Passions of an Odd Chick

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Come Ride With Me

I thought I would take you along with me for what I thought was a really fun day. (I apologize for the quality of the videos, i'm still learning)

Although we have 3 hired farmhands, during fall planting season everyone is needed in the field. Sweet Farmer put me in the new tractor and taught me how to work the GPS system and I rolled in hay seed that had been spread by foam over this large open circle watered by a pivot sprinkler. All I had to do was turn the tractor around at each end and then set it on its appropriate row and it would DRIVE ITSELF!! I had my hands in my lap the rest of the time- check it out- no hands on the steering wheel. And as odd-chick-farm-girls do, I was listening to an educational podcast from TCU on imperial Roman history and video podcasts of a drawing tutorial. Where else can you go to class 8 hours a day and sit on your butt with your hands in your lap and still make money??? Not a bad day, huh? Although the field is bland, what you don't see is all the interesting things I found in the clods as I travel along at about 7 mph watching all the birds, especially hawks, that come and scavenge off the top of the new ground.

The next day I had to cut a beautiful hay field in my Caterpillar winnower. When you stepped into this field you would be overwhelmed by the smell of the blossoms, a lilac/lavender smell and it was a sea of green around me with thousands and thousands of yellow butterflies flitting over the top like twinkling lights. There were also lots and lots of Monarchs making love. Then swallows come out of nowhere like little black bats and would catch themselves a snack among the fabulous smorgasbord.

This is not really a good sign in the field as it means these yellow butterflies are attracted to the blossoms and then lay eggs that hatch out to worm/beetles that eat the hay. It will eventually have to be sprayed for this problem or it will diminish the crop significantly.

But for today, it made for an air-ride seat over the green stage of a unique ballet. I hope you enjoyed the free admission.

1 comment:

ooglebloops said...

I think I'd be a tad bit scared of a tractor that was making all the decisions and driving itself!! LOL My husband would love that big toy tho!!! What kind of hay are you growing?