Bone Yards

Bone YardsBy Paul H. BetancourtCopyright June 2012

                Before the price of scrap iron spiked a few years ago, every farm had a ‘bone yard’ where old equipment and broken bolts went when they died. They were kind of picturesque. As a photographer I could find interesting shapes and colors to shoot. The rusted equipment looked good in color or black and white.

            The enviros want us to recycle. Well the price of scrap went up a few years ago and it was finally worth the gas to load stuff up and haul it in. We had over 20 years of stuff piled up in the bone yard. I hauled over three tons of stuff to the recycler before we got serious and got a dumpster out there and really started tossing junk out.

            Now the yard looks a lot cleaner. Even the neighbors noticed. But, wouldn’t you know it? Cleaning up the yard is like cleaning out the junk drawer in your kitchen, no sooner do I finally toss something and I can think of a dozen ways I need it.

So, the yard is cleaner, but I can’t find anything! And I have to look harder to find interesting pictures.

Hope Y'all have a great week watching the Olympics
USA! USA! USA!

Bugs and Water

   As you can see from the photo, the cotton is growing. That is my bug net in the foreground. This time of year we are checking fields at least once a week for bugs. We monitor pest and predator populations. As long as there are more predators than pest species we can skip spraying. But, remember, the predators have to eat something don't they? So we are always at risk of some pest damage. By keeping a close on it we can balance the need to produce a crop and care for the environment.

   We have been spoon feeding the cotton some fertilizer. Instead of dumping it on all at once. We run it in the irrigation water. The amount we put on is determined by leaf samples. The plant tells us when it needs more food. That way our fertilizer goes into the plant and doesn't get flushed down in the groundwater.

   In other news, wheat prices are up $80 per ton since last month. This has been caused by the drought in the Mid West. Their yields will be much smaller than expected and with a fixed supply the price goes up.

   We are about three weeks from the start of almond harvest. We will start preparing the centers for harvest in the next week or so. While the dogs were taking me on our walk this morning I realized it is late July already. Wow, that was fast. We must be having fun, because time sure is flying.

Here is one of this week's radio scripts-

It’s Soil, Not Dirt

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright June 2012

                I was reminded last year of something even farmers forget- it’s soil, not dirt.

            A lot of people, even some farmers, think all the dirt does is hold the plants upright. There is a lot more to soil than holding the plant up.

            Last year Fresno State previewed a film by Deborah Koons Garcia titled Symphony of the Soil. In the film Garcia shows the amazing complexity of fungi and bacteria in the soil. I have been farming for thirty years and I had forgotten that there are fungi in the soil that help some plant roots grow. Pretty amazing.

            As Garcia illustrates there is a complex symphony of things happening in our soils. It’s not dirt, it’s soil and it’s full of life. There is complexity that staggers the imagination that’s below the surface at the molecular level. Leonardo Da Vinci wrote six hundred years ago, “We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot.” Not much has changed has it? We’ve been to the Moon, but we are still surprised by what’s underfoot.

I hope Y'all have a great week.

P

Dang, that was hot!

No matter how you slice it 109F is hot. The good news in our Valley is the mornings are 30 degrees cooler and humidity isn't an issue.

   Cotton blooms are yellow the first day, then fade and turn pink. When they drop off they leave a little cotton boll which grows and gives us the cotton fiber.
   This week I got the petiole results back from the lab. It showed two fields were short on nitrogen. We started a water run of nitrogen fertilizer in the fields we were irrigating.We boost the other fields this next week.

I wish I had a good picture of a cantaloupe for this piece from the radio this week.

Fresh II

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright June 2012

                Previously I mentioned how we used to grow cantaloupes. We don’t do that anymore. Growing fresh produce isn’t for the faint-hearted.

                Growing fresh fruits and vegetables is a roller coaster. If you hit the market you can make serious money. If the market is down you get nothing, but bills. There a no guaranties. The first year the family grew melons they netted over thousand dollars an acre.  Some years we disked the field in. Over the years I figure we broke even on melons, but it is tough on the nerves and makes for crazy cash flow. Bankers are rarely impressed.

                We had no idea when we planted if there was going to be any money in it. Even as harvest started all we got was a daily pack out sheet telling us how many loads and the daily spot price. Current spot prices don’t tell what the fruit actually sold for, we didn’t find that out for thirty days. So, we have all the expenses and work of planting and caring for the crop and no real idea of what we made until a month after harvest. On top of that melons are really perishable. They are at peak freshness only so long.

                Can you see why we quit? Everything we grow now be boxed, baled and stored. It’s easier on my blood pressure.

I hope Y'all have a great week.

Wheat harvest has begun!

It's always a pretty sigh to see the harvesters roll in to the field. We have been working on this crop since last  winter.

Of course, as soon as the harvesters and balers leave we'll start working the ground to get it ready for next year's cotton crop. Never a dull moment.


In other news-
   Not only does the wheat look good, but prices are going up. The heat wave in the Midwest cooked a lot of corn and grain prices are going up. On the news yesterday they were saying that losses are big enough to raise food prices 3% by the end of the year. I don't know about that, but I do know wheat has gone up $40/ton since last month. I have only pre-sold about half the red wheat. I'll keep an eye on things for the next few days. Have I mentioned recently how much farming can be like gambling?
   We started the second irrigation in the cotton. Looking good so far. Bloom began about a week early. The heat hasn't been too bad so the plants are growing well. I sent leaf petioles to the lab. We should have results back on Monday. I'll use those results to tell if we need to put more fertilizer on, or not. No need to guess, fertilizer costs too much to leach any below the root zone.


I wish I had a good cantaloupe photo for this story. This is the script for one of my radio pieces this week.


Fresh 

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright June 2012

                When I was a kid my dad loved cantaloupes. As a kid I was unimpressed. Years later we moved up here and we were growing cantaloupes. Wow! Let me tell you, I am a convert!

            There is nothing like a vine ripe, sum warmed melon. Mmmm- sweet and mellow. We’d eat ‘em fresh in the field. We’d take ‘em home, slice ‘em in half, scoop out the seeds and fill it with French Vanilla ice cream. That is a hot weather treat. For variety we’d  eat melon slices with pepper or Mexican spices. I’m starting to sound like Bubba on Forrest Gump when he would start listing all the ways you could make shrimp aren’t I? Well, I don’t think you can make cantaloupe Gumbo, but there are quite a few ways to enjoy fresh cantaloupes. Just ask our neighbors in Mendota-the Cantaloupe Capital of the World.

            Here in the Valley we are blessed with a wide variety of fresh produce. If you can’t eat well here,  you can’t eat well anywhere. Even the lowly cantaloupe can become a summer treasure.

You can find the audio at-

http://www.940kyno.com/index.php?c=68

I hope Y'all have a great week.
Keep cool, summer's back in town.


P