Here in the Midwest Spring is a busy time of the year. Last week we finally finished planting most of our crops. We only have one field of dry beans left. The spring has been extremely wet, which means our field work is behind. What we call field work on our farm, is what you might compare to gardening on a bigger scale. The weather is a huge factor in both, if it is not warm enough and the soil is not the ideal moisture we cannot plant our crops, just like if the weather does not cooperate you cannot plant your garden.
Luckily, the rain quit long enough that we could get our corn in the ground! This piece of equipment in the picture above is a planter. The planter actually distributes the seed at the perfect depth in the soil and space between the next seed. This allows for optimal growth of the plant because the seeds are not crowded or too shallow in the soil.
Before we plant, we have to get the soil in the appropriate condition for the seed. One factor is the amount of moisture, which I discussed a little in the beginning. Now that the fields have dried out some, we do not have to worry about that. Next, we do something called work the field. What that means is we are breaking up large chunks of soil and making sure the soil is not compacted. If the soil is too compact the seed will have a hard time germinating and breaking through the soil, or they may not break through at all. Above you can see my brother is actually the one working ground.
In this picture, through the dust you might be able to see all of the metal pieces hanging down from this piece of equipment. Those will actually dig down into the ground to make sure the soil is soft for the seed.
There is nothing like Spring planting here in the country! It’s even more exciting when you can watch an entire family helping out in their way to get the work done. In the above picture it was my dad and my brother working in different parts of the field doing differ jobs!
