The Weather is not really casual conversation for farmers. Not only is our ability to make a living dependent on the weather, but each week's work is driven by the weather-when to plant, when to irrigate, when to harvest. I know we are going to pick cotton in October, but the starting date can swing two or three weeks depending on the weather. Sometimes it is hard to plan too far ahead.
Almond harvest affected by the beautiful Spring weather.
The first variety of almonds came up. That was a little disappointing. I talked to one neighbor last March. He estimated that yields were 40% off because of the rain and the wind during the bloom. Looks like he was about right. Hopefully the prices will come up since the supply will be low.
This week's spike in temperatures was a little nasty.
The weather has been fabulous the last few weeks, mid-90's. Perfect cotton growing weather. Cotton doesn't start growing until it is 65 and stops growing at 95. So this has been right on the last few weeks. [We'll see if the plants caught up from the cool Spring.].
That little burst back up to 110 was a reminder of what summer in the Valley can be like. Plants and people wilted a little bit in the heat. Me, personally? I have I have met my lifetime quota for sweat. If I can I his indoors on hot afternoons. Usually work in the office or go visit folks. This week I had some writing to do. Get my field work done in the morning and then look for shade.
Years ago a friend was leaving the area to go to law school in LA. He said he was going to miss the summer weather. I was thinking to myself, are you insane? The only people who like the summer weather here are the ones who work inside when it is baking outside. He explained he was going to miss the warm summer nights. OK, you got me on that one. It is nice to sit on the back lawn or patio in the evening. You can do it in LA and San Diego, but you gotta button up. Our summers may be too hot, but they have that crazy So Cal traffic all year long.
We are headed into my favorite weather of the year-Fall. Cool mornings and warm afternoons.
I hope y'all have a great week.
P
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Why Gambling is boring for farmers
This is the time of the hisgest uncertainty and anxiety on the farm. All our money is out there, invested in the crop. We have bills piled up on our desks and we are not sure if our income is going to cover the expenses. That is why going to Reno or Vegas is no big thrill. That is a few hundred dollars, it's over in a few minutes and they serves drinks. You don't even have a chance to lose a night's sleep over it.
Try borrowing a million bucks, laying it out in the field for bugs to eat it or the weather to get to it. Lose some sleep for at least a few nights- now you're gambling.
President Kennedy is quoted as saying, "Farmers are the only ones who pay retail, recieve wholesale and pay the freight in both directions." Pretty good observation for a city boy.
They are picking up the almonds. Biy, the squirrels sure nibbled the south end of one field. [Our nighbor there is the county.] Squirrels are so cute. We feed them in city parks when we are traveling. But, at home it is hand to hand fighting all summer long.
For my Facebook friends- I'll leave you a link to a John Denver song about eating peaches. Remember that one?
I hope you all have a great week.
P
Try borrowing a million bucks, laying it out in the field for bugs to eat it or the weather to get to it. Lose some sleep for at least a few nights- now you're gambling.
President Kennedy is quoted as saying, "Farmers are the only ones who pay retail, recieve wholesale and pay the freight in both directions." Pretty good observation for a city boy.
They are picking up the almonds. Biy, the squirrels sure nibbled the south end of one field. [Our nighbor there is the county.] Squirrels are so cute. We feed them in city parks when we are traveling. But, at home it is hand to hand fighting all summer long.
For my Facebook friends- I'll leave you a link to a John Denver song about eating peaches. Remember that one?
I hope you all have a great week.
P
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Yes, it's almond harvest time. You can see the almonds falling. [They are the little tan flecks on the right.] We will leave them on teh ground to dry down for a week. Then they will be swept in to the center and picked up.
There is nothing like fresh almonds. But, I like them roasted too.
Roasted Almonds
4 cups of almonds
1/8 cup of olive oil
2 TSBS salt [I usually use garlic salt. I also like cajun slat. Whatever floats your boat.]
Stir contents in a bowl and then spread on a cookie sheet.
Set overn for 350F
12minutes and check. If you like them cooked more send them back in for three more minutes..
Elsewhere on the farm this week:
We cut off water to the first two cotton fields this past week. We also cut off water on the black eyes.
We are working the wheat and garbanzo ground so we can bed it up before cotton harvest.
Hope y'all have a great week.
P
Sunday, August 8, 2010
OK, I know that's cheating. It's harvest time, not bloom time. In my defense I wasn't blogging during
bloom and these kind of pictures are too pretty to save until next winter. I'll post a harvest picture in a week or two.
We should start shaking trees by the end of the week.
It's been a quite week on the farm. Just getting the orchards ready and keeping the cotton wet. The weather has been perfect. Cool in the morning and not too hot in the afternoon. We couldn't ask for better.
