SouthernWind Farm

Live, Laugh, Love, Farm

Category: Farm

Never ending merry-go-round!

January 31, 2018 / / Comments Off on Never ending merry-go-round!

Hello!  I bet you thought we had vanished off the face of the Earth (that is if there is anyone reading our page). It has been one crazy spin after another since I last updated you on the farm.  We finished out growing season 2017 and have officially kicked off growing season 2018.  And by kicked off I mean; finished taxes, apply for operating note, map out farm to decide what will grow where, get seed prices, order seed, get fertilizer quotes started, and finally look over equipment that will be used this year.

As luck would have it my husband, Jimmy, decided to go ahead and become a seed dealer so investigating seed prices was a much simpler task than previous years.  He is now an official “Latham Seed Dealer”. Why Latham? Well let me tell you they are in one word “FANTASTIC”. They have been nothing but great. They have really figured out how to be more like a family than a company.  And with family in mind that is how we intend to run our seed sales as well.  Just the other day they sent Jimmy a box of cookies.  The cookies were gone in about a day.  (Apparently the boys in my house can’t get enough baked goods). If you have time or are curious pop over to www.LathamSeeds.com, they operate out of Iowa and have been doing so for over 70 years.  Sometime I will have Jimmy write a blog post about Latham.

After the row crop planning is finished; we begin to look at the livestock side.  We have as you know we have sheep and a cow.  Well low and behold we have more sheep now and one more calf.  Our Shorthorn, Lacey, will be off to spend time with her new boyfriend in the coming days.  He is a handsome Longhorn bull that knows what he is doing, we hope.  Why Longhorn? If you’ve never seen a Longhorn come running toward you, you haven’t lived yet.  They are simply some of the most majestic cows, in my opinion. They also have good birthweight for first time heifers (which means the baby will be small so it will be easier on the mama having it), their meat has less fat than chicken, and they grow well on unimproved pasture (which we still have quite a bit of). She will be there for about two months, while her new beau brings her flowers and serenades her every night. JUST KIDDING…

 

Whopper (angus steer) will fulfill his purpose in the next few days as well.  And though not everyone will agree with it, he was raised with care and provided a great life of lounging in his feed and provided all the food one steer could ever want to eat or lay on.

In his place, (and so Lacey isn’t lonely upon return) we purchased a British White heifer calf. My daughter has named her Peppermint and intends to use her for a 4-H project this next summer.  She is adorable, milky white with big soft brown eyes, black nose and ears.  She is turning out to be a very sweet and well mannered calf. That is until we try to halter her and then I’m sure the spawn of satan will leap out of her. I hope not for me and my husbands sake.

The new sheep have settled in and taken charge of the place and have been playing house with our new ram since late October. Which should mean by April little lambs will arrive again! My favorite time of year is seeing the little lambs bounce around.

 

                            

Well off to bed as now I have caught our avid readers (like all 2 of you) up on the comings and goings of the last six months.

Spring Has Sprung

April 13, 2017 / / Comments Off on Spring Has Sprung

Time fly’s when you are having fun. Or so they say! SouthernWind Farm has been extremely busy since I last updated everyone. (almost a month ago!).  The end of March and the beginning of April have been a whirl wind, so today’s blog is just going to be an update of everything we have going on.

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In mid-March, we partnered with a malting company, Nebraska Malt, out of Lincoln, NE. I know I updated you on the planting of the barley and some of the logistics that go into making beer. I am happy to announce that the barley has come up and is growing beautifully. It doesn’t look as I thought it would, I was picturing a grassy like appearance but it resembles a stalk like corn.

barley2This was at about a week after it had a emerged. Don’t mind the lovely weeds all around it s in the middle the stalk like stems. We fertilized the barley right after we planted and we received a nice rain just after so our timing couldn’t have been more perfect!

barley 3This image is the barley at 3 weeks after if emerged! Lush and green and the rows look pretty clean! We are super excited and hopeful for a great crop. Eventually, we will have to do a fungicide application and probably some type of weed control to ensure the barley has a fighting chance.

