January 2, 2026
Recently, I spent a day at the farm. It was mild for mid-December, with the temperature reaching 40*F.
The first sign of an off day was that I was stopped at a train crossing, an uncommon occurrence. (The passing train was uncommon, not me stopping at a train crossing) But it was a beautiful sunny morning, and I didn’t mind stopping for a few minutes. The remainder of the drive was non-eventful, I even saw a few bald eagles eating their roadkill (a fairly common sight during the winter months). I had a list of 5-10 things to accomplish for the day, which typically is about 3-8 too many.
List for the day: Disconnect negative cable from battery on zero turn
Drop off wheelbarrow from home
Switch memory card in game camera
Cut some cedars in chestnut zone
Drop off pumpkins in planting area (wildlife food, seed for next year, etc.)
If time allows, Timber Stand Improvement in forested area
What happened?
The ground is snow-covered in December, which is pretty to look at, and pretty tiring to walk through. I sold our 4wd truck last year to pay bills. So I have a hatchback car. Much of the year, we can drive from one side of property to the other, no problem, even in a little car. This day didn’t fall in the much of the year category. I forgetfully pulled just off a rocked area of driveway, and immediately got stuck. Luckily, I was able to get some OSB, a bucket of sand (leftover from stratification buckets), and some cardboard. It took some maneuvering, and about 1.5 hours to get back on the rock area. The days are short in December, so less daylight to work with.
Not a good start to the day. But it was a nice day to be outside after all.
Next I walked to the game camera on the edge of the property. It was gone. Someone stole it. It was facing public property. So lesson learned – camera needs to be on property.
Next, I got the chainsaw ready to start cutting, and made the trek over to the chestnut area to start cutting some cedars. This task went well, I took several limbs off of cedars, and took two trees down completely.
The issue came later – the next day. I must have gotten a piece of sawdust or piece of cedar wood in my eye that took about 2 hours to wash out. Lesson learned – safety glasses + don’t cut tree limbs right above head level so sawdust gets all over your face.
After cutting cedars, I walked over to the pine tree area, and saw that the snow caused branches to droop, taking parts of the 3-D fence down with it. Luckily, no deer have tracked in yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they would have.
The drive home was uneventful. Then I got home and the water bill for the property was waiting. It said we used 8000 gallons of water in November. The water wasn’t even turned on! Of course this was Friday, so the water company was closed until Monday. Luckily, on Monday the water company said the meter reading was a mistake, and all was good there.
Fortunately, not all days at the farm are like this. Some are very productive, and every single one are more rejuvenating than a day in an office cubicle.