Category: In the Spring

Clean up

After planting is complete it is imperative to do some clean up and maintenance before you put the machinery away. Getting all the dirt and muck off the planter and tillage tool will help make them last longer and stay in good working condition. These are expensive pieces of steel and rubber, it’s like taking care of a Ferrari….well maybe not a Ferrari….but another kind of expensive car or toy. Mmmmm…wouldn’t a Ferrari be nice……

We lubed everything up, cleaned out all the extra seed in the planter, checked the air pressure on all of the tires, parked them in the shed, and removed the heavy dual tires from the tractor. I worked an impact wrench for the first time in my life today. That thing just about impacted me backwards on the ground while loosening up tractor tire nuts!

We finally built, filled, and seeded our three garden beds. I watered them this evening and I kept hearing this low, buzzing sound close by. I looked in the horse chestnut tree near the beds and I do believe we have a beehive in it!!!! Or hornet nest….gosh, I hope not hornets!

Wood guns, kittens, and lilacs

While picking up sticks and cleaning out brush, Johnny found this…

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We finished planting just in time before the rains came last Friday and already, the soybeans have reached their little heads out of the soil. It is pretty amazing how strong their little epicotyls and cotyledons are. The corn is looking great too. But with all the wonderful rain and warm sunshine comes weeds too. A coser look on crop counts and weed identification in a future post.

Spring now feels like summer and my grandma’s old lilac bushes are in full bloom. Their fragrance fills the air, and the house when the windows are open. Lilacs are the Midwest’s version of Magnolias in SoCal. Fragrant and plentiful.

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And I’ve got to stick this pic in of the four little spring kittens. They are such little fluff balls. I’ve called them Eeney, Meney, Miney and Mo.

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