super moon

Tonight we had a super moon....and a total eclipse.  It was so cool.  The moon rose over the eastern horizon and it was already eclipsing.  We sat on the east porch and had our dinner and watched.  I took a few photos but it was much neater in person!

This isn't supposed to happen for another 18 years.  I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch again, with my dog and my husband to view the same beautiful phenomena!

Here is the moon just beginning to rise.  There is still a fair amount of light.

The sun was just setting in the west while this was going on in the east.

Both the sky and the moon are getting darker.

Nearly the full eclipse.

And now it's going back the other way.  Now the moon is extra bright, since it's closer to the earth tonight.  Even so, I think it will be dark enough to sleep, which is what I plan to do in just a few minutes!  

The Band is Playing......

for me and my gal......

This last weekend David asked Roni to marry him and she said.......

Can you guess?

YES!!!!

As our dear friend Larry said, when we told him our happy news......."well that wasn't a surprise!" 

Indeed, it wasn't, and we are so thoroughly delighted that David, and his family will partner with ours!  Roni and David are a terrific couple, all that is good and true in a relationship.  

Here are a few photos taken by the future Maid of Honor......

David and Roni!

Silly kids!!!

David drove to Maine to buy fresh lobster for their proposal dinner!  They included Alicia in their celebration.  A wonderful time was had by all!  

Stay tuned for more information as it unfolds!  Lots to think about now, other than farming.....oh, by the way, we finished seeding and the fields are turning this yummy shade of gentle green.  I'll try to get a photo soon, to convey the thrill of newly sprouted and growing wheat.  

New Life

Yesterday we started to notice that the wheat that we seeded first was poking through the ground.  It's the most exciting thing!!!!  Now you can only see it if you are looking right down the rows.  In another week, you will be able to see a slight tinge of green across the field.  By the time winter sets in, it will look golf course green.  I love the transition from soil to green.

Looking down the rows.

These little guys are still yellow, they are so newly out of the ground!  By tomorrow they will be green as they begin to photosynthesize chlorophyll.  

This is not wheat that is greening up the fields.  This is an annual grass that we fight in our fields called cheat grass, or downy brome.  We have a chance to eliminate the flush that has germinated after the rain.  Tomorrow this happy and healthy crop of cheat grass has a date with Mr. Monsanto in the form of Round Up!

A very healthy crop of cheat grass growing in one of our fields.

If you enlarge this photo, and look closely, you will see that the cheat grass is almost solid!

So, today we moved the sprayer to this field so that we could spray round-up.  There was still a lot of plants that had not yet emerged so we decided to wait until tomorrow afternoon to begin. Round up is a contact herbicide, so if it doesn't touch a plant, it won't kill it!

And here's Arthur, patiently waiting to finish seeding!  

And speaking of new life.  The chicks have all ready outgrown their little round enclosure.  This morning I let them out in to the bigger area.  They were kind of nervous at first, but before long, they were exploring their greatly expanded world!  This afternoon they were happy as can be with their new digs!

The chicks in their enlarged home!

It didn't take long for them to find the food!

I put a second feeder out, since it wasn't so crowded.  Seems like they are always eating!

And this is what they will be when they grow up!

It's too early to tell if there is a rooster in the crowd.  This batch had 6 roosters, out of 24 chicks.  They were supposed to be sexed to 80% accuracy.  I'm not very good at math, but I know that 6 out of 24 is NOT 80% accurate!

This isn't new life.  I planted these guys this spring, but there was something about the color that was so striking this morning.  Several plants in the yard are enjoying the cooler weather, including these geraniums.

Still seeding!

We are still seeding, though it's going much faster this year than usual.  With the wet soil Reynald is able to travel at a higher rate of speed.  We have five days left, if all goes well.  More rain is predicted for Wednesday night, which may slow us down a bit, but we won't complain about the additional moisture if it does indeed happen.

