Spring planting report

[Mobuck]

WE'RE DONE. And not a minute too soon (my point of view). We didn't have any major stoppages but certainly our share of 'could have gone better'. Son had taken on more custom work 20 miles from home thinking it was opening the door to even more rental land in the same area. That turned out to be a 'bait and switch' run around in which we were planting 2 and 3 acre food plots with a 12 row planter. THAT won't happen again. Somewhat fortuitously, my older Grandson came by on his way home from end of college and stayed 5 days to help out.
The weather cooperated allowing us to work around Son's work schedule although he did put in some long evenings after I'd called it a day. We finished the last field that contains our annual 10 variety yield test plot just before dark last night.
The planters are still hooked up but sitting inside until we have more time to squeeze them into their offseason storage spots. I put the seed tender back in it's hidey hole this morning. There's a good chance of a shower tonight which would be just dandy.
Son and I were planting from both sides toward the middle of one field and I noticed he was standing up in his tractor cab videoing me out the back window as I trailed his planter by 20-30 feet. Yeah, GPS auto-steer is great when it's working properly.
We didn't see any fawns but I did run over a turkey nest.:oops: The hen jumped out between tractor duals and planter frame.

 

[turd]

Good for you. Any issues with fertilizer? I know diesel fuel is higher, don't know how you can make money anymore.

 

[Mobuck]

Our fertilizer was pre-paid and fall applied so we dodged a bullet on the recent price escalation. We were low on diesel fuel but Son found guy going out of the business and bought a 500 gallon tank on a trailer with 400+ gallons of fuel in it. Kind of a chore pulling it home but saved $?K on the overall cost.
Soybean seed(especially in 'unit' 120-140 K seeds per bag) sized bags is hard to get right now in my area. Many farmers have shifted to bulk (40 unit) bags and mechanical seed tender type machines. We have a bulk seed tender but also order several small bags for fill in or running just a little bit short.

 

[eveled]

Glad you got the planting done, now you can relax.

 

[Mobuck]

^^^:rolleyes:Son called today with several plans for post planting 'downtime'. A while back, I'd started a project to allow the obscenely heavy timber harvester to cross the creek because it's far too heavy to cross the field bridge. Son says we're going to finish construction and move the 'mat' made of salvage materials. I don't think he understands that what I've already constructed weighs over a ton.

 

[krw]

What is a Timber Harvester?

 

[M118LR]

What is a Timber Harvester?

A timber harvester cuts and bucks the trees so that you can drag them out with a skidder.

 

[krw]

I am expecting some version of a 'Hydro Ax'. Articulated w a Hydraulic cutting head. BUT, if it is an issue to get a 'Timber Harvester' across, the bigger issue is continually skidding logs back across.

 

[Mobuck]

I am expecting some version of a 'Hydro Ax'
Correct.
No real intention to harvest logs. The primary use will be falling an abundance of 'junk trees' that are encroaching on pasture land. I also have 20 acres of cottonwood timber that was allowed to grow under a Federal program that ended in failure. There is no longer a market so that timber will be cut, piled, and burned.
Son's plan is to use the harvester for 2-3 years and resell it.

 

[M118LR]

Sounds like it's X-mas tree farm time to me.

 

[themousethatroared]

WE'RE DONE. And not a minute too soon (my point of view). We didn't have any major stoppages but certainly our share of 'could have gone better'. Son had taken on more custom work 20 miles from home thinking it was opening the door to even more rental land in the same area. That turned out to be a 'bait and switch' run around in which we were planting 2 and 3 acre food plots with a 12 row planter. THAT won't happen again. Somewhat fortuitously, my older Grandson came by on his way home from end of college and stayed 5 days to help out.
The weather cooperated allowing us to work around Son's work schedule although he did put in some long evenings after I'd called it a day. We finished the last field that contains our annual 10 variety yield test plot just before dark last night.
The planters are still hooked up but sitting inside until we have more time to squeeze them into their offseason storage spots. I put the seed tender back in it's hidey hole this morning. There's a good chance of a shower tonight which would be just dandy.
Son and I were planting from both sides toward the middle of one field and I noticed he was standing up in his tractor cab videoing me out the back window as I trailed his planter by 20-30 feet. Yeah, GPS auto-steer is great when it's working properly.
We didn't see any fawns but I did run over a turkey nest.:oops: The hen jumped out between tractor duals and planter frame.

I'm starting to really envy everyone who talks about having enough land that they can't even see their neighbor's home from their home. I'm not far from you, and facing a different set of setbacks.
We grow tomatoes, hot pepper plants, and a couple horseradish plants, in about 75 buckets. We give away 200+ pounds of tomatoes to the neighbors every summer; mostly Goliath Cluster, Goliath Regular, and Goliath Early, grown from seed. It gets to the point during ripening season that some of our neighbors run the other direction when they see me carrying bags full of tomatoes toward them.
We got a new neighbor a couple years ago who threw up a fence across our property, and she insists on mowing half of our front yard. She started sicking the property maintenance inspector on us, and we are now in court fighting the county. The reason: The moron claims buckets are "rubbish" and can not be outside. On the stand, he could not find the definition of rubbish in the code book, or anywhere the code prohibited buckets outside of buildings, but he swore the county told him that is the rule, and trained him to "know rubbish when he sees it". Our lawyer then forced the inspector to admit under oath that the neighbor filed this and not less than four complaints against us, that he has met with her more times than he can count to cooperate and participate in her campaign of harassment against us, and all hell broke loose in the courtroom when he was asked if he was sleeping with the three foot tall toothless crack whxre.
This was two weeks ago. The hearing for a rubbish ticket took an hour and a half. The judge wants 6 weeks to render his decision. The county says they are broke. We're starting to understand why.

