Growing Season

About this time of year, my husband and I get asked a certain question on a daily basis from colleagues, friends, neighbors, etc.

How do your crops look?

Typically in agriculture, we call this the growing season. I think it's the hardest part about a farmer's job.

Seed is in the ground. Pesticide and fertilizer have been applied.

Then, it's time to watch the crops grow.

What makes this the hardest part about farming is the unknown. We don't know how much or how little rain we'll get over the course of the summer. We don't know if once the seed is planted, we will have a late frost. What kind of storms will we get? Will our crops have hail or wind damage? What about insects and fungus? Will there be a weed that takes over?

It's all up to nature.

I think this spring and summer have been exceptionally hard on our local farmers here in Northern Indiana. Four years ago we had no rain. This year we have way too much rain. Too much rain could be just as bad as not enough ironically.

Hope

We have been in the midst of planting field corn and soybeans here on the farm. I always fall into a different state of mind when we plant crops, have crops in the ground and harvest the crops. My passion for agriculture tends to grow more and more each spring.

Along with my hope.

From April to November, there's a lot of hope.

When we want in the fields, we hope it doesn't rain.

Once we get in the fields, we hope the equipment runs smoothly.

Once seed is in the ground, we hope it does rain and we hope it doesn't frost (or snow).

We hope it rains enough and not too much.

When it storms, we hope it doesn't hail or we hope the wind doesn't blow too hard.

We hope it's warm but not too warm.

During harvest, we hope the rain holds off until all the crops are out.

We continue to hope the equipment once again runs smoothly.

We hope for safety.

We hope that we are doing all the right things so that our land is fertile for next year and years to come.

We hope the commodity prices are in our favor so we can pay operation bills so we can break even and maybe even make a little extra.

We hope that someday, we will have the opportunity to rent more ground.

We hope that we would be making our ancestors proud.

Hope, in agriculture, is just as important as soil, water and air.

Hope is more important than money.

You can buy the best equipment, the most ground and operate a nice grain facility but if you lack hope, you're going to fall.

Hope in agriculture is something that money can't buy. It's something you're born with. Hope lies deep within your passion and love for the industry.

Hope is what will carry you through the hard times and it will carry you through the good times.

It's not something that can be put in a will, or forced upon someone, but hope is something that can pass through generation to generation.

Hope is a choice but it's a choice your heart makes; not your mind.

I wake up every morning and I see the hope in my husband's eyes. It's what drives my hope.

Hope allows us to dream. It allows us to follow our passion. It allows us to believe in ourselves.

Without hope, we wouldn't have soil, we'd have dirt.

We wouldn't have a passion, we'd have a job.

Hope. 

It's a word you can't see but you can feel it.

Even when everything seems to be going wrong, there is always hope to make everything right.

The only thing I don't have to hope for is hoping we are where we're suppose to be.

Outside Looking Inside

Last weekend, I ventured out and worked on some photography locally. I came across an old farmhouse that was well passed falling in.

This house was literally hanging on by a thread. The window, on the far left side, was still in tact. It's exterior wall created a barrier that was keeping me from seeing into the rest of the house. 

My mind eye kept levitating towards that window. What was inside that room? Was it a living room? The farm office? I kept imagining a little boy dropping his toy on the floor and coming to the window to stare out. Eventually that little boy's face was there. Clear as day. I promise I didn't see a ghost. It was just my imagination running wild. 

The Perfect Golden Hour

Harvest has been in full swing lately. I've been working a lot of hours at my new job. I miss my readers. I miss writing. I miss taking pictures.

It's been a stop and go, very late and stressful #harvest14 season. From many hours at full time jobs in town, equipment break downs to lots of rain and wet crops, we've been short on time this year. 

When we started corn, the grain dryer kept putting us to a stop. When we tried to cut beans, they were just too wet and it seemed like it took all day for them to dry. Once they'd dry, it would rain all over again. 

Last night, after a long day of waiting for beans to dry, everything went smooth when my husband and I got off work and we just. had. fun. The golden hour mixed with bean dust was gorgeous for pictures as my husband hauled me around in the back of the pick up for a few minutes while my father in law ran beans. 

The weather was just simply gorgeous. Neighboring farmers were out cutting beans as well and you could see the plumes of dust in the distance. No need to call the fire department, folks. It's just everyone out cutting beans! 

My mother in law and I went into town to pick up pizza, took it to the field where we joined our husbands in the combine and the tractor for a a date.

 Afterwards, we moved equipment in the dark together and the dogs got to ride along too! Harvest IS my most favorite time of the year but it can also be the most stressful. Very seldom do our nights go the way they did last night. 

Nights like last night are what make it all worth it. Nights like last night keep us from throwing in the towel. Nights like last night give us the adrenaline rush to keep going. Year after year.

Between Old Mcdonald's Farm and "Factory Farms"

Agriculture is a huge part of mine and my husband's lives. It controls our schedule, where we work, our finances, where we live, our interests, and the people we share some of our time with.

And it controls our thoughts and our emotions.

We're just small Hoosier conventional soybean and corn farmers but I couldn't imagine living our life without farming or being involved with agriculture. I think about where we would live, what our landscape would look like or what we'd do with the extra money we've invested into keeping the farm going.

I don't think about it very long because it's well, just something I. don't. like. to. think. about.

We have so much invested in agriculture.

