Almost rain

   The big excitement on the ranch this week was the possibility of rain. Other than being a nuisance rain may not affect your day too much. The excitement for us was that we can use the rain to help fertilize the wheat. Like every crop wheat benefits from some nitrogen fertilizer. We can either apply it when we irrigate, which can take weeks. Or, of we can catch a rain we can get it all applied at once. The way we do it is to fly on dry fertilizer like you might use in your yard and then let the rain take into the soil. The problem is if we don't get at least a quarter inch of rain some of the fertilizer will volatilize off. That costs money and is a lost opportunity.Of course, three hundred acres of wheat is a little larger than your yard.
   Well, the short version of the story is we didn't get enough rain for this to work. Fortunately we didn't apply the fertilizer. So nothing was lost, except some time and energy trying to set things in motion.
   We will start another irrigation in a few weeks. If it hasn't rained by then we will apply fertilizer in the irrigation water. It is not uniform and it doesn't go on all at once, but it does get the job done.

   Other than that we have been busy with various projects in the shop and around the farm. We are getting things squared away for when things warm up.

Here's a recent radio piece-

Confusing Ends and Means

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright December 2012

                You have probably been somewhere and seen the sign, “Safety First!” That’s not really right is it? Don’t get me wrong safety is important, critically important. But, when people say, “Safety First!” they are making a classic philosophical mistake they are confusing the ends and the means.

            Let’s look at my farm. I don’t get paid to produce safety do I? I get paid to produce food and fiber. If I waited until everything was perfectly safe I’d never get anything done, and neither would you. Let’s be honest if we waited until everything was perfectly safe, we wouldn't even get out of bed. And, even staying in bed has its own dangers.

            The goods we produce or the services we provide are the ends- safety is the means to ‘get ‘er done.’

            I bring this up because we are confused on the issue and it is important. I am not saying safety is any less important, but what is important to remember is safety is not an end in itself, safety is the they way we get things done. If you think about it long enough I am sure you can think up other ways we confuse the ends and the means on many things.

I hope Y'all have a great week!

Still Cold in California

You know it's been cold when 60F feels warm.
   We are all breathing a sigh of relief after a long, cold week in the Golden State. I know, I know. Many of you have really good cold weather stories and we are being a bunch of light weights. But, this is California, we don't have to walk up hill in the snow, both directions, to get to school.

   While it has been cold, it has also been crystal clear in the mornings. This is what it looked like one morning when the dogs took me for a walk.
   It is warming up now. That cold spell was really good for the trees. It helped with the chilling hours they need during this dormant period. But, it is nice to feel a little warmth from the sun today. 
   We are done pruning. Hopefully the brush shredder guys will be here soon. We have some other work to do in the orchard and we need the brush out of our way.
   We'll finish pre-irrigating the first cotton field this week and switch to the next field.
   There is a storm approaching California. We'll keep an eye on it. If it brings some rain we will fly fertilizer on the wheat. If there isn't enough rain in the forecast we'll wait and put fertilizer on the next time we irrigate.

Since we have been talking about the weather I thought I would share an upcoming radio script-

Our ‘Mediterranean’ Climate

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright January 2013

                It’s probably time to explain what I mean when I say we have a ‘Mediterranean Climate.’ There are five areas in the world that have a Mediterranean Climate. The first would be--- the Mediterranean. The others are Chile and Peru in South America, Australia, Central Asia and here in the Valley.

            What does it mean to have a Mediterranean Climate? Here in the Valley it is cold now, but we aren’t shoveling five feet of snow are we? In the summer it gets very hot, but it’s not humid is it? That is what makes it an ideal growing climate. It is hot enough in the summer so we can grow corn, tomatoes and cotton, but we don’t have all the tropical bugs and diseases. It’s cold in the winter, but we don’t have to button up for months at a time like other areas.

            China, with all of its territory cannot grow almonds commercially because their areas that are warm enough in the summer aren’t cold enough in the winter. Their areas that are cold enough in the winter are too cool in the summer.

            We have an amazing and rare climate and that is the foundation of our agricultural production.

And just to show you can find interesting things just about anywhere-

these are some abandoned silos I drive by on the West side.

I hope Y'all have a great week.

P

This Is Cold---for Californians

My readers Back East and in Russia will laugh when I say it  has been cold this week. But, it has been cold, for Californians. 

   You should have seen the looks on the faces of our dogs and the horse yesterday morning when there was ice on the water trough. They were thirsty, that's where the water was, but they couldn't get a drink. [This is where we insert a sad face.] For the record, I did break up the ice so they could drink.

The wheat was growing like gang busters last month. Things were fairly warm. But, it has slowed back down to normal now.

   We are busy pre-irrigating the cotton ground. We are almost done pruning the almonds.

There have been two pieces on the radio this week about my book. This one has some quotes from the book.

Ten Reasons- II
By Paul H. Betancourt
Copyright December 2012

                Here are some excerpts from my new book, ‘Ten Reasons: Finding Balance on Environmental Issues.

            “What does this farmer thinks of the environment? I love it! One of the reasons I chose to farm was to be able to work in and with the natural world. Farmers don’t seem to be able to get enough of the outdoors. When we do get time off it is not unusual to find us hunting, fishing, water skiing or snow skiing. “

BALANCE

“The first principle in a safe and sane environmental policy is balance. We can neither let unrestrained pollution take place, nor can we let the Precautionary Principle strangle progress. The principle that must guide is as a healthy environment and a healthy economy.”

            “There are thousands of issues to address and conversations that must take place. I don’t pretend to solve all these problems in a few pages. But, the principles in this book can help is solving the problems we face.

Will you join me?”

The book is available on Amazon, Google Books and BarnesandNoble.com. There is a Kindle version. I am working to have it at Costco and Barnes and Nobel here in town. There is also a Facebook page- www.facebook.com/TenReasons .

Here's the link for the audio version-

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

I hope Y'all have a safe, and warm week.

P

Scarf Weather

Well, it has been kind of cold lately---for California.

This is the vineyard where I walk the dogs every morning. It has its own beauty.
     The wheat had been growing before Christmas, of course there was no real frost before Christmas. It's gotten a little colder and the wheat is fine, but it has not been growing as quickly lately.
   Of course, we have had some rain and snow. That is always appreciated this time of year. Without rain and snow now it will get very lonely out on the farm next summer.
   We have been celebrating the holidays with friends and family. We try to make the most of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Monday it will be time to go back to work. For now, we have one more weekend.

   I'll leave you with one of my radio bits for this week.

Scarf Weather

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright December 2012

                I know many of you hate the cold and fog and I can sympathize.

            But, I really look forward to what Sheryl and I call scarf weather. By the end of summer I feel I have sweat enough---for a life time. I enjoy putting on a warm sweater, scarf and coat then heading out because it’s a lot easier for me to warm up in winter than it is to cool off in summer.

            While irrigating can be cold work this time of year, I am glad we prune in the winter. It doesn’t take long to warm up even on a cold January morning when you are on the working end of a pruning saw. Winter is good welding weather too. I saved up building my corral as a winter project. Now that was a good idea.

            I know some of you suffer through the fog and get the blues when we haven’t seen the sun for a while. I really am sorry about that. But, summer will be back soon. For the moment I am going to enjoy the cold weather, the hot cider and all the things that make winter a pleasure.

I hope Y'all have a great week.

P