Pre-seeding frenzy

You may think that harvest is our highest stress season, but it's not.  Harvest is the end of the year.  By harvest, you have done all that you can do, and now all that's left is to cut the crop.

The most stressful season of all is seeding.  This is where it all begins.  So, in order to get ourselves completely ramped up and near hysteria before we actually even put a seed in the ground, we go through pre-seeding frenzy.

This is where we worry about everything imaginable.  Is it too hot, is it too dry, what kind of wheat should we seed, will we be able to finish the second set of drills, when should we start seeding, will the equipment work, will all the electronics work.....you get the idea.  At this time of the year, Reynald usually declares that he is going to retire from farming.

It will all be over in a couple of weeks.  The seed will be in the ground, tiny green shoots will appear and we will be filled with hope for the next bumper crop!

I have been running the coil packer over all the ground that we will be seeding.

Colt and the coil packer and a hazy sky.

It was so smokey that I could smell the smoke in the tractor cab.  Look at the residue on this field.  The straw is so thick and has been insulating the seed bed from a record number of 90+ degree days in August.  

More smoke.

More smokey haze has been hanging around and today was particularly bad.  Thankfully a nice breeze helped to move out the worst of it near evening.  

Reynald and Alicia have been working furiously, and I do mean furiously on getting the second set of drills ready for service.  They have also been doing some repair work on the original set.  It's hard and physical work, plus, the temperature has been in the high 90's all week, yesterday reaching 100 degrees.

Miles and miles of hoses and wiring have been placed in the last three days.

We are hoping to try both sets of drills on Saturday to make sure everything works.

Since the boxes that usually hold the seed have been removed, Reynald and Alicia put these plates of steel on the back of the drill to add a little extra weight.  This will help the boots to penetrate evenly in to the soil for more accurate seed placement.

Good progress is being made however, and it looks like we will be able to reach our goal of starting on Labor Day.  I always think it's appropriate to labor on Labor Day.

Yesterday when I went out to do my chicken chores, the most glorious sunrise greeted me.  It definitely was a good morning!