Thursday morning when I went out to do chores this amazing sky display greeted me.  The planet is Venus.  The scarecrow is Georgie!

This was so beautiful!  Be sure to enlarge when you view.

A little later in the morning I went in to Harrington to the school where I was invited to read to the second/third grade class.  Ms. Roberts said that the classroom theme for reading this year was "books as gifts".  I spent some time thinking about this while on the tractor, then totally got lost in the secret room, looking A book to read.  That was impossible.  I ended up with three!  I really didn't expect to read all three, but these kids are used to being read to, and love it!  It was no problem for them to sit patiently and listen closely to all three books.

Second and Third grade class.

These kids love to be read to.....

I read:

1. Winter Wheat by Brenda Z. Guiberson   The gift of doing a job that you love
2.Alicon's Zinnia by Anita Lobel    The gift of gardening and the gift of ABC's so that you can read!
3.  Homeplace by Anne Shelby   The gift of family

After reading, I cam home and changed in to my farm clothes and went to Odessa to get fertilizer for my seeding boy, then in to Harrington to get seed wheat.

This is the truck I get the dry fertilizer with.  I get 10 tons at a time. 

Back to the field, this is how we load the air cart.  This is putting the fertilizer in.  The wheat goes in the same way, with a different truck of course.  It takes about 35 minutes to fill, and then he can seed for 3 1/2 hours.  

The next morning, Friday, was exciting!  New baby chicks arrived in the mail!  It's a crazy time of the year to get babies, but I just didn't get around to it this summer.  25 little Barred Rock chicks are now cheep, cheep, cheeping in the front part of the chicken house.  Baxter is nearly crazy!!!

This is how the chicks arrive in the mail.

Their little shipping crate was really smashed up.

But everyone was fine inside.  

This is where the little girls will live for a week or ten days.  When they out grow this space, I will take out this round pen and give them the whole area that you can see around this little enclosure.

Little balls of down!

This cuteness won't last long.  Soon they will be getting real feathers.

Happy New Year!

We started seeding yesterday.  It's the start of our new year.  The conditions for seeding are wonderful, which will make this operation much less stressful than we were expecting.   Planting seeds in the ground, then watching them germinate and grow, is just about the coolest thing in the world!

Our planting (seeding) equipment.

The tractor is Arthur.  This is the cart that holds the wheat seed and dry fertilizer.  The seed and fertilizer are delivered to the drill with a fan powered by air.  

The large hoses are the pathway for the seed and fertilizer to be delivered to the individual drill.

You can see that the large hose goes to a distributor with smaller hoses.  Each hose is connected to a "boot" which "drills" in to the soil.  

Here you can see the hose attached to the top of the boot, which is positioned between the packer wheels.

This is a closer look at the boot.  The depth that this goes in to the soil is controlled by a hydraulic cylinder.

This shows the full with of our outfit.  It's 56 feet wide!

Ron is adjusting the depth of the boots in this photo.

This is kind of a funny shot at first glance.  It shows the seed and fertilizer between the packer wheels  Before we put the boots in to the ground, we test to see if each hose is delivering product.  The packer wheels tamp the soil  on each side of the boot to make a furrow.

Here you can see where Ron has driven the drill with the boots out of the ground, and then in the ground.  The groove is deeper when the boot is in the ground.

This is checking the depth of the seed in the ground.

Look closely and you can see the tiny pink seed in the ground!  

First attempt at a "selfie".  Reynald says we look old!!!

Ready to get this crop in the ground!

I love it when the field around our house is in crop.  Here comes Reynald just around the chicken house and orchard.

I don't know how he manages to get so close to the edge, but he does.  It takes good depth perception, hand/eye coordination and concentration.  None of which I have!!!

Here he goes around the drive way.

And down the drive.

In ten days the wheat seeds will be popping through the soil.  There will be a slight tinge of green, which is so beautiful.  I love this look too though!   And so we're off and running.......