Farm – Page 146 – Dan Routh Photography

Farm Couple

At the risk of this becoming poultry week, my photographs today are from the farm of Mr and Mrs E D Snider of Liberty, North Carolina. Mr and Mrs Snider grow chickens for the home grower and free range producer market. If you want a few good chickens to produce eggs in your backyard, the Snider farm is the place to go, for a half dozen, or for hundreds. Interesting and great people, I always enjoy going by their farm. Mr Snider ran a feed and fertilizer business for years, and his wife works for the US Post Office in Pittsboro. They live on land that was part of her family’s (the McMasters) original 18th century land grant. I love to talk to people in our area who are still able to produce a livelihood from the land.

Below is a “Production Red” hen we bought from the Sniders.

Running Bird

Animals, Farm

We have several guinea fowl on our farm in Grays Chapel, North Carolina. Most are hens, but we do have two males. For the past couple of days, they have decided to see who is the most dominant, and have spent the afternoons and evenings chasing each other around the property and sparring. In the image above, our pearl male streaks across the yard after his rival.

Ram Head

Animals, Farm

Portrait study of a ram from a neighbor’s farm in Grays Chapel, North Carolina.

Planting Soybeans

Agriculture, Farm

Farmer Frank White of Liberty, North Carolina sod-plants soybeans on a rye field near Lineberry late one afternoon last week. Mr. White raises several hundred acres of beans, corn, and small grains in the Liberty area each year. He uses big equipment, something we don’t get to see often around here these days.

Play Time in the Nursery

Animals, Farm

A two day old baby calf flexes it’s muscles in our farm pasture in Randolph County, North Carolina.

"Make Hay While the Sun Shines"

Agriculture, Farm

Farming is many times a exercise in compromise. Abundant rain means a lot of grass and a lot of hay. Overabundant rain means a lot of grass and the lack of good weather to harvest hay. Our area has fallen into the later category this year. We have a tremendous amount of hay, but we haven’t had a lot of good weather up until now to make it, and nothing upsets a farmer more than wet hay. Greg Williams of Williams Dairy, south of Greensboro works late in the afternoon to catch up on his baling.

Garden Guardians

Cat, Farm

Farm cats Misty and Scamp survey the goings on in our garden from their picnic table perch at our home in Grays Chapel, North Carolina.

Baby Calf

Animals, Farm

One thing that is demonstrated by being on a farm is the continuous renewal of life. This baby calf rests in tall grass probably an hour or so after it was born. Mom was close by to offer her care.

Farmall Super A Tractor

Agriculture, Farm

A 1948 Super A Farmall tractor sits at the end of a row of corn in my garden in Randolph County, North Carolina. This is a very special piece of machinery to me. My Grandfather bought it new in 1948 and it has been in use on our farm by him, my Father, me and my sons ever since. As a kid, I literally spent days in the seat plowing (cultivating) corn. This tractor is perfect for that, because the engine is offset and you can look straight down and see the rows of corn pass under you. We don’t raise a lot of corn anymore, but we continue to use the tractor in our garden to cultivate and lay off rows. The old guy just keeps on going.

The inset is a self portrait of the “A” and me.

Afternoon Scenes

Agriculture, Farm

This time of year, when the weather stays dry for several days in a row, it means one thing. It’s time for farmers to make hay, and last week most of my neighbors were during just that. These late afternoon scenes were indicative of our area of Randolph County, south of Greensboro.