Farming in the shade

Last week we took off the first of our two small grains fields. Small grains are generally considered to be the cereal crops: wheat, oats, rye, spelt, buckwheat, and maybe more than I can't think of right now. They generally grow as grass that puts up a seed head. We harvest the seeds, thresh them (removing all the extra chaff) and bale up the dry grass stalks as straw. There is not much nutritional value in the straw, so it is generally used as bedding for animals. It's much more golden in color than hay, which is generally green. We raise rye for seed to replant as cover crops. We sell some to other farmers to be used as seed for cover crops. Since we are certified organic farmers, sometimes you see weeds in the field--like this milkweed plant. The combine harvests the rye, cutting the stalks, separating and retaining the grain, and spitting out the chaff and straw. The oat field is also almost ready for harvest. You can tell that the oats do not suppress th...

One of our daughters really loves sheep. For the past two summers she's helped us out by moving the sheep to fresh pasture. But this summer she has been in New Zealand doing a college internship on a sheep farm. We sort of knew she was doing a lot of work here during the summers, but I am learning first-hand just HOW much work it is to move animals around. The Farmer helps out when he can, but many times it is me moving sheep, cattle or (college daughter's) horses to fresh pasture. This has been a fabulous summer for pasture growth. Regular, plentiful rains and cooler temperatures have provided us with lush pastures. A couple of our pastures like the one in the photo below have loads of purple clover in them.  The sheep know the drill. Every other day they willingly and eagerly pour through the small opening I make into the next pasture. I then spend time moving the waterer and the mineral feeder to the new pasture, take down the old fence and set it up for the pastu...