I hear this a lot when talking to people who aren’t farmers. “Why are you so busy right now, it’s not harvest.” or “I bet it is nice to not be so busy, it’s not like the crops are growing right now.” And while yes, both of those things are true. I more often talk to farmers this time of year about how truly busy we are right now. While the crops might not be springing out of the ground with the colder winter weather, we take this time of year to learn more, walk fields and see what’s going on, catch up on industry news, and sometimes take time to play too.
This week alone I have a meeting or sometimes two almost everyday. Today is my day off from meetings, so I’m getting payroll done, paying bills, checking on fields, getting a crew started working in one of our fields, organizing chemicals, picking up more for our next dry day, and looking through the endless pile of paperwork on my desk.
One of our fields that we are going to have to kill off because the slug damage is too severe. We are working on trying to find a new crop to plant this spring so that this land isn’t a total loss this season.
It might not sound like much but trust me, it’s enough. The rest of the week is filled with a GMO speaker, county farm bureau meeting, hazelnut grower meeting, state farm bureau committee meeting, local farmer meeting, ryegrass grower meeting, all with a week ending in a little more play at a chamber of commerce dinner for farmers. I am not complaining though, I really do enjoy getting together with people from our industry. There is always something that you can learn and take away that will be a benefit to your farm. So while we aren’t out in the fields for 14 hours and working 7 days a week, this time of year can be just as busy; just a different kind of busy.
NuttyGrass 