Our next task came by way of rejuvenating the hay meadow, again I posted about turning our hay meadow from a native pasture to a more improved pasture by planting timothy grass, orchard grass, and white clover.

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After the plowing, disking, and packing the ground; my husband fertilized in hopes of the grass seed flourishing in what was less than desirably soil. He took a spreader that we rented from our local coop and applied the formulation of desired minerals. About a week later, we had some nice warm days to drill in the grass seed, Timothy grass, Orchard grass, and white clover.

Now in between the fertilizing of the a hay meadow and drilling seed we had a little down time (ha); we had been looking for a hay baler. My father had both a small square baler, that he bought sometime in the late 80s, and a hay loafer. The hay loafer, for those of you that haven’t seen one in action, packs the hay and forms it into a very large almost bread loaf shape before it spits it out on the ground. Sadly, both of these implements had seen better days and were no longer serviceable. So we began the hunt for a round hay baler, luckily it didn’t take long we found one in North Dakota.

balerNow we know that it’s not new, but for the price and condition we felt like we got a good deal. We will be using this baler a lot this year; barley straw bales, wheat straw bales, prairie hay bales, alfalfa bales, and our timothy/orchard/white clover bales. She will be getting a workout. We have yet to do a final check over all of her parts but as we don’t start the hay seasons for a couple of months we have some time. WHEW!

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After drilling the hay meadow, we have a few weeks before we start planting field corn. We can officially begin April 15 with corn planting, but as it is supposed to rain here most of Easter weekend it doesn’t look like that is going to happen. While my husband has been busy with field work, I have been busy with the livestock. April 3 chicks arrived from the hatchery, aren’t they adorable! These will be my new laying hens. SAM_0623 (1)

“Say what, you’re getting rid of us?!” Not yet. My older hens just turned a year old and while they probably have a few more years in them I realize eventually they will stop laying. So I decided to raise up a few (15 to be eggxact…see what I did there) to take over. I may have went a little overboard with breeds, Speckled Sussex, White Rocks, Silver Laced Wyandottes, Light Brahmas, Partridge Cochin, Australorp, Dominiques, and Buff Orpingtons. The hatchery threw in one free exotic chick which turned out to be a Silver Laced Polish chicken. Of course, they have names!

Well I had best be on my way and fly the coop (haha)! I will update again much sooner this time. If you want to watch my husband in action we have a youtube feed, southernwind farm. Also drop us a line if you have any questions or comments!

I F-A-R-M

March 23, 2017 / / Comments Off on I F-A-R-M

I F-A-R-M.

 

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Wow, what an amazing sentence! Just kidding, it’s no profound title I get that; but if you think about it, it kind of is. Let me explain. I have an eight year old, a soon to be four year old, and a six month old. I have done my share of spelling out words I don’t want them to understand. For example, I-C-E-C-R-E-A-M (ice cream), P-A-R-K (park),C-A-N-D-Y (candy), S-U-P-E-R-C-A-L-I-F-R-A-G….haha. Those words trigger a lot of emotions from my kids (and me too) from screaming, crying, begging, outright joy! So my husband and I choose to spell them to save us and the neighbors some of the crazy!

Why spell out F-A-R-M?  For the exact same reason I spell in front of my children; because there are some individuals out there who are behaving like crazed children. In all the years I’ve heard people say that their occupation is farming, up until recently, its never garnered a reaction as it does today. In the great state of Nebraska, agriculture has been the backbone of our economy since it was settled. But if you were to go on any social media site it seems as though our way of life is under attack from everyone. It’s enough to want to make you spell the word farm or farmer when asked your profession in fear that some radical person might be listening.

