April Showers?

A least we are getting rain. Possibly lots of it. This is good for crop development. I am sure we will meet our very modest grain production goals for this year. All this will go into flour and corn meal milling as the summer progresses. We really need a crop of hard red wheat for bread flour and I plan to rotate that in next year. I am going to follow grain with Argentine Bahaiagrass.

There a lot of debate about Bahaiagrass. It is a love / hate thing. It is cheap, easy pasture and cheap, easy erosion control and excellent for wildlife habitat. It is the long term weed and pest suppression characteristics that I am most interested in. Back in the late 70's when I started farming our family property, I noticed a crop vigor that now, 30 odd years later, I don't see. I am interested in restoring that vigor to our fields.

I hope to plant this into a prepared seed bed this summer as the grain crops are harvested. This will require some moisture. Weather is the key to our efforts, but it really doesn't require the same amount of rain as needed for produce crops.

All went pretty well last month. Few malfunctions to ruminate about. I would have liked better consistency from our grain drill, but that was mostly operator error. There are a couple of things I need to fix in that regard, but none are insurmountable.

There is no small amount of skepticism from locals about what we are doing. Generations of deep plowing are hard to remove from the gene pool.

March 2014

Residual cold keeps sweeping down off the high plains. Nights are still too cold for planting in my opinion. The crops look ok. Wheat could look better but is responding responding to fertilization, the rye looks good and the mixed cover crop looks excellent.

 

Warm weather will push the grain on along. Not so much with the mustard. That crop isn't looking so well. Likely suppressed by too much hard cold this year. We will see. Nothing to do but wait and watch, now. In the mean time, get the combine ready.

 

In the vegetable garden, we will start planting in about 3 and half weeks. Yellow squash, cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, that kind of thing. No peas this year.

 







January to Febuary 2014.... From the Depths of WInter

Edard was right. Winter is indeed here, or was. Nothing to report other than the cold weather and continued below normal moisture in the western part of the country. Wheat continues to develop, the rye looks better than the wheat. The mixed cover crop looks better than both.

I started top dressing all of it a week ago, but sprayer problems developed and I wasn't able to finish. Word to the wise, don't use 12v DC or any kind of electric pump sprayer if you have a PTO on a tractor. This is the pump I recommend, and my preferred vendor:

This pump will not handle liquid nitrogen or strong liquid fertilizers, but relax, I don't use them. I prefer two types of organic liquid fertilizers. Neptune's Harvest Fish Emulsion and AGGRAND.
Just connect the appropriate hoses and add a tee to the discharge side somewhere you can see it, with a pressure gauge on it. I run it about 20 psi, but whatever works for your system. Just follow the application instructions and you will do fine. I have found both product lines to be highly effective.

When to apply top dress on wheat... the wheat needs nitrogen. That said, our organic wheat is top dressed with fish fertilizer. Though it has a lower analysis, that can be deceptive. The organic fertilizers tend to supply more available nutrients. It also will not burn your plants. "When  fertilizers are foliar applied, more that 90% of the fertilizer is utilized by the plant.  When a similar amount is applied to the soil, only 10 percent of it is utilized." Our results, over the years, have generally been good.

The mixed cover crop is seeded with vetch as part of the cultivar mix. This legume supplies extra nitrogen to the soil and in conjunction with the rye, which is fertility scavenger, makes this cover and excellent soil amendment. This mixed crop is going to be a used as a dead mulch. We have ordered a Caroni Flail Mower to kill the cover crop just prior to corn planting.

This is the 59" fine cut model. We scoured the internet discussion boards looking for a good one and it came down to just two. John Deere and Caroni. New Holland, though they have one listed on their website, no longer make them. Unfortunately for them, their design didn't preform very well. As mowers go, these devices are very expensive, $1700 to $4600 for a small one. The only reason we are going to use one is because of cutting style. This mower will cut the cover crop and leave it in place where it grew. Yes, disc mowers and sickle mowers will do the same, but the flail mower residue is easier to no-till plant through, which is the whole idea behind a dead mulch. The method is called "organic no-till". There are other ways to accomplish this, but we want to make certain the cover crop is dead before we plant corn in it.