If you're married to a farmer or you are a farmer or both, you know exactly what I am talking about.

Recently, it seems like many others off the farm have taken an interest in agriculture as well.

They're concerned with the seeds we plant, the chemicals we APPLY, the ground we use, the taxes we pay, the fuel we use, the income we make, the roads we use and where our crops go post harvest.

Some think it's a sin that we grow grain that could possibly go towards feeding the animals that we eventually consume. Some think it's a sin that we grow genetically engineered crops even though they have no reasoning to back up that thinking. Some think it's a sin that we are tearing up their roads and wasting their tax dollars. Some think we are sinning by poisoning their air with the pollution from our tractors.

They've never worked on a farm let alone even visited a farm.

But for some reason, they think they know exactly how we should farm.

Small Farm Using Big Technology

This post is sponsored by Indiana's Family of Farmers but all opinions and ideas are 100% mine.

If you have been following my blog, you know that our family farm is pretty small. We have equipment that is older than I am because that is what we can afford to run. Just like automobiles, electronics and houses; farm equipment and technology change over time as well. Not everybody gets to utilize new technology right away. New technology is sometimes considered a luxury before it becomes a standard.

We have learned, though, that just because our equipment is older and outdated, that doesn't mean that we can't keep up or continue to farm. It doesn't mean that we can't utilize other advancements and technology in the agriculture industry. 

This year, we are very excited to be planting a newer hybrid soybean seed that is high in oleic acid. We call it a high oleic soybean. If you follow me on Facebook, you probably have seen me post a few articles about this new soybean and some of the positive impacts it will have in the soybean market. I will talk more about impacts of this new soybean and why it's important in the industry later on in my series. Right now, I am focusing on getting the seed in the ground and some of the technologies we utilize here on our farm.

Beauty Through Generations

I use to be quite the fair-weathered person. When it comes to the weather, nature and my surroundings.

The older I get, however, the more I seem to find beauty in my surroundings regardless of a situation.

There are times I feel guilty from when I use to complain about the old farmhouse where we started and all the trouble it put my husband through during his bachelors years. I've gotten to the point where I think about the fun memories there in the beginning of our life together. I was looking up my beginning posts on my blog last night and there's just so much pep and excitement in them. They're nerdy, but I can feel how happy I was through my writing, despite all the stress we were going through at the time as newlyweds during harvest season and building a home. I tend to associate the old farmhouse with those earlier posts.

I remember writing those posts in the back of my husband's great grandparent's old bedroom from my computer in the old farmhouse. I remember being surrounded by bookshelves full of all my husband's childhood belongings, lime green carpet and a breeze coming in through the single paneled windows.

That old farmhouse is now a ghost. And it's a memory that haunts our property daily. It's a good haunt, though. We've change so much about this old farm but the way it use to be is still clear as day in my mind. I wouldn't change a thing about what we did. Some of it had to go. But, I am glad the memories are still clear as day.

Education and Agriculture: Why is it Important?

I had the opportunity to attend the Indiana Livestock, Forage & Grain Forum down in Indianapolis, Indiana this week. I was absolutely beyond impressed with the information and issues that were discussed and presented. 

As young, small farmers diving into the world of agriculture and modern technology, sometimes it can be overwhelming sorting out the key issues and trends in which we should be concerned. There's A LOT going on in the world of agriculture. Attending the forum has allowed me to sort out the issues and topics that I should be concerned with as an individual, consumer and farmer.

The really neat thing about this forum is that it brings farmers of all types, agribusiness associates, ag economists, ag financial institutes, Purdue extension, FFA officers, Farm Bureau and many more together all in one room. 

We are all here for the same reason and that's agriculture and our concerns with how technology and big data will effect it.

As consumers become more obsessed and concerned with what they're eating and where their food comes from, it becomes more important for us farmers and those of us in the ag industry to be as knowledgable as possible with our processes and data. As Jane Stevens, CEO of Indiana Soybean Alliance mentioned while discussing trending issues, consumers are going to trust farmers before they will trust the food industry. 

A Farmer for Every Choice

If you have been following me on Facebook and Twitter this week, you've probably noticed a few posts about agriculture and the attack on conventional farming. Some of the arguments may seem redundant. However, there is no such thing as redundant when you are fighting for your career, passion and way of life.

I came across a graphic yesterday from the Texas Farm Bureau.



Graphic Courtesy of the Texas Farm Bureau Organization



I really want you to read the quotation. Not once. Not twice. But over and over. Let it sink in........ slowly.

What does that quotation mean to you?

After I shared this graphic on Facebook yesterday, a fellow blogger commented,

"This says it all and nothing else needs be said. If only everyone could leave it at that. Freedom to farm the way you want and freedom to purchase what you want, it's really so simple or it should be anyway." - Kelly Gray

Kelly is right.  BUT, she also said "If only"........ "If only we can leave it at that."

"If only" is the key.

What's it going to take to stop the "If only"?

A Quick Message for Consumers

Agriculture and our food supply is under attack.

It's up to you as a consumer to be responsible when it comes to sharing graphics, reading labels and believing what you hear over what you see.

It's up to farmers to share the facts.

Think before you share. Do your research. Look for sources.

You can't believe everything you see just because it's flying around the internet or the media.

Remember, our world population is getting bigger, consumers are growing farther away from the farm and the cost of food is rising.

Don't add to the cost.