Sitting on Pins & Needles

Greetings! Last week we gained another great son-in-law into our family, and while I'm working on doing a blog about what a farm wedding looks like, I wanted to give you a "dinner plate update" (i.e. crop report).

If your mom was like mine, you most likely heard the phrase “don’t count your chickens until they have hatched” …. And that is why I titled my blog “Sitting on Pin and Needles” because our carefully tended crops are susceptible to weather destroying them in one fell swoop. And are we nervous?? Yes, but always optimistic.

So far, we have received adequate rain and the wheat looks good.....


But it also meant that the wheat was susceptible to a disease called "RUST" and therefore, extra expense was incurred  as we had to have it sprayed by the crop duster to keep it healthy.... click here if unable to view the videos

The crop duster drops a white paper flag to mark where he has been in the field

For all you garbanzo fans, the plants are doing okay, blooming and hopefully producing lots of pods.

This is what a mustard and/or canola crop looks like, bright yellow in contrast to the rest of the various green fields growing around our area. 

Although we don't have hay, here is a short video of it being bailed just a few miles from our farm

By now most of the hay has been bailed and picked up out of the field

Here is a video of the spring wheat as a storm was blowing in.  I was standing on my back deck filming the swaying wheat... watching it is sort of like watching a fire in the fireplace, mesmerizing

While the thunderstorm missed our home farm, we learned this morning that the wind and rain "lodged" the barley that Farmer Joe is shown (below) standing in down at our Southern Tammany farm.  As you can see, it was chest high, now the crop was knocked down to the ground.  Although it can still be harvested, it means that the combine header will have to be ground level and that is not the best as it means the header could pick up a rock, which would damage the equipment. 

Even with the threat of crop diseases and thunderstorms, we know we are blessed, and that many other farmers (even in the very Southern part of our State) and all across the USA have not been so lucky and have had to helplessly watch their crops wither and die in the parched soil.  We have all experienced drought, hail and other crops hazards, so that is why the Farm Bill is a critical part of keeping our farmers with a financial safety net, because in a split second we may have our paycheck completely wiped out by a force of nature.  So as harvest approaches in the next few weeks, we will be anxiously watching over our crops and keeping that eternal flame of hope in our farming hearts as, call us crazy, but we love what we do. 

As always, thanks so much for stopping by and by all means shoot me an email at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or leave a comment.  All my best, Gayle.

We Treat Our Crops Like Our Kids

Crops are like children, they need consent tending and nurturing to turn out right.  Diseases can affect a crop just like a child, so preventive measures help keep both crops and kids healthy.   The progressive farmers of the world look at preventive and corrective measures as a way to ensure healthy crops for optimum results.  It's simply safeguarding your resources.  For me, as a mother, it would be like not inoculating your child against rubella, polio and other diseases that can strike and cripple a human, so why would you put your children at risk? It's the same with crops, we have the resources available to help the plants, so why risk not using them? So that my friends, in a nutshell,  is why farmers use the treatments available (which are strictly regulated by the Food & Drug Administration) to keep our crops healthy.  What does this mean to you? It means quantity as well as quality on your dinner table.   

Due to the recent (and welcome) moisture that we have had over the past 2 months, the wheat around the region is showing signs of a fungi called Stem Rust.  If untreated, this fungi will rob the crop of its potential yield, so farmers will incur an extra cost to get this herbicide flown on by air to treat it.  Joe and Jay had anticipated the Rust showing up and this particular fungus is best treated if you can catch it before it shows up on the wheat blades.  We are not complaining in the least, it is sort of a welcome expense as it means the wonderful moisture should mean a better wheat yield come harvest time.  That really makes a farmer smile! =)

Shown below is brother-in-law, Jay checking one of the wheat fields on the Tammany farm.  Besides looking for rust, we also look for bugs that can also rob the crop of its yield.  So sometimes bi-weekly, but usually weekly checking of the crops is necessary for optimum crop health.

The products commonly used on the farm come in plastic jugs. Pictured above  is Ryan, a high school lad who has been hired to help on the farm this summer.   Ryan is stacking the jugs to be shredded for recycling.   

This is the owner of the shredding machine and that comes to farms all over the region.  

If you want to see more of the small town farm life, take a look at the page called At Home on the Farm.