Saturday, November 2, 2013

More Visitors to the Farm

    Last weekend we had four vans full of plant science students from UC Davis come out and visit the farm. The class was led by Dr. Jeff Mitchell who is one of the most innovative guys I know. Jeff is leading research on conservation tillage, which I think is the future of agriculture. 
   I tried to encourage the students that we need their help on the farm. There are still plenty of problems to solve and plenty of challenges ahead in producing food in the future. We need new varieties of plants to thrive on even less water. We need no generations of pest control that target specific bugs and are even gentler on the environment. As long as people want to eat we will need new innovations in food production. I hope these students were encouraged. We are going to need their help.

   Meanwhile, back on the farm...
The cotton stalks have been shredded and the roots cut. We have been busy preparing the soil so we can plant our wheat. There is no rain in the forecast, but we always hustle this time of year to get the ranch turned around before winter sets in.

from the radio this week-

Country Directions
By Paul H. Betancourt
Copyright October 2012
            When we moved up here it cracked me up when someone would give me directions: “go down the road to Uncle Ed’s place, turn left at the green mail box and then right where the big tree used to be.” Seriously? How could I possibly know where the big tree used to be? Just give me an address and I’ll find it.
            Growing up in San Diego we used city boy directions- you got an address and then drove to the address. If you needed a map you got a map out- and there you are.
            The funny thing is- can you guess how I give directions now? Yeah, you got it right. I don’t know anyone’s address. But, if you go down the road to Uncle Ed’s place, turn left at the green mail box and right where the big tree used to be…
            There just aren’t enough street signs out here in the country. Even with maps and modern toys like GPS and smart phones, sometimes the best directions are to navigate by land marks. A long time ago Solomon said there was nothing new under the sun. Maybe he was on to something.

I hope you all have a great week.

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