Already Registered?      Or Please Register to Post a New Message

Login Register



Latest Message (link)

I hope everybody got to watch RH TV today. It was very nice to get a glimpse into Jerry Hicks' operation and especially to see his fine-looking and well-performing span of mules. A particular point of interest , since we get to read his posts nearly every day.

JerryHicks says 2017-08-30 05:10:03 (CST)



I really enjoyed getting to meet and visit with Uncle Joe. We are sort of in a transitional year here at our place, having given up growing tobacco for sale just this year. It's hard to imagine how much time a person can devote to just one crop until it's no longer there. We spent all but one month of the year working in tobacco and we had about two weeks that didn't require us to even think about it. When I did my last figures I was paying the guy who helped me in it eight dollars an hour and feeding him three meals a day while I got seventy-five cents, and then thought about how hard it is to get help, I thought it was time to take a year off and think about doing something else. I've been very fortunate to have the team that I have now. They have really been a good fit here and they have done well. I feel like I learn more from them than they could ever learn from me. I always tell people that I feel like my mules make me a better person. They have taught me a lot of patience and I've worked to apply that patience and understanding to other situations and people I meet.


6 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Todd NE WY says 2017-08-30 09:59:21 (CST)



Great looking mules and a great looking place Jerry.

Todd


6 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Uncle Joe says 2017-08-31 11:25:33 (CST)



Here's the video for those who don't get RFD-TV:

vimeo.com/231709833

Joe


6 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

K.C. Fox says 2017-08-31 23:10:27 (CST)



thanks for the video joe as we don't have TV. that was a real good one
\


6 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Ralph in N.E.Oh says 2017-09-04 21:32:28 (CST)



Jerry, very nice looking, but better still, well behaved span of mules! You did them proud. No wonder your aunt is so pleased :o)
Great looking operation. The road you came up in the video, shows the work of more than one guy has been picking rocks! Thanks for sharing your life with us.
There is much wisdom in our words about...never a prophet in your own town. I don't want to be a prophet, but some credit from the big farm neighbors now and then wouldn't hurt.
Tonight as I write, I am listening to a very nice rain. We have been dry these last few weeks. The best part is that we finished planting our spelt crop right at dark... thirty minutes before the rain started. What a happy evening!


6 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

JerryHicks says 2017-09-05 06:29:07 (CST)



Ralph, it's funny you mention that road! It has been the bane of my existence here on the farm. When we bought the place the road had been scraped and scraped until it was below the ditches and then redirected to make a short cut straight to the barn. As a consequence, the road carried all the water off the hill down and through the barn and made a huge pond at the back door. The first night on the farm, we camped in the upstairs in sleeping bags. We woke up that night to hear it pouring rain and the first thing we did was run outside and see how the water was running and started laying out cross drainage on the road. We cut shallow ditches and laid up berms, (we call them "dead irishmen") to channel the water over the hill. Some day I want to put in drain tile. Since that day we've hauled rock every chance we get, trying to raise the road. I usually walk up that hill, sometime four or five times a day, sometimes more, but I never walk it empty handed. I carry a rock if nothing else. My neighbor told me every trip I made up that hill carrying rocks would take a year off my life. I told him, it might be adding to it! I recently bought some big drain tiles for a springy place at the top of the hill and another one near the bottom. I'm hoping to dig out for them this winter. A couple of years ago we dug ditches around the barn and through under the stalls and laid drain tiles. That really helped to keep the barn drier. I look around at what all I'd like to see done on the farm and I think it's a shame a man can only live one lifetime. I could live several here and never get everything done I'd like to see done.


6 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Dan in Illinois says 2017-09-06 06:57:53 (CST)



Nice pair of mules. All the stock looked great. Goes to show the old style methods produced healthy animals.


6 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum


forum rules icon

Forum rules
Read these first

forum monitor icon

Uncle Joe
Forum Moderator

Search forum
Search the forum ARCHIVE

Banner Ads


Available on-line
mischka.com/shop
Rural Heritage
Magazine
The Apr/May24
edition of Rural Heritage
is now available by
subscription or
single issue purchase
Check out a preview in our Reading Room.


calendar icon
28
Upcoming
Events
Rural Heritage
Calendar of Events
Home of the webs most
extensive Draft Horse, Mule &
Oxen Calendar of Events.

Bowmansville Roller Mill
1850s era mill used as
grist, roller and saw-
mills.
Visit RFD–TV for the
Rural Heritage scheduled
times in your viewing area.
  • Copyright © 1997 − 2024 Rural Heritage
    Rural Heritage  |  PO Box 2067  |  Cedar Rapids, IA 52406
    Telephone (319) 362-3027

    This file last modified: May 04, 2021.

    Designed by sbatemandesign.com