Category: Farm Photos

Still in the Orchard

Well folks…I’m still out here.  Getting closer to done everyday, but still here for now. 

I took a few photos of what we are pruning on our trees. Our goal is to make them look more like a tree first of all (hazelnuts like to grow as a bush naturally) and secondly we are pruning to get growth. 

Before:

And after:

These trees got very stressed their first year due to a very dry and hot summer.  So we are now going in and getting rid of a lot of the stressed wood and making room for lots of growth. 

I promise I will have more to post on rather than just trees soon…hoping to be out of this orchard soon!  

On another note it looks like we are getting a pretty good stretch of spring weather coming up!  So hold onto your hats…there are going to be farmers running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to catch up!!  Which means lots of stuck tractors in muddy fields, lots of impatience, lots of longs days…but man it’s sure going to feel good to get out in that sunshine!!!!!!!  

Personally I’m looking forward to not wearing 17 layers by the end of today! 

Happy Friday!

Well…it’s still raining in Oregon

Well we are still waiting for the rain that hit in October to stop.  Sheesh this has been a frustrating fall, winter and now spring for farming.  I’m hopeful it will turn around here soon, but I have to be, because as a farmer what else can you do but be optimistic about the weather?!

Here are a few shots of our filbert orchard.  I am still out getting pruning done, it’s coming along…slowly but surely.Also we headed out this week to check out some of the damages as the water goes down.  This is one of the smaller of the tile holes we marked.  This happens when our drainage tile (which runs underground) breaks and the water pushes up through the ground to the surface.  For now we just flag them so no one or thing falls in.  We will farm around them this year and come back in the fall to fix the drainage lines.

**My Aunt Marian just told me in comments below that my Grandpa Carl always called tile holes “suck outs”.  Which is what we still often call them today 🙂

We have had a few nice days here and there.  Fingers are still crossed for a couple, a few, a LOT more!

Dirt Math

What do you do when you have to do math for your legislative testimony and you find yourself out in a field pruning, paperless and pen-less?


You scratch it in the dirt with your pruning sheers!  Just another day of many hats…farmer, accountant and agvocate!