Some Days Are Diamonds...

Yes, that's me when we used to run cattle up near Coalinga. I had  fewer miles and a lot less gray hair. [For the record the horse's name was Ben. We'll probably talk about him some time too. That was one stubborn horse.] This week's radio bit was about one morning's ride from those days.

Some Days Are Diamonds

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright February, 2012

                We used to run cattle out the other side of Coalinga. We road for five days gathering cows off ten thousand acres we leased so we could brand and doctor the calves. One morning I rode to the top of the far ridge. When I looked down I could see a red tail hawk circling below me. What a view!

There’s just something special an early morning when you are riding above where hawks are soaring. It was a cool Spring day, I was miles from anywhere, the sky was blue with white puffy clouds. It kind of made up for some of the other days on the farm. Some days on the farm are hot, dirty and stressful. I know you have days like that too.

There is an old John Denver song where he sang, “Some days are diamonds, some days are stones.” That is true on the farm and it is true in life. This was one of my diamond days. Working cattle is a hard way to make a living, but there are some priceless benefits.

You can hear the radio version of this story at-

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

I hope Y'all have a great week.

P

This Really is Spring Weather

Hard to believe those were blossoms just a few weeks ago. You can see the little nut lets peaking out. If you look back over my posts of the last few weeks you can see how fast things go from dormant to full throttle. The trees are leafing our quickly.

The weather this week has been nice. You wouldn't know that today. It started raining last night. A full winter storm has settled in. We have gotten an inch of rain out on the Westside. 

On the farm this week we got fertilizer on the trees before the rain hit. We got the young trees watered again. That's less important now that we have had this weekend's rain. We did finish cultivating cotton beds. The seed is ordered and on the way. We''' be planting cotton soon---weather permitting.

 I used to get all twisted up trying to figure out if it was going to rain or not. How does that change the work we do, anticipating all the scenarios. Rain, not rain. Do we do this or do that. It can drive you crazy. I was talking with one of my old neighbors and he just chuckled and said, "Farm like it ain't gonna rain." That makes sense. Work until you have to stop. Let it dry off and get going again. We really don't get that much rain any ways. The forecasts are wrong half the time anyways. Look at this week, this is the first real rain we have gotten out of the last three storms that were forecast.

   So, we are shut down for the weekend. That's not all bad. The forecast for Monday is good. We've got weeds to kill and wheat to fertilize. So, there will be plenty to do when things dry out.

I hope Y'all have a great weekend.

P

Petal Fall

   Well, let's see- we have had frost, rain and thirty mile an hour winds this week. Today was so beautiful it was hard to remember how rough the weather was this week. We lost nearly twenty trees in the wind on Tuesday. It breaks my heart to see those trees down. It's not just the loss income or the holes in the orchard. The loss just grieves my heart.

   As you can see from the photo, the leaves are pushing out. We call this petal fall. There are still plenty of flowers, but we are past peak bloom.

   Elsewhere on the farm we have been cultivating cotton beds. The wheat got sprayed for weeds. In the orchard we have irrigated and pruned the young trees that were planted late week.

Here's the view while walking the dogs the other morning.

My boss at KYNO likes it when I let my inner curmudgeon out. Here's the script for one of my upcoming radio bits.

Farmers and the Social Contract
By Paul  H.  Betancourt
Copyright February, 2012

                I teach business ethics at the University of Phoenix here in town. One of the issues we talk about in class is the Social Contract. The idea of a social contract goes back at least as far as Kant and Rousseau. The basic questions in the Social Contract are

“What is the responsibility of society to the individual?”

 And

 “What is the responsibility of the individual to society?” 

                Two great questions and you can imagine the class discussions we have.

More specific questions would be-

“What is the responsibility of farmers to society?”

And

“What  is society’s responsibility to our farmers?”

                We do not normally think of things this way. As a farmer I accept that farmers have a responsibility to grow safe food. The good news is we do that well. Society adds other responsibilities and we comply. Agrarian Wendell Berry suggests that, therefore society should support farmers. And, here is where this particular social  contract breaks down.

                We live in an open economy, meaning we import and export at will. The social contract with farmers breaks down when farmers accept the higher costs of society’s demands, in the form of regulations, and then consumers buy their food from some where else because it is cheaper.

                Please trust me, I understand the importance of a bargain. But, can you see how insisting one side hold up their end of the social contract and the other side free to break the social contract is fundamentally unfair?

                If we are serious about maintaining a social contract-

                If we are serious about clean air and clean water-

Then we need farmers to support the farmers who grow their food and maintain their end of the social contract.

OK, I can only get so grumpy.

I hope Y'all have a great week.

P

Peak Bloom

What a beautiful day!

The sun is out. The thermometer is up.The bees are buzzing. I took the motorcycle out this afternoon. As I rode over a bridge I could look out and see the Valley waking up from its winter hibernation. I could see from the Sierras to the Coast Range. It was an unusually beautiful Spring day.

   It has been a long week.We have had frost and we have had rain.
We got the twenty acres of almonds planted.

Each white carton is protecting a young almond tree. It will be three years before we have any real harvest from these trees. It will be five years before we get a commercial crop from them. Can you see why farming takes patience?
   Each tree will be pampered so it grows strong and healthy. In fact, as soon as they were in the ground each plant got a splash of water and fertilizer to get it started.
   The older trees are about peak bloom. They are pushing hard. We go from dormant trees through bloom to fully leafed out trees in about a month. It is pretty amazing to see.

I know there is still some unsettled weather before Spring, heck it is only the beginning of March. Still, I would like to share another Spring memory from the days when we had cattle.

Some Days Are Diamonds

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright February, 2012

                We used to run cattle out the other side of Coalinga. We road for five days gathering cows off ten thousand acres we leased so we could brand and doctor the calves. One morning I rode to the top of the far ridge. When I looked down I could see a red tail hawk circling below me. What a view!

There’s just something special an early morning when you are riding above where hawks are soaring. It was a cool Spring day, I was miles from anywhere, the sky was blue with white puffy clouds. It kind of made up for some of the other days on the farm. Some days on the farm are hot, dirty and stressful. I know you have days like that too.

There is an old John Denver song where he sang, “Some days are diamonds, some days are stones.” That is true on the farm and it is true in life. This was one of my diamond days. Working cattle is a hard way to make a living, but there are some priceless benefits.

You can find more of my radio posts on the blogs at www.940kyno.com.

I hope Y'all have a a great week.