Our Dad has been talking about someday going to Israel. On Sunday we went to Bethlehem… we did a concert at Bethlehem Lutheran Church. (It is a small country church by Outlook, SK.)
We got back around midnight! Thankfully we beat most of the “Roughrider” traffic (Grey Cup in Regina that evening). This is some of our instruments by the door, waiting to get cleaned up.
Our water had been off since the night before so Jesse is a blur because he is quickly getting water from the truck for the night. (Sorry about the photo, I got it from Mom, you’ll have to forgive her, after all, this is one of the first times she’s used the camera on her phone!)
This statement from James 4: 14 is so true: “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow”. Last Saturday Dad was working quite late. When he got home he heard our pump running. It didn’t seem to be stopping, so he decided to go investigate. The pump and pipes were all very hot, so he turned off the pump and he went back up stairs. But then came a dreaded sound. poufshhhhhh. So again, he ran down the stairs, and lo, and behold the water intake line had burst.
We suspect that an air leak in the system caused an air lock. When the pump was turned off the water in the house then applied pressure to the warm pipe, causing it to break.The next morning we woke up to a limited water supply in the pressure tank. By the time we went to church, there was no water left other than in our Reverse Osmosis tap. Fortunately, we had a program in the evening on Sunday (posts upcoming about that), but we still had to develop a system to wash hands. Josh’s system was to run out the deck door in bare feet, and wash his hands in snow:)
On Monday and Tuesday, the plumbers came back and forth and finally, we think, things are back to normal. Note the new check valve which replaced the shut off valve Dad used to stop the flow of water into the basement.
When Josh first built the carrot washer in 2011, it was powered with an exercise bike. It was quite hard work to operate and sometimes a very slow process due to the belt slipping...but it sure beat washing carrots by hand in big tubs of coooold water! The boys dumped the carrots into one end of the washer which was slightly elevated. The carrots tumbled down to the other side while being sprinkled with water by a perforated metal pipe attached to a garden hose. At the opposite end, the quality control guy was cutting off the ends and spots and filling up trays. This process was usually repeated 2 or 3 times until the carrots were “spotless”.
In 2012, with increased carrot planting, Josh outfitted the carrot washer with an electric motor and chain drive (the box on the side). He also added a dumping chute, tray shelf, and strengthened the barrel. (Pictures taken in 2013)
This year (2013), the last carrots were washed 2 days before it snowed!
A picture from the shop roof. This is part of the carrot patch before it was dug!
Digging the last few carrots! It was difficult digging them out of the partially frozen ground… a tough year on digging forks, we broke quite a few!
Jesse spraying carrots down before washing.
A cooler of carrots ready for sale!
More carrots! We got tons of carrots this year! We still have some sorting and bagging to do as we get time!!
These two carrots weighed over 5 pounds when they were dug, but have lost some weight due to storage.
Hello, my name is Micah Derksen. I will probably be the main updater for this blog. My goal for the blog is this verse: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8 (KJV). I hope that you will be blessed by this blog!
