The Farm

Last week I had to present to our homeschool support group attendees information about "Unschooling."  I didn't know too much about it but the topic really picqued my interest.  I learned a lot and while I would not say I am a full subscriber to the notion of "unschooling" I think there are some very valid points to consider.  We oftentimes become too heavy in "telling" children what to learn and/or directing their learning paths instead of encouraging their own interests and curiosities.  I hope I can model and teach the girls to ask questions, find answers, be ready to be amazed, and have fun in the process.  This past Monday we spent two hours at my family's farm with my cousin Scott.  While it is very true that I grew up on a farm, I can't really tell you too much about farming other than basics.  Sad but true.  So I decided we should learn.  I guess I broke the first cardinal rule of "unschooling" since I determined we should learn about this, but hopefully I was able to model the questions, answers, being amazed, and having fun parts!  Our family farms approximately 1300 acres of field.  Here are some facts we learned that you might find as equally interesting as we did:

 Bean planter

 

The wagon is filled with beans for planting.

All bags of corn seed have exactly 80,000 seeds.  It is sold by 80,000 seeds not pounds.  Most bags of seed are between $250 - 350.  It takes 32,000 seeds to plant one acre of corn, thus one bag will plant just over 2 acres.  The corn the farm plants is RoundUp Ready, meaning that within 7 days of planting they can spray for weeds with RoundUp and it won't hurt the seed.  The seed also has (for lack of a better term) vaccines to protect the crop from bugs, worms, and weeds.  Just like pharmacuetical companies guess to make the best "flu shot" for the year, ag scientists are always adjusting these "vaccines" as the worms, bugs, and even weeds develop tolerance and immunity against the "vaccines" on the seeds.  The county average is 40 bushels of bean crop per acre.  Our family farm averages in the upper 50's per acre.  A general average for corn is about 170 bushels per acre, but the Lord blessed our farm a few years back with 206 bushels per acre.

 A semi will come and fill up these fertilizer holding tanks.

Scott patiently explained to us how the bean planter works and how it is different than the corn planter.  Modern technology is amazing in that some equipment will tell the farmer exactly how much seed was planted, the GPS location of the tractor, and so much more.  When the corn planter needs to be refilled, they load it all by hand (aka...opening the bag and pouring it in to the planter).  Beans are bought from the co-op and loaded directly into the wagon.  They use an auger to transfer the beans into the bean planter.

 There are 2 bean planters here.  Each is 15 ft wide.

 

 We then went out into the field to see if any of the seed had started to sprout. 

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Scott also told us all about how the grain bins work, along with "the pit" and the dryer.

We are going to go back in the fall during harvest.  Can't wait!

Nowadays we are constantly hearing about GMO's and organic farming.  I asked Scott about such things.  He said he knows of a local family who raises organic milk thus they do organic farming for feed.  He didn't know the specifics but mentioned that one year the farm tried planting one field without the use of any fertilizer or weed killer.  He said the crop was so sparse and the weeds were a financial headache as it caused such a mess in the combine. 

I also learned our family farm is over 100 years old!  WOW! 

Lastly we learned about no-till farming versus till farming.  No-till farming is usually called "ugly farming" because it is kind of ugly!  HA!  However, some of the benefits is that the plant matter helps deter wind/soil erosion, added moisture during drought conditions, and keeping the organic plant matter in the soil.  No-till farming is definitely considered to be a newer method.  My husband is partial to the tilled farms.  I think it is a little snobby but I still love him!  HA!  The bottomline is that there are pros and cons to both so it eventually boils down to preference.  Now as we drive down the road I ask the girls, till or no-till?  corn or beans?  LOVE IT!!

So, guess what I have on my mind for another field trip adventure?  Well, yes, besides harvest.  I am sooooo going to call the organic milk farmer (I went to school with their kiddos) and see if we can come for a visit.  I am really intrigued!