No, I am not going to talk politics. This is the real manure. We have lots of it.
And with the increase in my chicken flocks we have even more manure this year. And with the gardens shrinking and the hay fields developing I wanted to get the manure out onto the fields this year. 
Specifically the first hay field here by the house. So I went in search of a manure spreader. One of the things I really love about farming in America is the ancient farm machinery one can find abandoned on other peoples farms. And much of it ( if you can identify what it is) can be fixed up and put back to work. 
My friend directed me to this! A manure spreader under a tree! It is old and rotten in places but my co-worker raced back to his workshop for his strong son and a trailer and they hauled it up and out before anyone could change their minds. 
This really is an interesting piece of machinery. 
He will fix it up: new tires, replace the rotten boards, grease up all the moving parts and replace the broken ones. It will keep him busy for a while. Then with a little more luck he will haul all our manure and spread it evenly on the fields. I just might get the chicken’s night houses cleaned out before winter after all!
We have light rain again. Not much but very welcome. 
I am working on a bread recipe using cracked rye and polenta. It is very nice but when I ate it I thought of walnuts – and that taste connection is worth tending, so today I will begin another bread this time adding walnuts. I love nuts and seeds and wait – raisins. Let me think – it has molasses in the recipe – if I added walnuts AND raisins this might elevate the bread to magnificent – it is quite a dense loaf though not dense enough yet – oh wait- I just had another thought – if I then cut a very cold ( almost frozen ) loaf into really thin slices and baked them into crunchy crostinis – then served with cream cheese!? Oh my goodness. I could hit the cream cheese with lemon zest and thyme or rosemary- maybe rosemary.
Oh this is great.
Yes! I will try the crostini’s today with the original loaf. Then make the walnut one.
Dates? Would dates be better? Maybe just walnuts! Ok. The test kitchen is ready for another days work!
Thank you for the inspiration. Off I go!
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
57 responses to “SPREADING MANURE”
*smile* I go so far back that ‘Big John’ and ‘TTT’ have become the ‘co-worker’ and the ‘strong son’ ! ‘The Tall Teenager’ obviously no longer is one . . .but has he left the army and come back to the farmy for good? As far as manure goes there is no way you can produce more of that than the other stuff going around . . . and unfortunately that one has no beneficial actions whatsoever for you or any of mankind . . .
The men around here prefer not to be discussed but I hear you the politics – they are changing the green card rules now- just as I am about to apply for a renewal – throwing everything into a void again- as usual : new requirements but no new staff to handle them. It is going to be interesting – expensive and interesting
May things go the way you want and need them to go . . . potentially ‘interesting’ is a ‘pale’ word to use . . . best !
It sounds like something called Boston brown bread, but with yeast or sourdough as leavening. Google Boston Brown Bread…the one my mother made had some cornmeal in it, molasses and raisins and walnuts. Delicious with cream cheese.
Aha! I will
Find it! Thank you!
Manure and bread in the same entry.
One major difference between using your ‘new’ spreader loaded from the manure pile and the ones who spray ‘slurry’ is the difference in the smell… Slurry has an atrocious stink and lasts for DAYS where, by comparison yours would be absolutely sweet and yes, gone in a couple of days; )
OH this is a good one!
I love old farm machinery!
Love the pictures. Love the topic, as only a gardener/farmer can!
Yep, Miss C! I’m serious about the bread! Just let me know when you’ve perfected that wonderful recipe!
I know sweetie but organic bread is not made to travel like that – you would receive a green loaf!
Sorry! Didn’t think about that! I’ve been out that way several times – train, bus, plane -…..I’ll just have to pay a visit to you and the farmy “folk” in an automobile. And I’m serious about that, too! Green bread – sounds like something Dr. Seuss would dream up to go along with his ‘green eggs and ham’! Have a great evening, Ceci !
I don’t mean to change the subject . . . but do you happen to know what those pines in the background are?
My family lived on a farm here in Kansas when I was little. My parents weren’t farmers but my dad restored things. He would buy old farm machinery like this and fix them up. He always finished them with new paint. He did beautiful work. I haven’t thought about that for a while. I wish I had pictures.
I wish you had pictures too!!