Things that I made on the farm

On the farm I made many things, but I'm going to show you some of them, maybe the most important things. It could look like they aren't really amazing, nonetheless you need to think that all of them were made with a very bad weather, without the properly tools and I made it alone. Some of them were a challenge, but finally I could put up with it.

The tyre gate:

This gate was very old, so with the some pieces belong to the old ceiling I changed it. The steel at the top would have been dangerous and for this reason I decided to cover it with an old tyre. On the farm, we had a lot of old  tyres; they were used to stop de plastic that covered the grass. 

The tv support:

In the kitchen we usually spent a lot of time, eating or watching some tv, but in the beginning it was over the table, besides when somebody crossed the kitchen we didn't watch it and it was really low, therefore it was a very uncomfortable situation. I made it with old steels belong the old cubical and I need several intents to get a well done system. Finally with this system we could watch tv whereas we were eating the dinner or whereas we were washing the plates.

The shelf:

The kitchen was very old and narrow, so I decided to make a big shelf to put over it a lot of things, because sometimes we didn't have enough space for cooking. I used strong old timbers and my imagination and some old steels to make the angles.

The chair:

There was a very spoilt chair in the living room, without seat. I knew how to do this job because I had tested this technique several times with different chair, but I had never worked with an asymmetric chair like this, so it was really a challenge for me. I learnt to use nails while I was working with the rope. I think the result is so nice. Thanks Gustavo and Antonio for send to me the rope from Spain.

The gates:

I worked with different gates, for instance the gate at the top on the right was made for me. Behind this gates would stand the sheep. In Ireland is very usual to find rain with wind together, as a result the rain is getting in the sheep's house and we needed to change the strong (is a kind of vegetable that may be used to cover the floor to turn it into more comfortable for the animals) every day. The idea was to make something that we could open in summer, unless that build a fix wall, maybe using the welding machine, we decided to make a gate. 

The gate on the left was covered with old steels and this way the cows, who was sick or maybe were going to be mother soon, could be protected from the wind and the rain.

The Irish Gate:

We had a timber covering this space, therefore we couldn't use this space like a gate. I made this gate with the possibility to open it from in or out, so we didn't need to leave the gate opened, whereas we are working with the sheep, furthermore we didn't need to open the rest of the gates that were very big. I decided to paint the gate in San Patrick's Day, with the colours of the Irish flag, because I wanted to put some colour surrounded such a boring grey colour.

The work table, my final project:

Finally, after three months arranging the tools every day, and working without a properly table, I thought It'll be interesting to make a work table. I used some old steel angles and shopping some timbers, we got a very nice work table. I made two drawers to arrange the tools and a little tools panel. The table could move up or down because the floor was very irregular, and this way we could level the table properly.

You can think, four months are much time and it is, but the rest of the time we were working with the cattle, or selling it, or travelling a little, or going to a pub; not everything in the life may be work.

My job on the farm II

Milking Parlour: Everyday twice, we had to carry the cattle form the cubicle to this room for milking.

We could milking at the same time sixteen cows. We used to use air compressor to start the machines, but sometimes in Ireland the electricity doesn't work maybe for storms or strong wind,

thereby these machines are prepared to work with the tractor. We needed to clean the cows, extract the milk and after that apply a special product over the udder to protect it. Usually a good cow made over thirty liters per day. While the cattle is milking we used to lay a little pellets and the cows love this product, so the job was easier this way. 

The sheep: during the winter and maybe some spring time, the sheep are in this house. The movie shows me putting oats for them. They were really amusing and they were trying to eat oats from the bucket because are a little bit impatient with the food. 

Branding: I've discovered this task with a farm's neighbor who name was Ernie. He was really kind and usually he spoke with me very slow. Beforehand it could be a painful for the cows but it isn't really. We used to use a steel frozen numbers, this way this part of the cow's skin is burnt and the new hair will be white. It was more hazardous to avoid kicking our feet.

Charlie's English lessons and the tractor: it was so funny to work with Charlie. Sometimes I didn't understand anything but we were good friends. It was my first day with the tractor and when we were taking the movie I had explained Charlie that I wanted he talked a little, but not only two words, for this reason I was laughing during the movie. When the cubicle's tanks were full we needed to put the slurry on the field. It was a interesting and stink job.

The bees: really I worked only one time with the bees because the weather was really bad, but I took this little movie and I thought would be interesting to show it to you.

The cubs: they were really amusing, but sometimes this job was very tired. We had to carry the milk from the milking parlour to the house, maybe three hundred metres. You had to use your arms holding two very heavy milk buckets full of milk, so sometimes we had a very big elbow ache. The movie shows two of them after to be fed, they usually are “lovers” because they use their tongues to taste the rest of the milk each other in their mouth.

The welding machine: an old welding machine was a very good partner for me, we did together some gates, a work table and a lot of fixes. 

The dogs: Lucky and Daugly were playing and fighting all the time like brothers. They liked play with a ball or with a bucket lid. I did some things more, but this was my daily job on the farm. 

It was a very good experience and in full likelihood, all of you could be enjoy it like me, the Irish people are very friendly so you only need a smile in your face.

job11 from jose manuel on Vimeo.

Irish Sports

Three weeks ago, Nicole (my new partner like a workawer on the farm)and me went to Cork watching two matches: one of them was Gaelic Futbol, is very different than soccer because the hands may be used for the players, and there are two types of goals, into the goal with three points or above the goal with a point only. The another one sport is Hurling, the rules are similar but the ball is smaller and the players use a stick to hit it. You can find a lot of information in internet if you are interested, for me was a great experience.

sport from jose manuel on Vimeo.

Oliver

This is Oliver, like Oliver Twist. He is a little lamb who was alone, because his

mother dosen't like him; sometimes sheep have two lambs and only feed one of them, for this reason Oliver was alone and needed our care. The picture shows Oliver being fed with a baby bottle. Now Oliver is very big and he always wants more milk. He will need milk (cow milk) until three months at least, but this a amusing job.

 

 

Dungarvan

Dungarvan is a medium town between Dublin and Cork. It has a lovely castle in the

middle of the town, but in this part of the year is closed. Also, it has a lovely beach, where the people in summer is fishing all the time.

 

 

Frozen morning

This winter has been really hard, the weather was bad all days; heavy showers, heavy wind, 

storms and rain a lot have been our partners this part of the year, some days we have found 

frozen mornings while we were working, but now the spring is coming and for this reason, I 

couldn't avoid a smile when I remembered this picture. I have been able to put up with this

weather, congratulations.

 

Pretty cow

Pretty cow is a small cow who is working on the farm. She is very friendly and when I am 

cleaning her “room”, she is always happy and trying to “kiss” me all the time. She isn't really big, but is a good worker and all days has milk good enough.