Lazy Farmer Winter

I've been a bit lazy posting anything here lately. But really, there is not much happening. I am not working as hard as the real  lazy farmer , who has been busy with machinery maintenance.
The weather has been unseasonably mild so I can't complain about the cold and miserable conditions.
Plenty of weird news stories to discuss like the Calgary man who found DNA evidence of Bigfoot
Or the dissatisfied Tim Hortons customer who threw a live snake across the counter
It is about time for another helping of that classic humour from the Winnipeg Free Press we used to read in the 1960s. The Song Of The Lazy Farmer.

Rain On The Window Pane

The rain today puts me in mind of this "Lazy Farmer" story. I should be sitting in my rocking chair as I type this I guess. But then I am not quite yet the lazy farmer. Trying but too many things to do before I get around to it.

Full Moon And A Frost

It happened here last night. First frost of the season on a clear full moon night. Crops are far enough advanced that it won't hurt them. In fact it will help kill any weeds or green growth in the crops. Nature's own dessicator is what I like to call it.

That 2 and a quarter inch rain over the past couple of days was a bit much but after the first half inch I guess it does not make much difference as the grain is soaked. So a few days off to spend catching up on jobs that got neglected when I was on the combine all day. And put another $500 worth of parts into the combine. That puts me up to about $4500 for this season and its not over by a long ways yet. It is expensive building a combine out of new parts

Crop yields are better than average so bin space is getting to be a problem for everyone. Terminals are short on space and not getting grain cars when they need them. Nothing new there. The big plastic grain bags are also almost impossible to buy for those that use them.

Of course good yields usually equal poor prices but we won't complain too much. I'll try not to get too worked up about that or any further combine breakdowns. Just keep thinking about the The Lazy Farmer . You know, this laid back easy going guy from the pages of the Free Press Weekly....

 

Spring Field Work Begins

Not one of my favourite views, raindrops on a tractor window, but thats what it was by 10:00 this morning. The ducks and seagulls seemed happy though.  First official day of applying anhydrous. 3 days ahead of last year which is good but conditions are not great. The frequent rains have made many parts of the field so wet that the tractor is having real traction problems. Never stuck but way too much slippage for my liking. I did a little pre-working of the worst spots yesterday hoping to dry the ground a little. It helps and the ruts provide a good indicator for me when I go in the next day with the anhydrous cultivator.

Anhydrous was expensive enough when I booked mine in March but is quite a bit higher now. For some reason the current low price of natural gas (the main ingredient of anhydrous) has caused the price of fertilizer to increase?? What am I missing here? No, the logic is that they increase the price because they can. Take it or leave it, and they know we have to take it.

Today's good start didn't last long. After a couple of hours the rain kept on to the point that I finally gave up on it. Filthy windows to look through and mud on everything. Guess I can spend tomorrow morning cleaning up while I wait for the ground to dry.

I read an interesting comment somewhere, "A dry year will hurt you but a wet year can kill you".
I need to adopt the attitude of this old lazy-farmer

Spring Time For The Lazy Farmer

As we are facing an early spring this year with almost record breaking temperatures here today it is time for a "Lazy Farmer" post regarding garden seeds. In my wildest dreams I might still be a month away from planting the first potatoes, in a normal spring. But the snowbanks have pretty much receded like the glaciers off my garden so who knows?
Forecasters already predict an impending heat wave/drought for the summer but of course that can change overnight. And their accuracy for the winter forecast was about as far off as possible so no need to hit the panic button yet. And now I leave you with another "Lazy Farmer" episode.

Lazy Farmer 15

Things are pretty slow here on the farm in winter. Even more so when the wind chill factor hits the -40 mark as it has recently. We have been spoiled by the mild weather up to this point that its a real shock dropping nearly 50 degrees off our daytime high temps. At least I don't feel so guilty about sitting in the house by the stove like the old Lazy Farmer cartoons from the sixties.