I can remember one year, when we had a great February and March, but then April was horrible and May wasn’t much better. That year I didn’t act on the early weather, and was waiting for the normal spring start in April. What a mistake! This year we have tentatively opened up about 3 acres of ground. We haven’t planted anything, but we have cultivated the ground, which facilitates drainage. As soon as we get that two or three day window of dry weather we will be preparing the seed beds for peas, spinach and beets. I can hardly wait!
I love this time of year with all of its unpredictability, unusual weather and timing issues. I am constantly in touch with my second son Aaron (15 y/o), assessing the farm season and the next steps. He is my tractor guy, Mr. Fix-it and all around great farm hand. If I am at the office or at a meeting I will check in with him and consult about working a field or the condition of a recent planting. I love driving a tractor, but both Aaron and my #3 son, Andrew (12 y/o), are better tractor drivers than I am! If we as a farm are going to stay on schedule for plantings or harvesting I am going to need those boys to make it happen. And make it happen they do!
Aaron, just for fun, got two free riding lawn mowers (not working of course) last fall and now has got them running. The catch is, he created one articulating tractor from the two! Now most of you reading this e-mail are probably of the female persuasion, and so may not care a whole lot about tractors and mowers, but I encourage you to let your boys, both young and old, have a peek at what some old iron can become! Aaron’s homemade, reconfigured, utility tractor can be found at www.4x4tractor.blogspot.com. This is still a work in progress, but I have plans for this mighty little machine on the farm!
Who knows…Aaron might be the next Wright brother, or Henry Ford, or John Deere! All I know is that he is using his imagination to build and create something useful. As a homeschooling dad, that is worth everything to me!
Farming with the next generation,
Tristan