Posts Tagged With: spring planting

Farmer Brett Birthday Cake

I did not tell Brett it was okay for him to turn eight years old, but he has gone and done it anyway.  Not being given much choice I agreed to make him the birthday cake he wanted.

When Brett turned two years old I got to plan his whole birthday party and choose all the cutest stuff myself.

Farmer Brett Birthday party  {DaddysTractor.com}

I spent hours making an unrealistic but totally adorable toy dump truck looking cake.

Even when he turned five I had lots of design input.

Farmer Brett Birthday party  {DaddysTractor.com}

The official title of this party was “A tractor, A cart, A combine, and Two Semi Birthday.”

But now I have a grown-up farmer on my hands and only the most true-to-life cake is allowed.

I started with two round cakes to make the number eight.  Brett looked and looked at cakes in the shape of a four and five on his Pinterest board, but eventually picked a rectangle cake because it was the most realistic.  My plan was to surprise him with the eight he wanted and the decoration from the other.

Farmer Brett Birthday party  {DaddysTractor.com}

That’s Oreo cookies mixed with chocolate icing and green grass piped from a Wilton 233 tip.  It was super easy since the grass doesn’t have to be perfect!

Then I (thoroughly!) washed the tractor and planter he chose from his collection.

Farmer Brett Birthday party  {DaddysTractor.com}

I wanted all red equipment, to make the cake cute.  Brett wanted the planter and tractor just like Daddy’s.

Planting time on the farm

Our Case IH tractor pulls a John Deere planter– proof that it can be done! 🙂

Reluctantly I added them to the dirt icing,

Farmer Brett Birthday party  {DaddysTractor.com}

and used a toothpick to make the marks in the soil from the row openers.

Farmer Brett Birthday party  {DaddysTractor.com}

This was a bit of a risk because I single-handedly chose to make marks for corn, not soybean seeds, and Brett had wanted to be planting into cornstalks.  Since we plant on a rotational bases, this would mean the planter was planting soybeans, but Brett’s idea for making cornstalks was broken toothpicks.  I told him we could put broken toothpicks on top, but we wouldn’t be able to eat it.

Farmer Brett's Birthday Cake  {DaddysTractor.com}

So I guess we compromised and I think it turned out cute and realistic.  Because believe me, more of our farms are shaped like a number eight than a rectangle!

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Categories: Family | Tags: , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Top 10 Spring Planting

The farm is a busy, bustling place in the springtime!  The kids and I keep busy randomly adding critters introducing productive livestock to the backyard pasture and Daddy, well, we’re always glad when Sunday rolls around and we get to see him!  Some of you may be lucky enough to live on a farm and understand the process of planting, but for those of you who would like a clearer picture of how your food is grown, well, maybe this will help!

Top 10 Posts About Spring Planting

Take a virtual tour of the tractor

Take a virtual tour of a modern tractor! {DaddysTractor.com}

 

Read about the technology the modern farmer uses

a modern farmer

 

See the planter be prepped for field work

How is your food grown?

 

How to grow happy plants

A harvested field {DaddysTractor.com}

 

Preparing the fields

There's more to fall than harvest! {DaddysTractor.com}

 

Ride in the tractor, a video of planting

Planting wheat

 

We can even grow sweet corn!

compare and contrast life on a family farm

 

See how growing wheat is different

growing wheat

 

Starting from scratch, preparing a new field

Using the bulldozer to ready fields for spring planting

 

Why we’re so busy in springtime!

planting time on the farm

 

Categories: Science | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Why We Are Using a Bulldozer for Spring Planting

Tractors, planters, sprayers– all equipment you might think about using when spring rolls around.  But this year we have been putting a lot of hours on Grandpa’s bulldozer in order to get ready for spring planting.

The field just across from our house was pulled from a government program called CRP and the owner wanted to rent it out for the first time in 20 years.  (The CRP program was started years ago as a way for farmers to allow poor production land to rest.)  It was mostly great news for us.  It meant more land that is very close by and a landlord we enjoy working with.  You can imagine the downside if you think of trying to use anything that has been left alone for 20 years!

The field looked like this, all 200 acres of it.

DSC_0125

Using the bulldozer to ready a field for spring planting

So much brush everywhere!

It has been no easy task to get it ready for spring planting!

The landowner used a mower to cut down the small trees.  Cory used the skid steer to pull out the larger brush and Grandpa has been handling the largest obstacles with the bulldozer.  Wayne used the custom cultivator to pick up stray sticks and then whoever is free has been using the tractor and disk to cut up the stalks so the planter and later the combine won’t run into anything capable of tearing it up!

Daddy made a custom cultivator to pick up brush

Daddy and the guys made this custom cultivator last year to pick up brush. The prongs are close together and all along the back bar instead of spaced throughout. You can see how it catches sticks!

Using the skid steer to ready the fields for spring planting

The skid steer can pull small brush and pick up the piles. Because the attachment on the front is shaped like claws the skid steer can shake the dirt from the piles, leaving more soil on the field.

Using the bulldozer to ready fields for spring planting

The dozer knocks down the larger brush and then pushes it into piles

Using the bulldozer to ready the field for spring planting

When the disk comes through it chops up the ground into big chunks, hopefully getting rid of pointy stalks!

Using the bulldozer to ready the field for spring planting

Last the harrow smooths up the dirt, leaving a happy field ready for bean seeds!

The field looks quite different from those first brush pictures, wouldn’t you agree!

You may remember from previous posts that, while this field looks picture perfect its not how we usually farm.  The loose soil can easily wash away leaving our fields without the necessary top soil to grow good crops, plus polluting nearby streams.

Grandpa also added to the farm this year, buying the field across from his house.

Using a bulldozer to ready the field for spring planting

This field connects all four farms, Grandpa’s home, this new farm, our new rental, and the field our house sits on. What a difference in how it looks!

This farm will not be worked at all.  It’s been cow ground for years but we won’t be tearing up the grass or anything.  Instead we’ll simply plant beans directly into the sod.  The first year won’t likely be a great one, but taking care of the soil will have more benefits in the long run.

Because really, we’d rather not be using a bulldozer to get ready for spring planting!

Categories: Science | Tags: , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

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