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You are here: Home / For Readers / Life on the Farm / Spring Harvest

Life on the Farm / Spring Harvest

April 30, 2011 by Margaret Duarte

Just thought I’d share some pictures showing what’s happening on our dairy farm right now, so you know this writer has a life besides writing

Part of our oat crop is being chopped and put into silage pits such as the one you see here to turn into silage for feed.

A tractor pushes up and packs the oats brought in from the field by truck.  The rest of the oats will be baled for hay. Most people think of fall as harvest season.  But we double crop on our farm.  We plant corn in late spring to harvest in the fall and we plant oats in late fall to harvest in the spring.

We keep our newborns in small crib-like structures until they are old enough to join the older calves being raised to become part of our milking herd.  They are so cute at this stage, all big-eyed, and curious.

life on the farm; spring harvest
Here is one of our tractors, with a disk folded up behind it for transport.  It’s on its way to work up the fields now cleared of oats.  Then it’s corn planting time.  And the corn will be harvested and end up in the same silage pits the oats were in, which will be empty by then.

Life on the Farm

The process repeats itself over and over, year after year.

Work up ground, plant crop, irrigate, fertilize, harvest, store, and feed.

Of course, this is only one of the jobs on our farm.  Milking and caring for the cows, servicing the equipment, managing waste and finances.  All work together in a never ending cycle. Yep, that life on the farm.

In the mean time, I write.

Thanks for stopping by,

 
 

Filed Under: For Readers, Life on the Farm, Lifestyle Tagged With: Life on the Farm, Spring Harvest

About Margaret Duarte

Former middle school teacher, Margaret Duarte, lives on a California dairy farm with a herd of “happy cows,” a constant reminder that the greenest pastures lie closest to home. Margaret earned her creative writing certificate through UC Davis Extension and has since published four novels in her “Enter the Between” visionary fiction series: Between Will and Surrender, Between Darkness and Dawn, Between Yesterday and Tomorrow, and Between Now and Forever. Her poem and story credits include SPC Tule Review; The California Writers Club Literary Review; finalist in the 2017 SLO Nightwriters Golden Quill Writing Contest; First Place winner for fiction in 2016, Second Place winner for fiction in 2018, Honorable Mention for fiction in 2019, and Gold winner for fiction in 2020 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLISHERS AND AUTHORS Book Awards Competition; 2019 California Author Project winner for adult fiction.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kay L. Davies says

    April 30, 2011 at 4:55 pm

    Wow! How do you ever find time for writing?
    That young calf looks cute enough to cuddle, doesn't it? Adorable.
    — K

    Kay, Alberta, Canada
    An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

  2. Margaret Duarte says

    April 30, 2011 at 5:17 pm

    Hi Kay. Fortunately, I only have to deal with the accounting, banking, and household stuff. The "physically" heavy farm stuff is taken care of by my husband, our son and the employees. Retirement, however, is forever out of the picture. Reading and writing are my escape routes when I need them. The baby calves are precious–the number one attraction when kids come to visit the farm.

  3. L.A Lopez says

    May 3, 2011 at 7:52 pm

    It takes me back to my childhood, and it was the circle of life, that repeated itself constantly.

  4. Margaret Duarte says

    May 3, 2011 at 10:50 pm

    Hi Lee. Yes, farming very much keeps one aware of the circle of life repeating itself constantly.

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