 

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Just even typing it into a search engine provides crazy amounts of variety, there’s everything from farm stores, farm websites, animal rights groups, people angry about gmo/non gmo, organic. I’m not even going to delve into that whole debacle but is there a reason we have to be so harsh?! The number of farms are declining they say.  Not only because prices are  dropping, markets fluctuating, etc. to blame but I’m sure all these special interest groups aren’t helping matters either. They seem dead set on shining an unflattering light on the American Farmer.

 

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Most of these groups claim we are ruining the land, trees, animals, polluting water, etc.; now some of these claims maybe correct and we could make a few more changes. But why not support and actively come up with ideas that would help one another? Why is everyone so quick to jump on the finger pointing, sign waving, blasting from the soap box behind a computer band wagon. I’ve noticed time and time again those who intend to tear anything down have no intention of learning about the thing they hate most.

If education is the key, I have to give kudos to those who “ag”vocate for agriculture. Those who aren’t afraid to not spell the word farm! We have a wonderful opportunity to educate in this day and age; classroom, fairs, websites, Facebook, etc. I think if all of us (no matter how big or small our operation is) stand up for our way of life and educate those who don’t understand, even if they don’t want to learn, we can and eventually will make a difference.

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March 21 was National Ag Day and I made sure that a posted on Facebook about it. I also am posting here about it as well. Whether you farm 40 acres, 4000 acres, or 4 raised beds in a garden we are all FARMERS feeding the world and sometimes doing the work no one else will do. Without farmers, the world would suffer. Economies would decline and  starvation would happen (no matter how the lab can engineer tissue).

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from some great leaders and farmers:

Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil
and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.
– Dwight D. Eisenhower

The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways. John F. Kennedy

*Remember we’re all in this together! Let’s support one another!

This Beer’s On Us!

March 17, 2017 / / Comments Off on This Beer’s On Us!

Happy St. Patty’s Day and what a better way to kick this shenanigan filled day off with a beer announcement! Are we starting a brewery? No, unfortunately.

We are though partnering with Nebraska Malt (https://www.nebraskamalt.com/).  They approached a few producers in our lovely state of Nebraska to grow barley for them. We are beyond excited.  Not only does Nebraska Malt sell barley but they also just happen to make some excellent craft beer through Blue Bloods Brewery out of Lincoln, Ne. (Shamless plug alert, http://bluebloodbrewing.com) If you are ever in Lincoln, NE I suggest looking them up. There beer is great and so is there food at the restaurant. (BANGERS AND MASH, ANYONE!)

Now back to barley, it is a small grain that is a member of the grass family. It is very similar in a appearance to rye and wheat. It can contain two rows or six rows of kernels on the seed head. It likes cool weather conditions and it has a short season of growth. So we will be planting in March and harvesting in about late July/August.  I don’t want to bore you with all the specifics of this grain but it one of the main components of beer, the other being hops (there are others of course but they are small in comparison). In order for it to make beer, it has to meet certain requirements for it to work properly, otherwise nasty beer (which no one likes). The kernels of the barley have to be plump, not too high in moisture, the protein in the barley has to be just right, and no/little damage to the kernels with no contaminates (mold, bacteria, foreign matter). There is quite a lot of science behind every tasty glass of beer and now our little farm will be a part of it!

 

Maybe you are wondering why a Malt company had to ask us to plant this crop? Well in the United States there is about  205 million bushels grown each year. That sounds like a lot, right? Depending on the style of beer it takes about 30 to 40 pounds of barley to make 16 gallons of beer. That’s a lot of beer we’re making. Darn right it is; as Americans we consume about 44.7 gallons each year (I found that little fact from an Huffington post article). I don’t typically drink that much but if you think about it the average American drinks 98 pounds of barley a year.

 

 OH BOY, ENOUGH MATH, HAND ME A BEER! WHEW!

So Nebraska Malt approached Nebraska farmers because well we’re in Nebraska! Currently, the top states to produce barley are North Dakota, Montana, Washington, and Idaho. Nebraska is virtually nonexistent in the barley growing world (I’m sure there are a few please don’t be offended).  I got this helpful map from Alberta Agricultural and Forestry website, which used information from the USDA.