One teensy, weensy frustration- Thursday night someone came in and stole the batteries out of two tractors in the other orchard. Why can't they leave things alone? They'll get $30 for the batteries. It will cost me $300 to replace the batteries and the cables they cut. What a pain. We were raised, 'if it isn't yours leave it alone.' Some of these guys seem to have been raised, 'if it isn't nailed down it is fair game.'
I have been thinking some more of the idea of a San Joaquin Valley diet. Not only should it feature the fresh fruits and veggies we produce here, it should also feature the diversity of foods from the many cultures that have settled down here. Of course there is the Mexican food. But, that in itself comes in many styles. Michoacan and Sinaloa are well represented here. There are also Armenian, Chinese and Japanese communities with long historical roots. There are many other groups here who brought some fabulous recipes with them.
This week's literary gem comes from Walt Whitman.
"Now I see the secret of making the best persons, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth."
from 'Song of the Open Road'
Farm life may not be fancy, but many of the most real, honest, wise, reliable and solid people I have ever met have been folks who spent a significant part of their lives out on a farm. Thankfully there are enough of them left to grow our food and fiber.
I hope y'all have a great week.
P
bloom and these kind of pictures are too pretty to save until next winter. I'll post a harvest picture in a week or two.We should start shaking trees by the end of the week.
It's been a quite week on the farm. Just getting the orchards ready and keeping the cotton wet. The weather has been perfect. Cool in the morning and not too hot in the afternoon. We couldn't ask for better.
One teensy, weensy frustration- Thursday night someone came in and stole the batteries out of two tractors in the other orchard. Why can't they leave things alone? They'll get $30 for the batteries. It will cost me $300 to replace the batteries and the cables they cut. What a pain. We were raised, 'if it isn't yours leave it alone.' Some of these guys seem to have been raised, 'if it isn't nailed down it is fair game.'
I have been thinking some more of the idea of a San Joaquin Valley diet. Not only should it feature the fresh fruits and veggies we produce here, it should also feature the diversity of foods from the many cultures that have settled down here. Of course there is the Mexican food. But, that in itself comes in many styles. Michoacan and Sinaloa are well represented here. There are also Armenian, Chinese and Japanese communities with long historical roots. There are many other groups here who brought some fabulous recipes with them.
This week's literary gem comes from Walt Whitman.
"Now I see the secret of making the best persons, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth."
from 'Song of the Open Road'
Farm life may not be fancy, but many of the most real, honest, wise, reliable and solid people I have ever met have been folks who spent a significant part of their lives out on a farm. Thankfully there are enough of them left to grow our food and fiber.
I hope y'all have a great week.
P
Sunday, August 1, 2010
You Pay for Your Education on the Farm
Well, the garbaznos were a bust-We grew the garbanzos to see if they would be a better rotatation than wheat. They are not, at least for us. Wheat is a good rotation and it makes money when wheat prices are up. Wheat prices have been down the past two years. So it seemed to make sense to look for another rotation crop.
Starting a new crop is always a hassle. You are unsure of what to do. You fiddle with the equipment. We probably spent more time tinkering with 40 acres of garbanzos than we will with 160 acres of ctton. But, isn't it always that way when you learn something new?
This one didn't pencil out, meaning it cost more to produce than we will get for the crop. As Sheryl's Dad says, "You pay for your education."
For those of you who don't recognize the photo- those are cotton blooms and squares. The cotton blooms yellow or white, depending on the variety, then they turn pink.This is the time of year to set bolls. It takes 60 days from bloom to open boll. So we need to set a crop by August 15 if we are going to harvest in October.
We try to keep the plants watered and fed. We also try to keep th bugs off them. The current weather has been almost perfect. Cotton won't grow well if ti is cooler than 65F in the morning or warmer than 95F in the afternoon. We are just about right in that department.
We are getting ready to harvest our first variety of almonds in a couple of week. This week we will cut off the water and start prepping the fields.
I hope all is well with you and yours.
P
Monday, July 26, 2010
How this famer learned the value of pesticides...
Sorry I am late with this week's post. We were taking motorcycle safety lessons with our daughter Heidi. One of Heidi's crusades is to expose us to new experiences in our old age. It was a blast, and it was fun to learn a new skill.
Meanwhile, back on the farm...
We laid by another cotton field this week. One more field and we can park the tractors for now. Speaking of tractors, we finally got our tractor back from John Deere late Friday. Ruben was so excited he said, 'Thank you' and shook my hand. He was glad to be back in his old tractor.
Below is an column I did years ago for the Fresno Bee. I still stand by it. I know people are concerned about pesticide use. I can assure you that the people who prepare and process your food are just as concerned. When I talk with restaurant owners about food their first concern is not flavors and recipes, but food safety. When people ask me if I think our food supply is safe my answer is, think about it- one child getting sick can make national head lines. Is our system perfect? Of course not. Should we remain on our toes? Of course. But, I still think we have the safest, most affordable and abundant food supply in the history of the world.
