Rounding up to summer

New bin up

Somewhere between the bliss of planting and breakdowns, watching grass gro- crops grow I mean and the dive into the “green months’ projects” (the months of April to November where farming supersedes all life, dictating my schedule if you can call it that) life has been grand. Busy but good. And mysteriously almost every weekend has had some event or other going on. My slow day, you would think it’d be Monday, usually finds itself in the middle of the week or not at all. And once again my goal of a weekly post slides into a goal for the next month. It’s almost July, it’s early yet and the weekly posting could happen.

Checking seed depth

Planting was an unhurried affair this season; apparently a startling epiphany to hubs. He actually had time to enjoy the moments of playing in the dirt and crop scouting with his faithful sidekick Scooter. I didn’t go south this spring (shock and awe). Don’t worry there were no bon-bons and couch lounging in sight for me. Parts runs, switching out seed discs and cleaning the planter boxes, greasing machinery, actually planted veggie garden in May, etc.  (I’m all for greasing and keeping the basics of maintenance up but a hand pump grease gun is for the birds, great for the occasional use on the header but…  we invested in a battery-run grease gun and I’m happy (and faster).)

Gopher buddy

We’ve had little rain again this year and by my estimate we’re year three in the dry cycle; hopefully it doesn’t go for seven years. However, we did get a beautiful rain this past weekend with a grand total of eighty hundredths. We even canceled our movie date plans to stay home and watch it rain (we eventually watched Clear and Present Danger, there’s nothing like Harrison Ford). No thunderstorms but good old-fashioned rain drumming on the tin roof and tapping out a staccato on tree leaves.

Steel planks for bin floor

A new bin went up and by appearances it doesn’t seem as big as it is. I traded hubs work on the bin floor for work on a new gazebo (I think he got the better deal). Thankfully it was only 20C/68F that day in the giant tin can. Father in-law slid the steel planks in and hubs and I put the floor down. Thankfully time-sensitive bookwork (yay for bill paying) got me out of the mindless task of clipping the floor supports together.

Thinks the guys did okay with the floor stands

Steel though, it was hard work. And to snap the planks into place you had to do a monster-step-pound walk down the catwalk of steel planks. On each and every one. Hubs made it half way and then used the sledge hammer to tap the planks down. I continued onward and found it’s a great way to work out any angst – good or bad – right of my system.  Till at the halfway point across the bin, I was mid-catwalk (focused on staying on the narrow plank) and FIL sends a plank sliding through the man door and nails me just below the hip bone. It would have been what kids call a paralyzer but the sharp pain of steel cut through that.

Bin floor half done

Normally he pays attention to where we are so we can grab it and take some of the pressure off him. Not this plank. I thought ‘that’ll leave a mark.’  Turns out it left an odd square-shaped nine cut and giant bruise but didn’t cut through my favorite pair of work yoga leggings. (If you’ve ever shoveled out a bin on a hot, humid day or spent a whole hot day sitting in a combine in jeans than you know the joy of flexible, breathable clothing.) I slept great that night after soaking my feet in Epsom salts. And I counted it as my workout for the day.

Hubs didn’t escape quite as unscathed as I did that day. We did half of the flashing that day together before calling it a good day’s work. I was outside putting bolts through and doing the occasional drilling through the flashing (there were holes in the bin wall for it but not always on the flashing pieces). Well Mr. Safety (not always) decided that as I was drilling the second of three holes that he needed to reposition the flashing or some such. It was never clear to me what he thought he needed to be doing.

Finished floor with sweep auger in and sensor cables ready

He comes out of the bin saying he need to use the first aid kit in the house with his index finger dripping blood. Sigh, farm accidents. The drill bit had gone across the side to top of his finger from below the middle join diagonally to the top. Not super deep but it probably could have used stitches. And he refuses to go to a doctor, ever. Well we got his finger cleaned up with soap and water, followed by several dousings of hydrogen peroxide. Then I put helichrysum directly on the wound (it’s like liquid stitches, helps to stop the bleeding, helps with scarring and smells like sunshine and yellow flowers) followed by a couple drops of lavender (supports healing and promotes less chances of infection) and then some correct-x salve. I adore doterra essential oils and products as they’re a great tool for all facets of life, especially when the hubs is stubborn about doctors. He did agree to go to the doctor if the finger looked worse at any time. To his relief that didn’t happen and he cleaned it two to three times a day. We used vet wrap to cover the bandage and pinched the end shut to keep dirt off his finger entirely. Now, two weeks later, the finger is almost completely healed and he’ll have a nice, faint scar. And he willingly uses doterra essential oils with me.

Needless to say, we switched spots after that. 😊 Safety first.

Cool bi-plane stopped in for the event. Photo credit to hubs

In between the planting and spraying, hubs’ pilot group had their annual fly-in breakfast. He helps flip pancakes, pour juice and schmooze with other pilots from the area that flew in. It was a beautiful day for flying with almost four hundred people attending and lots of planes.

A long line of visiting planes. Photo credit to hubs

  May your week be full of sunshine, warm breezes and rain in the forecast (or warm dry weather if you're inundated with rain).

It’s a wonderful time of year

Color amid showers

It’s the most colorful time of the year… (think that Christmas song ‘the most wonderful time of the year’ tune, its what rolls across my mind when I survey the prairies). Emerald green waves drift across the prairies while brilliant, rich yellow pops here and there. The rare periwinkle blue shyly blooms and winks amid the waves.

The canola is such a rich and brilliant yellow; my eyes forget the intensity of the color till the next year rolls around. Soybeans, corn, wheat, edibles and potatoes wave and nod sleepily in the afternoon sun as birds execute soaring swoops and daring dives. While the flax pops the soft blue and then melts back into the green of the emerald waves.

