Our third ham went into the smoker today. The first two look about ready to come out but I will leave them till Brian gets here to give them a once over. The fourth very large ham still resides in the cooler, quietly salt curing. It shouldn’t be too much longer till its ready to turn golden in the smoker.
More snow pics
The kids first foray into the snow. Yes I am inside where its warm. I have no shame. I had already milked the cow, built a fire in the smoke house, built a fire in the boiler, and was busy making breakfast. I did make it out for sledding not long after.
The smoke house, under its load of snow. We don’t see snow very often so this is a cool picture to me.
There is a stream of smoke coming out but its hard to see against the white background.
How to pick a hat
For those who know me personally, you know that I am usually one of two things:
1. Wearing a hat.
2. In arms reach of a hat.
And I don’t mean a ball cap. I may wear one of those for an hour every other year. I mean a proper hat which for me is either a fedora or a cowboy hat. It wasn’t always this way. I have a collection of ball caps that would overload Goodwill if I ever took a truck load to them (someday I will). In my twenties I wore a ball cap pretty much all the time. It wasn’t till I was in my thirties that I switched over to a better hat and I was very self conscious when I did wear one. I didn’t wear a fedora (my main hat) unless I was going out in the rain and needed a hat, or if I was dressing up to go out with SWMBO and adding the hat was the finishing touch to an outfit. Otherwise I’d leave the hat at home so I didn’t seem over the top. But a funny thing happened those few times I did wear a hat. I felt a little older, more like a grown up. I had a chance to tip my hat to ladies, to remove my hat when eating or indoors. In other words, I had a chance to use my manners and therefor elevate my actions beyond others. Not to be better than anyone else, but to take a little more effort than others. Again, it made me feel a little more grown up
I get a lot of comments on my hats. At first I thought people were mocking me. “Nice hat” generally made me second guess my choice. “You look like Indiana Jones.” made me question what I was trying to accomplish. But fortunately I found that when the sun was beating down, or the rain came up, or it was windy, or cold, or darn near any weather condition, I was glad I had my hat. I found that with a hat, I don’t need an umbrella if it’s not a driving rain. If it is a driving rain, I found that a hat is how you keep water from running down the back of your neck and under your rain coat. I found that many things that would have been in my eyes were easily avoided with a simple tilt of my head to cover my eyes with the brim. I found that with a beating sun on a hot day, you have your own personal shade tree. With all the good I discovered with wearing a hat, I learned to ignore the comments I was getting and that lead to my discovering that the comments weren’t mocking, they were positive. People really did mean it when they said nice hat and it was only my doubt that was holding me back. I’ve had people tell me over the years that they wish they had the confidence to wear a hat like I do because it looks so good. They say that they just can’t find a hat that looks good on them. When that has come up, I’ve pointed them here.
If you are a man reading this, go to the link, find your face shape, and pick a hat. When you put it on, you’ll feel dorky. Just go with it. You’ll find that the pros outweigh the cons. I personally wear felt, crushable, water proof fedoras that I buy 5 at a time from Agri-Supply in Garner. I later found them at the mall when SWMBO drug me there. They were triple the price for the exact same hat! Having a good hat that doesn’t break the bank lets me look good while not having to be fussy with my headgear. I wear them in all conditions and when they get trashed, I toss that one and put on another. I go through about 1-2 hats per year.
If you are a woman reading this who’s man would look good in a hat, we gents will generally do what we can to make you think we’re good looking. Compliments work, but it takes more than one. Suggesting to come to bed but leave the hat on will have him shopping in no time.
What dads are for
We are walking back from the barn and it begins to rain. Spork and The Princess seem unaffected but Bok Bok turns and asks for me to get her out of the rain. I smile and reach up and pull my hat off of my head and pop it onto hers. She gives me a big smile as the rain pelts off of her new hat,a smile that melts my heart. She continues forward to the house, now happy and oblivious to the rain. She was so cute I grabbed the phone and snapped a quick picture.
You only get a few years to be the hero to your kids. Thank God I get this time and was able to capitalize. And for you boys out there, you never know when your hat is going to make a lady’s day. You do have a hat, right?
Pork prices to rise
Monday we made a deal to sell all of our Ossabaw feeder pigs to Rare Earth Farms so you can buy them at the farmers market soon. I felt like I got a fair price and started a good relationship with a partner farmer.
Today I read this.
Buy high and sell low, it’s not the key to success.
Public information
Like many small producers we live on our farm. That means where you come to pick up your pork or beef, you have to watch out for my kids. It’s a struggle sometimes to balance the need to be open to the public with the need to have privacy for our family. Besides being a farmer, I’m also a pilot and a concealed carry permit holder.
So what do those three things have in common? We know they’ve all been compromised and private information has been released publicly with the latest being farmers information. You can read about the latest version here.
Folks, when the government says trust me, we’re looking out for you, trust is the last thing you need to feel.
