Category: Life

Life (or lack there of) in the dirty side of things

EXTREMES

Was out harvesting the first (and sometimes only) 2024 cuttings of grass hay. Extremes in farming tactics for sure

First we mow with our New Holand modern 4 Wheel Assist (4WD) tractor and modern Disc Mower using RTK DigiFarm inch accuracy auto steer

THEN we follow with an Allis-Chalmers WD (older than the 70 year old suffering on it) and nearly as old used $400 John Deere auction rake (the only JD an honest working stiff can afford?)

POINT IS (of today’s rant) who goes driving by? but is a bunch of young buck (ok honestly my age) driving by on their newer [Maple City] Antique Tractor(s) [Club] enjoying smooth roads …. while I bust an aging back in the heat going one thousand feet back and forth (aka going nowhere with nothing?)

To be honest my dark age WD would never fly with it’s after market hydraulic steering, Deco-Remy alternator, 12v starter & coil electrical upgrade plus Cole Implement snap coupler to 3-point hitch conversions…

But going somewhere else to civilization is tempting (and better on my back) if only I had something stock I wasn’t using for qualifying entry into the greener grass other side (literally) of the fence!

MUD PIES

Well last year, for the first time, corn grew in the wet puddle. Now back to normal. Only 1/10th of acre and still too wet…

So let’s phone it in and try something primative:

I built an adjustable danish tine field-cultivator bar to go with my 3 point ball hitch (sweet corn cultivator) so why not a 30 inch row maker, then hand sow 2023 left over corn (never throw anything away! as I can’t find my 2024 spare seed naturally ) and see if it ever grows.

Beats driving over perfectly good corn to plant precisely what likely will rot (raining again now) and non precision planting may get a few plants to shade out mud puddle weeds

Lame but time will tell if a least it will make a good buff viewed from the road

Advantage of 2023 drought: Everything germinated. Downside test weights sucked. I will take a tiny mud hole anytime

UPDATE: (July 4)
Well it was not a total waste of time. Oh sure the hand seeded mud planting is only knee high (by the 4th of July) but so is the rows of corn not totally drowned out. Of course the bulk of the field is over 6 foot and near tassel

I am thinking this is merely a second grazing for the family of deer to nibble on so I need a go-fund-me page for ‘feeding wildlife’? “Hay” social funding might make more $ than corn this year! However I will settle for avoiding mental anguish eyeballs seeing bare dirt … and when closed the usual farmer reoccurring nightmare: Prevent Plant