Category: Business of Farming

Tractor’s Farewell

As our Cat 45 headed down the road and we said farewell
I took a deep breath and reminded myself it was just time to sell.

She’s worked our dirt for 22 years, at least 10 times over
Getting fields ready for grass seed, green beans, wheat and clover.

She’s hooked up to many harrows, plows and disks
Even in tough conditions she always pulled, taking all the risks.

A few years back we dressed her up a bit and gave her auto-steer
But at the end of the day even that couldn’t justify keeping her here.

She’s broke down, been cussed and kicked more than a time or two
But she still got washed up to be put away for winter, cuz that’s just what we do.

A new hydraulic pump to end her last season on our farm
Her last winter getting parked inside our barn.

It’s funny this feeling of being attached to a machine
But these pieces of equipment have always been a part of my dream.

For those of us who measure memories in acres in the heat of the summer;
You know these treasured moments between just a tractor and just a farmer.

Memories of kids sitting next to you learning all the ropes.
Knowing for a fact that having them want to sit there gives our legacy a little hope.

It was our last rolling stock with big tracks and my grandpa will probably roll over in his grave.
Except that little D2 parked in the lean too there, I’m afraid that one we are gonna to have to save.

I may have had a tear as the kids said goodbye and wished her adieu
See you down the road old friend, I hope your new farmer takes good care of you.

Obligatory family photo.
My brother Kyle and cousin when we first brought her home.

I also posted a video of me reading this poem. You can find it on the NuttyGrass Facebook page or by clicking here for a direct link.

Removing Older Hazelnut Trees

I wrote last week about how we planted some new trees to replace some of our oldest orchards. Feel free to catch up by reading….“Replacing Older Hazelnut Trees”.

This week I thought I would show you how we are actually doing that work of tree removal. As farmers we often have a lot of equipment, but we don’t always have the “right equipment” for every job. So what we have in the barn often times changes how we go about a project.

For our farm we have our excavator, bulldozer, and a very hot fire. With these tools we completed this job pretty much done in a few days. I say “pretty much” because the weather turned on us mid-project and we had to take a break to let things dry out a bit.

Here are the very complicated, very long steps of tree removal…
Step 1: Knock the trees over with the bulldozer.
Step 2: Start a very hot fire.
Step 3: Drag the trees to the burn pile.
Step 4: Put the tree on the very hot fire with the excavator.
….and voila!

As you can see the process actually really is very simple. Our goal here is to try to touch the tree as little as possible, because every time we do it costs us money in efficiency loss.

Now if you want to start an actual controversial orchard conversation we can chat about variety to plant, how or when to thin double density plantings, how to prune, or what spacing to plant. But you better have a comfy seat, and a lot of coffee or a lot of beer, because those discussions will take awhile!

Replacing Older Hazelnut Trees

We decided to knock down a block of our orchards where some of our oldest hazelnut (aka filbert) trees were. We removed these Barcelona hazelnut trees last year and then planted the new variety last week.

We probably could have chosen a drier day, there was a lot of mud, but in Oregon we know how to work in the mud.

We planted a newer variety from Oregon State University called Polly Os. First the trees were planted and then we added a bamboo stake next to it. The bamboo, once tied to the trunk, gives the tree more strength against the wind and gives birds a place to land (if they land on the new tree it can break off the top).

All we have left to do now is add some mulch around the base of the tree to conserve moisture and add tree protector to provide protection from sunburn and chemical burn.

While it wasn’t an easy decision to take out trees that have been there since 1990, it also was equally not as fun to keep heavily spraying and pruning for the Eastern filbert blight that we continually battled. At some point we had to make a decision, and I’m glad we made it before our costs outweighed our yields.