First run of the smoke house for 2014.
This weekend the inmates and I finally were able to make smoke. Two of the hams were ready to wash and put into the smoke house, one was washed and put back in the cooler. Inmate Brian is leading this process and has done all the reading and math to make sure we are doing everything correctly. Here you see three hams being soaked down and getting ready to go.
John also helped out with the hams. That’s when he wasn’t busy learning how to weld. We stopped him from welding to pose with a ham. Can you tell what he would rather be doing?
Here he is happy behind the mask. John is working on our new scalding tank. We’ll use this next month during our hog killing class. We had a few small leaks in the bottom that needed to be skinned over. We also made legs so the tank can sit above a fire and be heated by logs.
Brian with one of the hams getting it ready. There is a lot of work getting the hams to this point. We started off with 50 pound feeder pigs and ended up here, ready to go in the smoker. Its a proud moment.
Here is Brian hanging up his last ham of the day. We followed up with a bunch of other stuff so the hams wouldn’t get lonely. You can see all the items we put into the smoker in the following short video.
Cooking 101
The Princess wanted an easy bake over for Christmas. Since this is a girl who butchers hogs and processes bushels of veggies in the summer, we knew an easy bake over wasn’t up to her standards, even if she didn’t. Santa brought her a real toaster oven with broil, a timer, and basically the ability to do anything that a regular oven will do.
Now that she has a real oven, she is part of the breakfast routine making bacon or muffins or whatever else she comes up with. This is part of the education we have when we homeschool. If she was going off to school it would be an egg McMuffin in the rush to get to school. Instead its home ec 101.
In case you are wondering, her cooking is yummy, just like her mother.
Laws concerning farming vehicles and registrations
I find that the easiest place to go and find out about the law is actually the law. For years I’d look for someone else’s opinion of the law, some industry trade publication or something. Then one day, while discussing a topic with my wife I jumped on Google to find out what the actual law said about our topic. (Of course, I was right).
Anyway, recently I bought some new trailers and I was trying to determine what to do about registration. A quick look on the government website turned up the following law, noted below. However more looking turned up a summary pamphlet by Farm Bureau. Great, now I have to reconcile the two because they conflict somewhat. Oh well, nothing is easy but at least the information is easily available.
G.S. 20-51
§ 20-51. Exempt from registration.
The following shall be exempt from the requirement of registration and certificate of title:
(1) Any such vehicle driven or moved upon a highway in conformance with the provisions of this Article relating to manufacturers, dealers, or nonresidents.
(2) Any such vehicle which is driven or moved upon a highway only for the purpose of crossing such highway from one property to another.
(3) Any implement of husbandry, farm tractor, road construction or maintenance machinery or other vehicle which is not self-propelled that was designed for use in work off the highway and which is operated on the highway for the purpose of going to and from such nonhighway projects.
(4) Any vehicle owned and operated by the government of the United States.
(5) Farm tractors equipped with rubber tires and trailers or semitrailers when attached thereto and when used by a farmer, his tenant, agent, or employee in transporting his own farm implements, farm supplies, or farm products from place to place on the same farm, from one farm to another, from farm to market, or from market to farm. This exemption shall extend also to any tractor, implement of husbandry, and trailer or semitrailer while on any trip within a radius of 10 miles from the point of loading, provided that the vehicle does not exceed a speed of 35 miles per hour. This section shall not be construed as granting any exemption to farm tractors, implements of husbandry, and trailers or semitrailers which are operated on a for-hire basis, whether money or some other thing of value is paid or given for the use of such tractors, implements of husbandry, and trailers or semitrailers.
(6) Any trailer or semitrailer attached to and drawn by a properly licensed motor vehicle when used by a farmer, his tenant, agent, or employee in transporting unginned cotton, peanuts, soybeans, corn, hay, tobacco, silage, cucumbers, potatoes, all vegetables, fruits, greenhouse and nursery plants and flowers, Christmas trees, livestock, live poultry, animal waste, pesticides, seeds, fertilizers or chemicals purchased or owned by the farmer or tenant for personal use in implementing husbandry, irrigation pipes, loaders, or equipment owned by the farmer or tenant from place to place on the same farm, from one farm to another, from farm to gin, from farm to dryer, or from farm to market, and when not operated on a for-hire basis. The term “transporting” as used herein shall include the actual hauling of said products and all unloaded travel in connection therewith.
(7) Those small farm trailers known generally as tobacco-handling trailers, tobacco trucks or tobacco trailers when used by a farmer, his tenant, agent or employee, when transporting or otherwise handling tobacco in connection with the pulling, tying or curing thereof.
(8) Any vehicle which is driven or moved upon a highway only for the purpose of crossing or traveling upon such highway from one side to the other provided the owner or lessee of the vehicle owns the fee or a leasehold in all the land along both sides of the highway at the place or crossing.
