First Serious Project - Clearing 1.5 Acres

[Jim57]

An update on my sons injured hand.

So far, so good. The prayers definately have helped my son keep his fingers. Including the one that was almost severed completely. Thank you all so much. There is still a long way to go with rehabilitation but John is a fighter.

Thanks again for all the prayers and May God Bless and Protect you all.

Jim

 

[Egon]

We should also give thanks to the Medical Staff!

 

[Jim57]

We should also give thanks to the Medical Staff!

Agreed Egon... They did a Great Job in Saving John's hand. I thank God for knowledgable people in the medical profession.

 

[Jim57]

Update on Food Project Garden.

Today we got about 1/2 inch of much needed rain.

I am still dragging hoses to water with because we haven't gotten our hands on a trencher to install our irrigation system as of yet

I have found a trencher for sale for $2,500.00 with a Wisconsin Engine with a articulate trenching blade and a blade that is used to cover the ditch back. I plan on looking at it in the next week or so. Maybe we could trade them out of it.

Jim

 

[Jim57]

Lots of rain last night and today. Around 4 inches or more. Many rivers out of their banks locally.

I also picked about 100 lbs of squash today and about 50 lbs of tomatoes. We called families and made arrangements for them to get food tomorrow. We should be out and make 33 drops tomorrow.

Have a Great Day.

Jim

 

[andrewj]

Jim, about the irrigation, why not just run it over top the ground? your black line is on top the ground anyway. Nothing wrong with running the water hose on top the ground for now, if for some reason you had to bury the supply line. I don't know anyone that buried irrigation lines for a garden. Even large turnip farms here in Lexington don't bury the lines. The only farmers around here (or maybe Johnston or Edgefield) that bury a main line irrigate 30 acre peach orchards, but the irrigation line is still run over top the ground. I'm not a guru but I studied it before I irrigated my orchard. I just irrigated (early spring) 160 apple trees by running 4 water hoses out to the orchard over top the ground, then screwing the hoses into a PVC trunkline that is about 100 feet. The black line then is tied in to the trunk. system is on a 30 dollar Lowes timer. Good luck. Also, if you just had to bury some line, you can rent a trencher for about 90 bucks. Or better yet, for a hundred dollars you can buy a potato plow (or a TSC middlebuster) that makes an awesome irrigation trench!

also, remember when you bury line you have to think about a drain on the low side, and about freezing issues in winter, and about accidently plowing through it, or running over it when ground is so soft you sink in...

 

[Jim57]

Jim, about the irrigation, why not just run it over top the ground? your black line is on top the ground anyway. Nothing wrong with running the water hose on top the ground for now, if for some reason you had to bury the supply line. I don't know anyone that buried irrigation lines for a garden. Even large turnip farms here in Lexington don't bury the lines. The only farmers around here (or maybe Johnston or Edgefield) that bury a main line irrigate 30 acre peach orchards, but the irrigation line is still run over top the ground. I'm not a guru but I studied it before I irrigated my orchard. I just irrigated (early spring) 160 apple trees by running 4 water hoses out to the orchard over top the ground, then screwing the hoses into a PVC trunkline that is about 100 feet. The black line then is tied in to the trunk. system is on a 30 dollar Lowes timer. Good luck. Also, if you just had to bury some line, you can rent a trencher for about 90 bucks. Or better yet, for a hundred dollars you can buy a potato plow (or a TSC middlebuster) that makes an awesome irrigation trench!

also, remember when you bury line you have to think about a drain on the low side, and about freezing issues in winter, and about accidently plowing through it, or running over it when ground is so soft you sink in...

All my 32 heads are above ground sprinklers. They are 8 zones and will be controled by a system that operates each zone separately. The main truck line will be installed in the grassed areas and post installed for each sprinkler head. Each head has an automatic drain. There will also be 5 frost/freeze free spigots installed throughout the system so I will be able to spot water for areas that need extra watering. I would like to install main line 18 to 24 inches in the ground so as to lessen the freeze damage and also to protect from any accident plowing if I have to reseed the grass. The heads have to be removed for winter time because of there design where there is a small amount of water that remains even after draining. They are plastic so you know plastic is vunerable to freezing water damage.

