Planting Time - Racing the Rain

Due to work obligations, my time at the farm often falls on weekends. But, when it is planting time, it seems like it rains on weekends or the fields are too wet to do much.  So, when the perfect conditions happen in May, it's time to drop everything and get some planting done.

I had turned these fields before so they were ready for planting.

I'm planting Roundup Ready soybeans.  These are old foodplots that have developed a lot of weeds over the years.  Planting these soybeans allows me to put some high quality summer forage in while also working to reduce the weed seedbank in the soil.

I used my cultipacker - not sure if it makes much difference.  When the soybeans are growing, I can spray the fields with Roundup and everything dies except the beans.  Historically, the deer hit the beans so hard that there's lots of room for the weeds.

I put three plots of soybeans in. I will probably overseed these plots with brassica in the Fall.

I didn't start planting pumpkins yet.  Joan is encouraging me to scale back on them this year. But I did put some sunflowers in on the end of the pumpkin patch.

Ed spread my fertilizer.  I really appreciate him squeezing me in between his big customers.

Another mouse in the barn at the birdseed bin.

When I arrived, I jumped in the Ranger and took off for a drive.  I didn't get too far before I realized that I had left a piece of plywood with my turkey fan on top of the roll cage.  Oops!.

Here's the latest pest to harass us at the farm.  Tiny ants swarming the kitchen counter.  Countermeasures initiated.

The thistles still look stunted but not dead.

I believe that this is deer hair.  At some point, they lose their winter coats.

I could hear lots of gobbles while I was out working and the cameras still showed lots of activity.

I also discovered a couple of egg shells in the strangest places.  No nest in sight.

Don't know if they had hatched or if it was predator activity.  But these empty shells were in the middle of big fields with no trees for 100 yards or more.

Here's that doe I've been seeing with the "swoosh" in its fur.

Visitors to the licking branches.  See the coon?

Visitors to the mineral lick.

Antlers showing.

The saggy belly crowd.

And some of the usual varmints.  No sign of bobcats for weeks now.