… to be able to plant once again, we’re continuing to work on other projects. The big project of the past two weeks was completed much earlier than we anticipated. We bought a Drängen!
How were we able to accomplish this so quickly? Providentially — at just the same time we were visiting Persephone and blogging about our desire to buy a Drängen, another (much larger) farm nearby posted a classified ad for six used Drängens! Two farm friends saw the ad and called to notify us (apparently our Drängen lust was well publicized). We drove down to Corvallis to check it out on Wednesday and ended up bringing it home with us that same day!
Buying a Drängen is not a small purchase to make so quickly, but after the last few days of deliberation we felt like we were ready to act — and ready to use it. Last week’s long day of planting left us both sore and longing for something to save our backs from bending over. With the cooler than average spring, we’re anticipating fitting much of March and April’s scheduled plantings into a few weeks. That will be a lot of planting all at once, something a Drängen will help with immensely.
Also, although we just started throwing the actual word ‘Drängen’ on our blog recently, we’ve been thinking about this kind of solution since last year. We messed around with a transplanting platform on the back of the Allis last fall and were trying to think of a better solution this spring. The Drängen just fit an existing need seemingly perfectly. Not only will we be able to use it for transplanting (our primary desire right now), we can also use it for detailed hand weeding/thinning (especially carrot and beet beds) and slow heavy harvesting (bush beans, cucumbers, etc.). The Drängen’s multi-purpose flexibility is what really sold us on it.
The version we purchased was built for a much larger farm (much larger) and was originally part of an eight-person strawberry picking set-up. It was cut down by the other farm, so the vehicle we purchased was set up for ‘only’ four people to ride at once. The neat thing about Drängens, however, is that they’re very flexible in their set-up. In just under an hour, Casey and I were able to take apart most of the Drängen and load the entire thing into our van (the ‘beast,’ a diesel F350 Econoline van). The tracks were the widest part, and they just barely fit into the back of the van.
Once we were back home, with just a few hours of tinkering, Casey had it set up for our purposes. The track widths now match the Allis perfectly: 60″ on the outside (we use the Allis to mark our beds and of course to cultivate). There is only one person platform in the middle, and Casey jury-rigged some of the old strawberry flat platforms into a better position so that we can now easily haul 4+ agricultural totes into the field on the Drängen to pick into.
The frame itself still sticks out pretty far on either side, since it originally held four person platforms. It’s 12′ wide right now, and we plan to cut it down two feet on either side so it’s 8′ wide — just big enough to still fit one more person platform on either side of the tracks. We’re unlikely to use it with three people any time soon, but we want the flexibility for future use. You just never know what will happen out here, especially with fun new tools around.
The current 8 hp Honda motor is now definitely outsized for our reduced set-up. We’ll probably replace it eventually with an electric motor appropriately sized for our use that we’ll run on re-chargeable batteries. That’s one of the power options the maker currently offers, so we know it’s possible. It will greatly reduce the noise element of riding the Drängen (we need to wear ear protection right now) and increase the Drängen’s efficiency. We still need to research motors, batteries and all, so we’ll probably use it as is for awhile. Either way, the current Honda motor is in pristine shape, so we’ll keep it around for use in another application.
In other machine-related news, we’re taking advantage of the continued lull to maintenance our vehicles for the new season. We realized recently that we haven’t changed in of the fuel filters in our many diesel vehicles — and we’ve been running biodiesel in all of them for over a year. Yikes. So we’re attending to other details at the same time: oil changes, etc. Regular readers of our blog will know that maintenance is not a strong point of ours yet. We’re still getting in the groove of long-term commitment to one place and one set of tools. Our hearts are in the right place; we just need to get better about follow through.
Finally having more dry space helps a lot though. It’s amazing how much better we feel about all our vehicles now that they’re stored inside. It’s easier to think about them without cringing during the winter. And, of course, it’s easier to actually work on them, regardless of the weather.
And, in the ‘coming-of-age’ theme: another recent victory in our farm business is that we started using Quickbooks finally this year, and it’s been fantastic. I’ve kept up with the bookkeeping consistently since the New Year, and our records have transformed from being ‘ok’ to ‘super duper organized.’ I’m almost ashamed to admit this, but running Quickbooks has helped me balance our accounts for the first time … ever. Isn’t that terrible? For years, our personal finances were so limited that we never felt the need to balance anything — we pretty much knew what was coming in and going out, and it wasn’t very much either way. Last year we realized that we need to have a much clearer record of the flow of money in our accounts, especially after we accidentally overdrew our checking account three times in one weekend. Thus we switched to Quickbooks and I cracked down on receipts and balance statements. And, it worked! We’re balanced, penny for penny every month, and I always know how much money we have in our account, even when checks haven’t been cashed yet. Hoorah!
Yes, we’re still growing up, as farmers and individuals. But I will say this: it’s amazing how staying put finally helps with our focus, patience and ability to think about things like replacing fuel filters and balancing our accounts. It will be a year since we moved into our house at the end of the month — we’ve only ever lived in two other places for more than one year. I think the longest we ever lived in one apartment was about eighteen months … that’s a lot of moving in the last eight years that we’ve been married. Needless to say, we’re grateful to be still finally. Life keeps moving all around us, but we at least have a point of reference now — an anchor. More mundanely, we have a place to put our files and know they’ll be there in three months (and our tools, etc.).
Anyhow, back to the present. The forecasters are calling for some nice weather later this week. Hopefully we’ll be putting the Drängen to use soon! We’ll post photos soon too!
Oh wow! Congratulations on your purchase. It sounds very providential. Funny how some things fall into place just perfectly.
Quickbooks is wonderful. I don’t know how I’d do our finances without it. I remember watching my mom do bookkeeping in a green ledger book and that just seems like a nightmarish way to have to track everything. Thank goodness for computers and financial software.