Inch by Inch, Row by Row...

Inch by inch, row by row, it's time to get these crops to grow!

April means planting season. Due to all of the rain *Praise God!* we had a slight delay on planting. Usually, the crops are in the ground mid-April, but this year it was later. Planting is a really interesting process because all of the crops can be planted using the same machine and changing the plates and rate of seeding.

Sugar Beets

The first crop in the ground is sugar beets.

To prepare the planter, Boots must first choose the correct plate. The plates vary on size and help drop the seeds through the planter. Then, he programs the rate at which the seeds need planted. After that, he deposits the seed into the planter basket and adds additional fertilizers as needed. The fertilizers are held in the tanks on the tractor and are applied as the seed is deposited into the ground. Finally, he is ready to plant.

Planting beets

Checking all the hoses

Bah helping check seed bins

Beet seed

He does make dirt look good

Corn

One of our main crops is corn. Corn is planted in bedded rows. On sprinkler-irrigated sections the rows are not as defined, but in pipe-irrigated sections, the field must be ditched first to allow the water to flow down each row.

As the corn seed it put in the planter, talc is added; the talc keeps the seeds from clumping or getting stuck in the machine.Much like with beets, the fertilizer application process happens while the seed is planted. This helps feed the seed and boosts germination. The kids enjoyed watching the floating balls that let us know if a nozzle is plugged. Thanks to modern technology, we were even able to watch a family movie (The Incredibles) while in the cab of the tractor.

Boots checking fertilizer

Ready to go

Boo watching the fertilizer

GPS and a movie

Soy Beans and Edible (Pinto) Beans

A planted field of beans looks very similar to a planted field of corn, but the plates are slightly different. Check them out:

Photo courtesy of John Deere

Pumpkins

Pumpkins (and gourds) are planted using a sunflower seed plate. They are also spaced further apart by planting every other row since they have large vines.

Sorting varieties of pumpkins and gourds

Off he goes

Comments

February Festivities

This is the first weekend in a while where we haven’t really had anything going on, so the kids and I went crazy with the crafts and activities! Valentine Boxes First, we made the girls’ valentines boxes. Bah wanted a Valentine Monster, and Boo (of course) wanted a pig. I saved her pig from last year for almost the entire year but a little before Christmas she wanted to play with it and Bubs destroyed it. So we made a new one. They turned out pretty cute, and I love that as the girls are getting older they are able to help more. Valentine Gift -Denim Pouch After that, we decided to get some sewing in by making pouches as Valentines for our cousins and friends. We cut pieces of old denim and sewed them to create pouches. Then, the kids cut shapes and letters out of felt to personalize them. This project was much faster than I expected, so we even had time to make bath bombs. Valentine Gift - Bath Bombs My kiddos all love bath bombs or bath fizzies, and they were excited ...

With a chick, chick here...

I think I may have gone completely crazy. We just added FOUR more animals to our brood. Yes, you read that right, FOUR. Now, not only do we have a dog, a pig, and two turtles, we also have four chickens. Bah is an animal lover - through and through. She is the pig whisper, worm charmer, and bug catcher. She has been asking for baby chicks for a few weeks now, and I kept telling her we had enough to keep us busy and didn't need any more animals. Then, her cousins got baby chicks and she (in her own words) just "couldn't stop thinking about baby chicks!" So after Boots and I had a long talk, we decided that maybe chickens would fit in fine with our little zoo. His reasoning was that he likes giving the kids responsibility and teaching them about where their food comes from. They know better than that food comes from the grocery store, but since we are not raising cows or meat-pigs, they do not have first hand experience with food-to-table animals. Therefore, w...

A season to be thankful

Now that Pumpkins and More A-maiz-ing Farm is closed for the season, we seem to have more time on our hands. With extra time, comes reflection. Each year, we try to begin the holiday season by getting into the spirit of kindness and generosity. This year, I decided to start a thankful tree. The process was really quite simple: 1. Get a branch from the yard 2. Find a large vase 3. Strip kernels off Indian corn for filler 4. Cut roughly 100 leaves from construction paper 5. Gather something to hang the leaves (I used fishing wire, but twine or ribbon would work well too) 6. Put the branch in the vase and use the corn to hold it in place Our Thankful Tree - the beginning Now each day, we will write something we are thankful for on a leaf and add it to the tree. By the end of November, our tree will be full and so will our hearts remembering all of the blessings in our lives. What "thankful" traditions have you started with your family? UPDATE: Trying to get caug...

Family Farm Fun

Search This Blog