What's New at the Farm - 5/07/08

WHAT’S NEW AT THE FARM?
5/07/08 BLM



The weather is cooperating so far, but more wet weather is forecast so we’ll see. If we’d have a few sunny days with a light breeze we could get back into the fields and do some ground prep. Luckily we did quite a lot last month so we’re still in good shape. We plowed most of the Albion farm that we’ll have in crops this year and some we won’t. We also plowed one isolation field and hope to get on the others soon.

The farm crew was busy on Tuesday pulling the last field of plastic that we didn’t get to last fall. That was down to Jack’s field, but it now commonly called Dave’s field. Seems Jack sold it to Dave hence the name change. There was a family of foxes watching all the activity with some interest in what was going on in their field. Usually there are several families of woodchucks out down there. I bet they’ll be shier this year than last!

To continue on from last week’s column about isolated fields I’ve already told you about Jack’s, ah Dave’s field that we rent. I rented that field the year of the summer drought; perfect location; away from people with gardens, has water available for irrigating and sandy soil that has no rocks in it. I could drive right to it without any problems getting stuck. Well, all that’s changed now. There’s standing water in much of the original field and no, you can’t drive through it now. Nor will you be able to until the middle of the summer once the hay is cut and removed from the balance of the field. It is a great location however and the landowners are pleased that we are using it. Johnny’s has a good reputation for their wise land use with the people of Albion.

We also use the “Higgins” field which used to be owned by the Higgins but now is not. We still call it the Higgins field anyways. This field is 3 ½ acres close to Johnny’s farm. It’s good soil with a few rocks and some ledge but is close by and a nice location to work in. You can watch the traffic go by while you’re working in this field. There’s a small pond nearby so we can irrigate if we need to.

There are still a few fields I haven’t mentioned but that will have to wait. The sun is out, the breezes are blowing and I’m headed out to the field.

Until next week, Brian.