Committed to Agriculture while Respecting the Earth
It was a lovely day to stroll through the yard looking for more signs of spring. I find that when I’m walking around with my camera in hand, I look at things totally different than if I had left it in the house. It’s good to get a different perspective of things every now and then!
Grab your cameras, go for a stroll, and look for something so wondrous fair! I’d love to see what you find…link to your posts in the comments, if you like!
I love walking around the yard after the snow melts, looking for signs of spring. Yesterday, I went out and looked at my rhubarb, and was excited to see some leaves poking through the mulch. This morning, I took my camera along with me on my walk. I not only found the rhubarb had grown a lot in yesterday’s warm sunshine, but the grass is starting to turn green!
Jonathan and I both love the changing seasons. Spring brings with it hope, freshness, renewal. We are looking forward to the start of our cropping season in a week or so – weather permitting. Until we can finally get out in the fields, I will rejoice in the green blades of grass, the growing rhubarb leaves, and the birds singing me awake every morning.
Happy Spring!
I love when Jonathan surprises me with flowers. I love it more when he brings home flowers during the dark days of winter, when I am longing for signs of spring. The flowers in this bouquet have been making me happy for two weeks now. Not bad for a $5 mix from the grocery store!
On April 29th, we started seeding fields of wheat as well as fields of barley and peas. We raise a few varieties of wheat based on the needs of Albert Lea Seed House, who we raise seed for. This means we need to clean out the grain drill and the seed tender between varieties. We like to use a ShopVac® to get as much seed out as possible from the inside. We save the unused seed in case we need to replant a wet spot, or we’ll use it as part of a cover crop mix.
After the insides are vacuumed, we need to drop the trap door at the top of every seed tube. There are 60 seed tubes on our drill. I know that, because I count them every time I drop them.
After the seed is emptied, I make sure each meter trap door is adjusted correctly for the type of seed we are using. Wheat seed is set with the narrowest opening, field peas have the medium opening. If I don’t get the openings set correctly, we’ll either lose a lot of seed, or won’t get the seed planted at the rate we want. In this photo, you can sort of see the little lever I’m grabbing to drop the seed. That same lever is the one that sets the width of the opening.
Once the tubes have been emptied, and the levers are on the correct notch, we are ready to refill. The drill is brought out to the field, switched from transport mode to field mode, then we are ready to load it up with seed.
More farmers are now using a mini-bulk system. Each mini-bulk bag holds the equivalent of 40 bags of seed, which saves on labor and paper bag costs…and for me, this year, chiropractor costs. The bags are hoisted up by the forklift, and dumped into a seed tender wagon. The seed tender has an auger system that is powered by the tractor’s hydraulic system.
After the seed tender has the right amount of seed in it, we pull it to the field with the tractor. Not a job I’m particularly fond of, but sometimes you just have to put on your big girl panties and do it. I hate transporting equipment on the tar roads, mostly due to the impatience of other drivers. If everyone slows down, and gives farm equipment plenty of room, all will be happier.
There are times when we still use small bags, depending on how much of that particular variety we are going to plant. For those situations, we drive the pickup – which has been loaded with the seed – out to the field. The end gate is about the same height as the walking platform on the back of the drill, so carrying bags from pickup to drill isn’t too difficult.
After we get the drill full of seed, Jonathan can start seeding.This brings up a question that I asked when I was still a new farm wife. Why is it called seeding wheat? When we use the grain drill, we use the term ‘seeding’. When we use the corn planter, we use the term ‘planting’. Soybeans can either be seeded with the grain drill (we call it solid seeding the soybeans), or planted with the corn planter. We plant our soybeans with the corn planter, because that is what works best for us. Just like everything else, different farms have different things that work for them.
Some of the photos above were taken at night, and some in the morning. If we were close to finishing a field, Jonathan would push it a little so we could get done with that field. There were a few nights of little sleep, but we got it all in before we received a nice rain. As of Mother’s Day, we can see the first wheat fields starting to show a green haze. One of my favorite things in spring is seeing the seeds pop, and the fields slowly turn green. (The photo below is barley, but the wheat field looks very similar…the barley was across the road from the house, so it was the easiest to photograph.)
I love how quickly the landscape can change when the sun gets a chance to heat things up a little bit.
This photo is from April 25, 2013:
This photo is from April 26, 2013:
Both photos were taken from the same field driveway just to the north of our yard. The first one was taken from the van, the second one was taken on my walk…that I went on in shorts and a short sleeved shirt.
The guys are busy getting the planter ready, and I’ve received my spring assignment. If everything dries well this weekend, I will be out running the field cultivator next week! I can’t wait!
Look for photos and commentary on my spring in the fields…when we finally get out there. In the mean time, I’m going to be thankful for the first warm weekend since October.
Taken April 19th after yet another snowfall.
With yet another winter storm headed for Minnesota, I thought I’d share two photos. The first is from April 15, 2012. The second photo is from April 14, 2013. These are both taken from my front yard.
Over the last 72 hours, we have received between 15 to 18 inches of snow. We’ve had snow in 6 of the last 12 months here. Sigh. Typically we are getting the spring farm equipment out of the machine shed, and making sure everything is ready to go once the fields are dry.
Not this year! Instead of spending time in the tractor we use for preparing the seed bed, Jonathan spent time in the tractor used for clearing snow.
While he was busy clearing snow, I was getting ready to make some of these delicious little treats. Jonathan brought back this box of Beignet Mix from New Orleans when he was there with our youth group last summer.
I made a few, and decided I needed to practice my food photography a little bit. You know, things that help you stay sane on yet another snow day.
The good thing about spring snow storms is the fact that the snow will melt into the thawed ground instead of just running over the top. We can really use the moisture here, so we’re trying to be thankful. To be perfectly honest, though, I can’t wait until I see this out my window:
We started seeding our small grain this week – field peas, barley, and wheat. You could say that I am Jonathan’s pit crew. Our drill needs to be folded up into transport mode to go down the road, and unfolded once we get into the field. It is a two person job, so whenever Jonathan needs to move to a new location, I get a call. I also help him load seed into the drill when I am needed – usually when a lot of bags are used as opposed to the mini-bulk system which involves a grain wagon and auger system. After the first two days back out into the field, I have learned a few things…
Even though it is a stressful time of year, learning to balance the farm wife part of my life with the mom and housewife part, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I may not have the fastest pit times in the neighborhood, but I’m working on it!