Scattered rain showers stealthily steal a march over the prairies, dousing some fields and leaving others with only tantalizing drops of rain. Farmers play tag with the rain clouds as they try to finish the last rounds of spraying. Hubs is out right now sneaking into the opening of gentle breezes and temporarily cloud-free skies.

I spy a fox in the edibles

I turn around and weeds have sprouted even bigger than before from my last weeding and hoeing. Finally, my garden looks less “I just planted this in the middle of June” and more like a real, potentially veggie-producing garden. Yay. A garden that I now remember to close the gate behind so Scooter doesn’t charge in and damage my plants with his clumsy paws.

Not too shabby looking eh? Ignore the weeds lol

When I bought my plants (my house starters didn’t make it or it was a 90% fail rate, lol) I encouraged hubs to pick one out. Yes, hubs took me flower/veggie shopping. He wheeled that giant flatbed cart like a pro around the greenhouses (he took me to more than one!). An interesting plant called a cola plant caught his eye. It smells faintly like the pop and if you snip the new, tender shoots you can use it in marinades to flavor meat. Maybe even as a dry rub. Who knows? We’ll test it this weekend. 😊 But it’s the first plant that hubs checks to make sure its still alive and growing in the garden. For some reason the squash plant doesn’t interest him as much. Go figure.

Gotta keep the water-loving farm dog happy and cool

My farm/in the field duties have been relatively light in the three weeks that I’ve been back in the Canuckland. Unfortunately mowing, trimming and general roundup spraying around bins waits for no one. And we invested in a lot of perennial flowers which take more time to plant than it took to buy them (this includes mulling over the exact plant – and how many - to put on the cart, after I’ve discerned which type of flower – hubs did very well through all this). 

I’m thankful for the time to catch up on that but now that leaves me with ‘free’ time. Which is just waiting to be filled with bookwork and follow-up phone calls to straighten out the inevitable error here and there on statements. Wiiiiiiiiiiin… or not. I suppose it’s a good reason to stay out of the heat and bask in the arctic cold of the basement that comes with the ac being on, right? And drink cold coffee while the obviously over-worked and busy farm dog snores on the cold floor. 

It's like he knows I'm going to take a photo

I shall procrastinate on posting a photo of my ‘now completed’ horse pasture because the wire isn’t up yet. Somehow spraying trumps that, ha. At least when I post a photo next week, the grass blend for the salt spot will finally be up and looking more like a grass pasture and less like forgotten field.

 May your week be full of time with friends, bbq’ing and iced coffee.

But hey, apple trees :)

Skip spring, turn right for summer

A perfect evening for drilling soybeans

Somehow the entire month of May eluded me, well, from the blogging side of life. Overlooking the constant, almost scheduled-like rains planting did occur with a few forays into a coffeehouse here and there. And Scooter had a great time with Boomer.

While hubs toiled away in the dry soil (that later turned to worrisome dry powder-like, soil-resembling stuff that was supposed to grow plants) I darted between rain showers with Dad finishing the last of the planter prep. A late April blizzard will do things like that; freeze field and planter prep right where they stand. This snowballs into a whole variety of things like late seed delivery, any field tillage is now ‘late’, and the list goes on.

A look at the weather forecast showed mud-like weather – cold, damp and potentially windy. I packed accordingly with a couple of t-shirts thrown in last minute over the long-sleeved t-shirts and hoodie. Yeah, that lasted all of five days. 

Then I was sweltering in the standard farmer work gear: jeans, t-shirt, ballcap and boots. Half of my duffle bag (Yes, it’s hot pink. Why? Because it’s color. It’s not denim blue or ball cap black.) I think the thermometer got confused when it went from the chipper cool damp to blazin’ hot and humid summer, its-time-to-bbq weather.

What no one remembers is when it’s that hot out farmers are still working. Working because they love the job aka life and working to feed the world. Yes, tractors nowadays have ac but when the temps are outrageously hot the ac doesn’t work at full blast. Low or medium fan speed ensures it will last the day with you but a sauna-like atmosphere does develop. Non-insulated water bottles very quickly turn warm. I may have experienced this phenomenon myself and warm water does not feel hydrating (or tempting to drink).

While I did have the questionable pleasure of warm drinking water it did occur because I was out drilling soy beans. I left my seat customized to Dad’s height because it was easier (maybe a tad lazy?!) and it’s planting time, there’s no time to mess around with lowering or raising the seat. Just drive. And plant.

Anyways, it took me all of two rounds that maybe I had been a tad short-sighted in not adjusting the seat. I’m average height-ish and my Dad is a whole lot taller (6’6”). So when I’m making the lovely keyhole turns with my little train I have one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the levers to raise the drill. 

Haven't quite mastered the whole 'selfie with air drill' thing

Clearly, I had forgotten that it can be a bit rough as I cross the headlands, going against the grain, so to speak. On a good run my toes will attempt to stick like glue to the floor but any other time I’m literally on an air-ride seat.

It’s a disconcerting feeling. Honestly, I could’ve fixed that problem but I wouldn’t have had the patience to raise it back for Dad when he commandeered the rig from me. It’s an interesting view from that high up; plus, I can see over the hood to where I’m going (and maybe drill a straight line, a worthy endeavor as a little meandering tends to occur as I enjoy the scenery).

With cold water, ac on low and sunscreen (fair skin needs love) it was planting season on the rolling prairies. My trusty farm pup entertained the senior farm dog in the cool breeze of the ac inside the house. Life was great, if a bit too hot.

May your week be full of summer breezes, BBQ’s and iced coffees.

A classy farm pup who likes his flowers