Subdividing the North Pasture: Hanging the Gates.

It has been a while since we posted anything here. We’ve been busy, camping, and going to Swiss wrestling festivals, and of course working on the farm here and there. Now, since Daddy has to go to do that National Guard thing again, we are going to try to write all the blog posts, so they can post while he is gone.

This was from June 30th, actually. Quite some time ago. IT’s going to be a busy day of hard work. Everyone eat up!

Daddy will have an egg pie with smoke ham and pickled brussels sprouts.

Today is the day we hang the gates. The first step, of course, is to hunt down all the tools you think you are going to need, and take them out to the field.

The next step is to walk back to the shop for first tool that you did not remember you would need.

Setting the top pin first.

Get the location for the bottom pin, making sure it is plumb. I wasn’t able to set it lower because there is a big crack in the post below this level what would have interfered and made the pin more likely to come loose.

Within a foot of the ground, best we could do.

We still had a few of the light duty gate hitches lying around. They are too small for the metal tubes on the gate, but much cheaper than the heavy duty ones.

Our good friend Cole came over to help. He simply wire tied the latch brackets to the gate.

And then we fastened the latches to the post. This middle gate in the north pasture was hands down the best gate we have ever set up on the farm. The post placement on the fence anchors was so perfect, the gate dropped in exactly like it was meant to. That never happens!

Seppi came out to help us set the gate on the east end.

Tightening bolts is hard work when you are barely even tall enough to reach them.

If at first you don’t succeed… hit it with something.

The gate on the west end was not closing properly anymore because the twitch wire had shifted it out of place. To get it lined up properly we had to take the gate off, chisel out a notch in the railroad tie to sink the hinge pin an inch deeper, and then then put the gate back on. After that it worked perfectly.

Uncle Cole wanted to keep working, so we got out the scythes. He is one of those men who can turn his hand to almost any tool you care to name and do a pretty solid job of handling it on his first attempt. Within an hour or two he is a master.

It took Daddy, on the other hand, months to learn how to sharpen the scythe and cut with it properly.

Seppi took most of these pictures, as well as maintaining a steady stream of motivational chatter, and, most importantly, carrying the sharpening stones to whoever needed to touch up their edge.

Between us, we got almost the whole rest of the orchard cut.

We need to get the ducks out of there in a few weeks, before the blackberries start coming on, so they don’t eat all the berries and leave us with none.