The dog days of August weren't dull, at least, and thankfully not as hot as July. In fact, I really shouldn't complain, but might anyway.

Although, by this stage it's at least equal parts rejoicing that I'm through with some significant projects. I've spent more time on mechanical stuff this summer than I care to recall. I've never been particularly enthused with grease monkeying, and only do it as a matter of necessity. When you've gotten back into farming on the cheap, it kinda goes with the territory, though. Especially when your neighbor who ran an independent shop (Classical Gas Repair) specializing in machinery repairs and the non-computerized end of the spectrum sold his place, moved, and retired.

Fortunately I can still utilize his consulting services, which comes in so handy. Besides, I miss talking to the guy.

So although my calling lies somewhere far from NASCAR, the best teacher I ever had was my high school vo-ag teacher, Van Shelhamer. The guidance counselor told me I should be taking "college prep" stuff, but Conrad's tech ed program was beyond outstanding and I'm always thankful I ignored his advice. It didn't hurt me in college, either, except I'd already had all the basic ag stuff so majored in skiing and flyfishing until switching to Ag Business.

Van covered the practical skill spectrum, not just mechanics and welding but carpentry, drafting, animal science, range and soils, and we had fun at it too. Well at least us kids did! In fact my senior year we won the state ag mechanics contest, and placed 11th nationally. Yeah, I know, it's not like American Idol or something, but still...

So besides my regular "job" I pulled the tranny and finally got Cody's cherry '76 GMC working right. And then resurrected our heirloom '52 Ford F5 grain truck. My Dad bought it in '53, and I have a photo of myself in it at 3 years old, and my children likewise. Alas, we'd blown the engine (a gutless 6-cylinder, a bane of my youth) during harvest two years ago. This spring, I'd bought a '52 F3 on eBay, with a remarkably well-preserved flathead V-8, and finally got around to making the swap. So, anyone out there want to buy the pickup, which would make a dandy hotrod/restoration project? I've even seen 'em used as "decoration" around some of these fancy new places that go up around here.

And then I had some tractor engine issues, likewise solved with much-appreciated advice, and then my combine transmission went out! Yes, curses, wailing and gnashing of teeth, etc. But at least I have learned the value of transmission jack rentals, and with as little trouble as one can realistically expect on these sorts of ventures, was able to pull the transmission and ascertain damage is minor (a couple of bearings out). I'm leaving that repair to Churchill Equipment, though. A fella's gotta know his limits.

Beyond that and time spent on bookings, buffalo robes and skulls, and web stuff, the other project du jour remains our oilseed press. In fact, we made the news today, or at least got mentioned on the MSU website.

The article is mostly about a related project of Joel Lindstrom's, working with some engineering students on a fuel "reformer". Nice choice of words!

Our path crossed Joel's through near-uncanny, small-world circumstances, as usual. He graduated from MSU with a masters in Mechanical Engineering back around the turn of the century, and promptly got on with Leonardo Technologies. They have long-standing contracts with the Department of Defense for alternative fuel research. During his college days, though, Joel spent a summer haying on the Flying D Ranch, and had remained in contact with Fred Daniel, the farm manager. He knew they'd raised some camelina last year, as did I, and was out there discussing the possibility of cooperating on a biofuel project the day I called to let them know Brian and I had a press and maybe we could all work together on this thing.

And, it's turned into a mutually beneficial thing, a win/win all around, it's agreed. Initial test results indicate the numbers on even the raw, unfiltered oil look promising. Now we're pre-filtering it which removes much of the "goo" that keeps particles in suspension, although even the raw stuff was settling out nicely over a few days. Now it'll be quicker, though. And, time we run it through Joel's state-of-the-art filter, it'll be as pure as it gets.

Plus of course the oil can almost be viewed as a mere byproduct, it's the press cake that holds the immediate benefit as a top-end livestock feed, with exceptionally high protein content, not to mention those healthy high Omega-3 oils. The stuff is a hit with all the critters who've tried it so far!

