I'm guessing the orb is either a snowflake passing by, or the spirit of my Grandfather watching over the harvest.
This was a few years ago when we tilled our row middles. For decades, we spread manure from our beef cattle in the row centers in the Spring, then disced, rototiller, dragged, etc., for a while, then planted cover crop to provide some traction. That year, I sowed rye in the centers and then the rain stopped. It never took right all summer, and was very sparse by harvest.
Since then, I stopped the tillage, opting to compost the manure in a pile for an extra year and spread on top in the Winter just before a snow. The smell is far less objectionable and the sod remains much thicker than before.
There is a benefit of having open soil when late frosts threaten- the open soil gives off heat better than grass, and can help keep buds from freezing. Last year we had a really late hard freeze, May 8, which wiped us out, but not even irrigation or the smudge pots of old days would have saved us.
We used to hand-pick a half acre of early, Fredonia table grapes, fancy pack and take them to the Benton Harbor Fruit Market. Grandpa always bragged that that half-acre could pay the property taxes every year. Getting help for such a small plot ripening right on Labor day weekend got to be too much, and we switched those rows to Concord when I was in high school.
Harvesting machines for grapes and then blueberries began in the late 1950s and became popular in the 1960s around here. Prior, nearly every farm had an acre or two, but never 50 or hundreds or thousands. But then, nearly every farm still had a cow, chickens, some pigs, etc.
Upload one or more videos to your post. Photo and video filesizes should be less than 8MB. Formats allowed are gif, jpg, png, ogg, mp4, mov, and avi. Be sure to use filenames without spaces or special characters, and filetypes of 3 digits lower case.
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - Restoration Story: Fordson Major - by Anthony West. George bought his Fordson Major from a an implement sale about 18 years ago for £200.00 (UK). There is no known history regarding its origins or what service it had done, but the following work was undertaken alone to bring it up to show standard. From the engine number, it was found that this Major was produced late 1946. It was almost complete but had various parts that would definitely need replacing.
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
1964 I-H 140 tractor with cultivators and sidedresser. Starts and runs good. Asking 2650. CALL RON AT 502-319-1952
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.