We were really busy this past winter. The boys put in some extra time on their book work. As an incentive to getting the books completed, Kit started teaching the boys blacksmithing in the shop. We are joking that the boys have advanced from the wood age to the iron age. We will post later all of the gadgetry they've created.
It was a fairly mild winter with not much snow, up until the middle of February. Then we got four feet in two weeks! It literally did not stop snowing for two weeks. We had our shovels were busy on the driveway, our house roof, and a couple neighbors’ roofs too.
The boys have a heavy-duty plastic farm sled we use around the barnyard for hauling hay, buckets of hot water from the house to the barn, and feed to the chickens. It has lasted seven years, but this winter, with the lack of snow in places, the bottom of the sled started wearing out.
We also have the two older ox teams and a larger sled we built. We have not worked our ever-growing teams enough over the past year for the boys to handle by themselves. Kit and the boys use the larger teams from time to time to skid logs or haul some firewood. Daddy's focus is on the blacksmith shop building doors, hinges, door latches, plus farrier work, along with local construction work.
When not working with dad in the shop or construction work, the boys have focused their time on their young team and with the completion of the next size yoke continued their training of Diesel and Cat. Before daddy completed the new yoke, the boys resigned themselves to dragging the smaller plastic sled in the barnyard area as well as feeding the stock in the fields. They were getting by as long as sufficient snow remained on the ground. However, the melting snow in March transitioned us into the mud season and chores became more difficult pulling the 80-pound bales over the mud.
CW cannot stand to have things not working at optimum performance. Since he is the brute force pulling the sled, with help from JW1, his mind started working on an easier solution to the feeding program. That same "Unseen Hand" of self-improvement which Adam Smith noted in his book “Wealth of Nations” began to exert itself.
Why work like an ox when you have oxen to do the work?
This past winter CW worked on a cart fabricated from bicycle parts, scrap wood and rebar. He planned to pull it with his bike. When the snow started leaving and he was getting tired, sore and disgruntled with pulling the feeding sled, his mind switched gears and he finished up the cart so his Diesel Caterpillar (the youngest ox team) could pull the hay to the feeding grounds.
To someone (me) who's mind does not work that way, his ability to create something out of nothing but the scraps of metal and wood he saves, is beyond me. Diesel and Cat(epillar) are about 15 months old now and have outgrown the little 5-inch yoke we made them.
The new 6-inch yoke we made out of an 8-foot section of walnut tree we sledded home with our large team from the neighbor’s house and milled into 1-inch boards. Kit planed them down, Granddaddy glued them together into a "chunk", and I traced the yoke pattern onto cardboard and then onto the "chunk", and the whole family took turns chiseling it out. Walnut is WAY harder than pine! With the help of a chainsaw, saws-all, horse rasp, sandpaper, and some blacksmith work we completed the new yoke. We relied on Nathan Hine to supply us with his excellent bows, for which we are grateful.
We have noticed a Big difference in working this young team at six months old in our 5-inch yoke compared to starting our first team at 18 months in a 7-inch yoke. It is well worth building or buying the smaller yokes if you are seriously considering training oxen. This is not new information and has been used in America for hundreds of years, but it bears repeating.
We have found, by necessity, that investing time in training our younger children to do chores at three and four years old is important. They are very capable and productive in small tasks and it moves them away from naturally destructive tendencies. A young team of oxen fits well with young boys and can also be productive in small chores for short amounts of time at six to 12 months old.
We restarted their training by having them pull a tire to get them used to something behind them. Then CW hooked them to his cart, for a few days.
Next, he started hauling hay with them. He hauled half a bale the first day, then went to a full bale.
The March weather cooperated with my picture taking, as it was a balmy 55 degrees. And yes, this is JW1, sporting a long sleeve shirt, swim trunks, and barefoot! The answer to the objection I raised was, "But mom, it is so WARM outside!" I've given up - if they are cold - I know they can find their winter boots, coats, and pants!
CW moves the team along at the right speed allowing JW1 to grab a flake of hay and throw it to the side.
The next time I looked out from the barn at chore time I saw two bales on that tiny little cart!
JW1’s job is to keep the leaning “Tower of Hay” from crumbling and to give an extra push if the mud and weight become to much for the team.
Disaster can't always be prevented, but at least it was on the feeding grounds!
Instead of coming back with an empty cart every day, the boys are loading firewood from a tree daddy cut up into firewood a while ago.
It’s encouraging to see the boys developing their cognitive abilities, work ethic (sometimes), creativity, resourcefulness, ingenuity, and patience. It’s refreshing seeing our boys capable of problem solving, thinking outside the box, and making decisions on their own instead of being molded and shaped into a predictable model from the cookie cutter factory.
So now we are getting two jobs done instead of one, and the little team is getting double time on their training. JW1 sneaked a ride back to the house!
Here is the begining of next year’s firewood pile. They will continue to haul wood out of the wood lot throughout the spring and early summer. Then this fall when the wood has dried they will start splitting and stacking it.
What better way to start the day than to breathe deeply of the crisp, clean air God has provided here in the country, while viewing His morning’s majesties, and utilizing all of your abilities!