so good. A week or so ago I found this book on line at Books.google.com. It is a book on farm buildings of all types. The copyright date in it is 1911. In the book there are hundreds of pages of information from raising livestock to raising barns to lines fore teams from 2-20 I think. I am going to put a link to the one page (300) That shows lines for a 4 abreast. There were several more in this section of the book. If it doesn’t work let me know and I will explain how to get there, I think. One of the other things I found in this book on page 303 was a diagram of a 3horse evener/pole set up to make your own. It was the first I had seen with all the dimensions as well. If you would like to Download the book there is a link to a PDF Doc. in the upper right part of the page so you can always have a copy handy on you computer or if you want to kill another tree, print it.:D:eek:

http://books.google.com/books?id=xWg2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA13&dq=farm+buildings#PPA300,M1

Gordon

[Simple Living]

Robert, Thanks for the scare. I was nervous about getting 1, came home with 2. Now I’m wondering if the second should also be a nanny. I had a friend tell me yesterday the only thing dumber than a goat was its owner, we laughed. I will have to say that in 2 days she has already learned her way from pen to milking stand and how to get back, so maybe it is just her owner who needs help! 😉

sanhestar, I have thought about the herd thing as well, and was wondering if she would do fine hanging out with the horse “herd” of 5.

As for her feed yes we kept the grain and hay as close to the same as we could. Although I believe my hay has a lot better nutritional value. She seems to be drinking even better today, I would have to say milk level would increase as well. She had a set of twins in late Jan. or early Feb. so she is only a couple months into her milking cycle.

Thanks to you two for your help, I wasn’t sure where to start this thread and guessed this to be as good a place as any.

Gordon

[Simple Living]

Robert, Thanks for the scare. I was nervous about getting 1, came home with 2. Now I’m wondering if the second should also be a nanny. I had a friend tell me yesterday the only thing dumber than a goat was its owner, we laughed. I will have to say that in 2 days she has already learned her way from pen to milking stand and how to get back, so maybe it is just her owner who needs help! 😉

sanhestar, I have thought about the herd thing as well, and was wondering if she would do fine hanging out with the horse “herd” of 5.

[Simple Living]

Rod,

I love your team and I think your cart is very well done. I have a couple questions for you. Now that you have used it, how well is it balanced when fully loaded with compost? And how well did it dump when you got it there? Is there anything you would change? Or have you not had the chance to use it enough yet? Keep up the good work, and keep having a blast!

Gordon

[Simple Living]

I think I received it as a gift now that I think of it. BUT…..I did find it at the Rural Heritage web page. Here is a link to their page. I would think you could find it in other places as well. Hope it helps.

http://ruralheritage.com/bookstore/catalog_details.cgi?recno=517

Gordon

[Simple Living]

This is taken from Sam Moore’s book “Implements for Farming with Horses and Mules, a Modern All-In-One Manual” It is a bit pricey but I have learned a wealth of knoledge,well worth the price.

“The center of power of a 2 horse team is a line from a point exactly midway between the inside hame hooks to the center clevis of the evener. The center of draft of a 14″ two-horse walking plow is about 2″ in from the landside and directly under the middle of the plow beam. The distance from the center of draft to the edge of the furrow wall is thus 14″ minus 2″, or 12”. The furrow horse walkes in the middle of the furrow, so his singletree clevis will be 7″ from the furrow wall. The distance then, from the center of draft, or the middle of the evener to the singletree clevis is 19″, calling for a 38″ evener.

For a 12″plow, the center of draft is approximately 10 1/2″ from the furrow wall plus 6″ to the center of the furrow, or 16 1/2″. Thus, a 33″ evener should be used on a 12″ plow.”

There is a lot more information on plowing and such in the book. I find it easy to read and if you have some basic knowledge of machines and physics, you can translate the information for your needs. Hope this helps and not clouds the issue.

Gordon

[Simple Living]

In selecting an evener for plowing, the width/length is important so that the furrow horse is centered in the furrow and not being pushed into the plowed ground, or pulled back into the landside. The evener length will affect the draft and travel on the plow. There is a formula for figuring out the length for the size plow you are using, I have seen it in several books, I’ll have to look it up and post it for you.

Gordon

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