Applying Nutrients

While we wait for the fields to dry out and the soil to warm up enough to plant, we have time to apply nutrients to the soil. This is a tote bag of sulfate of potash. It's a really nifty way to handle small amounts of nutrients for small farmers. 

Except for one thing. This tote bag came with a very small hole in the top that had a long neck. To get the potash out of the tote, we carefully lowered a five-gallon bucket through the long neck, filled it up, and lifted it back out. It was a bit of a pain. Someone suggested a pocket knife as part of the solution, but then the tote would not have been returned in the same condition in which it was shipped.

The five-gallon buckets were emptied one by one into the spreader. Keep this in mind the next time you buy food from a small farmer. Just because we don't farm thousands of acres doesn't mean things are easier. In many cases, they're harder.

Scary-looking spray drift? Nope, just a naturally-occurring mineral. The pellets fell where they were spread, but the dust drifted a bit.

We were racing the weather a bit that evening, which made the one-bucket-at-a-time process a bit more stressful.

So the wheat field (which is looking very nice) now has the potash it needs to continue to grow and produce well.