We Make Our Own Story

We recently had quite the warm spell so much so, that famers near and far were talking (jokingly, I think) about pulling out their planters for a quick pre-season tune-up. And you know when the farmer in your family is getting the itch to get into the fields so are your seed dealers. They start calling, sporadically popping by and then the texting! If they can’t get ahold of you the first two ways, your phone just about blows up as the texts stream in. 

Keep in mind that even with the unseasonable warm spell, there is still a thick, insulating blanket of snow. A neighbor had to bury a pet and used a backhoe to do the job. As it turns out the frost wasn’t as deep as it should have been or as hard. Spring should be a muddy affair and that doesn’t include the forecasted spring flooding.

I’m a farmer, I’ll admit to that. I’ll also admit to feeling a little lost yet as I zig and zag through the farming season in Canuckland and stateside. Farming practices at their core are inherently the same. But for giggles, if you move between two completely different zones it’s a whole new game. On one side I work with technology, creating variable rate planting prescriptions with a bonus layer of variable rate liquid fert in row application. Then the other side doesn’t have the need or the method of using technology at that level (excluding gps and a basic level of harvest mapping). On one hand, you have your basic crops, soy beans and corn. The other, you have a gamut of crops to choose from and to plant (or seed). You gotta love soil variations and the crops they can sustain, it keeps life interesting. 

So I’m knee-deep in trade journals, papers, magazines and anything I can get my hot little hands on to read and boost my knowledge of farming in a different zone. Of course, I can’t forget to keep up on things back home either. You could say it’s a good thing I love to read (and apparently write). What are your favorite trade journals, papers, etc. to read? My husband loves AgTalk, he could get lost there for ages.

Well, having been in Canuckland for a year now (!) spring will be interesting, both here and stateside. Hopefully by then I’ll be able to put my knowledge to use and keep learning while I get my hands dirty. And if there’s no one in the shop, maybe I’ll be able to do a little diesel mechanics as well. I’m thinking of going shopping… at an auction for a nice little diesel project to flip. What do you think? 

We make our own story and I certainly intend to make mine fascinating; you only live once and life is for every age.