Fall Planting

Is it seeding rye or planting rye?

Somebody help me.

For a blog whose name is about farming, those posts have not been so forthcoming. As much as i enjoy being a "farmer" farmer's wife, it's not the easiest thing for me to write about. I'm still pretty new at it and by no means an expert.

That's the great thing about blogging though, the privilege to learn as you go, don't you think? ha

I've learned a lot in the short time since i met my farmer husband, watching corn from planting to harvest, season after season, and i've now been around long enough for the babies that i bottle fed at birth to have their own baby calves and join the other ladies in the milking parlor.

I've been around long enough to know that i'm not that good with cows.
 

Fortunately i don't have to be.

Slowly... I'm finding my place on the farm. 

In the spring and fall i make meals for the planting/harvest crews, i do lots random chores, mowing in the summer and work at making and keeping the place tidy (not an easy thing! there's always next year.. sigh)

I'm the event coordinator, designer, gardener, baker, bookkeeper and the farm photographer.

So official right? 

My farmer husband is very passionate about his work and it helps me to stay excited about it as well. Working in the culinary industry for years cultivated a passion for food and now it's even more wonderful for me to learn a new dimension of that, being at the source of where our food comes from. 

Ah... and that brings me to the reason i want to talk about farming... 

now that i'm on a roll i might just get carried away... 

The more i learn about working with the land, how it all connects, the more it lights my fire to share with others. No matter what our connection to growing things, food is necessary to us all and it's important that we, consumers, understand what we are demanding and the affects it has on our bodies, our land and our future. 

I feel like we hear that a lot these days but i'm realizing that not everyone is listening. Or maybe its more that we don't know who to listen to with all the information that gets fed to us every day.

Each of us need to make it our own responsibility to educate ourselves, not depend on someone else. So, because this is my space, my little place on the world wide web, i'll tell you more in the future about what i think based on my observations... but my hope is just that you'll be inspired to dig deeper, ask questions and decide for yourself how to live well.

So i did get carried away.

This post was supposed to be about planting rye. 

With horses.

I guess this is what farmers do for fun...
While most field work is pretty high pressure because of weather conditions and optimal timing, fall planting is fairly relaxed so the boys like to play. We have a friend who farms with draft horses, for no reason but the joy of training and being around them.
Laid back farming, i suppose.
This is the second year he has come to stay with us for a week to put the rye in the ground after corn is harvested.

Beside the field there is always coffee in a percolator over the fire and a steady rotation of people dropping by to chat. The old-timers love to come out and talk about the old days.

Chris brings his dutch ovens and makes breakfast and lunch outside so the only meals i made were simple suppers. On Saturday the nieces and nephews came out to ride along. The kids and the dogs and the fire on a perfectly delightful fall day make such a festive atmosphere.

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Patrick baled the last of the hay yesterday before it rained last night - or was it alfalfa? It all looks the same, big round bales! Technical terms get me every time.
Whatever it is, the yield was much better then expected and he came bouncing in at dusk, energized and inspired.

What a great feeling.

 This might be my favorite time of the year. But i might say that a lot.

A wonderful harvest...  a very good year on the farm... and we are so grateful!