Sunday Evening
July 24th, 2005 by Northern Farmer
A warm July Sunday in central MN. A typical Sunday around here as far as what we were doing. The only work is the nessesary chores starting around six AM. Feed and water the chickens, then hop in the old pickup and drive around to the different pastures to see what trouble the angus have thought up over night. Today was good because the angus must not have been thinking to much. In one pasture we let the cows and calves out onto an alfalfa field for two hours or so a day. This gets done as we are taking our morning drive. They learn to not fool around and just eat those couple of hours and then they get put back onto the permanent pasture.The field they are eating on will be plowed down and be corn for one year, next year. Then back into oats with hay planted with it. With our rotations any piece of ground would only have corn on it once in six years at the most. They spend an average of four years as mixed hay. Since getting away from monoculture the improvement to the land is amazing. The old weeds are mostly gone just from the rotation and there’s really no pests in the crops at all. I’m posting a photo taken today of the OP corn I’ve been talking about here and there. No boughten fertilizer on it, just the proper rotation and manure hauled out on it. The stuff is amazing and it’s still growing. Not even tasseled yet. I was hoping it could at least be comparable to the silage hybrids, but never in my wildest dreams did I think it could out preform them by so much. Live and learn.
Today we couldn’t make it to church though, couldn’t even if we wanted to, they didn’t have it. They had a get together and service at a lake about 25 miles away. It just doesn’t work for me to be away for that amount of time with the all little things I have to do over the course of the day. Oh well, that’s the only Sunday of the year they do that so we’ll be back on track next Sunday. I’ve been spending a little time looking for Reformed Churches around this area and haven’t been having to much luck as of yet. I do question our church because of the almost breakneck speed that they want to embrace the way the world is acting. Maybe it’s just me, I don’t know, but it disturbs me greatly. Our family will just have to be obediant to our Lord and remain a people apart, come what may. I can’t think of a better way than that.
July 25th, 2005 at 4:33 am
Wow, Tom, that corn is awesome. The county I live in here in NY is a very big corn producer. I have not seen any here that is that tall at this time of the year. And, what I find most remarkable is that you have not applied any boughten fertilizer! That is so encouraging.
July 25th, 2005 at 2:33 pm
Tom, the corn is beautiful. You are truly blessed. I was saddened by your last paragraph, though as it is all too familiar for me and my family. We will keep you in our prayers. Your last two sentences were an encouragement. Keep the faith and remember, Elijah wasn’t alone when he thought he was, either. There are more men, fathers and husbands striving to be faithful like you out there.
In Christ, Matt
July 25th, 2005 at 6:54 pm
Herrick,
Lynn Miller of Small Farmer’s Journal calls the folks raising their own seed “Farmer Pirates”. I love that!Everything that I do here is an effort to get away from the cluches of Big Ag. Over decades their attempt to brainwash me into thinking that their way is the only way almost took hold.Who’da ever thought that a farmer could raise his own seed corn anymore?Who’da ever thought it didn’t need commercial fertilizer? One thing I want to say while I’m thinking about it, I was talking to our area CO-OP manager this spring about fertilizers and he said two years ago 90% of the fertilizers they sold were domestic, this year 90% is imported. That should worry anyone that makes it a habit to eat a little food every day.
Matt,
Thank you for the encouragement. I truely hate to see what is happening around here and pray that if it can’t get any better at least the opportunity would come up to meet like minded Christians.Someday I’ll post about what I see happening around me but I’ll have to be in the right mood. I don’t consider myself able to post very well on spiritual issues, I’m just a simple farmer with a simple faith.
Tom
December 31st, 2005 at 10:25 am
Tom,
After listening in on the clips from plain talk, I had to come by and see your post/picture on OP corn. Quite astounding! I have to say, being but an entry novice to all things agrarian that I did not understand what the “Big Deal” was with OPC vs. GMS. As I’m begining to scratch the surface of this topic, I have to say that I’m doing allot of “head scratching” as well. Nice to know there’s people such as yourself giving us your perspective on things, and issues such as these. Its importance will be evident long after we think it has served such a brief mention. Thank you.
December 31st, 2005 at 6:45 pm
Scott,
I’ll be posting much more on OP corn and other open pollinated seeds in the near future. It’s so important that it just drives me. People have no idea how fragile our food system is in this country with almost all the seed, farm and garden, controled by a small handful of multi national companies. If people only knew they’d be terrified.
September 1st, 2006 at 10:28 pm
I don’t know if you will get this but I have a question? What about the garden seeds we buy from Wal Mart or garden centers and such. Are they ok to buy and plant for my own food
September 2nd, 2006 at 5:28 am
Hi Mary Ann,
I get notified no matter where a person posts here so no big deal. To answer your question, as far as food goes from those seeds from Wal Mart and others, it’s ok for food, but it is supporting a system that wants total dominance of your food. I don’t know how many posts you’ve read on this blog but this subject is covered allot. In fact if I have any time I’ll probably post about them again soon, kinda a refresher. Look on the side bar of the main page of this blog and I’ve listed a few good seed dealers and hope to add more as time goes on. Take care!
Tom