We will cut the mixed cover crop when the rye is in flower, early stage when green foliage is at its peak. This should provide us with a dead mulch 4" or so deep. We are using the same method in the garden area where we will grow a few vegetables.

We have an exciting year ahead of us, and God willing, our own wheat, rye and corn from which to mill our flour and meal.

This leaves us with weather. Without rain, it will be another very tough year. That weather is largely determined by the Enso Cycle. This tropical ocean cycle controls the direction of the jet stream which pumps moisture into North America. During La Niña years, this means drought for the central US. Enso Neutral brings slight improvement and El Niño usually brings a wet year. Sometimes too wet, but we won't disparage moisture. Read more about it here.

This is the current outlook for the spring to summer of 2014. Not good news for the west, and it may be a while before the cycle turns favorable for them. As for corn and wheat country and northern vegetable regions, the outlook is certainly better than it has been. If El Niño forms this summer, this will help fix our water problems in Texas, but it is going to be a long rough haul for folks in California. 

I hope to plant larger acreages of wheat next year as the weather becomes more favorable. Prices are still good as corn continues to take up much of the spring wheat acreage.

Spring is coming!

December

I hope everyone had a good Christmas! Ours was fragmented but good. Kids beginning to scatter all over the map at this point in our lives. We did quite a bit of baking. My wife bought me a bread machine. I think she created a monster.

We did some holiday baking and hunkered down from the cold north wind for the most part. Crops are growing. Not as consistent a stand as I wanted, as the drill needs some more adjustment. The job is done and things are growing, however. We should have more than enough grain to cover our market in the coming summer.

Keeping an eye on grain prices. I expect the market to be softer this spring because of a better harvest last fall. Much of the corn in south Texas was far and away improved over last year. This will be good news for livestock producers who need a break in grain prices. The market will still be decent, I think.

Many people are of the mistaken belief that farmers do not estimate demand for their crops based on markets, but nothing could be further from the truth. If prices are not good for corn, we will plant another crop. Marginal land coming out of CRP has to be producing something, so, yes we will plant that. Hopefully, the farmer will keep the special problems with marginal land in mind  and adapts his practices to suit. Most of us do.

With that in mind, this is our first year to go 100% no till. That has been our goal for some time now. I do wish I had flattened some of the cultivated ridges before actually doing that, however. I suspect I will need to do so after the crops are done this summer.

The new year is coming. Nothing can stop it. I am going to do something I haven't since the last millennia. I am going to make a resolution. I am going to resolve to have more fun this year and spend more time with my wife.

I really hope to have a good 2014. We want to sell a lot of flour and corn meal this year! Maybe a few vegetables. The same for you and yours. Have a happy and prosperous new year!

Soft Red Winter Wheat 2013

We raise soft red winter wheat offering a lower gluten alternative to supermarket flours normally made from hard red wheat. It is not a good yeast bread flour, but makes excellent flat bread, cakes pastries, muffins, biscuits and crackers. The largest U.S. export markets for soft red wheat are China, Egypt and Morocco.  Lower gluten does not mean gluten free or by any means "healthier" with respect to gluten intolerance or celiac disease.  Wheat flours are an excellent source of protein hence, their wide use in food stuffs throughout history. We have not aimed our market toward bread making. Biscuits, pies, cakes, muffins, dumplings breading and the like are more popular in southern culture.

Soft red wheat is widely grown  throughout the central US down as far south as Mississippi and is traded on the Chicago Board of Trade. Our acreage is divided between soft red wheat, cereal rye, cover crop mustard for seed and mixed cover crop that will be flail mowed in March when our signature White Eagle Corn will be no tilled into the mulch.

