Folks on this forum have always seemed to enjoy seeing how things look in various parts of the country, so I hope I don’t over-burden you with this collection of shots. We spent the holiday weekend where my in-laws live in north central Louisiana, about 70 miles from where I live. Father-in-law has 200 or so acres over there, of which he’s given 40 each to his four girls. My wife has put a travel trailer (shown) on her 40 so she can get away from me a few days a week.
My FIL is a really cool old dude. He’s 83, but he can out-work a lot of guys a lot younger. Plus, he’s interested in lots of things, always experimenting, taking on new projects and hobbies---bees, tree-grafting, growing chestnut and chinquapin trees, growing lemons and oranges in a greenhouse. He has a large collection of old tools, implements and antique oddities, and he has restored a bunch of old hit-n-miss engines. He traps and sells pelts. Until a few years ago he used to ride a mule coon-hunting at night. He still cuts and splits a large pile of firewood each year.
He gardens at his old home place, about five miles from his home—in the dead middle of nowhere; maybe one car an hour passes out on the road. These photos show his hillside garden, which he works with an old Super 8, a Row-buster one-wheel plow, a Troy tiller and a hoe. He has a JD 2040 for breaking and disking. He grows corn, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, cucumbers, zuchinni, pole beans, squash, and just now coming out of the ground is a large crop of purple hull peas and butterbeans. Most of it he gives away, after the daughters get their fill.
The red cabin is his retreat when he’s working on the hill. He built it himself and paneled it with cypress he milled on his place. The old garage houses his tractor, cultivators, 4-wheeler and firewood. The tall structure with the lattice is a deer-dressing station he and his grandsons use. It has a single-tree with a winch in the tower, and inside the lattice are stainless countertops and sink, meat grinder, scales, power saw, etc. The expanded-metal drum to the rear of the skinning tower is a tumbler he made to remove the outer husks from black walnuts. ( He also made a cracker that can literally disintegrate the shell of a walnut or hickory nut, leaving intact halves.)
The next-to-last photo shows my measly little garden, which consists of two 4 x 16 boxes with tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, peppers and squash.
The last photo shows the giant lizard that was on the side of my house when I got home.
My FIL is a really cool old dude. He’s 83, but he can out-work a lot of guys a lot younger. Plus, he’s interested in lots of things, always experimenting, taking on new projects and hobbies---bees, tree-grafting, growing chestnut and chinquapin trees, growing lemons and oranges in a greenhouse. He has a large collection of old tools, implements and antique oddities, and he has restored a bunch of old hit-n-miss engines. He traps and sells pelts. Until a few years ago he used to ride a mule coon-hunting at night. He still cuts and splits a large pile of firewood each year.
He gardens at his old home place, about five miles from his home—in the dead middle of nowhere; maybe one car an hour passes out on the road. These photos show his hillside garden, which he works with an old Super 8, a Row-buster one-wheel plow, a Troy tiller and a hoe. He has a JD 2040 for breaking and disking. He grows corn, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, cucumbers, zuchinni, pole beans, squash, and just now coming out of the ground is a large crop of purple hull peas and butterbeans. Most of it he gives away, after the daughters get their fill.
The red cabin is his retreat when he’s working on the hill. He built it himself and paneled it with cypress he milled on his place. The old garage houses his tractor, cultivators, 4-wheeler and firewood. The tall structure with the lattice is a deer-dressing station he and his grandsons use. It has a single-tree with a winch in the tower, and inside the lattice are stainless countertops and sink, meat grinder, scales, power saw, etc. The expanded-metal drum to the rear of the skinning tower is a tumbler he made to remove the outer husks from black walnuts. ( He also made a cracker that can literally disintegrate the shell of a walnut or hickory nut, leaving intact halves.)
The next-to-last photo shows my measly little garden, which consists of two 4 x 16 boxes with tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, peppers and squash.
The last photo shows the giant lizard that was on the side of my house when I got home.
