You know the saying – “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade”, well Ron has a special knack for that.
Yesterday was supposed to be a normal enough day. The plan was to get out to THF by 530 am and get the pawpaws and elderberries watered. We had been using two plastic coffee cans to measure out the water for each plant. Being Ron, he really wanted to formalize our routine. Make sure that each plant got the amount of water. Also, being Ron it had to be a cheap fix. I managed to find gallon size pitchers that meant his requirements. And on clearance to boot.
So we were all up by 5 am and on our way. Loaded the water tank and and pump onto the trailer and headed across the stream. Then we hit a few snags. The water pump did not want to kick over and then the hose I had shoved into the water tank was not filling up. I had shoved so much of it into the tank that it folded over on itself. Once I yanked a good length of it back out, the tank was suddenly full of water.
Back across the stream we went and started watering our future orchard. I really do need to look into karate lessons for my elderberries. The deer have been eating their leaves and making me very nervous in the process.
With the tank empty Ron and Jo headed back for a refill. I heard the pump start and then stop, the 4 wheeler start up and then Jo give a yell. The engine cut off and I heard them talking and then Jo yelled for me. Heart racing I ran to the stream to see what was going on. Huge relief. It was a flat tire on the trailer. And do I mean flat. Down to the ground flat. Ron was already emptying out the water tank and asked me to bring over some pliers so he could get the tire off. While a flat tire might seem a small inconvenience, it actually shut us down. No way to finish watering the plants and certainly no way to haul the water needed to soak our mushroom logs. This had to get fixed.

We loaded it into the car and headed off to a gas station. $1.50 later and we were still holding a very flat tire. The tube was not filling at all. Now we headed home with Ron planning to try one of the local tires places. A quick check and he found one that opened at 730. While he went to Oneida, Jo and I tackled the remainder of our just delivered wood pile. And we quite simply, kicked butt. By the time Ron got home 90 minutes later we had hauled the last of the logs from our driveway into our backyard and stacked them in our racks. He was most impressed.
But the saga of the tire continued. The guys at the tire place had been great, using a bead bazooka with huge power to refill the thing. They found the problem. A good sized cut in the time. Probably from one of our many, many rocks. They had no tires that size so Ron headed to a store that sold lawn mowers to see what they had. Then he came home to search the internet. A phone call later and he was grabbing his keys and wallet on the way out the door. Jo and I were heading to Syracuse to have some fun.
Of course things did not go smoothly again. Turned out the store did not have the tire after all. So Ron headed Don Hull & Sons in Verona, an engine repair shop. They did not have the tire but Rosa, the lady who Ron talked to, went above and beyond customer service. She pulled out her parts book and made phone calls trying to find someone who did have it. Jo and I were happily walking around the Regional Farmers Market in Syracuse when Ron called. We were headed to Kimbers which luckily was not even 10 minutes away. We walked in and told the man we were looking for a turf tire. “Did you call earlier?”, he asked. I told him that someone else had. He brought a tire out but it did not look right. Luckily the other man knew there another style and sent him back for it. That was the right one and I called Ron to tell him. He was still at Don Hull & Sons and had news of his own. Rosa, who obviously was determined to find a solution for Ron, told him if he had the flat tire with him they could repair it. They could install a tube that would get him back up and running. She is the kind of person Ron really likes. One who thinks on her feet, and cares about getting the job done. Well, he did have the tire and so once it was fixed, he was going to head back to THF with brother Don and get the trailer back up and running. Rosa will be getting a huge bag o’shiitakes as a thank you next week.

I do wish I had been on hand to watch the process of getting the tire back on. More photos for one thing. Don, Jesse and Ron got it done and then finished up the watering. By that time it was bloody hot, even in the shade and Ron decided it was lunch time. No desire for fast food so they headed to Clinton to find a proper restaurant. They landed at “fancy” place that they were seriously underdressed for. He assured me the food was excellent but what he was most excited about was the conversation he had with the chef. Ron had asked the waitress to check and see if the chef would be interested in shiitake mushrooms and he came right out of the kitchen. 15 minutes later and Ron had pretty much his whole life’s story and a commitment to take some shiitakes on Thursday. Again, this year we are not selling. That begins in 2017. Just working to get people hooked this year.

These replacements don’t look like much, but they will certainly save our butts when the next flat happens. In fact Ron won’t be surprised if we find it flat again when we get out there today. As you know “sh#t happens”.

UPDATE

One week out and the repair is still holding. Gotta love when good people help you and it works.

