Bits And Pieces

It was a rather mad dash this week to get the bundles ready for delivery. I took a couple of days off from the task last week to enjoy some family time with games, stories and really good food that I didn’t have to cook.

Since production became a priority, I had helpers in the barn. We wrapped premium (hardwood bundles) and regular (fir bundles) in high gear because I had sent in the inventory that we hoped to be able to accomplish.

The garage was loaded with the finished pallets and the helpers helped transfer the individual bundles to the pickup to be stacked in neatly then tarped for delivery to the individual stores.

Once we had vacated the barn and wrapping machine, Mike tore it to pieces and hauled the important parts down to the valley to the local machine shop. A piece has to be fabricated in order to get it back into running order.

I am out of commission in the bundling part of the firewood project until the piece is made and the whole thing put back together again. The flurry of wrapping with a crew created five empty cribs, so there is no lack of work. Cutting logs in the deck into 16 inch blocks will keep me very busy for the foreseeable future.

This year has  certainly tested our limits for the amount of firewood bundles we, as a small operation here on the farm and as a member of the OWC, have been able to produce and deliver. Every week we are hustling to get enough wood through our system bundled up to fill the pickup for delivery.

The week between Christmas and New Year was no exception but we were hampered with the finicky Twister wrapping bundler machine. It was making more noise than ever and threatening to seize up completely. With the whole family working together, we were able to get enough wood bundled for our order. Then we delivered the orders while the Twister was torn apart.

A huge shout out is in order for our local machine shop, Steve’s Machining. This company has been in business 39 years right on his own farm. This is one of those I places that does not do advertising, has no bill boards or big signage. It is a good thing that people know how to find him because his address can be deceiving. I have always referred to his place as Roy, but YELP says it is a Banks company, has address is Cornelius,  he has a Forest Grove phone number, and it is very country, so a non-resident could be confused. Everyone just knows this is the place to go, most fix-it projects come from farming around the area, specialized BBQ grills, and custom metal decorations, to items that are trucked in from long distances. His yard is currently filled with two oversized, semi-truck box cars that need to be cut in half and welded back together two feet thinner in width in order to be legal to use in Oregon.

Even with his massive work load, Steve was able to fit in our Twister into the cue and even move it up in the rank. Mike was able to pick up the fixed piece and our Twister is back in service, just in time to get bundling the next round of inventory.

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