Laurel Ridge Farm: Chores and Mishaps

Sunday, August 3, 2025

Chores and Mishaps

No rain this week - figures since I just planted. But there has been a little bit of germination anyway. This was me spreading seed last week.

Followed by rolling.

And here I am checking for germination this week.

And in the orchard field, there was some.

In the pond field, there was not.

Very little in the upper pond field.

It was spotty in the soybean field but there was some. Rain would be welcome but none is in the forecast.

A few zucchinis again this week.

Some of the pumpkins are looking pretty bad. Vine borers I think.

But a few are producing.

Maybe too early.

Some gourds too.

Healthy plants still flowering.

Hopefully a few will survive and provide for Halloween.

I have a New Mexico elk hunt around the first of October. So I cleaned my 30-06.

I had a set of rifle carriers but I couldn't find anywhere on the new Ranger where I could mount then. This isn't ideal but was the best that I could do.

This infernal net keeps tripping me so I started to remove it. The top two attachments were regular metric bolts. When I got to the bottom, they were star-drive screws. I wasn't sure that I had a star drive that large but I found one.

I just removed it from the driver's spot where I'm jumping in and out all the time.

I went to the range to try out 3 different loads. I usually hunt elk with 180 grain but I'm going to try a little lighter in copper.

I'd shoot a group and then fish while the rifle cooled off.

Here I am checking groups and fishing at the same time.

My muddy little pond is still producing nice bass.

These are the loads that I tried.

The 168 grain Barnes produced the best groups.

While working out of the shooting house, I looked over and there were 3 tree of heaven growing right beside it. I thought that I had eradicated TOH years ago. I keep finding them in obvious places.

The clover generally looks good. They could use some weed control but my spraying rig is still out of service.

The prairie plot seems happy.

Wild flowers are nearing peak.

Poop of the week - a large buck bomb by the driveway plot.

I had a minor mishap. I have always just bumped the gate with the bushhog when mowing. It would swing out of the way and allow me to mow under it. I did my normal thing and forgot that I had it tied to a T-post. It was so well balanced since we got a new gate that it would swing in the wind and to prevent it swinging into vehicles, I started tying it off. When I bumped the gate, the knot held, the rope held, the T-post held and the gate bent. Doh.

With grandkids coming soon, I tried to prepare for some fishing. I cleaned up the shore of the pond with bushhog, weedwhacker, and loppers.

But all the trimmings ended up in the water. I wonder if that was a good idea...

Dusty, an excavator, dropped his equipment off this week. He's got a list of maintenance items to do on the driveway and the trails. Lots of culverts need attention.