Dispatches From The Farm

Preparing to Publish the Roadside Shopping

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

Today’s projects here include some time on the computer and some working with tools. It is a cloudy day and we are not getting any heat on the front porch, so whatever I do, with the bitterness of the cold outside, I’d prefer to work in the house. The next three days will be warm enough to get out and cut and split some firewood. Missus is fixing the warp on one of her larger inkle looms.

I am putting together an outline for a sort of ad to put up on the farm channel on YouTube. I need to know what I am planning on filming, and what I need to voiceover. I want to put together an ad for Antiquary Artisan that I can set up a QR code to lead people to it. Then I can put the QR code on some posters and fliers to put up around town and get people who are interested to come visit the video and see what we have got going. I then can update the video, I think, and change it when things change here, or when there is a new season upon us.

I’ve also put together a page for the website here that will explain the roadside offerings we will be getting fully into by springtime. We want to sell firewood, a bit of lumber, and do some milling on my end of it, and on her end, we have the shop, a share of the farm stand, and a little free library. Anything to encourage people to stop. Missus is a big believer in diversification.

Also today, I have a bit of work to finish up on my wooden candlelit chandelier. I need to put a small, short dado in the backs of all the stars, or maybe I can notch the end of each stick that will hold the stars even easier! Then I can just screw through from the bottom and into the stars to hold them on, along with some glue. That would be much easier. See? This is why I take my time and think. Come up with better ideas! And alas, it has just hit me!

So, now that that just got easier, I need to go get to work!

Chandelier Making

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

I have made progress on this today. I also put a decent cut into my finger on my left had using it as a chisel stop. Not something I did on purpose. It was purely accidental. But making this chandelier is not an accident. It is a prototype. I was intending to paint it black, but the piece of wood that came up was too pretty to do that. I may paint the arms, which are made from cherry wood. They may just get an oil finish. I think it would look good either way. I need to put an eyelet on the top to hang it by, and I need to attach the arms and bottom cap to the spindle. Then I need to put some stars on the ends of the arms, and candle cups to hold the candles from. Then it is done. I am looking for a bright light source to illuminate a space, particularly during a power outage. I’d like to find a nice place to hang it, but as we have electrical lighting installed, that may prove to be difficult. I think the next trick will be to work out component parts that I can make several of at once. Then I can put several of them together at once. Doing this one has shown me some concerns that I would like to resolve prior to going full production. But I look forward to putting some up for sale at the Farmer’s Markets and maybe I can have some ready to ship and put together by the buyer. I don’t think that would be too hard to do. I am currently thinking that the price for one will come in around $250. I was looking at $100 or $150 originally, but the labor required is a lot, and I would have to work something out in my mass production schedule to do that. Some of the parts will have to have specific sizes to do that, then use something like a router to put some of the notches and channels in. That would greatly simplify the project and could cut the cost. But using a hand chisel and doing this kind of work is labor intensive.

We will be opening the art shop tomorrow. I will also be looking for a job of some sort. We’ll see how that goes. I could do with preselling a couple of thousand of the chandeliers, though. I would get right to work on them! They would look great at a wedding!

The weather on the farm is still kind of strange. We still don’t have snow sitting on the ground. Not in any serious amounts anyway. It has reached down below 20F already at bedtime. It will be cold by morning. Well, colder than it is now! The high temps over the next week will be running in the high twenties and low thirties till next weekend, according to the current ten-day forecast. Then it is suggesting that the temps will drop, but we will see, as that is a way out still for the computers to model accurately. Hard to believe it is almost mid-January, and there is not snow on the ground here.

Happy New Year 2025!

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

From my little farm to you, no matter who or where you are, I wish to extend the hopes of the New Year, and the wishes for good health and joy and growth all the year long. May you and yours find happiness and success in this year. And may its seasons offer you the beauty and change that brings opportunity and variety to keep it interesting and beneficial.

We are in a state of flux right now, and while we sort some health issues, we are in limbo. But when we get through and the doctor’s visits are done and the thing is settled, we plan on coming back, because coming back is all there is to do, isn’t it? Onward, always onward. We both will have to work, and hope to have jobs soon, and then once the bills are covered, come back to the businesses that we hope to lift us out of this low point once and for all.

