Desperately Dry

In an effort to help our crops to hang on until the much hoped and prayed for rain, David sprayed the fields with fish fertilizer. Everything was looking so parched, and we hoped that a little boost of nutrients would help them to hang on just a little bit longer.

The sunflowers, drooping pathetically in the heat.

Our popcorn plot. It doesn't look like we'll be getting much of anything from it.

If you squint hard you'll see the amaranth.

Lesson learned; don't plant little test plots along the tree line. When the weather gets dry, the trees will suck up every bit of moisture. That leaves your test plot looking like it went through a toaster.

Growing Some More

Pods are forming near the end of September! It's exciting to watch! David will count the number of pods per plant, multiply by the number of beans per pod (2-3), multiply that by the number of plants per acre, and come up with a bushel per acre yield estimate.

I'll admit that I just stand there and nod. I'm not a numbers person. Even with a calculator in my hand, I'm still not sure unless I've run the numbers through it a few times.

More and more sunflowers are opening. So pretty!

Early in the morning is a good time to do some hand weeding. The weeds aren't bad in our fields, but we don't want those stray pokeberries dyeing our soybeans at harvest time!

Our brave assistants thought it was more comfortable to huddle in the truck with blankets than to get out and help!

Getting Dry

By the middle of September, our beans and sunflowers were starting to get seriously dry. Daily prayers for rain became common in our house. Even the children caught the refrain.

Side by side in the field.

Being dry didn't keep them from forming big buds and blooming! It was so exciting to see the first blooms!

Growing Fast - One Month

Sunflowers, now more than knee-high.

An assassin bug, who is thankful for organic farmers!

The sunflower buds are just starting to show!

Dewy soybean leaves.

Blossoms! Hooray!

The beans are just starting to 'canopy'. That means that the leaves are meeting across the rows, and shading out the weeds. They also conserve moisture better at this stage.

It's hard to beat an early morning walk together while the children are still snoozing!

Growing - Three Weeks

Those soybeans really bush out fast!

The experimental plot of popcorn is looking nice! I think it may be enough to
last us through the winter.
And hopefully next year, we'll be able to plant enough for you too!

Hmm, the amaranth is looking rather bug-eaten. We'll need to do some research on that before we plant several acres of it next year.

The sunflowers are really popping up nicely!

Cultivating

Prevention is the best cure. And weeds grow fast!

Growing Fast - One Week

They're Up!

" . . . to plant seeds and watch the renewal of life . . . "

~ Charles Dudley Warner

Just four days later, on July 3rd, we found bean sprouts all over the field! In a couple more days, the sunflowers were making a pretty good show!

The popcorn was a little slow in coming, due to a lack of moisture. But after a good rain, we got a nice stand of popcorn too.

We didn't even know what amaranth looked like. We're learning now!

Not all of the soybeans had come up before the 2 + inches of rain we had. So a lot of the seeds got trapped under the crust that followed. But you can't underestimate the power of a soybean. And especially the combined forces of many beans. See that crack in the picture above?

They just pushed that heavy crust right out of their way, and came on up anyhow! I was quite impressed with their strength!

One thing is for sure, I've learned a lot about depending on God since we've started growing crops. We pray earnestly about the weather during the growing season. But no matter how our harvest turns out, we know that our God provides for us. He is always faithful.

Planting

On June 30th, David was busy planting.

Dumping seed into the planter.

"We need to move these levers, right Daddy?"

Sunflower seeds are so nice and smooth.

Planting.

We planted a small 'test plot' of popcorn. Here they are checking to see if the planter

did it's job properly.

It sure did!

Four hours after being planted, this little soybean is already starting to swell. The soil was pretty dry to be planting, so we were glad to see this good sign!

Examining more seeds throughout the field.

We also planted a wee bit of ladyfinger popcorn, a different variety of soybeans, and some amaranth. So I had the pleasure of seeing my man with a hoe in his hand, instead of the usual steering wheel.