Spring Seeding 2016

I know amidst all the posts lately about fitness and the triathlon fever that seems to have taken over my blog, it's easy to forget that-- Oh, yeah... I live on a FARM! Today's post will take a closer look at our efforts to plant our crops this spring.

This year, we seeded yellow field peas, spring wheat, and barley. We also planted some hay mix. Typically, we have some winter wheat, which is planted in the fall, but this year, we didn't have any in the ground, so this meant we really had a lot of work ahead to get the entire farm planted in the spring.

As of today, we are *pretty much* done with seeding. We've actually had quite a bit of rain in the second half of April and early May, so the guys have worked hard to get a lot done in between rains. Because of the rain, some parts of some fields were too wet and muddy to seed into. We'll have to go back in later this spring at some point and fill in those pot-holes and gaps.

Another reason we technically aren't done with seeding is because we haven't seeded our organic farm ground yet. This year, we had some land that was coming into production for the first time in many years (coming out of CRP) and we decided we wanted to farm this ground organically. I can go into more detail on this in another post sometime. We are starting to work on seeding the organic ground today, and plan to have it done within about two days.

As I mentioned in my recent Weekly Review post, Jeff and Tom had a big, big push of long days about a week ago recently to finish the primary seeding effort before another cold snap and rain event. They took turns running the drill. We seed with a farm implement called an air drill, which is pulled by a big tractor. It looks kind of funny.

The seed is loaded into a big cart, along with any fertilizer or other supplements that will go into the ground at the same time. The drill uses air to move the seed and other product through hoses and down into the ground. It's nice to be able to plant seed and apply fertilizer at the same time, and thus reduces the number of trips a farmer must take through the field. It takes one person to drive the tractor, and typically another person to help shuttle seed from the grain bin in the yard out to the drill when it's time to fill. It's nice to have both people available when filling the cart with seed and fertilizer.

My role in the seeding operation was pretty limited. I did the best I could to help prepare evening meals and the occasional lunch. With my busy track schedule, this often meant that I cooked a bunch of meals ahead on the weekend, and then kept them in the fridge or freezer to be reheated throughout the week. Carol also helped out quite a bit by taking meals out from town or coming out to prepare a meal on an evening that I was gone. I also helped occasionally with shuttling vehicles from one field to another. I think I've mentioned this before, but I know that it would be much more convenient to our farming lifestyle if I wasn't a Track Coach. Everyone here makes accommodations to allow me to continue to do that, which is something that I greatly appreciate.

Seeding has been intermittently happening over the past several weeks-almost a month. Much of what we planted early on has started to break ground. I love how happy the little seedlings look as they sprout up! One thing that's nice about farming is that you have constant visual reminders of progress, and evidence of your hard work.


Our next big tasks of the farming season will be to continue to finish what's left of the seeding, get the organic ground planted, and then it will more or less be time for spraying season of our conventional farm ground. We also have to work and sort our cows into breeding groups and turn out the bulls, which we plan to do this week. Keep checking in to the blog for updates on how everything is going!

Thankful Thursday~ Exploring the Pastures

Nothing like a change of scenery, right? Land is permanent even though people may wander. 

All photos in this post were taken a few nights ago on a run through the pasture.

One thing I had been looking forward to about moving onto the family farm was exploring the pastures. Yes, we had pastures at our previous residence and I did spend some time hiking out there, but now, I have the chance to hike, run, ski, and play on our own Bangs land whenever the urge strikes.

It's not like I'd never been out there before. I'd done a few hikes with Jeff and other family members, and Jeff and I also began exploring by mountain bike last summer on some pretty fun trail rides. We've also done a bit of Nordic skiing out in the pasture this winter. It's just so great to have basically open prairie wilderness right outside your back door. People who live in towns and cities aren't so lucky as we!

Can you spot the "wildlife" in this photo?

This week for our weekly #RunLoveChallenge activity, we were to discover a new place to run. Even with some of the other exploring of the pasture I had done, I'd never actually ran out there. When I saw the challenge, I knew I had my mission! I couldn't wait to get out there and run the land. Even with patches of snow and ice, I used my YakTrax and was able to keep great traction on what ended up being a brisk hike/jog at sunset. It was right around freezing, sunny, and NO WIND-- I had to seize the opportunity to get out there!