How this farmer learned the value of pesticides.
September 17, 1996.
No one could want to farm without chemicals more than I do. When I came to the Valley from San Diego in 1981 I had dreams of small-scale organic farming and all the city dweller's prejudice against pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.
While I may not like them anymore than before I had learned that used properly, farm chemicals can be safe, effective and indeed one of the foundations of our modern society.
The 'fear industrial complex' of professional worriers has done a good job convincing the public that their food is poisoned and all farm chemicals cause cancer. No one stops to think, "If our food is poisoned, then why are we living longer, healthier lives than our ancestors?" The question each of us needs to ask ourselves is, "Are we better or worse off by the use of pesticides and the other tools of modern agriculture?"
Dr. Bruce Ames, a biochemist in Berkeley says, "I think pesticides lower the cancer rate." Ames bases his position on the fact that a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables will do more to prevent cancer than any risks from the chemicals used to produce that food.
Ames also notes that our food is full of naturally occurring carcinogens. A peanut butter sandwich is 100 times more carcinogenic than a fish full of DDT. A glass of cola, coffee or wine is a thousand times more carcinogenic than water form wells in the Silicon Valley that were shut down due to groundwater contamination. This doesn't mean we should ignore the health concerns from using pesticides. But, we must put our fears in perspective. As Dr. Ames says, "...the price you pay for living in a modern, industrial society is a few parts per billion of something in the water...Just eat a good diet and don't worry."
Real concerns about the use of pesticides are clouded by the nonsense of the fear mongers. It is appropriate that we assess farm chemicals for their safety to ensure public health.But, it is not reasonable to be prejudiced against or afraid of pesticide use.
The industry must continually show the public, its customers, that these chemicals can be used safely and that we take the public safety very seriously. The public must acknowledge that farm chemicals are one of the basic tools of modern society. As Dixie Lee Ray, the former Governor of Washington State says, "Sometime in the distant future, when the accomplishments of the 20th Century are recorded for posterity, it may finally be acknowledged that our greatest achievement, by far, has been the introduction of high-tech, high-yield agriculture."
High-tech, high-yield agriculture is at the foundation of our modern society. Those who believe we can have all the benefits of modern agriculture are wrong.
Meanwhile, back on the farm...
We laid by another cotton field this week. One more field and we can park the tractors for now. Speaking of tractors, we finally got our tractor back from John Deere late Friday. Ruben was so excited he said, 'Thank you' and shook my hand. He was glad to be back in his old tractor.
Below is an column I did years ago for the Fresno Bee. I still stand by it. I know people are concerned about pesticide use. I can assure you that the people who prepare and process your food are just as concerned. When I talk with restaurant owners about food their first concern is not flavors and recipes, but food safety. When people ask me if I think our food supply is safe my answer is, think about it- one child getting sick can make national head lines. Is our system perfect? Of course not. Should we remain on our toes? Of course. But, I still think we have the safest, most affordable and abundant food supply in the history of the world.
How this farmer learned the value of pesticides.
September 17, 1996.
No one could want to farm without chemicals more than I do. When I came to the Valley from San Diego in 1981 I had dreams of small-scale organic farming and all the city dweller's prejudice against pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.
While I may not like them anymore than before I had learned that used properly, farm chemicals can be safe, effective and indeed one of the foundations of our modern society.
The 'fear industrial complex' of professional worriers has done a good job convincing the public that their food is poisoned and all farm chemicals cause cancer. No one stops to think, "If our food is poisoned, then why are we living longer, healthier lives than our ancestors?" The question each of us needs to ask ourselves is, "Are we better or worse off by the use of pesticides and the other tools of modern agriculture?"
Dr. Bruce Ames, a biochemist in Berkeley says, "I think pesticides lower the cancer rate." Ames bases his position on the fact that a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables will do more to prevent cancer than any risks from the chemicals used to produce that food.
Ames also notes that our food is full of naturally occurring carcinogens. A peanut butter sandwich is 100 times more carcinogenic than a fish full of DDT. A glass of cola, coffee or wine is a thousand times more carcinogenic than water form wells in the Silicon Valley that were shut down due to groundwater contamination. This doesn't mean we should ignore the health concerns from using pesticides. But, we must put our fears in perspective. As Dr. Ames says, "...the price you pay for living in a modern, industrial society is a few parts per billion of something in the water...Just eat a good diet and don't worry."
Real concerns about the use of pesticides are clouded by the nonsense of the fear mongers. It is appropriate that we assess farm chemicals for their safety to ensure public health.But, it is not reasonable to be prejudiced against or afraid of pesticide use.