Drilling the crop takes place between September to mid November. October is the optimum time for most farmers. Below are videos from the planting of this years crop across the central U.S. and a little insight to wheat planting dates from our Canadian friends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvbMDD1vGpQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9jOs4XVfvU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o8q4E0Fj2s

Auto pilot / GPS navigation is a nice option...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SACMazS0soQ

November

We barely made our planting window. Finally got the grain drill working. Because of that delay, and not wishing to risk capital I did not have on hand, I did not plant more acreage. For now we stick to the small farm business model until / unless FDA puts us out of business. That would be a sad day indeed. I have never in my 52 years on this earth, heard of any foodborne illness being caused by small farmers selling their crops in local markets or roadside stands. I have heard of plenty from large industrial farms and on the other side of our southern border. Much of it has occurred during transport from those distant locations. My advice, buy local while you can, Once we small farmers are out, then you will have no choice but to raise it yourself or buy the stuff from the supermarket.

Many people think, and say that there is no difference in quality between supermarket produce and locally grown. I disagree. Locally grown, you know the farmer. You know his agricultural practices. He / she knows you. You become like family. You know how the produce is handled. You know that it is fresh. You never have those assurances buying off a supermarket shelf.

I worry new FDA rules could destroy the CSA model. I do not prefer this model myself, as I have adequate capital of my own and do not need help from others to tend my crops. It is used extensively throughout the country, however, and supplies many people with safe, healthy locally grown food.

I see no choice but to make our farm larger. Milling grain into flour and meal for sale locally is a novelty thing. It is a survivalist thing as well. A family of four can survive ten years on the bread produced off one acre of wheat. Grain can be preserved and used over long periods and wheat can easily be produced from saved seeds, especially heirloom varieties. If the local sales avenue is closed, we will have no choice but to produce and sell into the world wide food distribution system.

On the flip side, there are volumes that have been written about why we should avoid grains, all grains, period. There is archeological evidence that the introduction of the agrarian diet about 10,000 years ago caused a huge increase in tooth decay, diabetes, and a plethora of other health problems. Celiac disease is just the tip of the iceberg.

The cultivation and milling of grains, however, enabled the expansion of our population, indeed enabled the rise of the specialist society, once the pursuit of food was no longer and issue. Agriculture gave rise to civilization.

This much I know. Our physical bodies will eventually die of something. That is a fact. We love and consume most all the land can produce. Whatever we were before the rise of agriculture, is long past. Whatever we will become because of it, is yet to be.

We do live in a wonderful but challenging time. Whatever diet you wish to follow, you can. Our food production system will provide it aplenty. Long or short, what you do with the life span agriculture has given you, is more important than the duration.

November sees our winter grains in the ground and growing. We will hunt hogs and deer off of it, there are plenty of them, and we will  make sausage from their flesh. In the summer we will harvest those crops and plant new ones. We will pause this month and offer thanks for what the land has provided.

Fall colors are everywhere. Geese are flying south. The days grow short. There is no better place to be, in my opinion, than on the farm.

Late October Post

Didn't have an October post because, frankly, there was nothing to say. It was Peanut Festival time in Grapeland and we had a good one. Still a bit melancholy because the crop that founded the festival is long gone. Since there is enough depressing news in the world, I decided not to blog about it.

October is really the month I prefer to plant winter grains. This October I spent trying to restore my 1967 Allis Chalmers All Crop Drill. I did a less than satisfactory job on it, but I managed to save it from the scrapper and make it serviceable. It became a necessity because my local New Holland / AGCO dealer sold their rental Tye and Great Plains drills. My budget only allowed so much. I paid $500 for my 15x7 Allis, had to haul it back from Missouri, ($500) restore and paint it ($400).  I am not dissatisfied with it, but I could have bought a $2000 Brillion in state. I saved some cash but boy, did I have to work for it!

Dropping the seeder gang out and replacing frozen seed cups is no small thing. Getting it back in is even worse. I ended up replacing 2 seeders and building a third from spare parts. The bearings on the coulters need to be replaced next, but since I am only doing a few acres with it this year, I am going to blow that off till next summer. I really need to replace the hopper, make or have made sheet metal parts to replace those which time has really been hard on. Harbor Freight Tools, here I come!

I will finish reassembly next week. In the field planting a couple days after.