We didn't plant seeds this year, and are now running around to nurseries buying plants.
We did get 21 pretty good looking volunteer tomato plants that grew on the dirt/compost pile, but we have no idea what kind of tomatoes they are. I'm hoping for at least one cluster plant so I can make tacos.
We don't know if the judge is going to tell us to rip them all out and thrown them away in the second week of June.

 

[M118LR]

Wonder what happens if you plant them in plant pots instead of buckets?

 

[themousethatroared]

Wonder what happens if you plant them in plant pots instead of buckets?

The prosecutor's argument was that the definition included "boxes" and "cartons", and that these items are the "same as buckets". That would stretch that to plastic and clay pots. There is no actual prohibition on buckets, or any list of what you can and can not use as a planter. I have seen people put flowers in a toilet in their front lawn, which is pretty funny.
The list in the code includes metal, wood, ash, clay shards, broken glass, rubber, coal, and something called excelsior. That's wood shavings used for packing fragile items before they invented Styrofoam packing peanuts. The rule was written sometime around the 1850's and is intended to prohibit early industrial revolution manufacturing waste products, but they are making crap up and using this section as a catch all for everything not in the book that they want to go after. As it is being applied, plastic or clay pots would be prohibited, as would trash cans, bbq grilles, lawn chairs, picnic tables, patio umbrellas, mail boxes, fences, bird houses, swing sets, wading pools, a lawn mower, and you couldn't even park your car in your driveway.
The code actually says these things are also banned "within any structure", so they are arguing to ban buckets everywhere in the county, as well as hardware stores where they are sold.

 

[M118LR]

Looks like it's Topsy Turvy time.

https://a.co/d/0hjxlVYh

 

[Mobuck]

" I have seen people put flowers in a toilet in their front lawn, which is pretty funny."
Our county seat town is having a turf war against the local slum lord over the use of old porcelain toilets as 'lawn ornaments/yard art'. The woman has 12-15 properties all of which are 'decorated' with commodes filled with plastic flowers. ;) :rolleyes:

 

[blume357]

Got a toilet in our lower lot right now. Sitting beside the dumpster of debris from the home repair.. If I had a plastic flower arrangement I'd put that in it for now. I'm thinking about moving it over to beside the Little Free Library I built for the neighborhood. The Library survived Helene the bench I had beside it did not. I may do that today while working on the garden and take a picture for y'all.

Oh, and Mobuck: thanks for keeping us fed and from going hungry

 

[Mobuck]

the 'average' American farmer feeds 160-170 people.
This a bit misleading because the 'average' American farm is quite small. The make up of farming enterprises forms a pyramid with very small (under 40 acres) farms comprising the base and each layer of larger enterprises is exponentially smaller. National Agricultural Statistics Service publishes data based on farm size and type of production. I was a NASS state level supervisor for several years and based on size of operation, there were often 50-100 farms under 80 acres for each 400-500 acre operation and 40-50 of the 400-500 acres farms for each 1000-1200 acre operation.
A 40 acre 'farm' is basically a subsistence unit IMHO unless it's producing a specialty crop. 400-500 acres isn't self supporting (meaning outside income is necessary for continued operation). 1000-1200 acres is a 60 hour a week job for one man. More than that requires hired labor.
What I'm getting to is: although statistics says the 'average farm' feeds 160-170 people in reality that number is much higher because the number of farms that barely produce subsistence changes the potential production for sale/trade.
I'm proud of what I do and even more proud that this is my 60th year in production agriculture. :)

 

[Mobuck]

5" inches of downpour last night. Approx 20-25% of the just planted acres on my home farm flooded. Son hasn't reported on condition of the north farm(s)--it's a 25 mile drive to find a bridge that isn't under water.

 

[kentucky yeti]

Already done? Nice!!!!!!! We are barely started. The corn has been planted, of course. We still are waiting for the wheat to finish curing and maturing so we can harvest it, and then start planting that 4800 acres in beans. How many acres total do y'all plant? Do you plant beans only, with no crop rotation? Hoping for the best for you with a rain that big on freshly-planted ground.

 

[Mobuck]

Yeti, we plant soybeans as early as soil temperatures allow. This year, we got snagged up in a corn planting cluster flap 20 miles from home that set us back a full week. May have been disguised good fortune as that week would have the soybeans here just breaking ground and surely ruined by the flood.:unsure:
We only plant around 400 acres of row crop--the custom work is on top of that. This is mostly hill country--pasture and hay ground. Small fields, difficult access, narrow roads, and weak bridges limit just how much can be managed. Last year, we switched planter brands to allow bulk seed filling and easier folding for transport. No more lifting seed bags or time consuming filling each row unit. No more hassle of manual conversion from field to transport of the planter(s). My previous planter required 2 people and 1/2 hour to transition from field to transport but the replacement takes 2 minutes and is handled from the tractor seat. Our seed tender handles two bulk boxes so 80 acres of seed per trip.
It sure would be nice to get into some good ground with long rows and no terraces/waterways. I could just push the button and read a book while the GPS auto-steer does the work.:whistle: