Friday, June 14, 2013

Stacks of tractor tires

Despite the late date, I'm still working on pulling the tire garden together. I've got a couple more things (mostly beans) to plant, but we're trying to get more components (tires, gravel, tarps) in place for next year as well.

To that end, we're still collecting tires. A friend who works at a tire store in a nearby town recently told me he's collecting an eighteen-foot tractor-trailor's worth of tires for me. Yikes! Where are we gonna put those until I'm ready for them?

But those haven't arrived yet. What did arrive, two days ago, was a double delivery of tractor tires.

If there's one thing I've learned about tires, it's that people are more than anxious to get rid of them. The regional tractor dealership is no different than anyone else -- to the point of delivering these massive giants straight to our door.

Here come the two trucks.


The front vehicle, if you'll notice, has a self-loader unit on it. Whoo-hoo!


Lots and lots of tires, some of them extremely wide. It's our plan to use these very wide tires for fruit trees. Someday.


The fellow on the left is operating the self-loader unit. The guy on the right is directing the hook into the tire center.


This is a whole lot easier than shoving things around by hand!


They were also able to stack them fairly neatly. This is the first row.


More unloading.


But the men had to pause in their operations while Polly ambled by, followed by our quartet of heifers. Can't take a chance of squashing a skittish calf!


Polly stopped to sniff curiously at the truck, but I shooed her along.


The men finished unloading, having stacked the tires in two neat rows. They'll probably stay there until the fall, when we can afford more gravel.


View from inside the barn.


Then off they drove in a cloud of dust. Nice guys.


The reason we're taking so many tractor tires is the potential for various uses is amazing. We can use them to plan fruit trees, sunflowers (we're going to experiment in planting oil sunflowers), and cattle feeders, in addition to fruits and vegetables.

17 comments:

  1. I'd love to hear the oil sunflower results. I've been wanting to do that for quite some time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. fruit trees take time and nuts longer. might want to move them to a higher priority position. read about some unusual siberian fruits that withstand the cold. some catalogs have them.
    deb harvey

    ReplyDelete
  3. Patrice,

    Talk about a truck load!!! Great find Patrice and free, those are the best finds. Can't wait to see pictures of your oil sunflower planting and hear about the results.

    ReplyDelete
  4. When tires set like that they will collect water in the low spots. Mosquitoes love to lay eggs in there.Just my 2 cents. Ron

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm not overly worried about mosquitoes. For one thing, summers are mostly dry around here. For another, we have a whole entire pond for them to breed in, and we can't do much about it.

      - Patrice

      Delete
  5. Just curious, what are your plans for oil sunflowers?
    bkl

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We're curious how much oil we can get by crushing the seeds. Just another homestead experiment.

      - Patrice

      Delete
  6. I worry a little about your having a mosquito problem as even a little water in the bottom of the tires stacked waiting to be used would be a breeding place for literally millions of mosquitos. I know you live in an area with limited rainfall, but it doesn't take much. Could you drill a hole in the bottom of each?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hmmmmmm. Considering getting me some tires. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  8. Just this morning I saw a farm (I'm in Indiana) that had tractor tires stacked 2 high with hay in them as feed lot feeders. I don't know if they were open to the ground but still a neat idea. I immediately thought of you when I saw them.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh yes, very interested in hearing how the oil sunflowers turn out for you.

    Love your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am SO going after some tires when I get to Oklahoma. I'm following your lead Patrice. Request for a future post of all the things that can be done with tires. I bet your oodles of readers have lots of neat ideas too.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am SO going after some tires when I get to Oklahoma. I'm following your lead Patrice. Request for a future post of all the things that can be done with tires. I bet your oodles of readers have lots of neat ideas too.

    ReplyDelete
  12. You may want to be careful with the tire gardens and do some research. I read at some point that using tires in gardens over a time, (not sure how long), leeches too much zinc into the soil and eventually ruins it. The tires I read about were car or truck tires but I believe them to be chemically the same.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please see this link concerning hazards in tires:
      http://www.tirecrafting.com/FAQ.html

      - Patrice

      Delete
  13. If you believe government, mosquitoes are a threat; just like ticks, raw milk, sunshine and the list goes on. Be careful. There are reasons government wants us living in fear.

    We Americans would be better off worrying about feeding and protecting our families when government and civility fails; and they will. I am so grateful that this site shows us how to take care of our families.
    Montana Guy

    ReplyDelete