Abby is a grinner!

All in all, it was a great run. Cow trails make excellent paths for hiking, running, and biking. Certainly not a fast-paced effort, but I relished in frequent stops to admire the scenery and interact with the dogs. One thing is for sure- I finished the run feeling inspired and excited to run the trails more and continue exploring the land. With a lifetime on the farm ahead of me, I'm sure I'll get to the point of knowing the cow trail system just as well as I know the local roads, if not better. And, thanks to Strava, I'll be able to figure out exact distances of different trails and sections.

Dogs love to explore, too!

But when I really stop and think about this land, these views, this access that I have, I feel pretty lucky. And thankful. I'm thankful that I am here and that I'm able to get out there and enjoy it. I'm thankful for the topography that creates a fun playground in the middle of an otherwise table-flat prairie landscape. I'm thankful that all of Jeff's family who've come before us have taken care of the land as well as they have, have kept it within the family, even added to it over the years, and now allowed me and Jeff to be here. It's pretty humbling when I really think about it like that.

Looking west.

I'm thankful even for the people who were on this land before it was "settled," as they've left their mark on this place as well. There are what appears to be an entire village of tepee rings on one bluff overlooking Sage Creek. What must it have been like to live here in those days? How different life is now, even though the views are the same. The creek is still here. The grasses still offer food and cover for an abundance of wildlife. And the topography has and hopefully always will support play and exploration of all kinds. It's easy to look out over the pastures and see what life could have been like in an earlier time, and to feel a responsibility for maintaining it into the future. With responsibility comes thankfulness.

As I stand on a bluff and gaze into the distance, pausing on a run or mid-afternoon ski, I'll look over the land and say a silent thankful intention to the greater power, or to sun and stars, and feel peacefulness.

Winter Wheat Harvest 2015

What a crazy growing season it has been!

Harvest is really when we see what we have for a crop. It's a reflection of a year's worth of planning and work, mixed with some luck.

Grain cascades out the back of the truck in to the hopper of the auger, where it is carried up into the grain bin.

As you may have read in my harvest post from last week, we started cutting winter wheat last Monday and went pretty hard for seven days straight. The crop is mostly decent in some places for the weather conditions we had throughout the growing season this year. Our bushels per acre are definitely down from what they have been in recent years for winter wheat and in some fields, they're downright poor with barely enough yield to pay for running the combine. The crop is what it is and there's not as much of it, so it's just a matter of getting it cut and moving on.

Jeff walks between the tractor, which powers the auger, and the grain truck.

Montana is the third-highest wheat producing state in America, after Kansas and North Dakota. Hill County, where our farm is located, is right in the middle of what's called the "Golden Triangle,"--one of the best wheat-producing areas in Montana. Hill County had a doozie of a weather pattern this year-- drought conditions through the first six months of the year, then a horrendous 4th of July hail storm. So, what that means is farmers who may have had thinner-than-normal crops to begin with due to drought, then got hit with hail, which in some cases, knocked down what was left. According to this article from the Great Falls Tribune, Hill County experienced over seven million dollars in hail damages: Hill County Hail Damage Could Exceed $7.5 Million Farmers saw a significant portion of that damage. Our own farm was affected.

Winter wheat near Minneota Hall that was cut on Sunday. Sweetgrass Hills in the background.

This is the first year of implementation of the new protection programs for farmers from the most recent Farm Bill and we are learning all about how that works. Let it be known to my non-farming readers that no farmer wants to see their crop do poorly; everyone wants to cut a gangbuster crop every year. No one wants a "hand-out" from the government. But, if there weren't protection programs and Farm Bills in place, there wouldn't be farmers. Some years, the crop is not a bin-buster, but a complete bust. A successful Farm Bill keeps farmers farming and keeps food and land in production.

A wheat field, baled as hay to use for our animals, rather than being harvested for grain.

