Spring Work, Weather & the Annoyed Farmwife

This morning I was telling Farmer Joe that I was annoyed by a remark and attitude that a long time friend had made about farmers in general.  Maybe I’m being too sensitive, but I don’t think so as this friend has a little bit of farming in his background (although it dates back to probably over 40 years ago) and he has been around our farming operation, so he should know better.   But when he called to see how we were getting along with putting our Spring crops in, I said we were doing pretty good and just working around the weather. 

A view of just how much tractors have changed over the past 50 years

Farmers, Rainbows and Earth Day



Quite a sight, a rainbow ending in a farm field

A Farmer’s pot of gold lies in what has been planted in their field, so I thought it was a very fitting picture to snap on my drive home one rainy day last week. Not your traditional pot of gold, but for a farmer, we think of each of our fields as an individual pot of gold.

Farming: Getting to Use Big Equipment & Play in the Dirt



Winter wheat looks like a large lawn or golf course

 Spring, it's in the air and the scent of the freshly tilled earth is like no other smell. It's one of my very favorite smells, even as a child I have loved the smell of dirt (so guess I really was destined to be a farmer's wife! =).

In honor of Earth Day (April 22) and because soil is a farmer's most important resource, we  like to think of themselves as the original environmentalists. Here is a YouTube video from a grad student that is so heartfelt and has good points of interest, that I wanted to share the video and the source that I got it from.

Easter Blessings From the Anderson Farm

Easter is traditionally the unofficial start of Spring work around this area here on the "Palouse" which is where our main farm (Genesee Farm) is located.  As we have two farms in different locations, we can usually start about 2 weeks ahead of the main farm as the southern farm (we refer to it as the Tammany farm) is South and a little warmer plus the soil is sandier and drier.  Farmers Joe and Jay along with Cody have been able to get a day in here and there to begin the planting of the spring wheat, and while we would love to be able to start, get everything planted and them move on up to the Genesee farm... the weatherman has not been too co-operative.  Spring weather has crazy patterns so we basically have to be ready to go and work like crazy to get the seed in the ground as the weather can radically change from one day to the next as you will see later on in this blog.......  The videos shown below are from Farmer Joe and Cody as they are in the field planting a hard red spring wheat.  The weather was gorgeous, 61 degrees and sunny.

What Has Agriculture Done For You Today?

What has Agriculture done for you today?  Well I'm glad you asked!   While our Spring work has been at a stand still due to lots and lots of rain, I thought I'd share some really cool videos on what the Ag industry is doing.

First, here is a picture of what many of the fields around our area looks like with lots of standing water on the fields. We have been out of the field now for over two weeks and are waiting for drier weather. =)  So grab that cup of coffee and take a peek at the videos further down the blog.  Also if you are in a baking mood, better check out the Coconut Lime cake too!

The snow has since left and we are pretty soggy around here

I saw this sign on a farmer's fence in rural Washington state and it said, "if you eat, you are part of agriculture" and it is so true,  we are all in this together. 
"Agriculture is one of the few remaining industries that still has emotion in it, These people don't just farm to make a living, they live to farm." A quote from an article from the Hand that Feeds Us. 

click here if unable to view the videos