(9) Mopeds as defined in G.S. 20-4.01(27)d1.
(10) Devices which are designed for towing private passenger motor vehicles or vehicles not exceeding 5,000 pounds gross weight. These devices are known generally as “tow dollies.” A tow dolly is a two-wheeled device without motive power designed for towing disabled motor vehicles and is drawn by a motor vehicle in the same manner as a trailer.
(11) Devices generally called converter gear or dollies consisting of a tongue attached to either a single or tandem axle upon which is mounted a fifth wheel and which is used to convert a semitrailer to a full trailer for the purpose of being drawn behind a truck tractor and semitrailer.
(12) Motorized wheelchairs or similar vehicles not exceeding 1,000 pounds gross weight when used for pedestrian purposes by a handicapped person with a mobility impairment as defined in G.S. 20-37.5.
(13) Any vehicle registered in another state and operated temporarily within this State by a public utility, a governmental or cooperative provider of utility services, or a contractor for one of these entities for the purpose of restoring utility services in an emergency outage.
(14) Electric personal assistive mobility devices as defined in G.S. 20-4.01(7a).
(15) Any vehicle that meets all of the following:
a. Is designed for use in work off the highway.
b. Is used for agricultural quarantine programs under the supervision of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
c. Is driven or moved on the highway for the purpose of going to and from nonhighway projects.
d. Is identified in a manner approved by the Division of Motor Vehicles.
e. Is operated by a person who possesses an identification card issued by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
(16) A vehicle that meets all of the following conditions is exempt from the requirement of registration and certificate of title. The provisions of G.S. 105-449.117 continue to apply to the vehicle and to the person in whose name the vehicle would be registered.
a. Is an agricultural spreader vehicle. An “agricultural spreader vehicle” is a vehicle that is designed for off-highway use on a farm to spread fertilizer, seed, lime, or other agricultural products on a field.
b. Is driven on the highway only for the purpose of going from the location of its supply source for fertilizer or other products to and from a farm.
c. Does not exceed a speed of 35 miles per hour.
d. Does not drive outside a radius of 50 miles from the location of its supply source for fertilizer and other products.
e. Is driven by a person who has a license appropriate for the class of the vehicle.
f. Is insured under a motor vehicle liability policy in the amount required under G.S. 20-309.
g. Displays a valid federal safety inspection decal if the vehicle has a gross vehicle weight rating of at least 10,001 pounds.
(17) A header trailer when transported to or from a dealer, or after a sale or repairs, to the farm or another dealership. (1937, c. 407, s. 16; 1943, c. 500; 1949, c. 429; 1951, c. 705, s. 2; 1953, c. 826, ss. 2, 3; c. 1316, s. 1; 1961, cc. 334, 817; 1963, c. 145; 1965, c. 1146; 1971, c. 107; 1973, cc. 478, 757, 964; 1979, c. 574, s. 6; 1981 (Reg. Sess., 1982), c. 1286; 1983, cc. 288, 732; 1987, c. 608; 1989, c. 157, s. 2; 1991, c. 411, s. 4; 1995, c. 50, s. 4; 1999-281, s. 2; 2002-98, s. 4; 2002-150, s. 1; 2006-135, s. 2; 2007-194, s. 1; 2007-527, s. 41; 2012-78, ss. 2, 3.)
A bull with a drinking problem?
Darling Wifey sent me this. Perhaps I handled the Ninja Cow all wrong and should have simply opened the liquor cabinet.
KALLMUNZ, Germany – This is a very simple story. Man gets bull. Man loses bull. Man gets bull back after gets drunk on two bottles of vodka.
It all went down in the area around Kallmunz near Regensburg. About six months ago, the bull escaped its owner and went rogue, reportedly hiding out in the Bavarian woods for most of that time. According to Bavarian Rudfunk radio, the bull was causing concern in the area.
The desperate owner initially appealed to a local veterinary office for permission to shoot and kill the bull. He was denied. Over the course of six months, the owner then attempted to shoot the bull with tranquilizers. But the bull eluded him repeatedly.
The bull found his match in a local farmer whose yard he frequented. The farmer’s first attempts to apprehend the bull proved unsuccessful. He tried catch him with a rope while it was eating from a bucket but the suspicious bull wandered off as the farmer approached. The farmer was too concerned with the bull’s health to fire off a tranquilizer so he turned to a bottle of vodka in hopes of slowing him down.
Again, the bull toyed with his foe, gobbling down a mix of grain and vodka and then going on his way. But the farmer was not to be outwitted by a bull. A few nights later, he attempted the same move again, but this time with two bottles of vodka.
The bull saddled up to the bucket and took down the massive cocktail, after which he was apparently sluggish enough that the farmer was able to get a rope around his neck and cajole him into a barn.
The bull was returned to his owner and is currently on the ninth of the twelve steps. He was seen apologizing throughout the Kallmunz region.