Olympia - the Tiller

One of the jobs Leeann left us whilst she was away was tilling the pasture.  She advised that there were some 2inch stones, I mean Rocks. I rang two places to get advice about size and cost

"9 horsepower rear ting tiller sshould just about do it"?

arriving at Lew Hire in the toyota pickup/ute/truck the blacktshirted dudes help me out. One struggles to fit my long drjving licence  number into his (designed for US licences) system whilst the other drives the tiller onto the truck and gives me a quick lesson.  It turns out they dont have a 9hp one so i get the next one up for the same price ie 12hp

"Should pretty much stay where you leave it" he says reassuringly. We set off driving gingerly back to the house the 25 minutes it takes. Esme is still loving first time front seat.

I then set up the ramps at home and off it comes after starting it up. My first impression is how slowly it goes. So patience as I wheel it to the pasture. Open the gate, onto the pasture and off we go.  After 5 minutes its clear to me this is going to be hard work. And take ages.

they say successful horseriding is about marrying two brains, one human and one mammillian, and this wasn't much different.  It soon became clear that I'd only by luck managed to avoid underspecing the machine. As this one struggled with the dryness of the land, the slope, the uneveness and the large stones, some 4 times the size of 2inches. The tiller had a mind of its own that was for sure

above is the before shot (far side of the gate)

you cant really see the slope here but this is going across the slope. So as its a 'rear' tiller the spinning cutting bit is at the back. My illusions of wet soil and tractor style ease of ploughing were soon lost.  If i attacked a bit from the top going down the hill then if the tiller hit a stone or a solid area of earth then the back of it would buck up in the air and the whole thing would jump half a meter down the hill.

If i tried to go up hill (better as the backwards pressure was on the blades), then the front tyres would not be able to drag the beast up the hill. So i'd have to lift shove, coerce it up the hill

after being initially terrified the chickens soon realised that the newly turned earth was a bug loaded zone and they all came out for their pickings

So if i tried to go side to side across the slope then this would be ok but when the wheels his soft earth that had already been ploughed it would veer downhill away from the patch of ground i was trying to hit.  So i had to learn to allow for that, so it became a bit like crown green bowling, aim to the left or right of what i wanted to hit and then i might hit it.  

Another tactic was to turn off the movement of the wheels but keep the blades spinning and then just hump the machine around to ensure that certain spots were hit. This all worked ok inbetween digging out large stones. Round sea worn stones, (This area must have been underwater at some point)

But when it was all done it was very satisfying to see a pasture transformed

Xxx

Ps. Unfortunately Sarahs dad Steve died on friday evening. He was 79. Sarah will be coming back for the weekend in about ten days time for 3 nights before rejoining me and the kids who will stay in Portland. Thx