Rain Is A Good Thing

Farmers have a love-hate relationship with the weather, especially the rain. We love it when it is watering our planted crops and helping them grow. We hate it when it is muddy-ing up our fields and we can't get in there to plant. We love it when it there is a perfectly timed afternoon shower that nourishes the corn or beans then moves on so we can get back to work. We hate it when the rain hangs around for days and days and floods our fields.

On the flip side, when there is no rain at all we panic! Then there is the dreaded "D" word buzzing around farmer's conversations. Noone wants to hear the "D" word... DROUGHT. Living the south, Mother Nature deals us this card often. Luckily, this year we will be prepared for whatever hand we are dealt.

Over the past several months, we've been hard at work putting in a new irrigation system that will enable our farm to be approximately 50% irrigated. We hope in the near future to be almost 100% irrigated.
This process was long and grueling... lots of planning, hundreds of hours of dirt work on the reservoir & levy, countless nights of no sleep, getting down in the trenches laying heavy pipe, blood-sweat-and no tears that I know of (except for the wives at home crying for their husbands to come home).

Finally, we can announce that we have completed our project! So back to the weather... After we wrap up our first round of planting, rain is a good thing! We are ready to fill up our new irrigation reservoir, just in case we get dealt the "D" card again.

Here are some pictures from along the way!

Progress on the Pond

Due to several weather delays, we are still pushing to complete the dirt work on our irrigation pond. When the weather is good, we are getting a lot done... when the weather is wet, we are at a stand still. Thankfully, the crew is willing to work long hours and do whatever it takes for completion!

I Thought It Was Saturday?!?!?

Just because the weekend rolls around, doesn't mean that work stops around here. Friday, Saturday, Sunday... just another day by another name. In addition to the pond, we've begun work on a bridge over a creek connecting two of our largest fields...

And the work goes on...