3R Home and Barn Project

[EddieWalker]

Rob,
If I had a FEL I would dig a big hole and make a burning pit. Burning in a pit is so much safer. Plus you know you will always be burning going forward every year.
On our farm we have the next best thing, a borie that is caved in and 3 side walls are standing and the front wall destroyed. Looks kind of like a horse stall without a gate. A burning pit is a good thing.

Rox,

I can't speak for Rob, but my experience with burn piles is the danger is from the embers. Get a hot fire, or certain types of fuel in the fire, like leaves, and they float into the air. When they land, you have the possibility of a fires being started. I've seen them floating up and over me while I'm sitting on the tractor.

Another problem is that a pit holds water. Even if it drains, it will hold water for a period of time. Then you have to wait for it to dry out before even thinking of starting the fire. Some of the best times to burn are right after a rain. If the pit is full of water, you are not going to get much of a fire since a good burn only comes from a good set of coals.

Then there is the problem of the ash building up. After trying just about every combination of burn piles and cleaning them up, having it out in the milldle of a field on a slightly sloping ground works the best. You can add to it from any side, and get to it to punch it up and keep it going from any side. This is important on big fires because they get so hot and smokey that from the wrong side, it's impossible to get to it, but on the other side, it's fairly easy.

There is also leftovers that just didn't burn, no matter how hot or how long you burn, some will always be left over. In a pit, you can't do anything about that. On the flat, you can restack it and burn it next time.

The more you burn, the more ash you end up with.Cleaning the ash up is easy with the FEL, but a muddy mess in a pit. Even after burning for a week or two straight, you will still have mud just under the surface.

A burn pile is nothing like a camp fire. Not even close.

Eddie

 

[charlz]

Well I would expect to find bugs in any wood pile... not because they like to eat the wood but because it provides 'cover'. At least along the edges anyway... maybe not deep in a pile unless they are overwintering. Carpenter ants I like to burn... some bugs can survive freezing.

 

[dfkrug]

Got back from the World AG Expo a few days ago, and I got a chance to
see Rob and Loretta's 3R ranch. It looks even better than all the pictures.
Attached is one from below the house....you can see Brian
(MTNVVIEWRANCH) and his bro Mark on the deck looking down at us.
Rob & Loretta hosted us Tuesday night...I really enjoyed the visit....seemed
like I had been there before....

 

[3RRL]

Hi Dave,
We enjoyed having you over.
I wish there was better weather, but you made it up the road anyway. Brian and Mark ended up leaving our place Thursday, but they left a big road grader for me to try out. It's been raining a lot and very cold, so I'll have to wait to try it out when the road drys out a bit. I'll post some pictures when that happens.
Here is a photo Dave took at the Ag Show.
It's Loretta in her new JD ... lol... yeah, like THAT's ever gonna happen.



Now, while the guys were at the show (we only went Tuesday) I continued working on those Oak trees. I'm posting a couple photos of the garage and how it sits in relation to those Oaks. If you look closely, you can see the middle line in the concrete pad which points directly to where they are located. I took photos from inside the garage looking out and then from behind the Oaks looking to the garage.
Rob-

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Rob, I guess that I must have been day dreaming or something, man I just don't remember the ground being as wet as it looks in the pics. Did it rain while we were gone to the AG show? I can hardly wait to see what you think about the grader once the ground dries out some.

 

[3RRL]

It wasn't long before it got so cold it started hailing.
So of course I quit working again and took a couple photos.
Here Loretta and Coco are checking the hail out. Look at that one photo where you can see the hail coming down.



After a couple hours it cleared up again and I was able to get back on the tractor knock those Oaks down.
I pushed them over with the backhoe. I got 2 piles of large roots that were ripped out with the backhoe. You can see one of them surrounded by those cones.

 

[3RRL]

Earlier when I knocked the smaller Oak down, I grappled it and took it over to the log splitter.
This one was a lot bigger so I had to use the FEL to dig a ramp to get it out of the hole. I chained up the Oak but it just dug into the dirt. I got my Stihl chainsaw and cut the rootball off the trunk and dragged it out. Then I chained the rest of the big tree and dragged it over to the log splitter area. It was getting late around Sundown by then.

 

[3RRL]

I backfilled the holes and got it all done before Mark and Brian got back from the Ag Fair.
It had cleared up nicely by the end of the day. I stopped working for the evening and took a couple of photos. That one pointed mountain is called Blossom Peak. Even though it was very cold, it was a beautiful Sundown.



By comparison, it snowed overnight.
Here is Blossom Peak early the next morning and also the same background hills looking over the homesite circle. They were all lit up in Sunlight last night.



Mark and Brian hadn't left for the Ag show yet.
That's Mark's Dodge in the driveway. You can see it was freezing today.
Rob-

 

[3RRL]

Yeah Brian,
It rained and hailed while you guys were at the show. It's been raining hard since you left too. Today was the first Sunshine day we've had for a while so I took off and played golf in town. Tomorrow is supposed to be a nice day too, but then possible rain for a week straight after that.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I've said it last year and I will say it again, the pictures just do not do Rob and Loretta's' home justice. Their home and hospitality is simply amazing.
Thanks again you guys for having us up.