The above photo is of some land that a neighbor of ours farms. His crop was unfortunately so poor that it wouldn't have paid for him to harvest it. But, you still have to clear the field somehow so it can be ready for it's next crop. So, we used a swather to cut the wheat and make hay bales, which we'll feed to our cows this year. Sometimes you just have to be a bit creative and think of other ways to use what you have.

Grain bins between Minneota Hall and the Inverness Road.

After shutting the combine down for the evening on Sunday night, we haven't started it up again yet this week. It started raining on Sunday and has gone off and on until this morning. Hopefully tomorrow we can cut the last 100 acres or so of winter wheat. Then, it will be time for barley, then spring wheat.

Before the night was over on Sunday, however, we did take part in what is sometimes a harvest necessity, but definitely a tradition: meal in the field! Sometimes, the location where they're cutting wheat is far from the house or it is inconvenient for the harvest crew to come in to the house to eat dinner. So, whoever is in charge of cooking will take the meal out to them. Sunday night was one of these occasions. It just happened that we were cutting right by Minneota Hall, which is an old community call out in the country near our farm, so it worked perfectly to serve the meal right on the cement step in front of the hall!

Carol cooked. We had hamburgers, pasta salad, chips, and fruit, served out of the bed of the pickup.

Carol and Jeff eat while Tom (unpictured) makes another pass in the combine.
When we eat in the field, the guys typically take turns so that the combine can keep rolling.

It seems like it was the winter wheat that was hit the worst by the drought. We had pretty outstanding sub-moisture last fall for winter wheat seeding, and then a warm and mild spring. So, the winter wheat came up hard and fast early in the season, using up all the soil moisture that was available. Then, when the rain stopped, the winter wheat stopped. By the time the storm of the 4th of July hit, it was really too late to be helped by the rain that did come along with it. We've had the rain in July that our crops desperately needed in May and June. Our spring wheat and barley still had a chance to be influenced and helped by a little rain. So, we'll see how it looks when we start cutting those crops.

Harvey stalks a bunny.

Just for fun, here's a photo of Harvey stalking a rabbit. He stalks them and chases them, but almost never catches them. Stay tuned as harvest and farm proceedings continue!

Thankful Thursday ~ School's Out For The Summer!

School's out for the summer! Our last day of school was actually a few weeks ago, on May 21. I spent that first weekend at State Track and in Bozeman and then all of last week was spent catching up on housework and me-time. Yes, I'm posting my Thankful Thursday post on Friday (sometimes that happens. I don't have all my shit together all the time, but who does? That's why you like this blog, right? Because I'm real? I'll tell myself that anyway... ;) ) and today I'm thankful that school's out for the summer! 

So what does school being out mean for me? In actuality, I still have to work over the summer. I'm not a teacher and I'm not employed by the school, I just work in the school environment most of the time. My co-worker and I are actually running a summer program for the kids in our program. So, we meet with them two days a week and continue therapeutic services, interventions, and a whole lot of positive skill-building throughout the summer. It's a little like summer camp or day camp for the kids. We do crafts, activities, and have deep and meaningful discussions and sharing circles. It's pretty fun, actually. Even though we're the ones as adults who are supposed to be serving them, and we are, often times it's the kids who teach me something. I get just as much "therapy" from them as I hope they get from me. That's definitely something to be thankful for.

In our first week of summer program, the kids painted flower pots in "a way that represents their personality," then they got to plant flowers in their pots and we had a discussion about what it means to take care of something, and empathy.
This is my flower pot, which I painted to match my patio furniture. :)

I'm also spending a lot more time with Jeff, which is awesome. Last week I helped him with several cow chores, including feeding range cake, some fencing, and setting up back-rubbers out in the pasture. I've also helped him with some farm and crop-specific stuff, too. It feels great to be involved and know that I'm helping out with our operation in a tangible way.

Cows eating cake. Love these ladies! 

Here's my arm, holding some barbed wire as we stretch it across the creek. I'm a RancHER. :)

Scouting out the pea crop. What do you think, Harvey? 

