When I was a kid down on the farm, our go-to innovation was baling wire. It was used for everything that needed to be held together or made "more effective."
Thankfully, Martin knows how to weld and can put down a mean bead in a minute to make his own solution to a problem.
You've seen his pastured poultry pens and the turkey villa. Plans from the internet reworked for our operation, a few pieces of scrap metal, some lumber, a little welding, and voila. Happy hens and contented turkeys.
The clothes dryer in James's house wasn't working all summer – no problem, hang the wet things outside or around the house. Adds some humidity to the place. But, fall was here, and company was coming.
"Martin, we really need that dryer working."
"Okay, I'm on it," he replies.
Then, it's mumble, grumble, groan. After numerous phone calls, "They can't get the nut for two weeks! All I need is one little nut that no one has."
A minute later, we see Martin, with part of the dryer, headed to the workshop. Five minutes later, it's back to the house, then installed, and working.
"What did you do, Martin.?"
Martin emphatically exclaims, "I welded the this to that, and there you go. It works. If it dies again, it's out of here. I've repaired that thing way too many times already."
Out in the field, Martin's mind is at work again. It's been backbreaking for the workers to harvest the carrots - bending over to lift the carrots out of the ground, sort them, cut off the tops and tails, and fill the bags.
This year, Martin had two innovations. He used a stirrup hoe to go over the row, cutting off the greenery and any tops above the ground, which are usually green and bitter. This meant the harvesters only had to cut off the little tail at the bottom of the carrot.
The other change to the carrot harvest was certainly back saving. Martin took an old heavy-duty metal screen used for sifting soil, added wheels, welded on a hitch and some pegs for holding carrot bags, and had a table for sorting the carrots. It worked wonderfully.
When you notice Martin isn't engaged in your conversation, you know his mind is sorting through another problem. At dinner the other evening, he was quite quiet. Then, came out the pencil and sketches on a napkin. When he was done, he had a loading chute and head gate for working with the cattle. The sketch was a scaled-down version of systems that Temple Grandin had designed for efficient and stress-reduced handling of livestock.
Farmers need to be innovative if they're to survive and have any hope to thrive. It helps if the farmer is a master of all trades.
Can you imagine how expensive your food would be if a mechanic or tradesperson had to be called in every time there was a problem?
