Farmer's Strive for Perfection

There are some days I wonder how I earth I was lucky enough to meet my husband's high standards and get to marry him.  I mean he is very particular about A LOT of things.  Let's take the new planter for example.  Here it is the day it arrived.

Isn't it a beautiful blue piece of expensive machinery?  We actually bought it brand new, which we do not do very often.  We usually lean toward the gently used equipment, because just like a gently used car you can save a ton of money.  Now, most would think that it would be ready to go to the field and plant the next day.  Right?!  Well, not for my wonderful husband.  There were some of these wheels that he didn't like and had ordered new ones.  (Remember it had never been to the field when we did all of this.)

The planter arrived about a month after it was scheduled to on the Saturday before Easter.  (We won't go into how stressful it was wondering if we would have a planter to plant the corn for a month.)  On Easter Sunday, my parents and aunt came for lunch.  While most people would sit back and relax, watch the kids play games and just enjoy the beautiful day, my dad says, "So what does the planter need before it goes to the field?"

That is why we all ended up at the planter.  We had to take the white wheels off and put the black ones on.  Two wheels on every row.  32 rows.  I'll let you do the math.

My 76 year old aunt even got drug into the shop and given a job.  Doesn't she look thrilled? LOL

Lining up the bolts and the washers my aunt handed him...

The new wheels back on the planter.

The box the wheels came in was pretty big. My mom and I are pretty short, so the 7 year old climbed in the box to hand them to us.  Everyone was in on this, except his big brother who was smart and went to play with his horse.  My dad and I were there.  Honest!  We took all the wheels off and ran the impact wrench (I'm a regular Rosie the Riveter), but no one else was amused by taking pictures so we have no proof that we were there.  :)

The planter got to go to the field and try out the new wheels.

And then he realized he didn't like where the fertilizer tanks were located.  (Here we go again...)

-A Kansas Farm Mom

Common Knowledge or Science?

Another question from one of my Facebook followers and I got My Farmer to help with the answers!

Lisa asked, "First, let me say I am completely farming illiterate. I would really like to know how farmers know when to perform the functions of farming (ie: planting/sowing, harvesting, tilling, not tilling, burning a field, watering). Is it all passed down from generation to generation, or more trial and error? How much stock do you take in the Farmer's Almanac?"

First of all I want to say that I am so happy that I have those of you that are "farming illiterate" following me on Facebook and reading my blog.  That is exactly why I do this.  If you haven't noticed, I don't sell advertising on my blog which means I am making no money doing this.  I spend the time writing, so you know where your food comes from and how it is raised and if you have a question I can help you find a honest answer.  So thank you for following me especially if you don't know everything about what we do!!

Some of what we do is passed down from generation to generation, but honestly today most of our decisions are based on science and research.  Some decisions are somewhat personal preference and what works with your labor force and mindset.  Let me explain and try not to bore you to tears.

Let's start with corn planting.  Corn is one of those crops that is very dependent on temperature above and below ground.  We try not to plant corn until the soil temperature is at least 50 degrees.  If the soil is cooler than that, the seed will not germinate and will likely lie in the soil and rot.

Tilling and not tilling.  This is one process that is probably determined more by tradition than anything else.  We practice no-till farming which means we do not work or till the ground at all before we plant the next crop.  There are a couple other farmers in the area that farm this way, but most still farm similar to the way their fathers did.  My farmer has a degree in Agronomy and believes it is best for the health of the soil, earthworms and soil microbes.  We also see the benefit in reduced chemical and fuel usage.  

Harvesting.  The basis of determining when to harvest a crop centers around the moisture content of the grain and not the actual plant.  When grain is harvested and stored in a elevator or grain bin it cannot have excessive moisture.  Simply put it will spoil, large fans and heaters can decrease moisture some but there is no substitute for wind and sunshine to dry a crop.  Farmers must also harvest their crops before they get too dry.  If the grain gets too dry, it will shatter out and fall to the ground before the combine can harvest it.  This is good for the field mouse, but not the farmer.  -The Farmer

Burning.  Most crops do not require old dead material to be removed by fire; however, there are a few grass crops that can have tremendous benefits to having the old material being removed. For instance in the tall grass prairies of the Flint Hills, fire has become an important tool in managing encroachment of brush and trees.  These prairies developed under centuries of fire in their ecosystem.  Only recently has human intervention disrupted this process.  Now we have more residences in rural areas that need protection from wild fires and with these homesteads come fence rows, shelter belts and other areas that provide seed to infest native prairie with trees.  -The Farmer

Watering.  We personally do not irrigate our crops actually there are very few in our area that do, but my friends in California irrigate their almond trees.  Would you believe that their computer tells them when to turn on the water?  They have sensors buried in the ground that tell them when the ground is getting dry and tells them when and where to direct the valuable water. 

