Farm Friday - Crop Inspecting

Harvest time here is quickly approaching, but every year right before harvest, Tyler gets to work inspecting fields for the Kansas Crop Improvement Association.  He started doing it in 2002 after a friend in town no long had the time to do it.  This year Tyler will insect over 4,000 acres of certified wheat that will be used for seed, as well as some fields of native grasses.  But before I get ahead of myself, I will talk a little about the wheat seed.

There are hundreds of different varieties of wheat grown.  Different areas of the world plant different varieties since some have qualities that help to produce better yields for their area.  Plus new varieties are constantly being created by crossing certain varieties.  Companies like Monsanto and Syngenta are working to develop these new varieties and the process takes over 10 years.  The seed that comes directly from the companies is called foundation.  After it is planted and harvested, it is called registered seed and after that is planted and harvested, it is called certified.  The acres Tyler inspects is certified, so the farmer planted registered seed and is harvesting it as certified seed.  Tyler's job is to inspect the field for two main problems.  The first is varietal purity which means he is checking that the wheat is maintaining its specific qualities and has not been planted with another variety.  Secondly he is checking to make sure there are no noxious weeds, like bindweed, being grown in the field, since not all the weed seed may come out when the seed is cleaned after harvest.  Tyler walks through the whole field, end to end, and in different directions to get a thorough look at the field.  The biggest field he has inspected this year has been 320 acres, which is a square 1/2 mile.

Here is a good picture of what the wheat looked like at the beginning of the week.  The wheat has to loose its green and turn to gold before it is ready to be harvested.  The super hot weather we have been having is helping to turn the wheat and Tyler is talking about trying to cut a sample tomorrow to see if it is dry enough to cut.  Harvest is coming soon.

Farm Friday - Long Hours

Growing up I remember in the stories about farmers. They always seem to wake-up with the rooster crowing at the crack of dawn and get to work on the many activities of the day and would work all day until sundown.  But I guess I always thought that was an exaggeration. My dad worked a regular 40hr a week job and would sometimes have to put in extra hours, but not often.  He would come home at 5:30 to eat dinner with us and enjoy the rest of the night with us.  So that was the schedule I had hoped my husband would have too, but that is definitely not the schedule Tyler keeps. 

    A normal day for Tyler starts at, well around dawn.  This time of year it is around six o'clock, but in the winter time it gets pushed back some.  I wanted to try and get a picture of him leaving this morning, but with having to feed the baby at five, I was still sleeping at 6:30 when he left.  He diligently comes in every morning and gives me a kiss goodbye before he leaves, even though some days I don't even wake-up to notice.  I have yet to become the great farm wife who gets up early enough to make breakfast, so most mornings he eats cereal or his favorite, poptarts.  He stays at the farm and does his work throughout the day until he is finished.  Right now they are so busy, that he does not come home until after seven, closer to eight, nine o'clock.  It makes for a very long day for both of us and the girls and I eat dinner without him on most nights, but we let Eve stay up just late enough to see him before she is off to bed.  And when he comes home there is some work that still needs to be done.  He has to maintain records of their activities and the financial activities of the farm, which take up more time almost everyday.  With such a busy daily schedule, you would hope the weekend would be a time to rest and recooperate, but not the case with farming.  The cattle still need to be tended to and there is still more work to get done Tyler works every Saturday too just like any other day of the week.  During harvest and planting times he even works on some Sundays too, although we try hard to make that the Lord's day and a day of rest and most Sundays he deserves a long nap.

    So, as you can see, a farmer, and I believe most farmers, work extremely long, hard hours.  It can be trying on us all because he is sacrificing his time for the farm, but in a way so are we to have him gone from us all the time.  It was quite a transition for me when we got married to not have him come home from work when I was getting done and to be a newlywed in a new town with many lonely nights.  But I have learned to accept the hours because I know it is necessary for him to get to do the thing he loves, which is to have our farm and be able to support our family with it.  It's the sacrifice many farmers and their families take on to not only enjoy the farm but its lifestyle.