Project #Watchthemgrow week 15

This week we have one of my favorite farmers, Billy Pontius from Lazy "P" Farms in the field. Billy was kind enough to let me pester him and do this video.  A huge shout out goes  to him for always participating in my strange requests and educating me about what they are doing. I ask a lot of questions but by now I think he would expect nothing less.

Billy walks us through what he is looking for when he does his checks in the field. It is very important to keep an eye on what is happening not only for this year's crop but years down the road.

#Watchthemgrow Video Blog Update

Roll that Beautiful Soy(bean) footage: Week 13

Campbell and Parker wanted to make a video blog this week, I think they did a great job!

 http://youtu.be/tbtpjDi37us

Project #watchthemgrow Week 10

Beans are really taking off! We have had some wonderful fall like weather in mid July. The skies are some of the most amazing this time of year in Ohio. Beans are growing and filling in pretty nicely. Beans seem to be growing slower this year mainly due to rain and weather.

This little bug likes to munch on the soybean plants. The Japanese beetle can be a problem
as they defoliate the plant and interrupt the photosynthesis process..
Usually they eat and move on which is what we hope happens here. The
bites are not bad at this point.  

Beans are waist high on the kids. It is harder to get them out in the field without damaging the plant.
As you can see Parker is just thrilled to get his photo taken. My 4 year old is growing tired of the camera
Meanwhile Campbell loves it!

Project #watchthemgrow week 9

Today the soybeans were getting a little foliar feed and spray. Macro nutrients were distributed using this sprayer as well as a some herbicide to kill weeds. This week for the first time you can see the blooms that have been popping up all over the field. Lots of blooms means lots of pods for soybeans to grow.  It is really important to apply the herbicide and foliar feed at the correct time.  In a perfect situation the herbicide would have been applied a little earlier but rain and wet fields delayed that a bit. If you look close you can see the sprayer has very thin wheels that fit between the soybeans at this point. This minimizes the beans that get run over during this process.

There is a little canopy in between the rows.

These bloom will turn into the pod which the soybeans will grow in.

Project #watchthemgrow Week 6

Behind us you can see the soybean field you have been
watching grow over the last 6 weeks.

My sister had her horses over in our pasture this week so Parker and I decided to Saddle up ole Chester and ride him over to our soybean spot.

Beans are  looking good, healthy with minimal insect bites on the leaves and spotting (spots where the beans did not germinate or died off).

This variety of soybeans that was planted tends to get off to a slower start than some others. New leaves are still opening up and they are getting taller too.




 Next week I will share the variety of bean planted and why. Farming is a science it is all about selecting the correct type of seed and variety that will perform best in the soils and conditions of the land. Farmers may plant several different varieties based on the soils they farm.





You can see the stalks from the corn
that was harvest in this filed last year
Crop rotation is a very important of
being a good steward of the land.



Project #WatchThemGrow Week 5

I am not sure where the last 5 weeks have gone but it has flown by. The beans here in Ohio seem to be getting off to a slow start but looking good. Got a little rain shower and we escaped the storms that some out west and even in western Ohio got. We are supposed to get rain later this week which we could use to get some moisture back in the ground as these hot humid dog days of Ohio Summer hit us.

This year we have soybeans all around our house so we could easily walk outside the front door for our weekly "bean scouting" trip. Why make it that simple when we can make it more complicated and fun....right? What started out as a "hurry up get on the four wheeler Parker so we can drive out to the pretty field near the woods" has turned into a weekly summer fun trip with my 4 year old son. He got to plant the beans in this field and he loves to "scout" them. I asked him what he is looking for and he tells me "bugs, disease and just to see if they are growing mom." While it only takes a few minutes to get to the beans we photograph each week, this has quickly become one of my favorite weekly activities with my son.  Project #watchthemgrow has turned into Project #makingmemories for this mom.

 

Want to see what soybeans and corn look like in other parts of the country? Check out some of my farm mom friends blogs!

Sara's House HD

 

LaVell Winsor Growing for Tomorrow