Friday, May 20, 2011

Spraying Winter Wheat

This spring has been an exercise in both patience and hope. Our farm is one of the fortunate ones wherein, we have gotten in about 95% of our spring crops planted.  As of a few days ago, many farms to the North of us had not been able to get their crops in the ground due to the fields being too wet.  At the bottom of this blog is a picture of standing water in one of our fields to show what I mean.   This has not been a typical year for us with so much rain and it came every few days with very little drying time in between.  
A video of spraying the wheat



Also another view of spraying from the back of the tractor cab.  As of today (Monday 5/23/11) Farmer Joe will be back in the seat of the tractor cab spraying pre-emerigent on the newly seeded garbanzo beans as once they are out of the ground, we can't spray anything more on them, so we know the weeds are coming and will try to get them under control.

  


A view from the window of tractor cab


Standing water in the field
The field above with the standing water was slated for the last 160 acres of garbanzo beans to be seeded, but the field was too wet to do so.   So we will not plant anything on it this spring and when that happens, the farming term is  called  "fallowing", which is simply no crop in the ground for this growing season, the only thing we will do to it is spray it for weeds to keep it weed free and then and most likely seed it back into winter wheat this fall.  The crop rotation on our farm is 1/3 winter wheat, 1/3 spring wheat and 1/3 garbanzo beans.  





Wet spots in the field leave tracks
With all the rain we have had, the fields will have wet spots in them and above is a rut from the tractor as shown above. 

 We are thankful for what we did get in the ground and this is all part of the farming game, we play the best hand we can with the cards we are given at the time.


As always, email me if you have any questions at idahofarmwife@gmail.com.  As a side note, it was interesting to get an email and request for pictures from a farmer/agronomist in Australia, as he wanted to use some of my pictures for a presentation he was giving.  Amazing to think of the world wide reach we now have access to via the Internet.  =) 

Speaking of weeds, the home place has sprouted lots, so I am off to spend quality time with my backpack sprayer too!  As always, hope you enjoy the blog and come back often.  Remember to check out the rest of the pages on the blog for family life on the farm and the recipe section.  Best Regards,  Gayle

Monday, May 16, 2011

My Little Red Tractor

What does a farmer do when it rains? Well, the good guy that I married over 26 years ago finally gave in and brought over my belated Mother's Day gift, as pictured below.  I have loved this tractor ever since I saw it in one of the sheds a few years ago and have begged him to please bring it home.  It will grace our yard as my newest yard art. 
My Mother's Day present
Joe prides himself in finding me unusual gifts and this was one of the best ones, except for my work bench that he got me one Christmas.  So I'm thinking it is really good to be me!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Spring Seeding - A View From The Seat of a Tractor

Garbanzo & wheat planting down at the Tammany Farm last week-  Come take a peek at what the farmers are up to.  Below is a video clip  narrated by Farmer Joe from the inside of his tractor cab.  Long hours are spent inside the tractor during spring and fall work.


 


Seeding garbanzo beans into a "no till" field
Being "no till" farmers we will seed directly into last year's wheat stubble, as shown in the picture above.

A view of the garb seed being planted into the ground


++++++++++++++++++++++++
Wheat Seeding Views
The ammonia truck is filling the tanks on the tractor while the  nurse truck
as seen in the back of the picture is filling the air cart with wheat seed & fertilizer
 The nurse truck has two compartments in the truck which holds both wheat seed and dry fertilizer.

Farmer Jay overseeing the filling of the air cart with seed


A view as wheat seed is being filled into the air cart

The view is of the dry fertilizer that was also filled into the air cart

Even though we were not completely done seeding down at the Tammany Farm, (the ground was still too wet in some areas of the field) the decision was made to move the 37 miles up to the Genesee Farm to begin seeding wheat and garbs

Getting ready to move to Genesee


This is what moving equipment from one area to another looks like when we have to move it via the highway and  it isn't too bad if it is a 4 lane road.  But often times it is a 2 lane road so if you are reading this, remember farm equipment is not built for speed, and to please be patient when you encounter a farm vehicle on the road. :)

As always, hope you enjoyed the blog. Also remember to take a peek at the rest of the pages on the blog. Please email me if you have questions at idahofarmwife@gmail.com.  Also remember to check out http://www.farmnerinc.net/ for other farm blogs and good Ag info. =)

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, whether we live on the farm or urban areas, we all have so much to give and contribute in our own unique ways.