Welcome! This is a bit of a journal covering the modernization of a 140-acre farm.
My name is Chris. I am currently 18 years old and live with my parents and brother. I share an interest with my Dad on old tractors. Dad is interested in the Crawlers (bulldozers) while I would like to have a couple of wheel tractors. I recently finished a refurbishing of a Massey Ferguson 202 that had been in our family for close to 40 years.
It all started in March of 2005. We were enjoying the last few hours of a visit from our Aunt and Uncle when Dad got a call from an old work buddy. "I happen to know where a old Cat Thirty is," He said, "Come over to my place in Yahk, and I'll take you over to see it" Dad, who had a hobby of collecting old bulldozers, naturally wanted to take a look at it.
So, on a clear, sunny day (spring came really early; In February) Mom, Dad, Me and my brother Nic, headed on over to Yahk, B.C. for a look at it. A stop at his place and I met Bill, a retired boss of a construction outfit in Cranbrook. We had a nice chat about the Massey Harris in his shed, and then we got into our trucks and went up the highway. We turned up a gravel road we passed on the way to Bill's place. It was about a kilometer long, and we stopped at a turnaround. There was an old farmhouse on top of a small hill, surrounded with trees, and looking very old and somewhat dilapidated. We parked our trucks here and walked over to the near corner of the west field.
Sitting in a nest of small trees, amongst a pile of other junk, was what we later identified as a 1930 Caterpillar Thirty. It had decent tracks, and a nearly worn-out Willamette Winch. While me, Nic and Dad were looking at various points on the tractor, Mom told Bill that, since Dad already had 9 other Cats in our 5-acre lot, and the neighbors were starting to dislike them, if he got another Cat that we should get a bigger chunk of land for them.
"Really?" said Bill, "Well, this farm is for sale."
I guess this is when we lost interest on the Cat, and started to love the farm! We debated quite heavily on the subject of should we move.
I mean, consider this question: Would you move from a cozy house built in 1976 to an old house built in 1932 that would have no insulation for the winter and require heavy repairs? Would this place be a retirement home for Mom and Dad?
Apparently, the answer to those questions was "yes", and we purchased the place in July 2005.
It was a beautiful place. The spot must have been a lake at one time, with two mountains separating you from the other neighbors. The soil is very good, at least for potatoes. We planted a garden a few days before we bought it, and the potatoes literally jumped out of the ground!
First plan of action to fix a farm up: Make the house livable. In September, after a month of planning, we ripped the roof off. The roof had a 45-degree with a ceiling height of 3-feet. For 3 men of 6 feet high, this is a bit cramped. After the roof is off, we would add "Pony walls"- Walls that would raise the roof four extra feet. We would then top off the roof with a tin roof.
One interesting thing about this house: Plywood was not commonly used on houses until the 1950's because it was so expensive to produce. This house used old "Channel lock" lumber siding (an old style of lumber that is not common anymore. It has mating sides that can be fitted together) for everything. Ceilings, walls and floors, it did not matter, and it was all Larch wood. You should have seen some of the bonfires we had when we were burning the stuff. They were quite big.
When winter rolled in, we realized our wood heater was not quite to snuff for a house with no insulation (Any that was added was chewed up by the rats). We were piling on the bedcovers, and I could see my breath at night! We finally installed in the basement a large RSF wood furnace that we brought over from Cranbrook. (We constantly say that it's a thermonuclear reactor compared to the one in the kitchen). This made things way more bearable in the house, especially when we run it full-bore.
That brings us to now. We are almost done putting up the last sheet of tin on the roof, and once the tin roof is done, we are gearing up to attack the walls. We say by the time we're done with the house, only the frame and foundation is going to be left of what was built in 1932!
My name is Chris. I am currently 18 years old and live with my parents and brother. I share an interest with my Dad on old tractors. Dad is interested in the Crawlers (bulldozers) while I would like to have a couple of wheel tractors. I recently finished a refurbishing of a Massey Ferguson 202 that had been in our family for close to 40 years.
It all started in March of 2005. We were enjoying the last few hours of a visit from our Aunt and Uncle when Dad got a call from an old work buddy. "I happen to know where a old Cat Thirty is," He said, "Come over to my place in Yahk, and I'll take you over to see it" Dad, who had a hobby of collecting old bulldozers, naturally wanted to take a look at it.
So, on a clear, sunny day (spring came really early; In February) Mom, Dad, Me and my brother Nic, headed on over to Yahk, B.C. for a look at it. A stop at his place and I met Bill, a retired boss of a construction outfit in Cranbrook. We had a nice chat about the Massey Harris in his shed, and then we got into our trucks and went up the highway. We turned up a gravel road we passed on the way to Bill's place. It was about a kilometer long, and we stopped at a turnaround. There was an old farmhouse on top of a small hill, surrounded with trees, and looking very old and somewhat dilapidated. We parked our trucks here and walked over to the near corner of the west field.
Sitting in a nest of small trees, amongst a pile of other junk, was what we later identified as a 1930 Caterpillar Thirty. It had decent tracks, and a nearly worn-out Willamette Winch. While me, Nic and Dad were looking at various points on the tractor, Mom told Bill that, since Dad already had 9 other Cats in our 5-acre lot, and the neighbors were starting to dislike them, if he got another Cat that we should get a bigger chunk of land for them.
"Really?" said Bill, "Well, this farm is for sale."
I guess this is when we lost interest on the Cat, and started to love the farm! We debated quite heavily on the subject of should we move.
I mean, consider this question: Would you move from a cozy house built in 1976 to an old house built in 1932 that would have no insulation for the winter and require heavy repairs? Would this place be a retirement home for Mom and Dad?
Apparently, the answer to those questions was "yes", and we purchased the place in July 2005.
It was a beautiful place. The spot must have been a lake at one time, with two mountains separating you from the other neighbors. The soil is very good, at least for potatoes. We planted a garden a few days before we bought it, and the potatoes literally jumped out of the ground!
First plan of action to fix a farm up: Make the house livable. In September, after a month of planning, we ripped the roof off. The roof had a 45-degree with a ceiling height of 3-feet. For 3 men of 6 feet high, this is a bit cramped. After the roof is off, we would add "Pony walls"- Walls that would raise the roof four extra feet. We would then top off the roof with a tin roof.
One interesting thing about this house: Plywood was not commonly used on houses until the 1950's because it was so expensive to produce. This house used old "Channel lock" lumber siding (an old style of lumber that is not common anymore. It has mating sides that can be fitted together) for everything. Ceilings, walls and floors, it did not matter, and it was all Larch wood. You should have seen some of the bonfires we had when we were burning the stuff. They were quite big.
When winter rolled in, we realized our wood heater was not quite to snuff for a house with no insulation (Any that was added was chewed up by the rats). We were piling on the bedcovers, and I could see my breath at night! We finally installed in the basement a large RSF wood furnace that we brought over from Cranbrook. (We constantly say that it's a thermonuclear reactor compared to the one in the kitchen). This made things way more bearable in the house, especially when we run it full-bore.
That brings us to now. We are almost done putting up the last sheet of tin on the roof, and once the tin roof is done, we are gearing up to attack the walls. We say by the time we're done with the house, only the frame and foundation is going to be left of what was built in 1932!
Labels: acreage, Farm, renovations, tractors, winter
posted by Chris at
6:45 PM
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