New Flax Retting Tank

I bought a giant stock watering tank today! I was tempted by the 300 gallon tank they had at Amherst Farmers Supply, but I settled for this one.

new tank

In case you can’t read the blurry number, it’s 100 gallons! It is twice the volume of my current tank. I am very excited. Obviously it’s not for watering animals, it’s for retting flax.

Our cat likes to get into baskets, tubs, and tanks, and we like to take photos of her doing it. Here she is in my 50 gallon tank back in the spring when the grass was still green.

Pippi in tank

I decided to see what the appeal was, so I got into my new tank. And it’s really fun!

MP in tank

Plus you can see how truly ginormous the tank is. I can fit a lot of flax in here. Ironically, the first batch I am retting in doesn’t even fill it halfway. It is last year’s flax from Bramble Hill Farm.

2011 Bramble Hill Farm flax on July 30 2012

I decided to finish up with last year’s crop before starting to ret this year’s. Here it is filled with water and weighted down.

2011 Bramble Hill flax in retting tank July 30 2012

It’s been stored in two big plastic bags in the car all winter. They must have gotten nice and warm in the sun this morning, because the Pippi decided they made a comfy bed.

Pippi plastic bag bed