Agriculture

Combining Wheat

The bearded wheat I showed on this blog a few days ago ripened and I found Earl York, Jr. and his son Rodney hard at work combining it. The Yorks run a fertilizer and seed business as well as producing corn, soybeans and small grains. This year they have several hundred acres in wheat, and so far the harvest looks pretty good. Thank goodness for air conditioned combines, because when I stopped by where they were working, the mercury was near 100 degrees. Although, with all farm equipment, you have to get out of the cab and work on things once in a while.

Baling Hay

Agriculture, Farm

They say you have to make hay when the sun shines. Here in Grays Chapel, North Carolina, it hasn’t shone much in the past couple of weeks. It did today, and my neighbor Mark Sexton was in the field hard at work.

Corn Ground

Agriculture

It’s that time of year when farmers and gardeners are getting things into the soil, and my neighbors are busy. Michael Williams works ground near my home in Grays Chapel, North Carolina. Michael and his family run a dairy farm nearby, and will plant corn on land where they have just cut small grains for silage. The corn too will be used for cattle feed.

Whitaker Farms

Agriculture, Portraits

Neighbor Richard Whitaker in his tomato hot house in Grays Chapel, North Carolina on a warm afternoon this week. Richard and his family raise tomatoes, strawberries and other produce and run an extensive garden center at two locations in Randolph County. For info, visit their website at http://www.whitakerfarm.com/.

Planting Potatoes

Agriculture, Garden

A stop by the CSA plot at Goat Lady Dairy in Grays Chapel, North Carolina caught farm manager Daniel Woodham spending some seat time on the John Deere covering the 750 pounds of potatoes a crop mob of volunteers had planted earlier in the morning.

Goat Lady CSA

Agriculture, Farm, Garden

Goat Lady Dairy in Grays Chapel, North Carolina started a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) garden in 2010 and it was a great success. They are beginning to get ready for the 2011 season, but in the meantime Daniel Woodham (farm manager) has been harvesting winter carry over vegetables which the dairy sells at the local farmer’s market. He is assisted regularly by Chram Rode and his wife Broih Fnu, a Montagnard couple originally from Viet Nam who are training to help run the day to day gardening operations.

In the Greenhouse

Agriculture, Farm, Portraits

Cousin Thomas Routh works in his greenhouse on a warm afternoon last week in Grays Chapel, North Carolina. Thomas and his wife Lula Mae raise a large tract of vegetables they sell at the local farmer’s market. This year they are branching out into hanging flower baskets as well.

Afternoon at Rising Meadow Farm

Agriculture, Farm, Sheep

Seems like all it takes on a farm is a little warm weather and things start to get active. I stopped by my neighbors, Rising Meadow Farm in Grays Chapel, North Carolina on such a warm afternoon this week and found the sheep curious, a couple of early lambs about and farm owner Ron Fay out in the pasture doing a little dog training. I plan on going back next week for the annual shearing.

Saturday Afternoon and Dressed for the Weather

Agriculture, Farm, Portraits

It’s a Saturday afternoon and there is a light rain/sleet falling. Most of us are either out shopping at the mall or sitting in a warm place watching football or basketball. At Williams Dairy in Grays Chapel, North Carolina, for Greg, Rick and Michael Williams, Saturday means cleaning up the cow lot and getting things ready for milking a herd of Holsteins no matter what the weather.

Agriculture, Animals, Farm

In continuing with where I’ve been, I grew up on a dairy farm. My Dad taught school and farmed for 18 years. After we sold the dairy cows, we switched to raising beef cattle, which we still do today. I live in my great-grandfather’s farm house which was built around 1878 on the 150 acre family farm. I enjoy shooting agriculture; I guess it’s in my blood.

For about 15 years, I worked on contract for a large agrichemical company. I crawled through corn fields in the midwest, walked through wheat in the Dakotas, picked cotton and waded through rice fields in the South. Also had the opportunity to ride and operate some really big equipment.