After the Rain

Well we got some rain last weekend and they finished the levelling this week. We have let things dry out. This week we will disc the ground then prepare it to put acid down the tree row. That may sound a little risky, but the idea is to treat the alkali in the ground. We have done it before and it works well. We will let that acid settle in and then plant the trees the beginning of March.
   We have finished pre-irrigating the cotton ground and this week we will start watering the wheat.

We are still in the middle of the winter fog season.

Here's one of this week's radio bits-

Winter Meetings

By Paul H. Betancourt
Copyright January 2012
I have mentioned earlier there is always something to do on the farm. I have also shared the notion that I earn my living growing food, not filling out paper work. One problem I have this time of year is that people who run meetings for a living found out that things get kind of slow on the farm this time of year. There’s no cotton in the ground. Usually we get some rain along the way. But, I gotta admit things are not as busy as they will get when things warm up.

I have shared with you how we try to use that time to get ahead of things by prepping equipment and what not. But, like I said, these guys who run meetings realized I am just not as rushed as I usually am- so, there are invitations to growers meetings, salesmen meetings, policy meetings, I am pretty sure there are meeting-meetings, but they get lost in the blizzard of emails.
Now, I will admit- not all these meetings are bad. Some are kind of interesting. But, again- I don’t get paid to go to meetings like some folks do. I get paid to grow things. At least, at the end of the year my banker never asks, “How many meetings have you been to?” Now that I think about it, there is a government agency that does ask how many meetings I go to, but that is another story. My banker asks if I grew enough crops to pay my bills. So, I have to pick and chose which meetings I go to. Some are very interesting and informative. Others are…well, I am sure you have been to those kind of meetings…

But, there is that part of me that wishes ‘they’ hadn’t figured out things slow down on the farm in the winter and would let me get some of things done around here that I know won’t get done once things warm up.

You can find more at- http://www.940kyno.com/index.php?c=68
 
I hope Y'all have a fabulous week.
 
P

It Got Cold This Week

It's been a while since we chipped ice while irrigating.

I know that isn't cold for some folks, but this is California.

Here's a little radio bit I did about the weather.

Heat and Cold on the Farm


By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright November, 2011



I have been so hot my eyeballs sweat. Honestly, one time I bent over to work on some equipment and I got salt in my eyes.

I have been so cold that when we set sprinklers in a tomato field the sprinkler drops came down as snow. [That was a clue we should shut the whole thing down and go home.]

The world is just not set at a nice, comfortable 72F.

One of the perks of farming is I am not stuck in an office. But, on July afternoons- inside doesn’t sound too bad. The heat makes me appreciate modern life- air conditioning and ice cubes in the summer. I also appreciate a hot shower and a warm home on a cold winter’s night. I really appreciate the fact we have air conditioned tractors and pickups.

I haven’t figured out how to get paid for being up to my neck in a swimming pool on a summer afternoon. So I adapt. In the summer I try to get the hot and heavy work done in the morning when it is cooler. Heat and cold are part of the job, we adapt, innovate and overcome.

***
You can find more radio bits at
http://www.940kyno.com/index.php?c=68
 
I hope Y'all have a great week!
 
P

Waiting...

I am waiting for two things this week...Rain...and the contractor who will level the fields we are re-planting to almonds.

Rain...it is pretty dry out there. There is no grass in the hills for the cattle. The ground is getting dusty and the air is not getting washed by the rain.
   The weatherman said it will rain next week. We'll see. The high pressure that has kept the rain away is pretty strong. It is going to take a storm or too just to weaken the high pressure ridge before any real rain can get in.
   We'll know more next weekend.

Meanwhile I am waiting for the land levelling company. OK, to be fair they said they will be out next week which would be great. That would be really fast service since I only called them on Wednesday to tell them I had the field ready for them. It would also be great to get the levelling done before it rains. Otherwise I would have to wait for the ground to dry out enough to get the scrapers going again.
   We'll know about that next week too.

In the meantime we are finishing the winter pruning and pre-irrigating the cotton ground.

Winter Irrigation

By Paul H. Betancourt
Copyright January 2012

Years ago Sheryl’s uncle asked a logical question- Why do farmers water fallow fields during the winter? That’s a fair question.

You can think of winter irrigation as our water savings account. We put water in the ground now that the plants won’t use until next summer.

The first thing to remember is we don’t just have summer corps here. Someone harvests something here every day of the year. That being said, we do a pre-irrigation of our cotton fields in the winter. Once the season starts, there is no way to get enough water to the plants and get our tractors in the field in a timely manner if we start with dry fields. So, we fill the root zone with water in the winter. Then during the hot days of summer we just refill the top of the soil profile to keep the plant roots healthy and growing.

You can rest assured, every farmer knows water is too precious to waste a drop. When we irrigate fallow fields in the winter we do it with a purpose- we are getting ready for the hot days of summer.

You can find other radio bits at-
http://www.940kyno.com/index.php?c=68
 
I hope Y'all have a great week.
 
P

Back to Work on the Farm

Happy New Year Y'all!

Well, vacation is over. I gotta admit I wasn't really ready to get back to work. We had a great holiday. We enjoyed visiting the family, had some great food and got some rest. But, here is always something to do on the farm. So, this week...

...we got the ripper going. We are preparing some ground to replant almonds.
   Our ground is prone to forming a hard pan layer. We we ripped it last month and left it open to get some rain on it. OK, that idea didn't work so well since it didn't rain. But, we came back now and we are slip plowing under where the tree row will be.

I am not particularly fond of pictures of myself. But, I thought I would show you how deep we are running the slip plow. I am over six feet tall- so, you can see that shank is going pretty deep. The slip plow will break up the hard pan layer and mix it so thoroughly it will not be able to reform during the life of the almonds. That will give the almond roots a chance to grow deep and strong. Almonds have really weak roots and they will not push through if they meet any obstruction.

Next week we will disc the field back down. Then we have hired a contractor to laser level the field so the water will run uniformly down the field when we irrigate. There is a lot of work still to do before we plant those trees. I'll keep you posted.

Until then I thought I would share one of this week's radio bits.

My Pickup Tool Box

By Paul H. Betancourt
Copyright January, 2012
My pick up tool box is a lot like your junk draw at home. Please don’t get me wrong, I have cool and useful tools to keep the equipment going. A lot of the work we do is out in the field and not in the shop. So, we need to carry wrenches and screw drives, baling wire and yes, a hammer and vise grips.

The reason my tool box is like your junk draw is I also have keys, rolls of tape and bits of things I am not even sure about any more. The problem is this- every time I clean out my tool box, without a doubt, within a week I will desperately need something I just threw out. It never fails. I gotta admit it kinda drives me crazy. I can either have a clean tool box or the things I need. Apparently I can’t have both. Is this some kind of law of the universe? So, I’ll leave the junk in there until I can’t stand it anymore. Then I’ll clean it out and take the consequences. Not only was Murphy and optimist, but apparently that busybody has time to tinker with my tool box.

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

I hope Y'all have a great week.

P