Showing posts with label wheat. Show all posts

Snapshot #7 - Wheat Growing on the Farm

It has been a little over a month since I wrote about our wheat fields.  We caught a few rains since planting and I am pleased to show it is growing.  The field looks wonderful!

Wheat up close one month after planting
The wheat we plant in Kansas is winter wheat.  It is planted in the fall and harvested the following summer.  This wheat will begin to go dormant soon as the temperatures continue to decline.  Winter wheat needs to be cold enough for a certain amount of time to flower.  This is called vernalization.  Varieties have different vernalization requirements.  Some are just days and others are weeks long.  The temperature must be around 32 - 45 degrees F for this time period.

Another angle of wheat plants
In Kansas we usually don't have any problem hitting the requirement.  The biggest problem we have is if the weather changes fast and it gets too cold.  Right now the wheat is starting to harden (getting ready for the cold winter).  If the temperature drops suddenly, the plant would be in danger of freeze damage.

View from above of wheat on 11/7/2013
 Soon the wheat will be dormant to survive the winter.  When winter is over and the temperatures start to rise, dormancy will end.  At that point the wheat will start to grow and the flowering structures begin to develop.
View of field toward Kirwin

It seems like a different world just by turning around
As you can see, the wheat fields are looking green and lush!  Now we wait for spring and hope it rains when the wheat needs it.  Stay tuned for a new update on the wheat in the future!

Snapshot #6 - 3 Reasons I Love Redbeard                                                        Snapshot #8 - I Have a Fabric Addiction

agronomygirl

Snapshot #1- Introduction

It is November already! Where has time gone?  It seems like I just started this blog, it has already been two months!  What better way to celebrate our two month blogiversary, than with a new blog series?  I will be posting a new photo (or two, maybe more) each day with a story to go along with the picture.  My plan is to have most pictures be taken the day they are posted.  I have no plans for the future, just that you will see a snapshot of our lives everyday!  Today's picture is an introduction to our lives for any new readers!

First disclaimer:  My husband is Jake, but I call him Redbeard.  It is obvious when you see him.  He has the most beautiful MANLY, bright red beard. (Don't tell him I called his beard beautiful!) Redbeard and I met at K-State in the department of agronomy.  We were engaged April 21, 2012.

He proposed when I was wearing my "I kissed a farmer and I liked it" shirt.
Disclaimer #2: Redbeard also goes by the name of Grumpy from time to time.

We were married April 6, 2013 and he actually smiled!  One day that he wasn't actually grumpy!

Look at that beard and smile!

On September 1, 2013, I started a blog about our lives.  I wanted to give friends, family, and followers a chance to see what was going on in our life since we moved three hours from where I grew up.  We moved to his family's farm and Jake farms full-time.  I help out when I am needed and have many hobbies; crocheting, home improvement, bowhunting, and barn quilt blocks.  I also started some farm photography, hence the name of our blog.  These are a couple of my favorites!

This was taken on a Sunday morning.  What a beautiful sight to see before church. 
Sometimes running around the field like a chicken with its head cut off turns into the perfect picture.  The men didn't think I was quite as weird when they saw the finished product!

And our pride and joys, Andie Catz and Ricky Scraggs.  They are our entertainment throughout the day.  They are ornery and get into everything, but at least they eat all the flies in the house.

Andie (left) and Scraggly (right) love each other!  They are full brothers and the sweetest cats I have ever owned.

I encourage anyone who hasn't been to our blog to look around and enjoy!  For a complete list of my 30 Snapshots of a Kansas Farm posts, check out 30 Snapshots of a Kansas Farm.

What pictures would you like to see over the 30 days?


                                                                                                                     Snapshot #2 - The Best Doggie Ever

agronomygirl

Snapshots of a Kansas Farm Photography Volume 1

I am excited to unveil my new watermark and share the photos I have been taking lately.

This photo was taken shortly after we got married.  I was walking around outside and saw this beautiful sunset.

This was the view from outside our house toward the town of Kirwin

Another beautiful sunset during wheat harvest 2013

Up close of wheat

I love this action shot!

View of the irrigation canal right by one of the wheat fields

If you look closely, that is four combines lined up at the same time.  This NEVER happens.  I was lucky that I live right by this field.

Wheat harvest with the grain elevator in the background.

Jake was planting corn and this looks like a different country.  It is just a few miles from our house!

I love this picture of unloading on the go during soybean harvest!

The sky changed to this beautiful dark blue right after I exited the combine. 

I feel so blessed to be able to experience views like this!

I love how the sun brightens the combine and corn.

I love the sun peeking over the hill!

Unloading corn on the go

The moon was beautiful that night.  This picture doesn't do it justice!

This is one of my favorite pictures!

I captured this beauty as the sun was coming up

A beautiful sunrise for a Sunday morning

Jake was hiding on the other side of the combine.  I love how this picture turned out!

If you are interested in having any of these hang on your wall, please contact me at agronomygirl@gmail.com.

agronomygirl

Wheat planting on the farm

September and October bring a lot of things on the farm, but my favorite is wheat planting.  Wheat is such an interesting crop.  I love watching wheat as it develops and hope to share the process with you.



Jake waving to me, isn't that nice?

The first step in the wheat crop is fertilizing the ground.  We use a dry fertilizer, 11-52-0 and anhydrous ammonia.  11-52-0 is called monoammonium phosphate or MAP.  This provides the wheat plant with some nitrogen and enough phosphorus for the growing season.  The rest of the nitrogen needs are met with the anhydrous ammonia.


Anhydrous tank filled with nitrogen fertilizer

Now that the ground has been fertilized, it is time to plant the seeds.  We will use the same tractor and air seeder as we did for fertilizing. 


The setup we use to fertilize and plant wheat

We will plant three different varieties this fall: Everest, TAM 113, and SY Wolf. Everest has been our go to variety for the past 3 years and it has been a very good variety. TAM 113 is a newer variety and all indications from when it was harvested shows that it will be a good one as well. SY Wolf has been touted as a Cadillac variety, meaning it has a lot of potential to be a great yielding variety. 

We can't wait to see how the wheat develops!

agronomygirl

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