Filed under: October 2012
Frosty Morning on the Farm
October 9, 2012
It’s official, the growing season for 2012, here in northeast Ohio, is over. We had a beautiful, clear and starlit night last night. The temperatures dipped below freezing. I had 30 degrees here, this morning, although the TV said 34. Believe me it was crispy 😮
The speltz field looks very green and well started. My mother would be very proud. The pastures are still green, but will very quickly be depleted now that dormancy for the grasses, has been signaled. We do have some fields of stockpiled grass for the stock to graze until the snow gets deep.
My corn is ready to shock. I plan to get the job done by the weekend. The cement trucks were grounded last Saturday due to rain, so our slab is not down yet. That job too is on the “planned” list. I hope to move both jobs to the completed list by Saturday.
I hope to lay out a couple of fields to be fall plowed soon. The horses and I will get to spend some quality time together. The fields on my list have been grazed, compost spread and mowed once. The plow will be accepted nicely, as we prepare for next years corn crop.
The Ohio archery season for whitetail deer is in full swing. Avid hunters are taking to the woods, in hopes of securing meat for winter and maybe a set of antlers for the wall. I might even get a little time to pursue that venture myself. The work is winding down, so playing now and then, will not make me feel guilty 😮
The gardens are done. I will clean them off and get a fall cover crop of rye planted. This cover crop puts the gardens to bed for winter. The green blanket on top of them smothers weeds and loosens the soil. It mines the ground for nutrients and stores them in the plant. Those plants plowed down in spring, breakdown and give up the nutrients stored, feeding our garden plants.
Just like the cycle of life, so goes the seasons. The plants sprung up from the ground, matured, made seed and are now dying. The winter winds will soon sweep the landscape and everything, including farmers, will rest a bit. The promise of a new spring can be seen in the sonrise … all you have to do is look for it 😮
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