Slow Spring

Slow progress on the spring warm up here. True, we had temps in the 70s back on Good Friday but then we have also had overnight temps well below freezing. Days when I need to wear parka and toque working out in the yard. Furnace still runs every day at some point just to keep the house at a reasonably comfortable temp.
So no great incentive to get out in the fields putting expensive inputs to the cold ground. On the positive side at least not many weeds are growing. We missed out on the snow that fell in some parts giving much needed moisture.
Yesterday was nice enough to get out on the open tractor and clean up the worst rocks on a small 60 acre field. Started out with the parka but soon had to remove it. (And yes, I need a new parka). No wind made all the difference. Quiet days seem rare here lately and are a welcome respite from the wind.
So I recorded some of the rock picking fun. Similar to the way I was introduced to it some 50 years ago. Back then we not only had to load the rocks by hand but also had to unload them by hand. I think of that every time I'm near those old rock piles built by hand years ago.

Good Timing , or Lucky

I finished seeding the last field yesterday and today it is starting to rain which will be good for germination. I even got a row of peas planted in the garden this morning while waiting on the weather to make up it's mind. As it turned out I would have had plenty of time to spray out a tank of roundup on the chem fallow but the radar screen showed showers coming and so did the forecast. Its a five mile drive to the field and takes 3 hours to spray out the tank and I could not see three hours of good weather ahead.
So I went harrowing to smooth out the last field instead.
Still no rain falling by 1:00 pm but very threatening so I headed out to pick rocks on the fields seeded to canola and flax last week. That old 970 Case is really good on the rock picker although on a hot day the lack of AC might be uncomfortable.

I stopped to take this photo of it beside the Nevardland lilacs. The slow rain had already started but I carried on picking for another hour or more before it got too hard to see through the rain on the windows and the tires were picking up wet topsoil.
Surprising to see how well the crop was up already. I'd planned to spray the rest of that flax field with roundup to kill the weeds I missed with the air seeder but that train has left the station. The flax is up and roundup would kill it. Will be an interesting experiment to see which field is better. The one I sprayed last week and killed the weeds, or the one that did not get sprayed. It was way too windy when I sprayed that first 50 acres last week and the following 3 days were all windy so the sprayer sat and I missed my chance.
Maybe now I will have a bit of spare time to fill out the census form that Statistics Canada seems so intent on getting from me.