While we wait for the ground to dry out and harvest to kick into high gear I’ve been using my new camera (the old one was dropped one too many times!) to capture the beauty in my own front yard.
As we drove to church yesterday I noticed the balconies on a set of apartment buildings. Small platforms, maybe 4 x 6 feet where families store a bicycle or two, maybe a potted plant.
Making me very grateful.
Farming is more than a career.
It’s a lifestyle.
And a pretty amazing one at that.
There is something quite scary on our farm! And I’ll warn you; its a little gross too. So if you’re brave enough to keep reading, here ya go!
I told you. Gross.
But don’t worry. Nothing is actually wrong with any of these chickens. Believe it or not, this is actually healthy and normal. Well, normal for chickens. I still think its just scary looking myself.
These ladies are molting. Most chickens do this in the fall; they drop old feathers and grow new ones. During this time they stop laying eggs and put all their efforts into growing new wardrobes. And well they should because this look is really just disturbing.
For comparison sake, here are some non-molting pics.
Nice, sleek, smooth with full tail feathers and, well, clothed necks. This is how chickens should look.
But this time of the year?
Well, chickens are just scary.
Yes, I can see that it is fall. There are pumpkins on my counter top and apple cider in my fridge. But I promise, it really is planting time. For wheat anyway.
This is the field behind our house. Cory is using the drill to put the wheat seeds into the ground. It was so windy and the dirt is so dry I couldn’t get a great photo of the equipment, but here’s one of the drill planting beans in the spring.
It may look a lot like our planter, but a drill is quite a bit different. To a farmer anyway. A planter precisely places seeds in the ground. A drill is for crops that are much less picky about their conditions, but no matter how you put them in the ground, these wheat seeds need to be planted in the fall.
The weather man says its going to rain next week, which would be great for our wheat crop. Ideally it needs to be planted in cool temps, but with enough time to grow a little before freezing weather hits. The field will hopefully sprout green in a few more days and then be ready to go dormant when the snow flies. Some wheat needs cooler temps than others, which is why you’ll hear of wheat being grown in states like Montana. Other types are fine here in the Midwest– mostly in Kansas. 😉
Wheat is one of my favorite crops and I love having it grow in the fields around our house. It will be among the first signs of spring and long before our yard looks lush the wheat will be several inches high.
I snapped this shot on March 27, 2012.
So harvest continues. Hand in hand with planting.
Hi! I'm Kelly, a busy farm wife and homeschool mom. On this farm we don't have time for complicated, so these are my straight-forward, real-life adventures on a farm that grows food for your family. Climb on up and take a ride in the tractor to learn what we do everyday.
Daddy's Tractor 