The industry must continually show the public, its customers, that these chemicals can be used safely and that we take the public safety very seriously. The public must acknowledge that farm chemicals are one of the basic tools of modern society. As Dixie Lee Ray, the former Governor of Washington State says, "Sometime in the distant future, when the accomplishments of the 20th Century are recorded for posterity, it may finally be acknowledged that our greatest achievement, by far, has been the introduction of high-tech, high-yield agriculture."
High-tech, high-yield agriculture is at the foundation of our modern society. Those who believe we can have all the benefits of modern agriculture are wrong.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Summer Heat and Growing Your Own Food
Summer's back in town!
Hard to miss the 100+ days. I used to really complain about it, but then we had a chance to visit Florida and Virginia-that's hot. Here, no matter how hot it gets in the afternoon, it's always 30F cooler in the morning. In the hot and humid places it is always hot and humid. We would leave the hotel at 8am and be dripping sweat by the time we got to the car. Back to our summer heat...
Summer is not my favorite season. It is easier for me to warm up when I am cold than it is to cool off when I am hot. I endure summer and I look forward to Fall. I am extremely grateful for air conditioning, and for our blessed, cool mornings. I try to get my field and shop work done in the mornings and save office work for the afternoon.
We eat lots of cool meals like pasta salad this time of year. We also enjoy lots of fresh fruits. The yellow peaches are coming on now. Mmmmm yummmy. I love watermelon too. I have been drinking my coffee iced also.
Growing Your Own Food-
Summer gardens seem to be the topic of discussion this week. One book I was reading talked about it, I saw some newspaper articles and a Facebook friend lamented some problems in her garden. Last month I had a discussion with a community advocate about the virtues of urban gardens.
I'll be the first to admit there are few satisfactions like eating a home-grown tomato. I don't know about you, but I was never able to grow anything more in my gardens than a few salad garnishes.
The lesson I learned with my little garden plots when I was growing up in San Diego is that I eat a lot more food than I can produce in a garden patch. I started then to learn an appreciation for the system that produces our food. There are hundreds of millions of us and just a handful of farmers. Less than 2% of us live and work on farms, producing food for everyone else and enough to export too. That is pretty amazing. [Dixie Lee Ray has an amazing quote about that. Maybe I'll share that with you some other time.]
Too all you home gardeners- my sweat stained hat is off to you.
BTW- an update from last week's post on curve balls: I still don't have my tractor back from the shop. We are going to replace the engine [ ouch, that wasn't in the budget.] We hope to get the tractor back this week, which would be nice since we are almost done with our summer tractor work. The cotton is growing fast in this heat and it is time to lay the cotton by and park the tractors until Fall.
I hope y'all have a great week and I hope you can find a cool place to rest.
Hard to miss the 100+ days. I used to really complain about it, but then we had a chance to visit Florida and Virginia-that's hot. Here, no matter how hot it gets in the afternoon, it's always 30F cooler in the morning. In the hot and humid places it is always hot and humid. We would leave the hotel at 8am and be dripping sweat by the time we got to the car. Back to our summer heat...
Summer is not my favorite season. It is easier for me to warm up when I am cold than it is to cool off when I am hot. I endure summer and I look forward to Fall. I am extremely grateful for air conditioning, and for our blessed, cool mornings. I try to get my field and shop work done in the mornings and save office work for the afternoon.
We eat lots of cool meals like pasta salad this time of year. We also enjoy lots of fresh fruits. The yellow peaches are coming on now. Mmmmm yummmy. I love watermelon too. I have been drinking my coffee iced also.
Growing Your Own Food-
Summer gardens seem to be the topic of discussion this week. One book I was reading talked about it, I saw some newspaper articles and a Facebook friend lamented some problems in her garden. Last month I had a discussion with a community advocate about the virtues of urban gardens.
I'll be the first to admit there are few satisfactions like eating a home-grown tomato. I don't know about you, but I was never able to grow anything more in my gardens than a few salad garnishes.
The lesson I learned with my little garden plots when I was growing up in San Diego is that I eat a lot more food than I can produce in a garden patch. I started then to learn an appreciation for the system that produces our food. There are hundreds of millions of us and just a handful of farmers. Less than 2% of us live and work on farms, producing food for everyone else and enough to export too. That is pretty amazing. [Dixie Lee Ray has an amazing quote about that. Maybe I'll share that with you some other time.]
Too all you home gardeners- my sweat stained hat is off to you.
BTW- an update from last week's post on curve balls: I still don't have my tractor back from the shop. We are going to replace the engine [ ouch, that wasn't in the budget.] We hope to get the tractor back this week, which would be nice since we are almost done with our summer tractor work. The cotton is growing fast in this heat and it is time to lay the cotton by and park the tractors until Fall.
I hope y'all have a great week and I hope you can find a cool place to rest.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
