Bloom and Weather

Well bloom has started. I could do without the high winds this weekend. Bees don't fly in 20mph winds.

Other wise the weather this week has been perfect for almond bloom. You can see how the tree protects the overall bloom. Can you see some of flowers are wide open and some of the buds are closed? That way if the blossoms open now don't get  pollinated because of bad weather there is a chance others will open later when the weather is better. Nature is amazingly fertile.

  We got the water and fertilizer on this week, so the trees should be happy and ready to push. It is truly amazing; the trees will from dormant to fully leafed out during the next month. It is an explosion of growth.

Weather is not a Casual Conversation for a Farmer

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright February, 2012

                Weather is not a casual conversation for a farmer. I make my living out in the natural world. If you work in an office or a shop rain can be inconvenient, but you can still get your job done.

            On the farm we need the rain, but if it comes at the wrong time it can be devastating. Do you remember the scene in the movie “War Horse” where the rain ruins the cabbage crop? I have had that happen to me. We had three inches of rain one afternoon in a freak tropical storm while we were harvesting cantaloupes. Melon harvest was over right then. We still had over 10,000 cartons of melons in the field. I got back in the next morning and I could already smell the fruit rotting in the sun.

            I constantly keep an eye on the horizon and checking long and short term weather forecasts. We are fortunate in the Internet Age. I can access things like satellite maps and Doppler radar images to see where the storms are. Grandpa couldn’t do that.

            On the farm weather is a fact of life that affects what I do. The weather can make or break a crop. So you can see why weather is not a casual conversation on the farm.

Almost here...

Well, I didn't make it to the farm show after all. The rain delayed work and just when I was ready to go to the farm show on Thursday things got busy. It took three and a half hours to set up the satellite for a three hour job. That was frustrating. Then the fertilizer I had ordered fro Monday arrived. OK. We took the first lap and then the drive chain broke. Arrrrgh. Some days are like that on the farm. I hadn't had a like that for a few months so I guess I was over due.

As you can see bloom is beginning to start. Some of the early varieties are blooming. The orchards in the south end of the Valley are blooming also. It's a little warmer down there.
   The ten day forecast is clear for the moment. So, we won't bloom spray for now. No need. But, I will keep an eye one the forecast and one the sky.

Even though I didn't make it to the Farm Show I will share one of my memories from Farm Shows past. This piece has been running on the radio this past week.

Food at the Farm Show

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright February 2012

This may come as a surprise to you, but some farmers don’t go the farm show for the tractors and equipment displays. One year I went to the farm show with some neighbors who had to get there by 10am. When I asked why, they said 10 o’clock was time for coffee and cinnamon rolls. OK, that makes sense.

            They had the day mapped out for food. Coffee and cinnamon rolls at 10 am. Look at a few tractors. Then lunch.

            That was difficult because there are some great food booths. Local organizations run food booths at the farm show as fundraisers and let me tell you, those folks can cook. Personally I look for anything with linguica or lamb, but that’s me. There are great tri-tip sandwiches and chili beans. You know, maybe my neighbors are on to something… tractors come and go, but a good meal is something to remember.

            To top off the day we stopped off in Selma for pie and coffee on the way home. The best part? I did so much walking at the Farm Show that all those calories were not only tasty, but guilt free. So, if you make it to the farm show don’t forget, there is some seriously good food in those food booths- and you will be supporting a good cause.

You can find the recording at-

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

OK, I confess, I don't always go to the Farm Show to see the tractors.

I hope Y'all have a great week.

P

Do You Want to Know What Keeps Me Up This Time of Year?

Almond Bloom

By Paul H. Betancourt
Copyright February, 2012

Let me tell you what keeps me up at night and gives me heartburn.

The weather during almond bloom.

During the next few weeks the almond trees start blooming. It is a beautiful sight. Sheryl thinks that being in the trees during bloom on a sunny day is like being in a fairyland. We have even had picnic lunches out in the trees during bloom on nice days. When the petals start to fall it looks like it is snowing gently. It can be fabulous.

BUT-during the few weeks of bloom we set our crop for the year. This is crunch time in the orchard. Almond blossoms are very tender. Each individual blossom only lasts three days. If the bees don’t pollinate it in those three days-it is lost. Rain causes mold. Wind causes the bees to stay safe and snug in their boxes. It’s not just the blossoms. Too much rain on the young shoots can cause a disease called ‘shot gun’ where the leaves are peppered with little holes.

So, you can see what keeps me tossing and turning this time of year. Farmers need perfect weather to set a crop. This is the one chance to make a crop for this year. There are no ‘do-overs’. If the blossoms do not set-we are done for the year. So, farmers watch the sky and the weather reports. We do what we can to prepare and we say a prayer.

There's a 70% chance of rain forecast tonight.
I'll keep you posted.
I hope Y'all have a great week.
 
P

Seasonal Food

Another busy week on the farm. We have started watering the wheat again. As dry as this winter has been it does need water. The brush in the almond orchard is shredded and the acid has been applied to the field that will get planted to almonds next month.

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 great week.
 
P

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