I'm thankful for more time during the summer for outdoor recreation and fitness pursuits! And again, thankful to be able to do more of that with Jeff, and Harvey of course, too. Last Sunday we went for another pasture bike ride. We think we covered between 8 and 9 miles. Photos from our previous pasture ride can be found HERE. The weather was warmer this time, so we made sure to find plenty of water stops for the dogs...

Harvey and Abby are enjoying some wading and a drink in the creek that runs through the pasture.
Jeff and I opted to remain on the bridge.

Of course, I'm getting in more running than I did during the end of the school year. I'm thankful that I have a little more flexibility to fit in some runs, and more time to fit in longer runs. Governor's Cup is just over a week away!

Here, Iggy is accompanying me. We officially adopted Iggy earlier this summer.
He's old, but he still likes to go for runs at his own pace.

And I've also been helping Carol, Tom, and Jeff with finishing up with planting our garden. We've got our raised beds full and the seeds are sprouting and yesterday we transplanted our tomatoes and peppers. We're all set, just need to keep up with watering and weeding and we'll be enjoying bountiful harvests, soon! We have already been eating the spinach from the garden and I think there are radish sprouts ready, too. I'm thankful in advance for the yummy veggies we'll have all summer long! Can't wait! 

Also, thankful for honeybee pollinators! Look at the size of those bumbles! 

Big bumblebees on chive blossoms! Seriously. We did NOT have bumblebees this large in Iowa! 

So many things to be excited about and thankful for when it comes to summer time! What are some of your favorite summer activities? What are you thankful for this week?

Harvey is thankful for pickup rides. I'm always thankful for Harvey!

Before and After and Balance

Everybody loves a good Before and After photo series, right?

Jeff and I went on a crop tour last night to check on our winter wheat and peas. I remembered as we were walking around that I had gone for a run up to this field last fall and taken a few photos. So, here are the "before" pictures-- 

Young winter wheat in the furrows. Planted late last fall.

Winter wheat on the right. On the left is a field of spring wheat stubble, which we planted to peas this spring.
Also, a red blur in the stubble-- that's my dog, Harvey. :)

If you want to see the entire blog post from when I took these two "before" photos, you can check it out here: When Farming, Running, and Hunting Collide...

And now the "after" photos. "After" referring to after winter, I guess...

This is our winter wheat crop now. This was planted on pea stubble.
And again, the red-ish blur in the background is my dog. :)

Young pea shoots on spring wheat stubble. 

Even though we haven't had any rain this year, our winter wheat is still doing really good. Especially the wheat that was planted on the pea stubble from a few years ago. That field was yellow peas in the summer of 2013, last year it was fallow, and then last fall we seeded winter wheat on that field. If you remember your basic biology, peas are a nitrogen fixer in the soil. Wheat is a nitrogen taker. Jeff attributes the success (so far) of this crop in great part to the nitrogen left by the peas in the soil. We also had significant moisture last fall for planting, which certainly doesn't hurt.

Here is another image of winter wheat, from a field directly across the road to the south of the winter wheat pictured above.

Winter wheat planted on spring wheat stubble.

This crop was planted on spring wheat stubble. So, this field was spring wheat in summer of 2013, fallow in 2014, then seeded to winter wheat in fall of 2014. This wheat is still not bad, but it's not quite as lush as it's counterpart field that had been planted on pea stubble.  This is the same breed of seed, planted at the same time, with the same moisture and weather happenings as the previously mentioned field. The only difference is the type of crop that preceded it. This is why crop rotation is important (among other reasons).

As a reminder for my non-farming friends and family who read the blog, winter wheat is planted in the fall. It must germinate and grow a little, then with hard freeze it dies off for the winter, only to come back up in the spring. It's an interesting crop in that it's life cycle includes two germinations. There are many reasons to include it in our rotation. One is that we have a big enough farm that the time stress to try to plant all of our crops in the spring is great, so planting some winter wheat in the fall helps a lot. Another reason is that winter wheat does typically yield more bushels than spring wheat does, when the right conditions are present. We planted many acres of winter wheat last fall because we had A LOT of moisture in August and September.

