Salve For the Soul

 

This year my brother couldn't make it up for our annual few days spend on the farm driving through all the fields and doing necessary maintenance now that the crops are out. So on this particular day, it was a solo endeavor and I most enjoyed myself. I had my isotunes headphones on playing some music and muffling the noise of the Polaris Ranger I was driving that contained all the necessary gear for the maintenance.

One of the key jobs is to check the terrace intake tubes. These perforated orange tubes are put in low spots of the field, with large terraces that funnel any excess water towards them. These tubes then funnel the water underneath the fields to somewhere lower on the edge of the field where the water can be released again. This prevents excess dirt from being washed away if the water was left to run freely.

The tall grassed that help filter any sediment out before reaching the outflow pipes can sometimes obscure them causing them to be run over and knocked down by farm equipment. So one of my jobs this year was to add an extension pole with a bright red painted end to increase visibility when driving farm equipment near them, hopefully preventing them from being run over quite so often.

Another important task is to cut any black locust sprouts out of the grassy parts of the field. If you look closely, they are full of long black thorns that do puncture tires and make your day not so good anymore. So I lop them off and put some chemical on the stumps to prevent them from growing there again. But deer love to eat their seed pods and poop them out everywhere so it really is a never ending task. 

A picture showing how hard these perforated water intake pipes can be to see.

Same pipe now hopefully more visible.

An example of one that was run over by farm equipment. This leaves the base hole exposed and it can possibly become plugged and creating a pond instead of better drainage.

So I get it put back in place and add the long pole for increased visibility in the future. Hopefully.

It was a relaxing day and I always enjoy seeing these pockets of the farm that I don't often see on a daily, weekly, or even a monthly basis.