The farm is a little weird this winter, and for reasons I am sure you have noticed where you are if things are the same there. This winter is exceptionally warm. We do not have snow on the ground here. Usually by now the snow that has fallen has begun to stick and will stay till April at least. But it’s not yet. And the forecasts on the ten day show it getting to warm for snow to stay. Today’s Wednesday, and we are expecting 40 for the high on Friday. After that, the highs will skirt highs around freezing, landing each day plus or minus say three four degrees. Will what snow that does fall stick? Or will it be too little? Will it melt in the sunlight?

I have said in past years that this place would have alright winters if they were like Denver was when I was growing up and living there. I’d say that this year, that’s about how we appear to be, though I think I remember some winter days got warmer than this in Denver. But snow definitely melted off and then came back with new storms. Here, we traditionally get snow in the autumn, or by the start of winter that sticks and stays, and we don’t see color till come mid or late April, even May. This year it’s brown outside all the way into the first of January. We are meant to get two inches of snow tonight, but with the high temp set for Friday, I am sure that two inches will be gone by then. So that is what I mean by the place being more like Denver.

What are the consequences of such a change? I have heard people tell me the river is high. I cross the river every school day, and I have not seen it. To me, there seems to be a foot or so between the water level and the top of the mudline along the side. The river runs low, as far as I can see. What’s more, I have places on the farm that always show the level of the water table, and they are showing nothing at the moment. More so, the swale at the bottom of the pasture shows itself several inches lower than I have ever seen it. There is a place where the bottom is showing, and while that is in part due to me putting some sand there a while back, that little pile has never been visible before. So, our water table is down, for sure. I don’t know why someone has given me the anecdote that it is high. But I just don’t see it at all. I watch these water levels because they are indicators to me of what to expect of the year. Last summer was hot and dry. It was very dry. It was dust bowl dry. I could not drive the tractor along slowly without kicking up a tremendous cloud of dust. It didn’t take doing much work before I could not see fifteen feet from the cab. And growing plants in such is just about comedic. The grass around the house did not thrive at all.

When the weather is behaving so, I am not fond of trying to do more than I should with growing. That is one of the reasons we grow our pretty and useful plants in buckets and the like. There is no point putting plants into the ground and trying to make them go where we have to pour massive amounts of water over them to do it, and most of it just runs into the earth and vanishes. Last year we put in a good long row of Lavendar plants, in the hopes of expanding them out over the next few years and making a profit off them. Obviously, they first have to survive the winter, which I think is more likely since we are unusually warm. So, we might get lucky there. Shall we hope? Do, let’s.

We are feeling more inclined than ever to sell out of animals now. The work and the expense for them is not worth it to us. I can see one or two goats staying if we can rehouse them. Their current home stands where the future Lavendar plants are intended to go. We would also like to keep some llamas. Maybe not as many, but some. If I had to choose between the llamas and the goat, though, give me the llamas. Two, at least. But we need to see how we turn up after paying some medical bills. That’s where we really stand to lose the most.

I’d like to put my little display at the Farmer’s Markets up as furnishings and household items from locally grown and harvested wood, then hand made. That is my dream, especially since it would allow me to invest in the ability to make whatever items I want for my house. Imagine a home with custom made furniture, where everything fits where it is. That really appeals to me. I know, that is supposed to be the lifestyle of the uber rich only, but I think that where you create ability, you create possibility. I have tried the local furniture stores, and even when a person spends money, they can only get so much. Now, Maybe I will have a bench too occupied with things that need to sell, but with any luck, I will be able to fit in a few things for us, or even start things off for us before turning them loose for sale. But my skills will improve, and I will get to the point of making faster, and if I am fortunate, I will fit in more than just the quest for cash. I’d like that.

I want to blast through the firewood business, too, since it is a decent byproduct of the process I use to get wood for the shop, and since it also is an effective method of heating our house, too. It’s sensible. Or so it seems. I think I need to list down what I can make right now, then make it and put it up for sale. I will need to caliber for speed for certain tasks in the shop. Accuracy is a given.

So, that’s where we are, and the point from which we begin this year. Let’s carry on!

Will any of it come onto YouTube? I keep trying to do that. I film things, I practice talking to the camera. But the settling down to edit and the idea of making things public just is not settling well with me. But desperate times do call for desperate measures. Should something like that come down to desperation though? Is it even worth it? Will I be able to reap more than I put into it, time being a consideration? I am just not sure of it at all. I am also very unhappy with how my place looks on camera. So, I need to sort that out. Maybe streamlining what we do will make things outside better organized.

So, with all this, Happy New Year to you and yours. I hope the year coming is good, and it is profitable and most of all it brings you good health and happiness.