This spring, not so much on the moisture front. When I wrote that it hasn't rained this year, that's more or less true. We haven't had any measurable rain of significance in 2015. Last week it rained, but it was a brief shower and we received less than one tenth of an inch of moisture. Better thana kick in the seat, but we all really could have used more. Many farmers, including us, are seeing the effects of drought and disease on their crops. Jeff and I feel pretty lucky that our fields look as good as they do.

Thinking about crop rotation, if our peas never make it to maturity due to lack of moisture, I wonder if they'll still be a good nitrogen source for a future wheat crop? If so, then we may still be money ahead for having planted them, in the long run. Interesting to think about.

Jeff and I spent quite a bit of time yesterday evening discussing our relationship to the farm. Specifically, my relationship to the farm and how my role fits in to the success of the operation. Something like 90% of family farms include at least one person who works off-farm. I guess I fall into that statistic, with my jobs at the school (I work at the school but I am not employed by the school- I work for a separate company). My income, while small (I positively impact children's lives and make less than a person who stocks shelves at Wal-Mart), contributes to the comfortable lifestyle we lead and helps us continue to farm in best way we can. I know there are times when Jeff has wished I had been more available, and my lack of availability can't always be blamed on my job. While I believe it is very important for anyone to take care of themselves and do what they need to do to maintain their own baseline, there are definitely times when I need to be better about balancing my own wants and needs with those of the farm. I guess it's just an ongoing learning process for me to see how exactly to do that. Not so different from balancing nutrients for a crop.

Thankful Thursday ~ Pride of Place Photos

Two weeks ago in a Thankful Thursday post, I wrote about how I appreciate this place where I live. You can read that post HERE. I also put out a challenge to my readers, family, and friends to submit photos of places they love to use in an upcoming post. Today is the day of the big reveal of the photos I received! 

The amount of photos submitted was incredible. Several people submitted upwards of 10 photos! Wow! In the interest of time and space, I couldn't include every single photo that everyone sent me. So, at most I included two of the ones people submitted. Apologies to people who sent more, but I do thank you so much for your enthusiasm!!! 

Without further ado, let's get to the real reason you're looking at my blog today-- the PHOTOS! With each person who submitted, I'll first list their name and how I know them, then you'll see the image(s) they sent. If people submitted a caption or explanation, I put it as the photo caption in most instances. As you look through the photos, I encourage you to think about why that person might love the place or be thankful for the place in the picture. 

From Melissa, a friend and fellow Hi-Liner--

"Our farm, north of Gildford. Farm life is the best!!"

My blogging friend Jessie sent two photos. She blogs mainly about running but sometimes also posts fantastic vizsla and animal photos, as you can see below. Check out her blog at www.therightfits.com!  Jessie's vizsla is named Matilda. Isn't she perfect? The cats are pretty cute, too. :)

Jessie says: I'm thankful for having a warm bed to share with all our animals. 

Not going to lie... Harvey sleeps on our bed, too! :)

Jessie says: I'm also thankful for my home near Lake Calhoun where I can run with Matilda and watch beautiful sunrises!

Looks like a pretty awesome place to run!

Next up, two photos from another friend, Christy. She lives near Billings, MT where her family ranches. Christy is a fellow Team Beef member with me and also has an awesome running blog, which you can check out at www.christyruns.com.
 From Christy- They weren't the ones I had in mind, but they are of the family ranch and a place I am eternally thankful and grateful to have grown up on and now get to raise my children on.

Pretty awesome views on Christy's ranch, right?! Southeast Montana. Lovely!  Skies for days!!

 The next two photos are from my mom, Penny. She is quite an accomplished photographer these days! She sent me probably about 12 photos and I just chose two because they are images of places I am also thankful for! She didn't include any captions, so I added a little background for both photos.

First, this barn is in a park very near the house I grew up in. As kids, we spent a lot of time playing in this park! Mom has some really great photos of this barn and this is one of them--

The next photo from my mom was one that she took on a visit out here last summer. We were all driving home from catching a movie in town, it was early June and, well, check out this awesome image of the Sweetgrass Hills at sunset--

The Hills are a place I have a view of every day and I am so thankful for that!

