Spring is in the air!
The calves are bouncing across the prairie. The snow is mostly melted off, and the creek has finally receded back into it’s banks. It’s spring on the farm!
This is my favorite time of year. The weather is cool, no bugs are out, and the grass is short so I don’t have to worry about snakes as much. I try to do as many of my projects as I can between now and June 1st, which makes for a busy spring. It helps me to beat the summer heat though!
Migratory Birds
Another thing I love about this time of year is the migratory birds coming through. First we saw the Canadian Geese, then seagulls and Pintails. Now we’re seeing Red Breasted Robins, and the Meadowlarks are singing. When they are here we know spring is here too. It’s amazing to me to the journey many of these birds take in a year. They are some amazing navigators and survivalists. My family enjoys watching birds all year long. Our favorite reference book is the Peterson Field Guide to Western Birds. I’ve used this book since college!
Farm Work
Spring on the farm is a busy time of year. Hubby is done working in town for the winter. Now he’s working on getting everything in order for seeding. We start seeding around April 15. Grandpa set this date long, long ago. He figured since it was Grandma’s birthday and Tax day it was a good day to start seeding too.
April 15 seems early, but it usually works out well for us. The ground is wet but not too muddy. The soil temperature is warm enough. We get an early kill on weeds and we get the seed in the ground before any storms. To get ready for seeding all our tractors get an oil change and new filters. We grease all the tractors and implements, and we also change any broken hoses and put a new set of cultivator shovels on. The ground dries up very fast around here so we do our best to be ready.
I usually drive around the fields looking for twine and net wrap. Twine is my nemesis. Several years ago I spent the summer cutting it off every toolbar- every time it went through the field. Not fun! I have since learned it’s better to be proactive and pick up twine before the air drill or cultivator go through the field, rather than having to cut it off later.
In The Yard
Since it’s warmer now, I have to check on my bushes and trees I nurtured last summer. Winter is so hard on them, I’m always anxious to see some sign of growth. In the wide open prairies trees are precious! I’m glad to see so far over half of them have swelling buds, and I’m hoping the ones that were looking iffy late last summer will decide to pull through.
The garlic is already sprouting up in the garden, and we seem to have a new crop of rocks (haha). I live where glaciers dumped tons of rocks, and frost heaving seems to push new ones to the surface every year. The kids have the job of picking up rocks now so we don’t have to worry as much when it’s time to mow.
We stay plenty busy on the farm, I hope your spring is full of good work too!
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