I do have a potato plow and have thought about using it to install this but not sure it would do the job. There are main zone valves and such that have to be dug... probably by hand. Some two foot square or better because of the design of the system and valve boxes that have to be in place.

Sometimes I wish I had the system designed as a drip tape system. But hind site is always 20-20

Have a Great day and thank you for your suggestions.

Jim

 

[andrewj]

All my 32 heads are above ground sprinklers. They are 8 zones and will be controled by a system that operates each zone separately. The main truck line will be installed in the grassed areas and post installed for each sprinkler head. Each head has an automatic drain. There will also be 5 frost/freeze free spigots installed throughout the system so I will be able to spot water for areas that need extra watering. I would like to install main line 18 to 24 inches in the ground so as to lessen the freeze damage and also to protect from any accident plowing if I have to reseed the grass. The heads have to be removed for winter time because of there design where there is a small amount of water that remains even after draining. They are plastic so you know plastic is vunerable to freezing water damage.

I do have a potato plow and have thought about using it to install this but not sure it would do the job. There are main zone valves and such that have to be dug... probably by hand. Some two foot square or better because of the design of the system and valve boxes that have to be in place.

Sometimes I wish I had the system designed as a drip tape system. But hind site is always 20-20

Have a Great day and thank you for your suggestions.

Jim

while the potato plow will get it 6-10 inches, (and fairly quickly) I think you'd need a longer shank to go the 24 inches you are looking for. In that case, the trencher may be the way to go. sounds like you have this fairly well thought out.

 

[Jim57]

while the potato plow will get it 6-10 inches, (and fairly quickly) I think you'd need a longer shank to go the 24 inches you are looking for. In that case, the trencher may be the way to go. sounds like you have this fairly well thought out.

I have the blueprints (plans) but they are about 4 ft by 4 ft. I may be able to take a picture of the blueprints and post them but I have no way of scanning the blueprints. I have tried to plan for most of Murphy's Laws (LOL) However... you know Murphy and his laws.

I have looked at trenchers to go on my tractor but the smallest depthn24 inches is over $6,000.00 here http://www.ceattach.com/cea/ceaweb.store but I found a used trencher that will dig like 4 ft with a Wisconsin Engine in very good condition for $2,500.00. Seems that would be the best route to go if I can not find someone to loan me one or maybe donate some time with one to help me install the system. I had one guy (Brian Hurst/ 864.419.1175) that was going to help me but something happened and he wasn't able to do it. So I am back to square one on getting the system installed. I atleast have the material to do this system... so in time I will find a way to install it. God will make a way on his time schedule.

Today was a very good success. We delivered 30 of 34 Help Baskets (1 basket per family that should last 2 weeks) from the Food Project. Tomorrow we will deliver the last 4. It feels great to help people. I wish I was able to help more and had the means of doing so.

Actually God is the one that did this... all that helped me do this and myself was just tools God used to make it happen.
God sure has made our project produce a lot of food.

The tomatoes are coming in very good now and we have over 125 plants producing. The pumpkins are producing as well with bowling ball size pumpkins so far and growing. The watermelon and canteloupe are doing well too. The potatoes seem to be doing well and so are the eggplants. The squash, zuchinni and green squash are really producing a lot. The corn hasn't done as well as I would have liked. Maybe the second planting will do better. It seems to be so far. The beans, peas and spaghetti squash are doing pretty good. Especially spaghetti squash for winter harvest. The cucumbers have been such a problem. First I had to fight cucumber beetles and now deer. However... I replanted bush cucumbers closer to the house and they seem to be doing very good and seems like the deer aren't coming that close to the home. They are doing it in the wee hours of the morning and I can't seem to get the timing correct in catching them or we would harvest meat from the garden as well LOL

Keep in touch. Thanks again for all the help and prayers

Jim

 

[Jim57]

Who has the following For Sale?

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2005 Benye 40hp 4x4 tractor with loader[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
2005 40hp 4x4 diesel tractor with Buhler 295 front end loader.
These tractors include larger tires for better traction and a seat
upgrade for those long days behind the wheel. Cat 1 hitch & live
PTO 37hp at PTO. Shipping info:
Tractor weight is aprox. 4500 lbs. 174" long 67" long 65"
high. shipping cost depends on where you are. my zip is 97015.

Contact me by email bsm357@aol.com

I will send my number by email.

Thanks,
Jim

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