When we got to the garden beds it took a bit of work to line the oxen and the slip scraper up with the top of the beds so it could be emptied. Once filled to the desired fullness the handles are returned to their normal position and the oxen continue forward pulling the now loaded shovel to its final dumping place. This winter I found a few books about oxen that we read, and one of them introduced us to the term slip scraper or buck scraper. The question always seems to be which will be "finished" first, the boys, me, or the garden row.ĭuring the winter months we spend time in the evenings reading history in one form or another to the boys before they go to bed. While the boy's are big enough to wield a shovel, and push a wheelbarrow, one loaded with compost is still beyond even the oldest one, which means that job usually falls to me, with Kit taking his turn when he is home. If the "compost" is dry, then it's tempting to get overconfident and fill it more than is healthy. If the "compost" is too wet from recent rains we must remember not to "fill" the wheelbarrow, because we won't be able to budge it from the corral, let alone push it uphill over rough terrain, across the driveway and down the garden rows. There is also a bit of guess work involved in filling the wheelbarrow. Pretty sure that anybody who lives on their own homestead doesn't bother to own a gym membership! This entails the use of shovels, a wheelbarrow and the willpower to conduct a full body workout for hours on end. Having the ox team haul the loads of firewood made a hard job "fun" for all the boys.Ī spring chore that I insist the boys help me with is shoveling out the winter build up of "compost" from the corral for use on our garden. Not that they haven't endeared themselves to me already by hauling six cords of firewood out of our woodlot without me having to lift a finger. I mentioned at the close of last winter that I had some ideas to keep the ox team earning its keep throughout the spring.
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