It’s Thursday again and I have once again dutifully compiled a collection of searches that led to this blog in the last week. We had a few fun ones this time around like the German tractors. I actually had to do a bit of research on that one 🙂
- German makes of tractors
In case you missed our tractor meet post, you can view it here. We have a video here with about 100 various tractors which were on display. They were primarily Hanomags but there were a few others thrown in as well and even a Porsche. There are over 100 brands of German tractors so I will just mention a few here that are some of the more popular brands.Deutz – In 1864 Nicolaus August Otto founded the engine works N.A. Otto & Cie., later to become Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz AG (KHD) in Cologne, and shortly afterwards invented the first four-stroke combustion engine. Outstanding landmarks were the begin of series production of tractors with a diesel engine (1927), the series production of small tractors (1936), the employment of air-cooled diesel engines (1949), the first “full-view tractor AgroXtra (1990) and the Agrotron series (1995), which redefined the term “tractor.” In 1969, Deutz mergered with Fahr, a farm implement manufacturer. The company was purchased by SAME in 1995.Fendt – Fendt has been making tractors for over 75 years now and the company is now owned by Agco Inc. They make combines and balers as well. In 1930 the first European small tractor was introduced with a 6-HP engine, mounted plough and independently driven mower. For the first time, small and middle-sized farming operations could afford to replace horses with a tractor. The name of the programme was “Dieselroß” (meaning diesel steed/horse).
Hanomag – These are currently some of our favorite tractors. They just have a lot of class and style. Hanomag (Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG) was a German producer of steam locomotives, tractors, trucks and military vehicles. Hanomag first achieved international fame by delivering a large number of steam locomotives to Rumania and Bulgaria before WW I. Petrol engined vehicles followed in 1912 with a line of farm tractors. Hanomags are no longer in production.
Lanz – The Lanz factory in Mannheim, Germany, built steam engines and motor cultivators before producting the famous Lanz Bulldog in 1921. Nearly one-quarter million of these simple tractors were built over the next thirty years. Lanz was purchased by John Deere in 1956. By 1958, the Bulldog was being produced in John Deere green and the Deere name appeared alongside Lanz. By the late 1960s, the Lanz name disappeared completely, although the Mannheim factory is still in operation.
Porsche – The 1934 Porsche tractor design included a hydraulic coupling between engine and transmission; this distinctive feature of Porsche-Diesel engines was used in tractors until the last model produced in 1963. Engineers in the 1930’s believed that farmers in those days were not able to handle a clutch properly when shifting gears…Learn more at this interesting page devoted to all the various Porsche tractors.
If you happen to be near Paderborn, you can visit the German Tractor and Car Museum.
- 2 story farmhouse
At the moment we have a two-story farmhouse…excluding the partial basement which has a small wash room and houses our heater and oil tank for the heater. There is also an attic which we hope to some day build out into our master bedroom. We have yet to decide whether we will take on that entire project ourselves or rely on contractors. Of course since our primary contractor for much of the other work has been very, very ill and hardly working at all, we may not have much choice. Good workers are very hard to find at a fair price. Just for clarification, here is a cross section of the house. You can view a larger version if you click on the image.
- how to grow stevia
From our experience, stevia is very hard to grow from a seed. I’ve talked about this before but I will mention it again. The seeds are very tiny and look like milkweed pods. We planted 15-20 seeds and nothing popped up at all. You also have no assurance that the plants will be sweet which is another incentive to buy “proved sweet” plants. We bought a four seedlings online. Unfortunately we didn’t have real pots for them to be transplanted into and just put 3 of them in cups and the fourth into a real pot. The one in the pot was the only one to survive because they need well draining soil to thrive. But interestingly enough it actually seems that the survivor is two plants so we will hopefully separate them very soon.Here is a picture of the plants now. We have had them now since April 22nd. You are supposed to be able to harvest the first leaves after 12 weeks. We are planning to grow our in the greenhouse so it has the optimum amount of warm. So far they are loving it there.
Plants should grow to about 30 inches tall and 18 to 24 inches wide. The roots grow close to the ground surface and they enjoy a rich, loamy soil. If you wait as late as possible to harvest the sweetness of the plants can intensify but be sure to cover them to protect from frost.Stevia leaves should be harvested in the fall. The leaves contain about 12% Stevioside (one of the sweet factors). The old brown Stevia leaves will contain 8 to 10% Stevioside. The stems contain about 3% Stevioside. The leaves should be harvested early in the morning and dried in the full sun. When crispy dry, store in a plastic bag. Break the leaf with your hands or put them a blender to make powder.
Stevia plants need to be replanted every year because the roots do not develop well the second year. But if you have a sweet plant already, cuttings can be made which you can dip in root solution and plant in rooting soil. When roots have formed after 2-3 weeks you can move them to larger pots.
If you are in the US and want your own stevia plant seedlings, try Stevia-Plant.com. In Germany we buy our plants from exoga.de
- farmhouse attic redo
As I happened to mention earlier, we plan to redo and build out the attic of our farmhouse. We will have a large space for the bed, a large closet and a full bathroom upstairs. The attic is about 30 feet (10 meters) long and 15 feet (5 meters) wide.Here is a blueprint we had made when we bought the house. If you click on the image you can view a much larger version. The little box towards the bottom half is the chimney for the heater. There are also four concrete columns to work around which he left off this drawing and the roof is sloped off course so we can’t use all the space but you can get a pretty decent idea ofour plans anyway.
You can see there is a staircase with a 90 degree angle is somewhat in the middle of the room. When you come up the stairs, you have the view below. This is the area that will eventually be where the bed is situated. The beams above will be removed so we have nice vaulted ceilings. We thought about building a loft up there but we both know we would never really use it.
And this is the other side of the room. To the left of the window will be the bathroom, in front of the window will be a bit of a hallway and to the right will be the closets, running under the edge of the roof slope.
The floor upstairs is old hardwood and brick pavers. We will keep as much of it as possible. There is already a layer of insulation under all of this and the floor is about a foot thick. Insulation and a water protection barrier need to be laid in the roof and then we will drywall everything. We also hope to put in a few beams to maintain the look of the attic and help it flow with the exposed beams in the rest of the house. But we will put new beams there instead of trying to build it so that the old beams show which will just make everything much easier and likely add better insulation qualities as well. This project is at least another year down the road if not more. Not one of the highest priorities…unless we win the lottery of course 😉 - how to make indoor plantation shutters
This is a project that I want Stefan to take on at some point in the future but it’s not really a huge priority at the moment. Our summers do seem to get warmer and warmer here…and they are lasting much longer as well so it is only a matter of time before we are going to need them very badly in the kitchen. Here is our original post about building your own indoor shutters. And the Handyman Club of America has a great DIY article which we will be working from when we finally get this going.
