Soybeans and baby plants

The other farming that got done last weekend is the big field and side field were planted with soybeans.  I kind of chuckle inside when I say "big field" because in the scope of farming, it is not big.  For someone like me who grew up with a yard just shy of one acre and that one acre yard was the biggest in the neighborhood, well, the "big" field is enormous.  When we bought the farm 15 years ago, there were two fields that were being used as hay fields.  A 40 acre field that sits behind the house and a 20 acre field that is part of a larger parcel of land that juts off to the side.  And so without much thought, the 40 acre field became known as the "big" field and the 20 acre field is called the "side" field.  Pretty ingenious, eh?  At first, all 60 acres were planted in a corn/soybean/sometimes wheat rotation.  Over time though, the vegetable "garden" grew and grew and grew.  So now the vegetables take up about half of the 40 acre big field.  The other half of the big field and the side field are still in a corn/soybean rotation.

One of the things I love about living on a country road is the variety of traffic that travels up and down the road in front of the house.  Of course we get the usual cars and pick up trucks, but there is also a decent sized Amish community here and so horse and buggy traffic is a daily occurrence.  Hearing the clip clop clip clop of the horse's hooves and the sound of the buggy wheels rolling on the pavement is a familiar and enjoyable sound.  We also have a good bit of tractor traffic.  If Mike and I are in the house and hear a tractor coming, we always have to look and see whose tractor is coming and what machinery the tractor is pulling behind if any.  There is just some fascination with farm equipment I guess or perhaps it is just the neighborhood watch program in action.  Last Sunday when I was out putting the tarps on the movable chicken pens out in the yard, I was treated to the sight of Bill driving down the road with the soybean planter.

And pulling into our driveway .......

And crossing Peters Creek culvert on the road that goes back to the fields .......

After a few broken equipment delays that Bill had to deal with on some of the other farms he plants, he was finally able to make it over to our farm on Monday and get the soybeans planted in both the big and side fields.  This picture is Bill and Mike finishing up loading seed in the planter.

Mike's other accomplishment last weekend in the world of catch up farming was he went and picked up about 75% of our started vegetable plants from our neighbor Betty with the greenhouse.  So now we have flats of baby plants scattered here and there, but all within reach of the garden hose.

There are plants sitting in the yard behind the garage ......

And flats of plants sitting on one of our trailers .....

And flats on one of our hay wagons and beside the garage ........

And flats in the yard beside our bank barn .......

We did get about 1/4 of an inch of rain last night, but the forecast is for dry and breezy the next few days.  If all goes according to schedule, tomorrow will be the start of laying plastic and planting baby plants.  But farming never seems to stay on schedule so time will tell.