Over the weekend the last big push to finish up field work happened. Â The combining was finished…the round bales have been made. Â The tillage has not been finished.
Hubby took his turn in trying to get it finished up over the weekend.
All of the days, Hubby packs a lunch and is super faithful about it. Â He doesn’t miss a day ever unless it was planned. Â He’s a real creature of habit. Â For some reason, on Saturday he forgot his sandwiches. Â He makes them the night before and puts them in his lunch box in the morning. Â For some reason, that morning he forgot. Â He knew I was home and knew he’s be working until past dark so called and asked if I’d bring them to him.
The farm in only 3 miles from our house so it was no big deal.
Here he is coming to meet me.
As long as I was there, I thought I’d ride a couple rounds with him. Â This is the view out the front window. Â To the right is the unfinished field. Â The field was originally a corn field. Â The corn has been harvested and round bales have been made and cleared from the field. Â To the right, he has already ran the sub soiler over that part of the field.
Out the back window, it looks like this.Sorry it’s not a clearer picture. Â The windows reflect the sun which makes it hard to get a clear picture.
The sub soiler that he is pulling behind has very deep knives that go about 17″ into the ground. Â They knife through the soil, pulling it up and loosening it breaking up compaction.
We made our way to one end of the field turned around and then came back. Â Now heading to the farm. Â We used to live on the farm… Â Some days, I miss it but that’s always fleeting. Â I love living in town.
Here’s a closer look at the field after Hubby has worked it up. Â As we’d drive along there would be a “thunk” sound. Â That’s rocks getting pulled up and moved towards the surface. Â That’s not a happy sound as next spring, some of those rocks will be exposed and have to be picked up.
I do have to tell this…as I was riding in the tractor with him I was asking all these questions so that when I came back to write this blog post I’d make sure I have the proper terminology. Â I took my phone out to record these words, “sub soiler tillage to break up compaction”…I turned on the voice to text and said it. Â My phone recorded “Sub soy lady pillage to break up compassion”. Â Hubby and I laughed and laughed. Â Apparently, the phone doesn’t record farm speech very well.
..and with that, I climbed back towards the truck and headed home. Â He headed back down the field. Â There was LOTS of back and forth to before he was done. Â After this field he was moving on to anther 50 acre field.
I’ll be so happy when he’s done. Â I think the older I get, being a farm widow gets harder and harder.
I learn so much from your blog! This was very interesting! I know nothing about farming! Now I know a little bit! Thanks!
I lived with my grandparents on their farm for 7 years. I remember grandma talking about selling the farm and I said “No!”. But in the end it was all good because grandpa only lived 10 years more and grandma said she was so happy they sold when they did-they were able to do a lot together. Thanks for bringing back fond memories of riding with grandpa on the tractor!
Jo, I also enjoy reading your posts about the farm because both of my grandfathers were farmers here in Virginia….I know they both grew cotton, and one also grew tobacco (cannot remember the other crop for the other one).
I always enjoyed visiting them when the crops were ready for picking…we lived about 100 miles from them, and whenever I would visit when the cotton was about to be picked, I always took a few plants home with me, to take in for “show and tell”… And when it was time for picking the tobacco, I used to love to go out in the fields and see the process of picking and tying up the tobacco leaves to bring back to the barns for curing….such great memories!!
Back in August of this year, my mom passed away (at the age of 94, after a good, long life)….she was buried in a country cemetery, next to my dad, and next door to the church she attended as a girl, and on the way from the funeral home to the cemetery, we passed cotton fields… It was great to see those plants full of cotton bolls, and almost ready to be picked….
As much as I enjoy all the quilting inspiration you give us, this post was really a special one for me…thanks for sharing!!
I remember my mom always keeping an eye on the driveway waiting for my dad to return from the field. And the year he finished picking corn on thanksgiving day! He would be amazed by today’s technology! He retired in 1980.
Thanks for the interesting ride-a-long!
I don’t think I’d like picking up the rocks. Guessing it’s all hand work, not automated?
I so enjoy your blog! Not just the quilting, but also the glimpses of farming. I grew up on a farm in Montana, and have fond memories of riding with my dad on the combine! Thanks for sharing!
I read a while back that some of the farmers near us (in south east Virginia) are adopting no-till farming.
My mother lives in a small village in central England. At harvest time there are tractors driving through the village all day, and even into the night – which is quite the feat because in the summer it is only dark for a few hours. It certainly is an arduous job that we don’t know so much about. Thanks for sharing.
My husband is retired from farming now, but still rents his ground out to others. Seeing the blue New Holland tractor made me smile, because that is what my husband has. He hasn’t sold his tractors and machinery yet. About all we see around our part of Iowa is green tractors, and my husband has had both, but much prefers the blue!! Thanks for the pictures.
It does get hard being a farm widow, doesn’t it? Haying season is the tough one for me. I haven’t been for a tractor ride in a good long while – thanks for the reminder to do that once in a while!
I saw your husband at Walmart in Decorah on Monday night and so badly wanted to say hello and that I read your blog, but I was afraid he would think I was some creepy stalker! He was also talking on the phone–probably to you–so a good reason not to approach him! I felt like I had seen a celebrity!
OH that’s so funny. He likely was talking to me or his boss. That’s who he talks to the most. Stop and say hi to either of us anytime. We don’t mind and actually like it.
I love your stories and pictures of farming! I hope you continue to write and share them with us. Thank you! : )
Love your farming posts as that’s what we do. I was also excited to see the NH tractor. I’m pretty sure we have the same model. But mine has a blanket behind the seat for the boys when they get tired and need a nap :) We’ve got some tillage left to do but the rain has put a stop to it.