Most of you were quite correct that the photo above is of a pivot (irrigation/sprinkler system) being moved. Actually it is only 1/6 of the pivot! Pivots are made up of sections we call spans. This particular pivot has six spans. The three spans closest to the center of the pivot are each 179 ft […]
What in the world??
Have you ever seen anything like this before? Let’s play a little game! Make your best guess as to what this is in the comments. (Sorry neighbor lady, you can’t tell the answer!) I will randomly chose a winner from those who give the correct answer. If no one gives a correct answer I’ll chose […]
Sweet Kernels of Gold
Around the beginning of September the sweet corn became ripe for the picking. We planted two different varieties to spread out the length of the harvest. They were planted in a small strip next to the pivot road. The rest of the pivot (roughly 120 acres) was planted with field corn. The pivot of corn […]
The Harvest
Golden heads swing in the breeze against the backdrop of a cloudless blue sky. Each stalk the product of a tiny seed placed in well-prepared soil. A seed can multiply itself thirty, sixty, or even a hundredfold. Such is God’s law. Contemplate, then, as one of His spirit children your potential as part of the […]
The cause of the fire
A number of you guessed correctly the cause of the fire had to do with the smoke stack (or exhaust pipe) of the truck. The stack was too short causing the exhaust to blow right into the hay bales behind it. Stray pieces of hay may also have blown down the stack while the truck […]
FIRE!
Here’s the excitement in our neck of the desert today. The view coming down the east side of the mountain. Calming the fire before the rest of the hay is consumed. See the different colored smoke from the various items on fire? The truck is completely burned to a puddle because of all the fuel […]
First Wildfire of the Season
Two days after our Independence Day celebration we had a great lesson on why we didn’t do any fireworks! Semisweet had just returned from an evening jog when Mr. Ferrero Rocher took off to check the pivots. Within those two minutes of Semisweet returning before Mr. FR left a small brush fire was started. We […]
Harvesting Green Gold
We’ve started. Three swathers mow hay, leaving trails of green gold to dry in the sun. Three hundred and sixty acres were mowed yesterday. Only about a thousand more acres, or nine more pivots, left to cut. The rest of the pivots (6) are growing wheat and corn, rotation crops in old stands of alfalfa. […]
Wordfull Wednesday: Summertime Alliteration
Today’s Wordfull Wednesday Topic: Choose a letter of the alphabet. Pen a quick story about your typical summer day using as many words as you can that begin with your chosen letter. “A little alliteration lets the lesson linger longer!” (a line in a grammar poem from my eighth grade teacher) Golden rays of sunshine […]
Planting
Bags crinkle in the afternoon stillness as their contents are emptied into waiting earth. Seeds are planted, one by one, in holes dug by hoes down the length of rows. Little hands help to move the soil, covering the seeds, patting encouragement for them to grow and produce a bountiful harvest. Water. The lifeblood of […]
Branding Time
A hundred or so calves face off against ‘real’ cowboys on horses and ranchers waiting to ear tag, immunize, castrate the bull calves, and brand. Sounds like fun, right? It is! Unless your one of the calves… We haven’t just been caught up in doing our Easter Countdown this past week. Branding was on Wednesday, […]
Fun on the farm in spring
Ah, spring! The weather is cold and snowy one day and gloriously sunny and warm the next, only to have it turn windy and cool again. This week we took advantage of all types of weather. On Tuesday the kids talked Mr. Ferrero Rocher into giving them a ride on the grade-all. It goes up […]
A Typical Day on the Farm – Summer
I meant to post this before the Celebrate Family festivities started but ran out of time. Here’s a look at what a typical day looked like for us in the summer. Now I’ll have to do one for autumn, winter, and spring! Look for those in the future. ********************************** 3:00 AM – The men go […]
Branding Calves
Monday was a very fun, dusty, smelly, slightly bloody day. Time for branding the new calves! This is NOT Mr. Ferrero Rocher’s favorite part of the job. His younger brother J, takes care of the cattle most of the time but when it’s time to brand all hands are needed. Extra hands (friends and family) […]
Of gardens and such
Utahna I was wondering if your family does any other farm related activities other than alfalfa. For instance, do you have a really huge garden, or any animals? The older girls have been involved with 4-H for the past several years showing chickens. Right now we have about 14 full grown chickens (two roosters are […]