get link We invited a bunch of folks from St. Patrick’s over for our first annual Springfield Farm Friends-Giving this past weekend. My brothers Mark & Steve came over Friday to “prep” for the first day of hunting.

https://thefooduntold.com/food-science/ku05sl9e On Friday we set everything up, cleaned out the barn, setup a big screen TV with chairs, kerosene heater, etc. and gave it a tryout Friday evening.

see We all went out on the UTV and gathered downed wood to use for our usual large bonfire.

https://ict-pulse.com/2024/07/d7ktk2k9p We started frying the turkeys at 10am with a target guest arrival of noon. This was the first time I’ve fried turkey in at least 5 years but all went well with Patty prepping the birds and my brothers assisting with the frying operation.

https://autismwish.org/6vsdgtve Folks started arriving at noon and very quickly it became quite busy, kids riding scooters and bikes on the driveway, hay rides, chowing down on a very large amount of food, folks brought some delicious dishes. And of course the bonfire, cuz, well, we’re all pyros at heart. Below are pictures of a large number of minivans parked, and people generally chowing down.

https://www.insearchofsukoon.com/b3zuedprrq0 Patty hid letters around the yard/house for the kids to do a scavenger hunt and the Radel sisters helped “ride herd” on the process. Kids really liked it. Below is the result, although there was one letter I found later stuck by the garage??

https://www.techonicsltd.com/uncategorized/8k0psesxb I took a bunch of guests on a tour of the property, trying to give a flavor for the local history and the family that owned the property for so long. Here are a few pictures from the game camera of the tours.

source site Looks like Matt, Rob and their wives & kids had a blast riding the ATVs.

get link When it started getting dark we lit up the Christmas lights for the first time.

https://geneticsandfertility.com/2t7zhg7j By the time it got dark we were pretty much gathered around the bonfire. My wife tells me I fell asleep before everyone left, but I’m pretty sure she is wrong.

https://brako.com/en/jvwy80kak93 I concede that I will likely not use this very often, but I want to be ready when I do need it. The driveway is 1/2 mile long and if it isn’t cleared there is a valid safety concerns if 911 ever had to get to the house.

source url I purchased a WoodMax SB-72, a 72″ wide PTO driven blower made in Buffalo, NY. Here is the link: https://www.woodmaxx.com/product/woodmaxx-sb-72/

https://www.insearchofsukoon.com/sz1e4bdt772 Delivery company said it was going to arrive last Friday but of course it didn’t arrive until after the storm. Trucking company left it on the pallet at the gate. The package weighs in at almost 1000 pounds so in addition to the pallet forks I put on my bush hog for some counterbalance weight.

https://www.techonicsltd.com/uncategorized/tykepy6rjh By the time I was done I had move three front attachments and two rear attachments in order to get at everything I needed and put the tractor back into snow clearing mode. With a strong northwest wind blowing I’ll wait a day or two to assemble this beast.

https://www.inaxorio.com/aquhg3fzy Just as the snow started I started lighting up the four piles of brush. Three of them really burned well, the fourth not so much. I called the county EMS first to notify them in case any neighbors started calling 911. Three of the piles were mostly cedar trees and really burned well, after I splashed them with a bunch of diesel. Aside from making sure the fires don’t get out of control, the biggest task with brush piles this big is constantly pushing the burning pieces into an ever smaller pile to keep things nice and hot and maintain the burn. Even though it was snowing quite heavily and then ended up raining the piles were still smoking the next morning. I spent all day pushing the piles up. Temperature outside was 18f most of the day and by evening I was spent.