Farmer's Almanac.  To be completely honest, I don't remember the last time I read a Farmer's Almanac.  The Farmer and I were in a store the other day and laughed at the number of options there were for an almanac-I think there were 5 different ones in one store.    

I hope this answers your questions, if not ask me some more on Facebook.  I need some help on what to keep writing about.  I have ideas, but would love to answer your question if you have one!

-A Kansas Farm Mom

Kindergarten Farm Day 2012

The Farmer’s cousin and I planned a fun filled day for the Kindergarten kids at our local school.  It is one of those things that you get to be in charge of when you are a farmer and you have a Kindergarten student.  Here are some pictures from the day.  I even made the front page of the local newspaper showing the kids a wheat field!

The Farmer’s cousin did a great job showing the kids his planting equipment.  He even started the tractor and drove it a little so the kids could see how it worked!  Some of them jumped when the tractor started.  LOL

 

He also showed them his combine and tried to explain to them how it worked as well.  For those of you that don’t know.  The header cuts off the wheat, then the wheat is ran over rasp bars that breaks the kernals loose, then a fan blows the light chaff out and finally a set a “screens”  lets the heavier wheat fall though while the lighter material is sent out the back of the combine.  That’s it ….in a nut shell.  LOL

My mother-in-law talked to the kids about how wool from sheep is spun into yarn and used to make clothing and blankets.  Doesn't she have a great display?

My father-in-law graciously accepted the job of supervising the petting of the sheep.  The lambs are our oldest son's 4-H projects.  The kids like the feel of a lamb’s wool.

The Farmer talked to the kids about corn and soybeans.  He had an awesome backdrop of a corn field.  He had soybean plants that had been planted at different intervals so the kids could see how a legume grows.  He also had a table full of products that are made from corn or soybeans.  These products really intrigued the teachers.

Mr. Responsible, our 4-H member, and my dad talked to the kids about cattle.  They showed them the 15 month old heifer and a 3.5 month old bottle calf that are also 4-H projects.  They talked about what they feed the calves and how he takes care of them.

Finally, the host and I talked to the kids about wheat.  They even had a wheat field close that the kids could look at.  I also talked to the kids about the various products that can be made from cattle other than beef…this might be a subject I cover during wheat harvest when I am too busy to write something else. 

The funniest response of the day was when I asked what was stored in this big round thing (aka a grain bin).  One kid actually said,  ”Chicken Nuggets!”  I guess my job an ag educator is safe for a little while.

I was even crazy enough to follow the kids back to school to do some ag crafts with them, with the help of some unbelievable friends and my mother in law, that never complained and helped all day!  Here the kids are painting with soil.  The Farmer’s cousin found this great lesson, but couldn’t get off work.  Thanks to our local Farm Bureau rep (also another Kindergartener's mom), the kids still got to paint with soil and modge podge.

 

The Farm Bureau rep (Wow!  She was a lifesaver!) also came up with this cool idea to make grain mosaics.  Here, three of the boys work on their mosaics.  She and I are ready to do a lot more of these.  It was fun, looked cool and was relaxing to do. When we get ours finished I will be sure to post pictures.

I played a game with the kids about how cows find their calves by scent.  I had 20 tubes with 10 different scents and they had to go find their calf.  Needless to say, after helping 60 kids try to find their calf 2 different times, I am not sure my nose will smell right for a while.

I also talked to them about how everything they eat comes from the farm.  We went through the label on their snack and were amazed by the number of commodities we found.  There are at least 10 different commodities in a package of Zinger snack cakes and they don’t have any nuts!

This week in review Pictures:

The wheat continues to turn more golden every day.  Anyone want to guess when
wheat harvest will begin?

The corn is continuing to grow and is enjoying the sunshine and warm days.

Soybean planting started this week.  The boys and I took a snack to the field
after school.

The soybeans are being planting by our drill instead of the planter for
various reasons to be covered in a future blog if you are interested.