Next, from my friend Tara. She and I are friends from college and this is an image of the Campanile on the Iowa State Campus. Iconic image for people from Ames or who went to school at ISU!  I am also pretty thankful for this place, just like Tara!

"I really work in a beautiful place."

Now, two images from Jane. Jane grew up a little bit west of where Jeff and I live, with a great view of the Sweetgrass Hills. Now, she lives in Choteau, MT.

From Jane:

Sweet Grass Hills – I love where you live now

I love where I live now

The next image is from Jon, who is the cousin of my Father in Law, Tom--

"Aja (aka Hound of the Baskervilles)  on a foggy Oregon day."

My friend Kathy also sent me several images and I chose this one out of the ones she sent.  She lives near Geraldine, MT. It would be pretty difficult not to be thankful of this view every day! WOW!

this view is facing South and is west of our home by my garden...the mountains are Square Butte and Round Butte, which we see out of our dining room, living room, and bedroom windows! So Beautiful...

Jeff's Aunt Linda (Tom's sister) sent this image from the Oregon Coast, near where she lives. Again, pretty amazing view!

Thankful that we live near the awesome Pacific Ocean , hope that I never take it for granted!!

From Ashley, another photo from the Geraldine area...check out that sky!  Ashley's view looks pretty similar to Kathy's... neighbors, I wonder? :)

Love the view from my deck 

And from Lorrie. Here is another person who was very enthusiastic about this "assignment" and sent many photos! Lorrie lives on a farm near Big Sandy, MT. 

I love the colors in the above image. Plus, if you know Big Sandy, the colors are extra appropriate! Purple and yellow are their school colors. :)  Pretty awesome view in the photo below. Again, I think I'd be pretty thankful for that place if I got to look out at it each day!

Next I have two photos from Lisa, who is a former student-athlete at North Star, where I work. She was a high school senior in track the first season I was a coach here. Now, we stay in touch via social media and she sent me these images to use in this post of places she is thankful for and/or loves-

 Lisa goes to school at University of Montana in Missoula. This is a view of campus and surrounding environs. :) The next photo is from Havre, and the third photo is from some hot springs in Idaho.

Peggy, a local Rudyard resident, sent me this photo of Glacier National Park as a place she loves-

The next two photos are from Darla. She and her family are long-time family friends from my hometown. You'll notice that her photos are a little different from most of the others submitted...

Katie, I know this isn't exactly what you asked for but my favorite place to be is anywhere with my family-anywhere with my friends is good too! 

Here's another one - again my favorite places is anywhere with my family

Whew!  That is A TON of photos of places that are loved! I hope you found at least one photo on here that made you smile or feel happy, and I hope that you can look around you and find reasons to be thankful, wherever you are. Whether it's a beautiful mountain vista or somewhere close to home, such as your own bed, there's always reasons to be thankful for the places in which we find ourselves. And, sometimes, as Darla points out, it's not the place that's important but the people we're with.

As I was going through all the many images that were submitted to me I was struck by how many people submitted pictures of places that I also feel thankful for. Places I grew up or places where I live now or travel to. I suppose it's because the people who read and comment on here most all have a connection to me somehow, our lives intersect in some way. It's a great reminder of the interconnectedness (is that a word?!) of all of us, everywhere. Food for thought. :)

It has been so much fun uploading everyone's photos and looking at them over and over in compiling this post. Thanks again to everyone who submitted! I worked on this yesterday evening and felt myself feeling more calm, even amid a somewhat stressful, busy week. I carried the good vibes outside with me as I headed out for a sunset run. It was hard not to notice the beautiful light and, yes, to feel thankful for the place I call home and all the people (and animals!) in my life I'm connected to in one way or another.

Happy Thankful Thursday, everyone! What are you thankful for this week?

Just heading out my driveway to start my run. 8:20pm. That's Iggy, and Harvey has already raced way ahead somewhere.

Thankful for these dusty gravel roads I get to run on, and the setting sun!

Goldstone used to be a town and now it's the site of our farmland!