 

If they can procure barley from a local source a number of wonderful things for our state happens:

  1. We get to have a more diversified list of crops that we can grow here
  2. Exporting to neighboring state malting companies can happen = income,
  3. More jobs in the form of labor on the farm and pop up micro / craft breweries (which means more beer = more barley needed),
  4. Less money is being used in transporting from long distances
  5. I think you get the picture! (Oh, by the way, I love lists)

Also Nebraska Malt and Blue Bloods Brewery is excited about being a “locavore” or being able to know all products of food or ingredients are locally grown and harvested! Which I adore because I’m a farmer who believes we should be using all of our local resources first. It helps our community and neighbors.

My husband traveled down to Lincoln to pick the seed this morning and we will begin planting our barley this weekend; while there is still some cold for it. I will more than likely make serval posts about it as it is a new crop to our little farm.

You never know in the future you maybe drinking beer that was grown (in part) from SouthernWind Farm! CHEERS! or Slainte!  (If you’re Irish)

Going (un)Native

March 7, 2017 / / Comments Off on Going (un)Native

Going (un)Native! What does that even mean? Well when someone says, “I’m going Native!”, I usually envision a head dress, face paint, possible being European and not shaving certain body areas. Don’t worry none of those crazy ideas are happening here; well maybe the face paint (so I don’t scare the neighbors). We are doing the opposite. We have decided to take part of our Native grass hay field and rejuvenate it this year. I’ll be honest I really wanted it to stay untouched like it has been for about 30 some years, but the hay that came out of it this year was anything but quality. Now some would argue that its not supposed to be great, its native and pristine. And trust me I cringed when I saw our John Deere 7610 with a bottom plow ripping into it.  But for those of you who don’t have Native grass pastures here’s a little background from the pastures like this in Nebraska.

 

If you decide to look up Native grass for the state of Nebraska you would find all sorts or great resources! Among them is an informative paper from the University of Nebraska Lincoln Extension it lists all sorts of native grasses to our area. Be prepared for large amount of reading (which is awesome)! Here are a few that I know that were at one time present in our field: Big Bluestem, Sideoats grama, Purple lovegrass, Littlebluestem, Indiangrass, Johnsongrass, Purpletop, Orchardgrass, Quackgrass, Tall fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, etc. Now this is a small list and I’m sure there was more than even I know about, not to mention all of the native wildflowers we had growing.  This mix of grasses and wildflowers thrived nicely on our 40 +/- acreage. Of course though, over time woody stemmed shrubs, thistles, cedar trees, and other noxious weeds have invaded. What are we ever going to do to stop the advancing horde of non native invaders (sorry I had to go sci-fi dramatic)?!

RIP IT UP! What?! Wait, aren’t we a no-till farm? Yes, yes we are. We read over a various articles about overseeding, frost seeding, discing, broadcasting, and burning the original land in hopes that the seed or fire would kill out any of the weeds. In the end, we chose to first bottom plow, next disc the ground to level out, pack the ground to be firm, and finally drill/broadcast grass/legume seed mix to grow in place of the native grass. We are doing about 20 ish acres this way. The weeds and woody brush were just too numerous to make a difference with fire or overseeding. Plus fire, in March, in Nebraska just didn’t seem like a great idea (lots of wind and dry conditions).

But what about soil erosion! I had this fear as well, but after we made the first pass we realized that the ground underneath all those weeds was full of moisture. Also, the weed/brush roots had made a nice mat to keep the soil together. So we are finishing up the ‘rip it up’ stage and moving onto discing. Now this will, hopefully, even out the clumps we made and also recontour some of the land that gophers have decided to make underground burrows in which you could probably hide a car. Those ornery little critters have done damage to our field!