Lost Hope

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

We got four of the ten chickens out of the coop today. All of the chickens have been living solely off what is put in their feed bowl up till now, and the cost of it for animals that are no longer producing eggs for the winter, and unlikely to in the spring due to their age, is too much for this old farmer to pay. The coop was muddy as can be, and very slippery, so we gave up after four, and will get the rest out another time. We also want to see what habits these four start, and maybe it will be easier to guild them than try to deal with all ten at once. Perhaps we can get them into good habits that will guide the rest when they come out. I’ve no idea. I am not a chicken pro! Just someone who has been raising them over a decade now.

Sending these birds outside is cutting them out of the feed budget, and making them to fend for themselves, which is something they are naturally capable of doing, so I have seen. We can supplement them if need be. It is also putting them at risk of being hunted, especially by owls around here. I hope that with fewer trees in the backyard this year, we will have fewer owl visits. Again, this is on a wait and see basis. I think it is a good thing for them to live outside if they can. It frees them to fend for themselves, which means they get to discriminate what they eat, and look for a healthier diet. They are old by egg laying standards, but they are not according to chicken aging norms. They are all fit and young enough to run and to fight as need be.

I am reducing costs here on the farm, kind of desperately. We are going to have to be very budget minded going forward. We have just come to that point now. We have massive medical bills coming in, and so far, the business has not gone as we had hoped it would. It is honestly very depressing. I have cancelled my standing wax order. I’d love to start that up again but won’t till I get through the stockpile I have at hand. I am looking for a job now and will try to keep the business end of the farm open and try to build it up still. I’ll have to take it more seriously than ever, too. I am honestly at a loss here. It’s no lie to say that. It is no lie to say I am not sure how to move forward. But that does not matter. Just keep moving. Move harder than ever. Make it mean something. Surely it can be done.

The Online Farm Shop Updated and Open

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

Most of the products re listed and have photos on the shop now. I have a couple of more to do, but I can easily and happily call the shop open right now. There are candles and tool wax in it. There are candles mad in molds, six and nine inches tall. There are candles that are hand dipped. Some I dip with no weight at the bottom, and those come out rather primitive looking. The weighted wicks are candles that are hand dipped, but come out straighter than the unweighted ones. In neither case am I working to create a very straight and neat candle, as I am looking for primitive appearing options. As I continue to develop my own skills as a candlemaker, I will try for nicer finishes, and maybe even larger candles.

The second option in the shop is tool wax. Tool wax is for applying to the surfaces of various shop tools, or even thread at the sewing table. Applying the wax will lubricate the tool against the wood and allow it to glide more easily over the surface, easing the effort the woodworker puts into the work. This is a practice done in traditional woodworking and has been done for centuries.

Tool wax applied gently to the sole of a Lie Neilsen 60 1/2 block plane.

Weights are approximate and sizes, too. Nothing is mechanically made, and at best are the result of wax poured in molds, and at worst, are the result of dipping until a candle is made and it looks right. Candles sizes may vary due to this, and because the process is done by eye and is a human process. That is what I believe lends authenticity to the candles as a primitive piece.

My goal as a candlemaker is to help you to provide for your colonial recreation, scene, or house. Maybe you just prefer the look of handmade, or it contributes to your hand made birthday cake to have hand dipped candles on top. I sell the candles in pairs, however, I am not sure who would want to put more than one candle on their cake once they have reached a certain age. And believe you me, I have reached and surpassed that age! But to each their own, and buy as many as you need. Once you need more than ten pairs of birthday candles, contact me for a bulk discount. You certainly deserve one. I can apply a Senior Citizen’s discount again for thirty pairs or more!

I have to do a flat rate for shipping right now. I know this is not ideal. But I will be happy to consider shipping for free once a total has reached $100 or more in candle and wax sales. Simply add a few items to your cart, and then add the $10 flat shipping fee. If the total of the items in your cart totals more than $100, then just don’t add the shipping fee. It’s that simple. If the total is $99.99 or below, and the shipping fee is not added, I will be forced to cancel the order and refund the total. I cannot make exceptions, and I do hope you understand! Meanwhile, I will work on getting the shipping sorted out and make this easier! You are ordering from a very small business, and this kind of thing comes with the territory.

Thank you for having a look and looking at my shop!

www.thepeasantsmanorfarm.com/shop/

Fixing Up the Back Yard

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

The other day I had some time around the house by myself, so I fired up the tractor and roamed around the back yard with the box blade hanging down to the ground, pulling along sticks that were left from the felling of the tree, and leveling down the high spots in the area around the stump of the old tree. I’d have that stump down to the ground level, and out of the way, but it is massive, and my saw has not been keeping sharp. It is as though they are making it to dull out after one use. I cannot keep an edge on it, and I don’t know why.

