In this week’s newsletter we update some news from a few newsletters ago and then on to new news, but first the announcements.
First we are still taking orders — unfortunately. Let your family and your two friends know! Buy the shares through our online store! Spread the word please!
You can also still order some of our other items like Fruit, Flowers (only three left), Coffee, ‘Shorooms and Cheese. We have a waiting list of Eggs and if we get enough interest will buy another case.
I’ll be getting the pick-up instructions out this coming week. Be on the lookout for them and if you don’t receive them by Friday June 13th (Friday the 13th. Yikes!) please let me know.
The season starts the week of June 23rd. Not sure what we will have but the bok choy is looking good! Who wouldn’t want a box full of bok choy?
Past Farm News Update
Back in April I wrote about a project I was assisting on with the University of Minnesota where they used autonomous drones to chase deer away from our farm. I’m happy to report that the team was awarded the Excellence in Small Farms Technology Award at this year’s Farm Robotics Challenge. You can see a video of the work they are doing here and learn more about their project here. Though I only had mostly email interactions with the team it was fun to meet them on their trip out here in April. They are a fun group of smart, motivated engineers and computer scientists. I have renewed faith in our planet’s future. A future where humans and deer can coexist peacefully — except for the sound of drones flying around chasing off the deer. Yay team!
Farm News
Way back in August of 2022 I announced my retirement. As those who read that particular newsletter discovered it was only a partial retirement. Now it is time to announce the other partial retirement, which together with the last retirement would result in full retirement. That’s right. Earlier this season I retired the tractor’s front wheels.
Unlike the rear wheels I retired three years ago, the front wheels have been retired at least once before. And unlike the rear wheels, which cost a couple of grand if I recall correctly, the front wheels were far more reasonable. A mere $300 or so. I hope all my future retirements continue to decrease in cost.
As I mentioned in a previous newsletter, when we had our potato planting party I noticed a separated tread that exposed an inner-tube bulge in the left front tire. Tire bulges, like most every other bulge known to mankind, are not good. I’ve never in my life known a bulge that was positive. But I’m heterosexual so… Anyway, where was I? That’s right, tire bulge. The local repair store also mentioned there is no such thing as a good tire bulge. So we had to get new bulge-free tires to replace the one bulged tire and the one not yet but probably soon to bulge tire. This is by far the most times I have ever written the word bulge.
The local tractor repair store was quite helpful in that they had a spare, bulge-free tire in their used tire inventory that they lent me until the new, bulge-free tires came in. This kept us up and running during the time of year when the tractor is most needed. For those wondering what time of year the tractor is most needed the answer of course is the whole year, unless it doesn’t snow then you can remove the winter part of the year when discussing tractor usage. Anyway, we were able to keep planting and keep tilling and keep cultivating and of course keep planting — which is something we do mostly this time of year.
The new tires so far seem to be fine. They are circular, which for a tire is a good thing. I’ve not tried square tires, nor triangular tires but have not heard good things about them, so I stuck with the circular variety — though I think octagonal or dodecagonal tires could work well on soft soil.
One big difference though is that the old, bulgy tires had four ribs, and the new ones have only three. So between the two tires we are down two ribs. Will that make a difference? I don’t know. I think if I had two fewer ribs I’d notice, but then again, I’m not a tire, and tires may be less prone to having fewer ribs than us humans. Why do the front tires of tractors have ribs you may be wondering? And also, what are tire ribs? They sound delicious. Like most vehicles — though not skid steers — the front wheels are used for turning the vehicle. Tractors tend to need to be turned quite frequently so having front wheels is a good thing. But tractors also need to turn on loose soil. If we had normal, non-ribbed tires the front end would tend to slip more and turning could be problematic. But having ribs — basically treads that go around the tire instead of across the tire like cars — allows the tire to bite into the loose soil and therefore facilitate a more ideal turn. How cool is that? Not very by your reaction…
Anyway, I would anticipate this to be the last time I retire — at least for a long while. Though, come to think of it, I may have to retire my Allis Chalmers model G tractor soon. One of its tires is showing some significant wear. But for now I’m done retiring — hopefully — though you never know what may cause the next retirement.
As always, do not hesitate to send in questions, comments, share orders, or retirement gifts (a new gold Rolex would be nice).
Joke of the Week
What did the tractor tire say to the bicycle tire? I’m a pretty big wheel.