Opening Up

Recent winds have sure helped knock the leaves off the cotton. It's looking pretty good.
Now if we can only have some patience and let those top bolls open...

In the meantime we finished servicing the pickers. We have to replace the chains on one module builder and finish servicing the tractors. Then we will be ready. We've only got two weeks so we gotta keep at it.
   In addition to servicing the equipment we went to a harvest safety training meeting last week and we will go to another one this coming week. The whole crop isn't worth losing one finger.

Here's a recently recorded radio script. It should be on the air in the coming weeks.

I Don’t Think This is Progress

By Paul H. Betancourt

October 2013

                  The old timers will tell you that a generation ago they didn’t even lock their homes out in the country. Why I mention this is we had our mail stolen last month. Now we are thinking of getting a locking mailbox. Not only will it be a pain in the rear getting a key out every day to get the mail, but I am struck by the irony that Sheryl’s grandparents didn’t have to lock their house and now I have to lock my mail box. I don’t think this is progress.

            This isn’t the first time either. Some punk was smashing mailboxes with a baseball bat ten years ago and I had to armor up the mail box then.

            I know you have probably had something like this happen in our neighborhood. Since the time of the hippies we have talked a lot about social progress, but when the governor is letting car thieves out of jail and I have to lock my mail box-  I don’t think that I progress.

I hope Y'all have a great week!

It still hurts....

   It's been a week and it is still strange to see the house from the road. From the second story we can see lights and neighbors we have not seen for twenty years.

   The trees are drying out. A couple people have asked what happens to them. Years ago they would have been burned out in the open. But, that time has passed. They will be ground up and then burned at a biomass plant. The cost of removal goes up and down based on the price of electricity. Once again farmers are doing their part for the environment. 

   Elsewhere on the farm- we started defoliation of the cotton this week. It looks like it was just in time. It was 90 degrees and calm yesterday. Today it has been in the 70's and very windy. Now we wait. While the cotton plants dry down and the leaves fall off we are still working on equipment. We will have the pickers ready by midweek. Then we will start servicing the tractors and discs.

Seasonal Food

By Paul H. Betancourt

February 2012

            I wait all year long for the Naval Oranges to come in. Harvest starts in November but I wait until December when they are that much sweeter. Then it is fresh squeezed orange juice almost every morning until March. After that I really don’t drink much orange juice until the following December. There just is nothing like fresh squeezed orange juice and I am willing to wait.

         We have gotten kind of spoiled that last thirty years or so. We are used to having everything available all the time. When I was a kid we had to wait all year for fresh strawberries in the Spring. Now we can get strawberries all year long. I think we have lost something in the process.

         There are some foods I just eat at certain times of the year. For example, I eat a lot of soup in December, not so much in July. I eat a lot of salads in July, not so much in December.  It’s kind of like Christmas baking. I only make fudge during the holidays.

         It is said, ‘variety is the spice of life.’ Well, seasonal variety spices up my life.

I hope Y'all have a a great week!

P

This Breaks My Heart

We are in mourning. We are tearing the orchard around the house. It was a matter of time. The trees have been collapsing the last four years. Ten Lined June Beetle has torn up the roots. We have also had a fungus in the trees. But, it still hurts.

 This is the first time in twenty years we have not had trees surrounding our home.

Other than that things are good on the farm. We will start defoliating this next week. Meanwhile we are busy in the shop servicing and repairing equipment.

A Food Policy Catch-22

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright August 2013                                                                

                  An environmental group has done the math and calculated how much food we throw out and their numbers are astounding. They then translate that into how much water we “waste” and how much fertilizer, etc. we wouldn’t need to use if we just didn’t throw out so much food.

            Here’s the catch though- at the same time the enviros want us to throw out less food, food activists want us to eat more fresh food. Guess what? Fresh food spoils faster than processed food.

            If a farmer picks peaches when they are perfectly ripe they will get bruised between the farm and your store. Americans are notoriously picky shoppers. We don’t like bananas that have even a speck on them.

            I think the answer is fresher fruits and veggies and we accept a certain amount of loss. But, someone is going to have to explain that to our environmental friends.

Book Signing Saturday September 14th...

at A Clovis Book Barn.

http://www.clovisbookbarn.com/event_exploring2013.php
I will be at the Clovis Book Barn signing copies of "Ten Reasons: Finding Balance on Environmental Issues"  from Noon to 4pm next Saturday. If you are in the area drop on by. Great selection of books and a great coffee shop, Kuppa Joy, is just up the street. All the ingredients for a great day.

Meanwhile back on the farm-

   We had to spray bugs in the cotton. Aphids cause honeydew which makes the fiber hard to spin. I really hate spraying this late, but in a globalized market quality is everything.
   All the almonds are up and on their way to Blue Diamond. "A can a week is all we ask."
   We are in the shop getting equipment ready for harvest.

One of this week's radio scripts-

Flat

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright December  2012

               Yeah the Valley is flat. But, at least my view every day is framed by the Coast Range on the West and the Sierras on the East. It’s beautiful.

            I can watch the sun creep over the Sierras and light up the Coast range in the morning as I head out to the ranch. And, I can watch the sun set over the same coast range and light up the Sierras with pink alpenglow.

            It’s flat here, but it’s not as flat as some other places. We were in the Midwest and Sheryl said, “It’s flat.” I said, “It’s flat three states up and two states down. When the wind starts blowing in Montana it goes through five or six states before it gets tot eh mountains in Kentucky.”

            Yeah, the Valley is flat, but  it’s flat and fabulous! We have wide open spaces that make up some of the best farmland on the planet.  And, we have some of the most amazing mountains in the world. People come from all over to see Yosemite, but there are plenty of other amazing places in the Sierras if you’re willing to go for a little walk.