Levelling the yard out is of course part of my master plan to make a space little ones can run freely in without us having to worry about them, and to consolidate where we have to mow, to make it easy to care for and keep looking good. Ever since the riding lawn mower up and died, and the price of those things went out of control, I don’t have the option to do anything for the lawn but a small push mower or even scythe it. I need a clear, easy path for either. Scything can work just fine, but the space is best open and with long, straight walking paths, rather than twists, turns, and worst of all, metal fences to keep getting the blade tangled up in.

The sky still has not laid our winter blanket over us, to cover till spring, of snow and frozen whiteness. As I type this at nearly six in the morning, it is 11F outside, equal to yesterday’s low. These are snow holding temperatures on the low end. The highs are just popping over freezing at the moment. Definitely still snow holding. But it just has not fallen! It’s Wednesday today, and the forecast shows that we should be picking something up over the weekend. It’s dry this year.

Speaking of dry, the water table remains low. I have not seen increase in the level where it is exposed, particularly the canal bottom, or the swale. The canal bottom is dry, no puddles in it. The swale, which is lover in elevation than the canal, is showing the high spot I created when I experimentally dumped the dirt into one spot to see how it formed. Of course, that failed as any kind of bridging base. But now it is fully exposed and could be walked over as far as it was dropped originally. I could get half-way across the swale! I’d like to bridge it once and for all, but to do it without timber or the like, I would need broken old concrete or something like that to build a stout base, then pour dirt over that. I’d be perfectly happy to reach part way with the dirt and concrete, then make a short wooden bridge for the difference.

Well, the clock is ticking, and the time to get up and get the kids out to school will arrive very shortly. Then it is time to figure out the day, and what’s next. Hopefully Missus will join me today and has had enough of her medical break away from home. That’s been a whole different issue, and one that has been difficult. But it’s personal. So, it need not be spoken of more. Suffice it to say, we’d like her home from hospital and on the mend now.

Missed Markets, and Why

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

We have had a tumble and missed the market on Monday and will miss Saturday’s as well. Missus has had a nice little visit to the ER, then the ICU and is at the moment I am typing this working on getting downgraded to a regular ward in the hospital, then sent home. But that will take a moment more, and then we will be back on our feet and fighting again. For now, we get to take our breath and be where we are at.

We may be reassessing the business, and how we are getting at it. But we will be getting at it. Just give us this minute. We look forward to getting up to it at another market soon, and we will let you know where and when.

Preston Festival of Gifts

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

We went to the Market in the Senior Center today in Preston, initially under the misunderstanding that it only went till 1PM, so we were sure surprised when our daughter-in-law came in and corrected us on our close time when she said it went till 4PM. So, we got three hours more than we thought we would, and that is good! It is opportunity! We sold at various times throughout the day, and the highlight came when someone bought an hour lesson on hairpin lace and the loom to go with it, and a few other items as well. Selling a lesson slot was the most exciting sale of the day, as it is a chance to share and to help someone learn! It is also what Missus is most eager to do! She loves teaching at 4H and is really looking forward to scheduling her own classes and having the time to teach one on one or to small groups and help others to learn the crafts she has spent learning.

I might like to join her on such a thing, but I would like to get more experience in my woodworking first, if I were to do that. I’d be thrilled to have family who wants to learn for now, but everyone is so busy, and it is not their hobby time of life or such. I am seeing what it is going on at the fairs, and I am thinking I should just go ahead and try out some of my wood projects that go along with my candles. The Christmas stars I put out today did get a fair bit of attention, even though none sold. I think a bit more variety might do the trick! It looks worth doing.

We have a lot on offer. It is not the kind of place people can go speeding by and see everything. We are also selling for three, as our daughter-in-law has candles on offer at our shop. They are the colorful jarred candles, and the skulls, if you see them. I do the beeswax candles and the wood. They are plainly visible in the top of the group of three photos above.

Another of todays’ surprises was bookmarks, again. Missus put those up diligently every time we went to the Farmer’s Market. Nobody bought. Then she decided to tell people they would come at half price, and before she had the chance to say, people were buying them. Of course she gave them at the sale price. But then she kept them at half the price, and even has marked them so, and several sold again today. Things just sit, then seem to pick up. And once they pick up, maybe they keep going!

