Post-Harvest Fieldwork

Yesterday morning, the sound of a howling northwest wind greeted my ears, making it very difficult to emerge from under the warm blankets. Well---I thought---if I can survive feeding calves this morning, then I'll come back into the cozy house and continue working on several de-cluttering and rearranging projects I've haphazardly given birth to the past few days. I'm simply trying to MAKE ROOM FOR CHRISTMAS to happen.......the tree, the decorations.......those things that are expected to appear at will. Does anyone understand this?! And, let's not forget Thanksgiving......which is probably my favorite holiday, but it gets lost in the shuffle.

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However.......when I got to the barn, Husband announced that he was planning to have me run the chisel plow after morning chores. Whew.......what a relief......that meant I could ditch those silly, frivolous cleaning and organizing plans for the house!

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Anyhow, this chisel-plowing task provides a good excuse to post about the fieldwork that takes place after the harvesting is finished. Once the grain crops are gathered in, then---weather permitting---farmers turn to the job of tillage, after first hauling manure on the fields if they have livestock.

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Here is one example of field tillage equipment.......a field cultivator........seen on the road several days ago:

And, next......here is our neighbor.......in his shiny, newish John Deere tractor........pulling a chisel plow, so named for the chisel-shaped tines which dig into the soil. There is a row of disk blades in front of the chisels, to better break up the dirt clods.

By the way, another neighbor---who farms many hundreds of acres---is still busy at combining corn. You can see his red International Harvestor combine in the photo below. He dumps the corn into gravity box wagons, which are hauled back to his farm and emptied into a grain dryer and then into a storage bin. The other day I had posted about another neighbor who uses semi-trucks to haul grain from his fields.


OK......now onto my own mission for the day.......to till a field which had grown soybeans this year, and which has recently been plastered with cow manure. Next you see our dinky chisel plow, ready and waiting to work that manure into the soil, in hopeful anticipation of the next growing season.



The plow is being pulled by an Allis-Chalmers 8785 tractor, with a loader attached on the front. How very nice. Husband emphatically emphasized, "Watch out so you don't hit the electric poles with the loader!", before he turned me loose in the field. The next photo shows the view facing forward from the tractor cab. Yup, by golly, there is one of those pesky power poles coming up ahead. I must negotiate my U-turn very carefully! What do you think that brown stuff is on the ground.......if you say "dirt", you're incorrect.......it is the wonder-working MANURE!

I'm driving in luxurious comfort today.......this cab actually has a heater.......and a radio!! And, a clock, which is of absolutely no interest to me today.
To the right of the cab's air-shocked, springy seat are the hydraulic levers. The one with the green dot on the handle is the only one I'm using today.......pulling the lever back raises the chisel plow out of the ground and pushing it forward drops the plow back down. These features must be utilized during each U-turn at the ends of the field.

The plow cannot be left in the ground when you turn around. Think about it. Soil is a tough medium to pull anything through. Try it. You would probably wreck equipment if you left the plow in the ground during a turn. I've never tried it, and don't plan to. Husband would have my head.......
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This next photo shows the plow raised up during a turn. It usually takes me a few turns to get comfortably into the routine........pull hydraulic lever back; turn steering wheel sharply, being sure to avoid hitting the fence; press foot on left or right brake, depending on which way your turn is going---you want to brake the rear wheel on the side you are turning to---otherwise you'll go sliding out of control and end up somewhere you don't want to be, and in danger of receiving a serious lecture from the boss! (Ya might even get fired!) Then, once the turn is complete, I press the other side's brake to straighten the tractor in the field, while at the same time pushing the hydraulic lever forward to drop the plow into the ground again. Ya got all that? The tractor is barreling along all the while you're doing all this, so you better know ahead of time what your turning plan is! Be prepared! Planning in advance is the secret to success!
In the next photo, you see the view through the rear window of the tractor. As I sat there, bouncing along.......many, many thoughts wandered in and out of my mind. Life is like plowing, but without a hydraulic system to use......you set your plow into the ground---your row to hoe in life---and away you go, presumably always in a straight line, because should you ever come to a point where you think you want to make an about-face and go the opposite direction.....well, you would do so at great peril, for recall that you can't raise your plow out of the ground......due to having no hydraulics. I truly view life that way right now.
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In my mind, thoughts of acquaintances, friends and family, living and passed on, came and went, often prompted by whatever song was playing on the radio. The songs and my thoughts seemed so entwined, I felt like contacting the radio station to see if they were employing mindreaders! Don't be alarmed.....that's just my normal paranoia kicking in.*
I've mentioned that the field had been recently covered with a fresh coat of cow manure.......fertilizer for next spring's crop. This final photo shows Husband pulling the filled-to-the-brim manure spreader a few days ago. Fill it to the rim with ___! You betcha!

Hey.......here's a great attitude adjuster!! Find a place where you can be alone, away from prying ears.......and then shout out, "COW POOP ROCKS"!! Or, just say "COW POOP" out loud over and over several times. It really works......you'll start to smile and your mood will brighten. Think of how kids giggle over the word POOP. I'm not kidding! Try it!

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