Open Transaxle Surgery

"Currently on the rebuild bench: Tecumseh Peerless model 840A 5-speed transaxle from a John Deere 170 lawn tractor."

The JD 170 In Traction

The dynamic trio delivered the John Deere 170 to Berry Tractor Medical Center. The transaxle finally crapped out and Kennedy offered to attempt rebuild it for me. In the words of the tractor whisperer. "Everything is off and out of the way, so now it is time for the transmission to come off."

They May Not Make a Gumbo...

I may have forgotten the pumpkins but the deer didn't. The baby fruit is not harmed, yet. I have watered them but I don't hold out much hope.

The okra however is doing awesome. Yet another little victory in my wayward year of the garden.

The eggplant may still surprise. I threw it off the deck half dead. I just saw it this morning and it may have a bloom or two on it. That is still a long way from fruiting, but hope springs eternal.

One More Producer

Finally, got a cucumber. Makes feel almost successful. I planted corn, zucchini, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, and okra. Harvested some corn, lots of tomatoes, a decent amount of zucchini, a cucumber and still hoping for some okra (got a late start on all of it). The eggplant had a lot of blooms but nothing viable. Maybe I'll get off to a better start next year.

Moral Victories

I have never successfully grown corn on my own before. This is the extent of my corn harvest for the year. The corn is nice sized and edible. Since there were only five stalks and one got taken out by hail, I think we can call this successful. I'll put another picture up when I shuck it all.

Growing Sweet Potatoes: Organic Gardening

http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/sweet-potato?page=0,0


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Check 1,1

July 16 09:00

The Farmer

The John Deere Tech

Ken came up yesterday to work on the the 170's brakes. He got to the point of figuring out that they are really messed up. Hopefully cogitation and computer postings will shed some light on the braking issue.

Thunder Cracking Around the Place

We are having some serious thunder and lightening and joking rain. Last Thursday we got some serious rain and hail. Not much damage, but we did lose some corn. The tomatoes are doing decently despite a blight going around. Two thirds of them are surviving until they get on the plate.

First To Bite the Dust

Pulled up the zucchini today. They were not maturing and rotting on the vine. The last bloom I saw was about a week ago. Til next year on the zucchinis. No relish this time. At least we had some bread.

Andrew Elkins