Next Market comes Monday night in Smithfield, Utah. Our booth is open from 5-8PM. Be there or be a shape.

Hairpin Lace Loom

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

Missus wanted about 20 hairpin lace looms to sell out of her shop. These are a simple tool consisting of two shafts held at a comfortable distance apart by two bits of wood at the ends. One end is fixed, and the other slides off, allowing a woven piece to come off when it is finished.

This finished loom is shown now to give you an idea what I am making.

The wood for this project comes from pieces of downfall that we picked up at the local salvage yard, that I think came from the waste at Trails West, who makes horse trailers here in town. It also comes from bamboo skewers from the Dollar Store. It’s very easy to size these waste bits down with a resaw on the bandsaw, then to cut to length on the same.

Next is to drill equally spaced holes at each end. Where every block of wood is cut to the same length, the ends suffice to measure from, so a block is set on the drill press to act as a stop. I cut an ‘L’ shape into a fence panel, and fastened it, so it would act as an end stop as well as a side stop. The sides of the blocks are not quite as consistent in forming the widths as they are hand planed. So the holes are not always centered as a result. However, they come out ‘good enough.’ And ‘good enough’ is good enough.

Half of the blocks are drilled to half depth, and the other half the holes are put all the way through. Then the dowels (skewers), cut to length, are glued into the half depth holes. I put the drill bit into a hand drill, then pushed into the holes drilled through, and wiggled it around to ream it out. This allows the block to slide down on the dowels easily. This block is there to keep the ends of the dowels spaced evenly under the pressure of the yarn.

As a final touch, I wiped every piece down with linseed oil. The finish pictured above is the final result. I may decide to put on another coat as all 23 did not take much to do the lot. I’ll look at them again in the morning to decide. Maybe even do another coat to try out the difference.

I am especially pleased with the toolmarks that result from planing, and the planed chamfers I put at the corners to soften them to the touch of the hand. I have not touched any part to sandpaper. So the result is a truly hand tooled finish. That is the aesthetic I am going for.

We Lost Aspen, the Llama Today

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

Over the last couple of days, I have noticed one of the llamas seemed a little aloof from his pen-mates. Nothing too serious, but he did not come last night at feeding time. Instead, he just sat over where he was and that is about it. Again, nothing really noticeable or different in his behavior. He has done that many times before. But today, when I went out to do a midday feed, he was lay on his side with his neck bent back towards his body, and he had obviously been kicking a little bit. The dirt was disturbed there. He was dead within half an hour.

Aspen came to us on Thanksgiving Day, I believe it was 2013. Here it is Thanksgiving Day tomorrow, 2024, and now we have lost him. He might have lived longer, as this was a low average lifespan, and I can’t help but to think he left us a bit early. He was the big boy on the farm, and I am sad he is gone as he was born and lived his whole life here. I am sad too, as this is the second animal we have lost this fall. Honestly, all this time I have expected Mystique to go first, and if these things really do come in threes, then I would expect her to go next as she is in the worst shape, is the oldest, and has a hard time getting around due to her arthritis. But we keep her in a smaller pen where she does not have to go far to get from bed to water to feed. But she has room to move around and go for small walks. So, it works out.

In better days, Aspen lived in the back field for a while, but managing animals meant that he could not be kept where he could reach his son over the wire as they always wanted to fight.

We are down a male llama, and that comes a bit unexpected. I will have to figure out how things can be moved around with the space free. His son, Hedwig, is the difficult one. Hedwig is eager to mate his sisters, and eager to fight males. He dominated the middle field, and honestly, I could do without that. But the two gelded males I have this side of the street are here because they are in pens they cannot escape or hut themselves in. They each tried one when they first came here. One escaped, and the other fell into the canal and nearly drowned. What a time it was! What a day!

I have cleaned up the corpse and put it where they go for natural decomposition and their conclusion. He won’t be composted. But nature will do its thing, naturally. We have the space to do that, luckily. Also, I have the tractor to make it manageable. I could not have done this on my own without it as he probably weighted about 400 pounds or more. If we were to put him at the dump where they have a spot to dump dead livestock. we would have to wait till Friday, as they are closed for Thanksgiving tomorrow. I am positively boggled that he came and left on Thanksgiving.

Now, I have a photo of this llama on my phone’s lock screen. Should I keep it? Or is it time to change that? I am going to miss the big lummox, and I am not sure I want to be reminded so much. I think it is a better space for family or the like.