Category: Farming Experiences

Happy Ag Week!

This week is Ag Week and people all over the country, or at least the 3% of us who are farmers, use this week as a chance to talk about what we are up to on our farms, give you a taste of what it’s like to be a farmer, and spread the word about agriculture.

So I looked back at some old photos I thought I would share of what my life has been like not just as a farmer, but as a growing family farmer.  Growing in the sense of the next generation, new equipment, good days, and new crops.

Harvest looked a lot like this last year…I’m guessing the “busy” level will be increased a bit this year!IMG_1439

We bought a new toy for our little farm boy….it has auto steer, so he’s already driving it!IMG_1942

This one still makes me feel good….good days all around!photo(3)

And the newest crop to be added to our farm….Red cabbage for seed.
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If you have any friends that are farmers, watch out this week for some good ag posts on Facebook.  I know that Oregon Women for Ag will be posting many photos as the week goes on on their page.  If you’re a farmer yourself, then take this chance to post a quick pic of what you’re doing this week.  It may sound strange that someone wants to know what you’re up to on your farm, but truly I hear time and time again how much they love seeing our way of life, and what our “regular” day looks like (if there is such a thing in farming!).

Mom and Farmer

Sometimes worlds collide.  The life of a farmer is constant.  Things are always on your mind, the crops are always at the back of your brain.  So when you become a mom, the room for thoughts, the room for crops…I guess I could say it gets a bit smaller.  (This is just my nice way of saying that between pregnancy and becoming a mom, my brain is mostly mush! haha!)

So the other day I was having a mom day with Hoot.  We had planned to take a trip to the farm for a visit but not for farming.  So I put on my not so farm appropriate shoes, because they looked cute with my outfit and we headed out the door.

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Little did I know that on my way there I would get a phone call to be asked to go walk a field to look at the grassy weeds we have growing.  Luckily I have a little farm girl in me and in the back seat were my muck boots, ready for mud.

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Hoot and I got the job done, put our nice canvas shoes back on, returned the mom hat so to speak and kept on our way to the farm.  It made me stop and think about how life isn’t always so simple black and white.  You always get grey areas and with farming and being a mom it’s no different.  My life blurs constantly, like when I have to ask if I can bring Hoot to a meeting because it was scheduled on one of my mom days.  It’s the art of multitasking and I can see why mom’s through history have always been so good at it!!

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This is Your “Off” Season…right?

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.

IMG_2732One 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.