Farm – Page 148 – Dan Routh Photography

Combining Corn

Yesterday, neighbor Earl York, Jr. was combining corn at Melancthon near Liberty, North Carolina. The York family runs a seed, fertilizer and farm supply business as well as growing corn, soybeans and small grains. This particular field of corn was yielding close to 130 bushels per acre, which is not anything close to a record, but really good for a year of partial drought. I’ve shot farmers and agriculture all over the country (one of my most favorite subjects) and although all farmers are busy and under all kinds of pressure to get things done, I have never met one that would not stop their machinery, get off and come over to shake your hand and talk briefly about their crop. Earl was no exception.

Rising Meadow Farm

Agriculture, Farm, Sheep

I went over to my neighbors’ farm Sunday for their annual open house. Ann and Ron Fay run Rising Meadow Farm near Liberty in Randolph County, North Carolina along with their daughter Beth and her husband Winfield. They raise sheep for wool and meat as well as a few goats, cows and the occasional llama. Sunday they had several people there displaying wool products and processes as well as another neighbor demonstrating his working border collie sheep dogs. For info on their farm, go to http://www.risingmeadow.com/index.html.

Cow, Up Close and Personal

Animals, Farm

My wife often picks up apples in the evenings. She feeds the rejects to the cows, and they certainly appreciate her efforts. In fact they appreciate them so much, they often get a little overly up close in their attempts to get to them.

Figs

Cat, Farm, Randolph County

The figs are starting to ripen on the south side of one of our barns. Succulent golden fruits that make wonderful preserves but are even better eaten fresh from the tree (or bush as it were). I picked a bowl for my wife the other day, and as as oft happens on our farm, I had help, this time from one of our farm cats, Tiger.

(Posted from Hanover, New Hampshire after a 20 hour train journey. More to come on that next week.)

Farm Couple

Agriculture, Farm, Portraits

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.