Welcome to the Hillside Farms web site. This web site is an on going project devoted to the many things I like. Contained here is information about the farm and operations. There is also the History of Hillside Farms which dates back to the 1830's. This includes historical, biographical and written accounts from previous owners over the years. There are also old farm pictures that were left to my wife from a simpler time. I hope you enjoy them.

     Recently I purchased a Coltri MCH-5 CNG compressor. This purchase was based on the results of testing my Hybrid Fuelmaker C3 unit in which I transplanted a Nardi Atlantic Scuba compressor head into a Fuelmaker C3 chassis. When using dirty well gas, a wet sump compressor has drastic advantages over a dry sump Fuelmaker compressor. If your natural gas supply is from your home and not a gas well, stick with Fuelmaker compressors. However if you are using well gas, a wet sump compressor is the way to go. The Synthetic oil bath, of these compressors, will coat all the internal parts, which protect the metal surfaces from premature wear. Also the MCH-5 will save you money, consider that the MCH-5 will pound out nearly 2.4 GGE which fills my CNG Cavalier in 2 1/2 hrs.That equates to 2 1/2 hours of 220v instead of 7 hours with a C3 or 14 hours with a Phil. Click here to check out my Coltri MCH-5 CNG compressor install, write up and actual usage tests. One of these compressors may be the last one you ever have to buy.

Right when you thought the drill'in was done. . . . . . . well here we go again. With in a year of redrilling and refracking our existing gas well, Pennico Oil & Gas was back for an oncore performance. This time they are drilling a new well on the back side on the property. The entire project lasted three months and included building a new roadway back to the site, site prep, drilling, fracking, laying down a gas line on the left side of the new road and laying down a 220 line on the right, installing dryers, piping, oil tank, brine tank and setting up the pumpjack. When it was all said and done, there was 1000 psi of natural gas at the well head and oil for all. At the same time a larger oil tank had to be installed at the original well. The guys at work have started calling me Jed Clampett.

  This web site also shares space with The Little Metal Shop a place where I design and fabricate my many projects. Some of these projects are detailed on this site in an effort to help others the fabricate there own gadgets instead of having to buy them. I hope some day to make a small business fabricating specialty equipment for home brewers. The tough part for home brewers is finding someone who will fabricate and TIG weld stainless steel parts for their brew kettles and fermenters without breaking the bank.

     Oh Yah....you guessed it. I'm a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, big time. I love every thing Steelers. I even have a room completely devoted to the Black -n- Gold. It started out at my old house and found a new home here in Plum Boro, PA. It is a continuing work in progress and may never be finished. If you get a chance, check out My Steelers Room. I will be updating it from time to time. In January of 2009 my pool table received a new playing surface. It is special made high-quality gaming cloth by Imperial International. Jet black with a Steelers logo in the middle....sweet. I recovered the table myself and it was a tough job. Felt covering is a piece of cake compared to cloth. It took two days and many beers to complete.

     Well....Well.....Well, we made it back to the big dance. After a two year hiatus, the Steelers have returned to get their "one for the other thumb"....sweet. Even sweeter is the fact that I got to go and I documented "My Most Excellent Superbowl Adventure". Check it out if you get a chance. This has been a tough season with the NFL stacking the deck against the beloved Black -n- Gold giving them the toughest regular season schedule of any NFL team. Here are just a few facts about the 2008 schedule. The Steelers played almost half their games (seven) against teams who advanced to the playoffs and a few others (Dallas, New England, Washington) who narrowly missed the postseason. Only three of the teams on their schedule this season finished with losing records.The "Cinci Bungles", the Clev Brownies" an the "Jacksonville Jaguars". You can view the NFL final Conference Standings for the 2008 season HERE.

      Well the poor old gas well began losing output in 2007 and you know what that means. That's right less gas and smaller royalty checks. In May of 2009 the drill boys came back and you knew there was going to be trouble. Pennico Oil & Gas decided to redrill/clean out the bore hole.This was needed to remove mineral deposits that had built up in the the bore shaft and choked off the gas flow. Then they "refrack" the well. "Refracking" or hydraulic fracturing is a method used to create fractures that extend out from a borehole into rock and shale formations. The fractures are then filled with a propellant of sand, water and other chemicals. The opened fractures now allow gas to flow out. Well guess what, during the re-drilling process an oil seam was breached and now Hillside Farms is doing oil. In the above picture, my wife applied her artistic talent to the brine and oil tank. I took over 1000 pictures of the ordeal and paired it down to 175. Click " Here" to view the pic's.

     One evening I was sitting on my deck relaxing while listening to one of my favorite Pink Floyd boot leg recordings, "The Bell Gets Louder". As I finished off a quart mason jar of Yuengling Lager, I noticed the clanging of my C3 Fuelmaker in the background. Well I realized the high pressure stage was going and it was getting close to pulling the compression module and sending it to Utah for a rebuild, when all of a sudden I had an epiphany. It was like a double shot of Jack Daniel's with a Nyquil chaser. Pure genius, just pure genius. I realized at that point that I needed to refill my industrial size suds holder in order to clarify my thought.With that I conjured up the idea of transplanting a scuba tank compressor head into a Fuelmaker C3. The first thought that ran through my head was Dr. Frankenstein. What a great way to whip the CNG Nazi's, who flame me for my PCV Natural Gas Dryers, into a absolute frenzy. You can check out the Hybrid C3 here.

     When you are home brewing beer, an important piece of equipment is your fermenter. Most brewers us five gallon glass carboys. I don't like carboys, they break easy, tricky to clean, you have run siphons to separate the trub from the beer, ahh I just dont' like them. So I decided to just make my own Cylindro-Conical Fermenter. This is one in many of my beer contraptions. I will be posting more in the future. Hope you enjoy the project.