We dug the rest of our potatoes today. A potato digger is an interesting machine. It digs the spuds and separates the soil.
Our potato digger is really old, it was originally set up to be pulled by a team of horses! We modified it to use on our tractor. We're missing a set of chains for the digger so it just drops the potatoes of the ground. We have some chains, but they are to big and will have to be modified to fit.
Yields were alright considering the lack of moisture this year. Contrary to popular belief potatoes did not originate in Ireland. Potatoes are native to the Andes region of South America. There is a secondary center of origin in Central America.
There's usually a few monster tomatoes in the greenhouse each year.
A little while back we purchased a grain drill (planter). Its a John Deere Van Brunt Model B Drill that was built in the 1950's or early 60's. The nice thing about John Deere equipment is that you can find parts manuals on their website.
Three of the planting boots are broken. Basically the function of the planting boot is to push the soil aside while the seed is dropped through the center of the boot. For some reason two of the boots had been welded and riveted to the support bar. With an acetylene torch I chopped off the bigger chunks of steel.
To avoid destroying the support bar I used and angle grinder to finish removing the welds. Then with a chisel the piece came off! To be continued...
There's only a couple more crops to harvest and the season will be over. I'll continue posting when I have pictures but posts probably won't be on a weekly basis until spring. Thanks for reading and be sure to check back.
The water and electrical lines were buried approximately 6-7 feet deep.
We have 50 and 100 pound options. Each customer receives an assortment of cuts.
We had planned on getting a tractor next year but this deal came up. A few of the selling points were a rebuilt engine with 1,000 hours on it, operating hours is similar to the number of miles on a car. It has new hoses, a engine block heater (essential for cold weather starts), new belts, new hydraulic hoses, and it was available locally. There are good used tractors around but they aren't always close by. Even a 4-5 hour drive can add a few hundred dollars to the cost to haul it back.
The first frost of the season put an end the summer squash.
We had an unusually warm fall and frost came late this year.
Yields were alright considering the lack of moisture this year. Contrary to popular belief potatoes did not originate in Ireland. Potatoes are native to the Andes region of South America. There is a secondary center of origin in Central America.
There's usually a few monster tomatoes in the greenhouse each year.
Three of the planting boots are broken. Basically the function of the planting boot is to push the soil aside while the seed is dropped through the center of the boot. For some reason two of the boots had been welded and riveted to the support bar. With an acetylene torch I chopped off the bigger chunks of steel. 
There is interest forming a local grain cooperative that would mix and sell feed for livestock.
The rye first comes out of the gravity box (far left) then is augered up into our fanning mill (center) which cleans the seed. Cleaning removes chaff, weed seeds, grasshoppers etc.
Rye after one pass through our seed cleaner. This rye will be pig food so running it through the mill once is good enough.
A third PTO ( power take off) powered auger transfers the rye to the storage bin.
View of the whole operation from atop the storage bin.
The seed cleaner is basically a bunch of screens and a fan that separates out the chaff.
A no-till grain drill was purchased by the land conservation office and in cooperation with UW-Extension it is being rented out to land owners in Ashland, Iron, and Bayfield counties. We rented the drill to do some hay field improvement. Here I'm seeding some red clover (Trifolium pratense) and bromegrass (Bromus inermus).
