Vacation Cabin Rental, WP Migration

We’re enjoying a change in our farming jobs

Posted on by Farmer
We spent a couple days the last week in December, while we had a dusting of snow and it being a bit too frozen for outdoor jobs, working up the soil in a portion of our propagation greenhouse for salad mix. We seeded the lettuce for our salad mix October 24th, but because of short day length this time of the year, the lettuce starts were perfect for transplanting even though they were 3 weeks older than those we normally transplant. From March until October, which is pour peak growing season, we prefer to transplant our lettuce starts at 5 weeks of age.   We also direct seeded arugula and mustard greens which is just starting to germinate so perhaps in another month we will be enjoying tasty salad mix with our meals. We’ve never transplanted or seeded anything into our greenhouse this time in the season so it is just another interesting experiment for us!
Lettuce transplants laid out ready to be put into the soil.
Lettuce transplants laid out ready to be put into the soil.
One of our favorite lettuce cultivars is Red Oakleaf. We have about 480 row feet of salad mix transplanted. It won’t yield a lot but hopefully enough for sale at our early markets. Mostly it is for us to enjoy.
One of our favorite lettuce cultivars is Red Oakleaf. We have about 480 row feet of salad mix transplanted. It won’t yield a lot but hopefully enough for sale at our early markets. Mostly it is for us to enjoy.
Tucking in Lolla Rosa into bed. This is a beautiful red leaf lettuce and the weather can influence the intensity of the color so it will be interesting watching it grow this time of the season.
Tucking in Lolla Rosa into bed. This is a beautiful red leaf lettuce and the weather can influence the intensity of the color so it will be interesting watching it grow this time of the season.
Nearly a month ago Alvin stopped by inquiring if we were ready for him to begin grading the site for the farm vacation cabin because conditions were ideal with our weather here in these mountains being extraordinary dry and warm. Thank goodness Alvin is trying to move along the cabin project. Perhaps if we had appointed him our project manager we might almost be done building the cabin! We kindly asked him if we could wait a few weeks because we still had trees to clear from the cabin site. To speed up the project, we could have let Alvin simply push the trees down with his bulldozer and pile them into a brush pile for burning, but it seems silly to us not to use perfectly good wood for heating our home and greenhouses. So we spent the first week in January felling trees and cutting them into firewood, stacking branches and limbs onto a brush pile, and are pleased that the site is now ready to be graded once Alvin has time and the weather permits. We’ve enjoyed our time up in the forest rather than down in the fields.  One of the many perks in being a highly diversified farm is that we get to switch gears to completely different projects. Not to mention, we are enjoying a little slower pace of work, which we treasure because our “off” season is short.
The cabin site that we partially cleared early summer last year. It is a bit fun seeing the site evolve as it was hard for us to vision what it would look like in the beginning when it was a forest. Now that we have taken the trees down it is a rather pretty site with views of Bluff Mountain.
The cabin site that we partially cleared early summer last year. It is a bit fun seeing the site evolve as it was hard for us to vision what it would look like in the beginning when it was a forest. Now that we have taken the trees down it is a rather pretty site with views of Bluff Mountain.
We fell the trees, limb them, then cut them into firewood. We have firewood cut into large sizes that will fit into our wood boiler and also small sizes for our house wood stove. We think we have enough wood for next winter and the first time we have wood stockpiled a year in advance.
We fell the trees, limb them, then cut them into firewood. We have firewood cut into large sizes that will fit into our wood boiler and also small sizes for our house wood stove. We think we have enough wood for next winter and the first time we have wood stockpiled a year in advance.
We have piles of firewood and we have been hauling out loads early morning while the ground is frozen to prevent ruining the driveway to the cabin that Alvin has graded so nicely.
We have piles of firewood and we have been hauling out loads early morning while the ground is frozen to prevent ruining the driveway to the cabin that Alvin has graded so nicely.
Greg – you are going to be so proud of us – we spent a couple days this week doing the dreaded job of edging – and we edged all the boards from the pile that was left after you helped us saw wood this past summer. For you readers, you must understand that Greg hated leaving without edging the boards because he is one that takes pride in finishing jobs that he begins. I think he knew that it would be quite a while before we found the time to once again prioritize sawing lumber.
Edging is when the outer layer of the logs, the portion of the tree that gets sawn before you are in the heart of the tree, are sawn into 1 x’s and occasionally 2 x’s. The outer lumber will have “live” edges which is the bark from the tree that needs to be trimmed off so that the board is 4 sided and of dimensional sizes. The reason it is a “dreaded” job is because it is tedious and time consuming for the yield of board feet.
In preparation for edging, we first organized the wood into stacks by the size we expect to get. We have the following sizes:

  • A stack with live edges on 2 sides that we plan to saw into 1×8’s
  • A stack with live edges on 2 sides that we plan to saw into 1×6’s
  • A stack with live edges on 2 sides that we plan to saw into 1×4’s
  • A stack with 1 straight edge and 1 live edge that we plan to saw into 1×8’s
  • A stack with 1 straight edge and 1 live edge that we plan to saw into 1×6’s
  • A stack with 1 straight edge and 1 live edge that we plan to saw into 1x’4s
Once our wood is organized, we can then put a few boards on the mill at a time, finding like sizes and edges. We cut the edge off one side, then flip the boards, and cut the edge off the opposite side. We still flipped the boards with one straight edge and did a final truing cut.  Once the boards are cut the wood is stacked and stickered for drying. I must say, this week we have had a blast spending our time in the woods and another portion of our time running the sawmill.  It is a nice break from seeding, weeding and harvesting; however, I expect in another month we will begin experiencing withdrawals from these jobs!
our stack of boards that need edging. The only thing worse than edging is dealing with the edged edges that must be cut and stowed away as fire starter.
our stack of boards that need edging. The only thing worse than edging is dealing with the edged edges that must be cut and stowed away as fire starter.
Our boards that need edging organized by sizes.
Our boards that need edging organized by sizes.
Boards being edged on the sawmill. We will cut off the top edge then flip the boards and edge the opposite side. The end result is dimensional lumber with 4 smooth sides.
Boards being edged on the sawmill. We will cut off the top edge then flip the boards and edge the opposite side. The end result is dimensional lumber with 4 smooth sides.
Farmer

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