{"id":6305,"date":"2020-11-01T08:24:57","date_gmt":"2020-11-01T13:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=6305"},"modified":"2020-11-01T08:35:17","modified_gmt":"2020-11-01T13:35:17","slug":"episode-156-between-harrowing-and-planting-winter-wheat-is-a-lot-of-blood-sweat-and-tears-even-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=6305","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 156 BETWEEN HARROWING AND PLANTING WINTER WHEAT IS A LOT OF BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS…EVEN TODAY"},"content":{"rendered":"
EPISODE 156    BETWEEN HARROWING THE LAND AND THEN PLANTING WINTER WHEAT\u2026LOTS OF WORK<\/p>\n

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Alan skeoch<\/div>\n
oct. 2020<\/div>\n

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THIS is the man that does  the job\u2026.getting winter wheat in the ground.<\/div>\n

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HOW  DOES A FIELD  GET THIS NICE?<\/div>\n

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\u201cHAVE you ever wondered how tiny seeds of wheat are planted?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWell, all those pieces  of equipment hauled by that immense tractor are<\/div>\n
designed  to put one little winter wheat seed in the ground at the proper spacing.<\/div>\n
A bunch of seeds got confused when the tractor made a sweeping turn and those little<\/div>\n
seeds just jumped out in a bunch but that was  rare.   Most seeds got out at their proper<\/div>\n
spacing and  got ready  to germinate for spring combining as future pastry flour.”<\/div>\n

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\u201cPerhaps you think that such huge machines would find the job of getting the fields ready for seeding was  EASY??<\/div>\n
NOT SO EASY AT TIMES\u2026see below”<\/div>\n

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\u201cThis is the rig for planting those tiny winter wheat seeds\u2026the great tub at the back is filled and then manages somehow to select tiny seeds<\/div>\n
to be put in the ground at proper spacing.   \u2026The huge harrow at the front digs a shallow hole for the seeds.  Notice the ground  cover of soybean waste<\/div>\n
left behind after the combine had done the harvesting a few weeks earlier.  Called  NO  TILL FARMING.   PLOWING IS NOT DONE from <\/div>\n
year to year unless the fields are covered in sod.<\/div>\n

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WHEN the  fields were covered in  sod\u2026.deep plowing was necessary.  After that\u2026smooth sailing except where a hidden<\/div>\n
sink hole was found.<\/div>\n

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Disc Harrow sliced up any sod that was  not turned over by the plow.<\/div>\n

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How  would you like to find yourself and all that equipment sinking into they hidden swamp?   Believe it or not the machines  got out with ease.<\/div>\n

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Why are the wheat seeds orange\u2026reddish?   They have been treated with poison\u2026I do not know which poison.  At one time Atrizine was<\/div>\n
used\u2026perhaps still used.  Bad Stuff.   A poisoned  field is easy to find as  no weeds can grow\u2026the  field appears a  sickly grey through<\/div>\n
the summer months if fallow.   Deadly stuff.<\/div>\n

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Here  is the chopped  up soybean plants  left as a ground  cover \u2026 winter wheat seeds in a bit of cluster\u2026an error when the<\/div>\n
machine  did a turn at the end of the field.<\/div>\n

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A long time earlier a  stone picker was able to criss cross the fields in search of rocks.<\/div>\n

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the stone picker can drive forwards  and backwards scooping out and  scooping up rocks  left by the glaciers.<\/div>\n

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And that is all there  is to the job\u2026as long as  you have a million dollars  or so to invest in the job.   This large scale farmer owns  and rents<\/div>\n
several thousand  acres  of  crop land  centred in Limehouse, Ontario \u2026 covering miles  and mlles.   <\/div>\n

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\u2026which includes the 90 acres owned  by  our sons and their partner.   <\/div>\n

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One thing worth noting.  The fields are relatively small with lots of fencerows for birds and small creatures\u2026even large creatures like<\/div>\n
deer and coyotes and wild  turkeys.   That is not always the case with modern farming\u2026much more efficient to tear out the<\/div>\n
fencerows and  have clear fields from horizon to horizon.  A sterile landscape where \u201cno birds sing\u201d.   That will not happen here.<\/div>\n

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alan  skeoch<\/div>\n
Oct. 2020<\/div>\n

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EPISODE 156    BETWEEN HARROWING THE LAND AND THEN PLANTING WINTER WHEAT\u2026LOTS OF WORK Alan skeoch oct. 2020 THIS is the man that does  the job\u2026.getting winter wheat in the ground. HOW  DOES A FIELD  GET THIS NICE? \u201cHAVE you ever wondered how tiny seeds of wheat are planted?\u201d \u201cWell, all those pieces  of equipment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6305\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}