Slowing down

You've seen him: the older gentleman, usually in a plaid shirt with a free seed corn hat on. He's not in a hurry; moving at a moderate pace in his pick up truck as he checks out his fields. That gentleman is usually a farmer and there is good reason why he isn't in a hurry. You can't farm fast and I found that out this weekend.

There isn't much on our farm that I haven't done or helped with. I've crawled on my hands & knees planting cantaloupe, watermelon and tomatoes; pulled plastic up in the spring; weeded never ending rows of beets and turnips, moved hoses and equipment. One chore that I haven't been a part of is planting sweet corn.

That changed this weekend. We needed to plant our 4th crop of sweet corn before it rained again. This crop will be ready about the middle to end of August. Bill needed someone to drive the truck with the corn planter while he drove the tractor to the other farm. Since our kids can't drive (legally), I was drafted for the task. Our "new" tractor is a John Deere 4020. It isn't fancy-open cab, no GPS, AC, radio or electronics. It is geared differently than a car and I just couldn't figure out exactly how to change gears. It occasionally gives Bill fits by not shifting as it should. Top cruising speed is 20 mph and the Manito farm is about 2.5 miles from the Green Valley farm. We load up with our corn and some water and head out. Very. Slowly.

He's running all out and I'm barely idling, even pulling the planter.













Finally, we get to the Manito farm. First, before planting, the ground needs to be disked up, so we pull into the farm yard to hook up the disk. The disk is an intimidating contraption consisting of two rows of steel plates that are very sharp, set at opposing angles from each other. Dropped into the earth, the first row lifts up dirt in one direction, while the other side flips it back the other way. On the tractor, you do feel as if you are really going fast (!) and watching the soil move like water is very hypnotic. It is fairly dry and we are quickly covered by a fine layer of dirt. As we move across the field, red winged blackbirds, robins and grackles land behind us, picking up seeds and insects that are exposed.

Then, back up to the yard to hook up the planter. Did I mention tractors don't go very fast? Also, we just can't cut across the field--we have to go around what has already been planted. Slowly.










Bill checks out the planter, hooking up the chains that release the corn seeds and putting seed in the seed boxes. There are chains to hook up to the gears that allow the corn to drop out, hydraulics to hook up and make sure they work and the marker arms to unlock. Finally, we head back out to the field and now we can begin planting!














Bill is pouring in the corn on the left; on the right is what the corn looks like in the seed box. It does not resemble the final product at all! It's very wrinkled and hard. It's pink from a grub protectorant otherwise the grub in the soil would eat all our seeds! With this, they stay away and eat something else.

Here we are--ready to go! Bill puts the tractor in gear, lowers the planter and moves ahead.












The arm sticking out from the side of the planter marks where Bill needs to line up the body of the tractor to plant his next rows. We plant 4 rows at a time in rows that are just short of a quarter mile long. It's easy on a tractor. Picking it this August will be a different story!


Something that is very important when you are planting corn is to make your rows straight. It looks easy, but is is so easy to lose concentration or move the wrong way when you look behind you to check on the progress of the planter. Bill has done this so many times, that he is pretty good and all the rows were very straight. Crooked rows are no fun to pick and your picking crew get very cranky!
Here's how it looks right before we turn around and make another pass. On the left in the distance, are the trees that mark the house. We're only about 3/4 of a mile from the house, but it seems much farther. The ground immediately to the left of the ground that we've just planted is the crop that we will pick in early August. Farther over to the left are crops one & two that should be ready in July.

By now, I'm bored, my butt hurts from sitting on the wheel well and it is well past lunch time. We've planted 1.5 acres and it only took a little over 2 hours. Now, we have to go back to the yard, empty any corn out of the boxes, make the planter ready to go on the road, hook it up to my truck and take it to Congerville (long story). We finally get to our destination almost 3 hours later.

This all unfolded s-l-o-w-l-y. Farm machinery moves at a snail's pace. You can't pull a planter through the ground fast or your seeds won't land in the right spots. There are parts that break or come off at the wrong time. I cannot imagine doing this as my full time job, driving back and forth from one side of the field to the other, even with the newer tractors with AC and a radio. I have a new appreciation for the farmers that don't seem to be in a hurry--they aren't.