The Lazy Farmer

Its amazing the things I have saved over the years. Back in the 60s one of the "big 2" farm weekly newspapers was the Winnipeg Free Press. As a kid, the humour and comic sections were my main interests . For a few years they ran this series of pictures and verse about a fictional "lazy farmer" that I must have felt worth saving. I don't know too many lazy farmers in real life although sometimes I think deep down maybe I am one myself. Only my fear of failure and what the neighbours might think keeps me working enough to make a living.

No Crop In 2011?

Might this be the first year in 40 that I don't plant a crop? No, I'm not quite retiring yet but this flooding situation is almost a forced sabbatical from crop farming. After seeing this aerial photo and others of my farm, taken yesterday,I can see just how much worse the situation is. The little patches of bare ground are the high spots that will likely dry out and be workable in a little while. But the problem will be getting to them with heavy machinery through low, wet land that is just waiting to swallow a tractor and air seeder. Its not too late to plant, in fact I rarely do in April. But I'm normally out there raising a little dust by this time other years. This spring it will be a late start (whenever it happens), trying to catch up on field work that couldn't be finished last fall. Pre-working fields to try and eliminate the combine ruts, piling and burning flax straw, applying anhydrous and maybe then trying to plant something, if its not too late by that time.
Maybe time to just sit back and watch the weeds grow around the water holes.

Spring On The Prairies

Wow,Sask. has too much water. I shot this video April 12, the warmest day yet, near 50 degrees. Snow was melting faster than it could flow through culverts and roads were being washed over. Currently I am flooded on all 4 directions (roads) although two of them are passable by driving through the water. A cold night has slowed down the melt and give the buildup a chance to drain some. Still lots of snow to go so its not over yet. Most rivers and lakes have not hit crest levels yet. There is not water storage left on our fields as all the sloughs are full and running over, eventually draining into the Qu'appelle basin. Spring on the prairies.

Moving Grain April 9

Spring slowly approaches here in Sask but the snow is slowly melting producing lots of mud and water. A beautiful sunny day seemed like a good opportunity to move some grain from one bin to the next just to make sure it was in good condition . Using the "auger train" method saves moving a loaded grain truck around a muddy yard and doing even more damage. Several other tractors were involved in the preparation for this event but only the old 830 Case made it to video.

Multiple Cold Starts.

Re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. You may have heard this old expression
of futility. Going through the motions of a task that will have little effect
on the outcome. Thats what was going through my head today as I spent most of it
moving machinery and vehicles out of the shed to get at a wagon load of seed
wheat saved from last year. I needed the wagon so was going to unload into the
bin of new cleaned wheat. It took most of the day but went well. The futility
part is that our ongoing excess moisture situation might just make it impossible
to get that seed into the ground within the normal window of opportunity and
produce a crop.
The old saying goes that when Easter is late, spring is also late. Not a good
scene for this year. Only a little snow melting going on compared to a normal spring
when we might be almost snow-free by this time.
Well, those old engines needed a little exercise I guess so it was not a waste of
time.