We’re in the heart of farmers market season, and it has been a lot of fun to interact with readers who look forward to these ramblings every other week.
It’s always incredibly humbling to know that scratches that come out as random thoughts are entertaining and as many folks have heard. I never know what’s going to happen next out there on the farm.
Recently, I was able to finish the potbelly pig run, and what a joy that has been. The pigs now do their restroom business outside, and I don’t have to put near as much work into muck their pen.
Getting that run completed, though, was quite an ordeal in itself.
To start, I had around nine 16-foot hog panels to deal with in creating a proper piggy paradise. These panels are relatively lightweight but definitely awkward to handle and have sharp edges where the wire has been welded. You’d think after almost eight years of farming, I would have learned my lesson to wear protective clothing, but no. I did wear gloves, but when I was moving the panels, one slipped and put a nice little notch in my shin. Ignoring the ensuring trickle of red, I kept pressing on. I was farmer tough, and I could handle it.
Yes, the fence panels could have been laid out straight without bending, but never being one to do something simple, I decided I needed to create right angles for corners to save on the amount of panels I was using.
A quick YouTube view and I was putting all of my weight onto a panel with a 4-by-4-inch square post at the point that needed bent. Well, that resulted in another nice scratch right above my knee.
At this point, I must have looked like something out of a Rambo movie with my hair completely mussed, blood running into my hiking sandals and a nice red scratch right above my knee. The panel did get bent, however, and I continued with the construction of the pen.
It was a series of measure, sink t-post, pull panel to t-post, attach clips and repeat.
Three hours later, I finished with a final panel and now had the daunting task of installing a 4-foot wire gate that had hardware that looked like something out of a medieval torture chamber. Should be no problem at all, I thought, as I quickly scanned YouTube again for instruction. The video was only 3 minutes long, so I figured it would probably take me 10 and I could then retreat back inside to the air conditioning.
I drilled a pilot hole into the fence post and inserted the hanging hardware. Then I started twisting it. I managed to get about 10 turns in before a loud squeaking sound started and the potbelly pigs started going berserk. What the heck, I thought. The video didn’t say anything about that, and the bracket in the video twisted in really easily.
I tried again, and again, the same sound. Not that it solved things, but I thought, “Hey, I’ll call dear old dad. He’ll have the answer.? The first words out of his mouth when I explained my dilemma were “Did you use soap? If you didn’t use soap, you’re going to have to untwist it and do it again.”
If I could have thrown a temper tantrum and gotten away with it, I probably would have at that point. I was tired, dirty, hot and frustrated. “Isn’t there another way?” I pleaded. Nope, that was going to be the only answer.
I hung up the phone, grumbling, and tried to twist once more, full well knowing that the hardware was seized up and I was going to have to go back up to the house to get the bar of Dove soap, go back down to the barn, untwist the hardware from the post, soap it and try again. It felt like a scandal. Why did twisting a piece of metal into a post of wood have to be so difficult?
Needless to say, I did just that, and the hardware twisted in without much effort following. I didn’t, however, tell Dad he was right until the next day. I had to preserve some of my pride for a little while longer. I know that from a very young age, he has always told me to use soap for putting in screws, nails, etc. I should have known, and I should have remembered.
I guess I had to resign to that fact, too.
Until next time…
Stephanie Strothmann owns Purple Shamrock Farm LLC in rural Seymour. Send comments to [email protected].