I know, cute and cuddly! More like a non stop eating demon from the underworld. Just kidding. I know they have their place in this world too and I’m sure they will migrate to the front yard in light of what we are doing to half of the hay meadow. (I digress)

After discing, we will have to pack it back down to give the ground some firmness as grass seed is small and if it doesn’t have adequate soil contact it won’t germinate or come up very well. And then onto seeding. We have decided to try and do a mix of grasses and legumes. What is a legume? Well it is a plant like alfalfa, clover, even peas are a legume. Legumes bring some much needed protein to the hay. Our hay feeds our sheep and cows; and if we have any leftover we sell it to other people for their livestock to consume as well. A little added protein to the fiber (grass) is good for the animals. As for the grass itself we plan on using a couple varieties that already can be grown here. It wouldn’t work out too well to plant grass that can only grow in Siberia! (oh that’s right nothing grows there..whoops) We are leaning toward a mix of Orchardgrass and maybe Timothy grass. They both have good nutritional value and are highly consumed by various livestock.  If everything goes well we will be harvesting our first cutting of hay in June!

There you have it a little history/plant science background lesson for you today on a native grass hay field in Nebraska! Hope you all enjoyed it, there will be a short quiz tomorrow morning. Just kidding.

Please go to our Facebook page or YouTube channel and you can watch our progress!

And the Oscar goes to…

March 6, 2017 / / Comments Off on And the Oscar goes to…

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mgxuT-ndRM&spfreload=10

 

YouTube, the maker of video stars, well maybe not exactly! But lots of people have gotten their start on this site. Now my husband and I know that we are farmers and not movie stars, but we thought there are just some things that people need to experience through a video! I have watched lots of farming videos on YouTube but my husband and I are going to try and put together videos that maybe aren’t easily visible on there.

Of course we are beginners and aren’t giving “Oscar”worthy performances, just yet. So drop us a line on things you might want to see on YouTube.  Anything you can’t seem to find that you want to watch? If you like what you see please subscribe to our YouTube channel to get all the latest videos about our small farm.

“Off Season” WORK

February 11, 2017 / / Comments Off on “Off Season” WORK

When I was younger, I always felt like winter was boring. There seemed to be so much down time. Not many activities and you couldn’t just go outside anytime you wanted to. There were rules: check the weather, put on appropriate clothes (except for one year I begged to go outside in shorts and it was -2 F), check the weather again….anyway you get the idea. Since we moved back to the farm there aren’t enough hours in the day. We seem to have something going on at ALL times.

I was hoping to have more leisure/couple time; which is a silly idea since we have three children under the age of 10. Nope; not here. Jimmy began tackling a new college degree and I have been attending just about every farm/ag type seminar that I can find. Of course, we still have the livestock to take care of and the planning for next years crops. Truth be told,  if there weren’t so many “activities” going on I actually might go a little stir crazy. As far as the farm is concerned not too much has changed since we have entered the “off season”. Planning and preparing for the 2017 crop season is in full swing. All of my seeds have been order for my garden. Sheep are pregnant and getting larger (and hungrier) by the day. Chickens are still clucking. Cows are chewing cud. And we keep moving forward.

I would encourage any farmers and farm”hers” who do have “down time” find some classes to take or seminars to attend. Make use of your local NRCS, USDA, farm/ag shows, community colleges, and webinars are great for those who can’t get out of the house. If nothing else it breaks up the snowy monotony that has become the winter.

We Have Arrived!

February 6, 2017 / / 1 Comment

 

 

 

Hello, all! Welcome to SouthernWind Farm! I guess I should introduce myself and our farm! My name is Rebecca. My husband, Jimmy and I run SouthernWind Farm! We are a small acreage with dreams of expansion. Of course that probably is not very different than most farmers, but ours has been quite the journey. Diversifying the farm led us to need an online presence to sell some of our goods that will be coming in the future. So for now I am just here to say, “Howdy!”. Please check back as I will be updating and posting our for sale items soon!

 

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