Category: Farming Experiences

Mini Bale Project 2024

The kids continued their tradition of baling up mini two-tie bales to sell this fall. We would love to get these to a porch near you!!!

The kids baled and stacked these little cuties. We will have them for sale through us but also through some stores and farm markets. There is a list below of where they will be sold so far. I’ll update other places you can find them through the fall for purchase.

This project started with the kids hand baling grass seed straw that was left on the corners of the fields by our house. Then last year we had a neighbor who helped us actually bale the straw and this year they have their own two string baler to get the job done.

As always I love seeing our kids get an idea and have the ability to follow it through and do a little farming themselves. I was just recently explaining to someone that farm kids just don’t know any different. In their mind this is just what you do, look for opportunity, work hard and you hope it pays off. Love starting that at an early age.

Who knows where this project of their’s will lead in the future. But for now this 10, 8 and 6 year old are having a lot of fun making all these mini bales!

If you’re interested feel free to get a hold of me through the website on the “contact me” form, or email me at brenda@kirschfamilyfarms.com.

Where to buy:

Septembers 5th – Nash and Nichol Fall Favorites
September 14th – Bankers Cup Saturday Market

Upcoming-

Sonnen Farms

Heiser Farms Pumpkin Patch

Daytime Harvest has started!

We started harvest for 2024 about 17 days ago. But most of that work has been happening in the middle of the night and early morning hours. Today however marks the first harvest day in the daytime!

Swathing or cutting the crop into rows for combining is usually done at night when the air is cooler and the dew can help keep seeds on the stem.

I’m excited to get started and get this show on the road! First on the list is crimson clover. This crop looked pretty good but a late surge of disease has me questioning what it will end up like after we get the final yield numbers.

This crop in the past has been really good and it’s also been pretty awful. It’s a great rotation for us, fits in well with our dryland ground especially. But the price can fluctuate greatly as can when it gets sold and shipped (aka when we get paid for it). Some years we get a nice fall check after good movement and other years (this past 2023 crop for example) we are lucky to have a check to take in before we are harvesting another.

In a county that boasts growing over 280 or so crops it always amazes me how few options we really have and what a struggle it can be to find something that’s consistent, not super risky, low labor and can be grown with the crops and infrastructure that we have already.

So while today marks the start of our daytime harvest here in Oregon, the real story of how this year will end up for our farm; when bills are paid and checks are cashed, is many months away.

Next in our 2024 harvest line up we have grass seed (both tall fescue and perennial), green beans, radish, wheat and finally we will wrap up the year with filberts.

Harvest has started

Usually our first crop that is ready to harvest is crimson clover. It goes through a similar process as grass seed. Once it’s mature we swath it into rows, usually at night or in the early morning to allow for the higher moisture in the air to keep the seeds from falling off the stems.

We got a little bit of rain today, but with this crop particularly the little bit of rain after it’s swathed will help it combine easier. So this cooler and a little wet weather is a welcome sight even if just for a short time.

The kids got to get some hours on their time cards too. We have to look for vetch in the cut rows and pull it out. The vetch is difficult to remove when we send it to the seed cleaner so we try to get it out of there before it ever goes through the combine and into the truck. Clean seed is an important part of producing quality products that come off our farm.