Most dads spend Father’s Day with their kids having fun. Maybe fishing or golfing, taking a long drive, going to a ball game, having a cook out, or just relaxing at home. Not Jo’s Dad. His ideal Father’s Day started at 5 am when he woke me and Jo up. Giving us 30 minutes to have coffee or tea, splash water on our faces and collect whatever we needed for a few hours work on the farm. We needed to get out there while we could take advantage of the cool morning.
First up was watering the pawpaws and elderberries.

We haven’t have much rain this month, so we are watering every other day. Have it down to a pretty good system but it still takes time. Was not happy to see that some critter has been eating leaves off my elderberry plants. One of them is looking pretty sad right now. Nothing we can do about it. Personally I will be happy when our little babies have grown up and take care better care of themselves.  Maybe karate lessons? To chase away the deer.
Next fun event was rocking picking. Ron wanted us to walk down the field and yank out the rocks that were sitting on the surface. Sitting as in buried deep with just the tip showing.  Like icebergs. It took us at least 90 minutes to get the first trailer load.

Now we headed across the stream with the rocks. Ron’s plan is to use them to fill in and stabilize his route to and from the mushroom area. He goes down across the small stream and then up again. Every time he drives the 4 wheeler over there, it gets more muddy and the ruts get deeper. Luckily we have “rots of rocks” to use in filling it in.

First load done. Again we really could have used a budding shot putter. And better aim. Lost count of the number of rocks that refused to land on the spot I tossed them toward.
Water and rest break and then back to the field. Ron is waiting for Dick to find the time in his schedule to come out and run his tractor over the field. That will make our job so much easier. Until then, we will continue to plug along.

Second load done. Ron keeps insisting that the main goal of these rocks is to fill in ruts and make it safer for him. Am not buying it. We have at least 4 large piles of lovely rocks sitting on the farm. Ones that someone else sweated over getting out of the ground. Perfectly good rocks that would do the job and be a whole lot less work for us. But, no we cannot use those. They were left there by ancient residents and must remain where they are.

Third and last run, thank goodness. The sun is up higher now and we have lost our shaded work area. Ron gave Jo and me the green light to escape. Didn’t need to say that twice. Collected and put away all the tools and ran for the car.
Happy Father’s Day, Ron.

Such a lovely day today. Wonderful sunshine and a nice breeze. Ron’s mother, Anna May planned on attending the Rome NY annual Memorial Day Observance at Veteran’s Memorial Park. She goes every year without fail. Her grandson, Jesse stopped by to give her a ride but she had already headed out on foot. At age 95, the woman walks as much as she can. What Anna May didn’t know is that was another plan was in the works. Don and Jesse met up with her at the ceremony and insisted on giving her a ride home. By way of Tiny House Farm.
Ron had gone out there early this morning to get a few things done. I was at home getting our picnic food ready. We had planned to get out there together so we could water the trees again, but yesterday we had a torrential rain storm. Everything got a good soaking so we have the next couple of days off. By 10:30 I headed out with coolers packed with food and ice. Ron came with the 4 wheeler and trailer to collect me and we got started cooking the burgers. There was no firm time for Don, Anna May and Jesse to arrive, but lunch was set to be first up.
We talked and talked, with Anna May telling her favorite stories about her father deciding out of nowhere to buy a farm in Rome NY. He moved the whole clan, 9 kids in all, out of the city with no idea of how to actually be a farmer.

It was primarily a dairy farm with a garden for their own food. Nick kept his job at Spargo Wire, walking there every afternoon for his shift. It was not long before the boys were old enough to tell Dad that they were going to get jobs in the local factories. They wanted to have money of their own. Hard to have any fun without money, even back in the 1940’s. Without his sons to help with the work, Nick was not able to keep the farm going. He sold the farm and moved the family back into town.
Now we had to decide just how we were going to get Anna May across the stream so she could see the mushrooms. Even though I had a pair of boots for her to wear, no way were we going to try having her walk across. The creek bed is very rocky and would make for some seriously unsteady walking. Ron’s plan was to take the front rail off the trailer and have her sit there while he drove the 4 wheeler.

No hesitation at all, she got herself up on trailer and with faith in her boys, off they went.

I don’t know that she had ever seen mushrooms growing like this. Ron describes it as an explosion. He soaked the logs last week and then we covered them with the plastic sheet. Good thing too, as the rain yesterday would have pretty much ruined them.

Ron was so happy to have his mom out on the farm to show her what he is doing.   I don’t think she fully understands it all; this looks nothing like her father’s farm, but she thought it is a pretty place and really enjoyed the day.  Jesse tried hard, but she had no interest in spending the night though.  Too worried about bugs and possible snakes.  She’s no longer a “country girl”.