I've been running the press again on my own stuff the last couple of afternoons, and daresay I'm starting to get the hang of it. It's not like playing the violin, but it's not totally intuitive, either. Luckily Joel came across a Danish publication that's translated at least somewhat better than the Chinese one we were going off at first. I'm getting quicker at metric to 'merkin measurement conversions, and after Google tells me how to convert Danish currency so I can analyze their expense data, we'll know even more.

That's waiting till next month, though.

What a week... Got our oilseed press running, not to mention the combine and the rest of our custom cutting operation, such as it is, and even went on vacation! Well, for almost 24 hours, we did, and it sufficed nicely. Has to, but that's OK.

My wife forcibly abducted me from the harvest field yesterday afternoon about 5:30. We're cutting for Brian Goldhahn, organic oats recropped on camelina stubble, and although I could, don't want to elaborate on that tonight. Fortunately Brian's son Dustin drives combine in extreme hills just fine, and with prior warning of my absense took over with aplomb, I trust.

After an extremely good dinner last night at Ferraro's, this morning we met friends for the breakfast buffet at Chico Hot Springs, ranked right up there with breakfasts anywhere. After touring around the Paradise Valley and Livingston a bit, we were immediately successful with birthday shopping for my daughter's upcoming 21st, thanks to the recent Best of Bozeman poll. And then I took the hounds for a run and simultaneously ascertained my horses are feeling good about themselves. For a 24-hour vacation, that'll do.

Perhaps the most interesting project from last week was finally getting our oil press up & running. Brian and I both grew camelina, a promising "new" oilseed last summer, and partnered on a press this spring. Besides our own production, we had other interest in using the press, and so the prior weekend I successfully cannibalized a baler PTO drive, and it was time to make oil.

Oil, and press cake, as it turns out! We knew that, but now we're more excited about it than ever. Above, we have the participants in an extremely interesting experiment, with able assistance from the three Goldhahn boys, from top; Dustin, Cody, and Tyler on the shovel. Analyzing the press cake output is Joel Lindstrom of Leonardo Technologies on the left, and Brian Goldhahn on the right.

This was the second day, when things were starting to show promise. Monday, we'd began with recommended starting settings from this "sort-of" translated manual, and promptly plugged the thing tight! At least now we know the slip clutch in my improvised drive works. We're told this is a rite of passage one must endure, and that one should fully disassemble the press first to understand how it all works. We had taken the screw out, but long before we'd hoped had to strip it down way beyond that, laboriously removing individual little machined plates that must be aligned "just so".

It was about then that Joel proved his worth one of many times by noticing that many of the 300 or so tiny openings on each plate were plugged by your basic black crud, Chinese manufacturing filth, painstakingly removed with picks and profanity.

The next morning we backed things way off beyond the recommendations, and within a couple of bags had things warmed up to where the press cake was coming out just right (an infrared surface temperature sensor is real handy) and the oil began to flow like we knew what we were doing.

This was a relief, as Brian was hosting a tour of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education board the next morning, which the oil press was a most worthwhile addition to.

Joel is firing off the initial oil samples for testing. It's clear filtering is called for, and fortunately that is one of his areas of expertise. In fact we should be able to filter it to near state-of-the-art levels, and we'll see where that goes...

For the moment, the immediate bonus is the press cake. We knew that, had been told, etc., but now have the actual product on hand. We're looking forward to lab analysis, but know it's a real high-end livestock feed. Brian's cattle, sheep, and dog certainly gave positive initial reviews, and I'm looking forward to high Omega-3 eggs, among other things.

This coming week we expect to put a noticeable amount of oilseeds through the press, get the filtering experiments running, plus of course continue harvesting, ship buffalo robes & skulls, and who knows what else.

At least I'm glad it's possible to take a 24-hour vacation more or less right at home, around here. Even when work is as interesting as ours, a fella needs a break once in a while.