Converse in the North Cascades: Opening Weekend of Lake Fishing Season

April 27^th and 28^th. Opening weekend of fishing season. In another life, I would have been out the door Saturday morning on my way to some likely lake. In this life, I spent the early morning putting out a few minor fires like resetting a rototiller belt. However, I was able to hang out with my wife and daughter for an hour or two before heading to the farm to work. This is okay by me. I got to spend at least a little time with my family and maybe sometime in the not too distant future, we will again partake in the opening of fishing season.

After the usual morning dog walk, I had planned to do some minor repairs on the tractor fuel line then harrow the field, fix some fence and start to work on cutting and splitting the big maple tree.

The “minor” repair on the tractor fuel line ate up a most of the day so I didn’t get started on the field until late afternoon. By this time it was raining, not a downpour but showers of steady soaking mist. I had hoped to be finished in the morning before the rain came.

I always try to harrow or “drag” the field after the cows are moved off it. The harrow breaks up the cow pies and spreads the nutrients they contain out more evenly over the field. It also scratches and aerates the upper soil layer. Both of these actions help increase grass growth. I ordinarily harvest hay from this field for winter feed for the cows but the soil is depleted and it needs to be limed and fertilized. I don’t have the time or resources for that this spring so I will need to buy hay this year. In the meantime, spreading the nutrients out will help a little.

The field is very bumpy. The tractor has a loader cobbled on to it that it wasn’t meant to have, making the ride even rougher. It was nearly dark when I finished harrowing the field. I was cold, wet and stiff from an hour and a half of pounding around on the tractor. The wet was my fault, I kept holding out on putting rain gear on because I hate trying to move around in it and the rain never developed into a full-blown downpour.

It was hard getting out of bed Sunday morning. I didn’t get up until a little before 7:00 a.m. I got more done this day. I did some minor repairs on the harrow and stowed it. I worked on the tractor fuel line a little more and got the Stump Farm fences fixed. In the afternoon I worked on the big maple, getting some small logs cut up and getting one of the big rounds split up. I was pretty tired at the end of the day.

Cow pie one to two weeks old.

Older cow pie dried out and faded. This is basically the same material as a buffalo chip, used for millennia for fires on prairies where no wood was available.

Some composting and nutrient spreading is done even before harrowing. This cow pie has been picked apart by birds for worms and other macroinvertebrates (animals without backbones that can be seen with the naked eye) that are in the process of breaking down the cow pie. It is mostly robins that I see doing this, though crows also frequent the field. Not all the cow pies are picked apart. Some seem to remain untouched. Whether this is because no worms or other macroinvertebrates occupy them or because they are simply missed I don't know.

Dragging the chain harrow out of storage. It is rolled up and stored out of the way in the field. It is important to do this and to know where the harrow is if you are working the field in the tall grass because the spikes on the harrow will destroy tractor tires.

The chain harrow is fairly heavy but lifting and swinging one end at a time is manageable. I could use the tractor loader but it is quicker and easier by hand, at least at my current age and physical capabilities.

Reattaching some of the hooks that connect the harrow to the drag bar.

Unrolling the chain harrow. This is usually good for a few pinched fingers. I could help myself out by wearing gloves but only use them for a few applications because I find it harder to grip things.

Attaching the chain harrow to the tractor's draw bar.

The chain harrow is designed to drag around the field clockwise. The hook that attaches it to the draw bar is off center to the left side, leaving more room for turns to the right.

Vashti observing.

View from the tractor seat. You have to constantly check behind you to make sure everything is operating properly.

Two tone field created as the harrow pushes the grass down in the direction of travel. The grass in the light colored part of the field is pushed down away from the observer while the grass in the dark colored part of the field is pushed down towards the observer. Years ago when I was overseas in the U.S. Navy and wanting to buy some Chinese and Persian rugs, an old timer advised me to look at them with the knap laying toward me (making it look lighter) and then with the knap laying away from me (making it look darker) because this would radically change the look of the carpet. This is an example of the same affect though the pasture isn't as intricate or pretty as a Persian rug.

Results of harrowing. The cow manure is spread and the turf ripped for aeration.

One of the obstacles I had to dodge. This is a "bull hole" or wallow several feet deep that the cows dug in order to dust themselves for protection from flies and other insects. We always called them bull holes but the cows do just as much digging as the bulls do.

Beginning of the maple splitting project. The mushroomed metal on the heads of these wedges is very dangerous. I know of at least two people who have had one of these pieces of metal fly off and penetrate their rib cage. They can also easily put an eye out.

The problem is solved by grinding off the mushroomed metal.

Starting the first wedge. I don't have a log splitter and I couldn't lift a round this large anyway. My dad taught me years ago how to handle a large, tough round like these.

The wood fiber where I started was too wavy to penetrate so I started from the other side of the round. The wedges are aimed toward a natural crack emanating from the center of the round.

The round was too big for one or even two wedges to split so I had to use several and follow the developing crack, driving new wedges in where the crack was just beginning to open.

With the round split roughly in half, I used several wedges to split one of the halves.

Wedges were need for the bigger parts of each quarter though I could usually knock small pieces off without a wedge and only a few blows from the splitting maul. The small piece to the left of the main block was split off this way.