Category: Crops

Photo Friday…A New Crop

We are adding a new crop to our list of things we grow for this coming year. Red cabbage for seed. So we spent a good chunk of this week and last preparing the soil and getting it all planted.

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And it’s no small job. We worked the ground 3 times, applied lime, irrigated, worked the ground 2 times, sprayed a pre-emergent (photos below)

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Worked the ground 2 more times, irrigated again…then finally planted! Once they were in the ground we again had to spray and irrigate one last time.
Now we just have to keep the soil damp so the seeds come up quickly and watch for bugs that can eat you crop as it pops out of the ground.
Now that I’ve written all this out I think this new crop is not in the easy to manage book of crops to grow! But we think it will be a good rotation on our farm, stay tuned for more photos as we take care of our newest crop!

Drones for Farming?

A few days ago I met up with a group of farmers to see a demo of a drone in use from HoneyComb.  Drones have started to gain in popularity for their ability to look at your fields with an efficiency that is pretty incredible.  We walk our fields very regularly, looking for weeds, trouble areas, fungus, slug damage and other issues that might come up.  This takes a lot of time, and your ability to walk an entire field, every square inch to see all those areas is pretty slim.

IMG_1166IMG_1163Although this technology is still new in regards to the types of information it can provide, I have no doubt that the extent of information is pretty limitless.  The key is getting information that will be useful while at the same time saving you and your bottom line.  We were joking that it could be used to scare geese off fields, joking mostly, but just might be another application.  HoneyComb has some great articles and examples of drones in use on their Facebook page as well.  Click HERE to check it out.

IMG_1156With the drones that we saw demoed on Wednesday it would take only 15 to 20 minutes to cover 50 acres completely.  Then you wait for the information to be uploaded to a server and sent back to you with information about your crop.

IMG_1158It’s pretty incredible and something that we have been hearing more and more about.  And people say that farmers aren’t embracing the wave of the future??  I think not!

Photo Friday…Geese at an All You Can Eat Buffet

I think it’s aboot time for these Canadian geese to head home!! After just a few grazing hours in our clover field this week they did a ton of damage!

20140425-103242.jpgOn the left is our beautiful tall green clover, on the right is where the grazing happened, leaves totally gone and lots of stems remain.

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It still amazes me how fast they can eat through a crop. But when it’s you and 3000 of your closest friends, bulking up for a trip north, at an all you can eat buffet…let’s just say I don’t think they care that it’s our livelihood they are consuming!

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I think they got to about 15 acres before we scared them off. So I guess here’s to hoping they leave soon aye?!