Once tobacco gets in full bloom, its time to start topping and oiling.  The bloom needs to be cut or as we do it, snapped by hand from the top of the plant.  As I have said before tobacco is a labor intensive crop.  Each plant has to be snapped at the bloom in order to keep the plant growing plus oil sprayed.........so no suckers form and strip the plant of its growth and nutrients.

 A patch of dark tobacco at Lowe Farms in full bloom.

Our workers snapping/cutting the tops out of the tobacco and oiling the plant for suckers.  Notice they carry about 30 to 50 pounds on their back with a backpack sprayer.  Backpack sprayers make it more efficient for us to cover more ground than the traditional large sprayer we have used in the past.  We can cover more ground and each worker can work at their own pace.  We save on fuel with the manual process as well.

 Leonel and Oscar oiling dark tobacco

Most days are extremely hot and the sun can definitely be a nuisance.  Work like this can separate the boys from the men in the first 30 minutes. Every plant must be touched.........bloom broke, any suckers removed and the whole thing oiled from top to bottom.  These are the days where I work from the ATV and manage.  The girls and I ride back and forth to the field with water and snacks. 

One of my favorite pictures of dark tobacco in full bloom alongside corn in the background.  The barn is an old barn where we house and fire dark tobacco for curing.  Just a great day for a perfect picture.

Wow, what a day!!  My feet hit the floor a 6:30 am and just now I have a chance for a quick break.  Got one to school, came home dressed and fed another.  Packed her for school and while on the way I was called by the boss at 9 to see where I was at.  Amazing how men have no clue of their kids schedule after 2 years of it, right?  Any who, I got back to the farm by 9:20 and hauled tobacco wagons until lunch.  You talk about the worst job on the farm...........yep that is it.  Ask anyone that grows and they or their kids will stroke when they hear "gotta move wagons"!  But someone had to do it, and I couldn't weld (like the boss was) or I don't cut the tobacco so I was the lucky SOMEONE.  Took my lunch break only to eat a quick bite...........I cleaned the floors the rest of lunch while I was actually in the house.  Fitting in housework any time you can is the only proper way to get anything done.
At 12:45 I saw the guys leaving out for the tobacco field so I knew they would be in need of more wagons, therefore I left again.  The job isn't that hard it is just so repetitious and boring, ha ha.  And at best you can deliver about 6 wagons an hour.  There were like 50 waiting for me in the parking lot. 
All this time bending, picking, lifting, hooking, unhooking, and driving back and forth. 
I know the boys laughed every time I drove away because if it wasn't me moving wagons, it was them.

The boss called again late afternoon and needed my help to move cattle.  It is always an exciting adventure when we catch and move cattle.  This trip ended up with a broken thumb.  Well...........he wouldn't call it that but yes that is how my thumb felt as it was smashed between two cattle panels trying to keep the cows in.

Finally cows to homestead, I was so late getting kids from school and yes..........back to MOVING MORE WAGONS.  I am thankful tonight for parents that helped watch my girls so they didn't have to endure the dust and heat in the field. And the best treat of all a nice home cooked meal awaited me as I left the field to pick up girls at my parents.  A night to not cook is worth a million bucks to a busy mom.  Another round back to the field for another wagon just before baths and bed.  Lord I am so thankful for great workers who I know I can trust to finish without me.  Like I said it was a long hot day, a pretty normal day, I guess just another day in my life..............as the farmers wife.

My american farmer

These are a few of my favorite things......

Why yes it is!  One of my favorite things is driving the setter tractor. I have really moved up in the world of setting.  I first started on the back of a 4 man setter, setting the actual plants myself.  Now...........I am the driver.
When May comes the strips have been run, therefore it is time to get the tobacco in the ground.  Two years ago we had a wet spring, which in return shifted the corn crop to a later planting.  So I took over the job of setting our whole tobacco crop.  The view above is my office view until it all gets in the ground.  The tilled looking area is our strips where the plant in supposed to be planted.  The other area is the non tilled area of a corn field where my tires should perfectly align into for the drive.

My first year was so stressful trying to manage the silver point on the front of my tractor into the middle of the tilled strip.  My husbands uses GPS to align the strips but I have to run on my own judgement and the yells of the boys on back to whether I am doing a good job.

Here my husband sets with our 2 workers positioned on the setter.  The carousel setter spins with cups inside where you drop the tobacco plant. Each rider, as in this case Leonel or Oscar pulls a plant from the plant tray above the carousel and drops it into the yellow cups. As the tractor pulls the setter the back wheels spin and the cup opens dropping the plant in to the ground first, second the roots are covered up.

Oscar setting dark tobacco

Leonel with plants pulled dropping into the cups, setting dark tobacco

Here lies the finished product.  A beautiful plant positioned perfectly in the tilled strip.

And if all goes well the field begins to look like this.  And the boss man is much appreciate when it all goes as planned.  Ha ha, and so is my nerves.

Girls getting to set some of the last rows.............

I am back.........

Wow, time has flown and my blogging has been put back on the shelf.  Last week was a world wind of an emergency surgery, kids here and there, tobacco on the ground and trying to be a wife and mother.  Amazing how I feel like I am the glue that keeps it together (not bragging).  Yes, 2 days in the hospital for our new worker (Felix) on the farm only 3 weeks.  I took him to the doctor for pain and we ended up 3 hours later admitted to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy.  Imagine being in a foreign country, having surgery and you do not understand their language.  He did great and we are all blessed by the great doctors and nurses and 2 wonderful people that helped me translate.

As a mother to two girls, I quickly stepped in to mother this frail boy.  You learn a lot about others and yourself at times like this.  And it all goes back to the wonderful LORD we have that helped us thru it.

With 2 barns smoking, 6 guys in the field..........I tend back to the girls and checking on Felix while he recooperates.  Oh and not forget my wifely duties as my husband conditions the combine for its fall arrival in the field. 
So finally back to the computer I tread to unload my head where I feel led. You sometimes feel stretched from one task to the next, but I remember this is MY WONDERFUL life......as the Farmers wife!

Momma where does bacon come from?

 One of our favorite visits this summer was a local Hog Farm.  Teaching my girls about animals and what we eat is vital in today's society.  There are so many misconceptions on animal treatment and cleanliness.   My girls have grown up around many animals but one we do not own on the farm is a pig.  This visit they got to see houses/rooms of baby piglets weaned from their mother.  Above Sayde and friend/tour guide Tracy kneel to catch a baby pig.

 Success as the Girls and Tracy pose for a picture with baby. 

This is my favorite picture of the day......after an hour of questions and learning how pigs are raised on the farm Sayde caught her first pig by herself.  Needless to say she got pooed on.......this farm girl wiped it off and headed out the door with shirt in tow. 

Did you know that our 1st Congressional District in KY is the 48th largest hog producing region in the US?  That almost 3,000 jobs in KY come from Pork Production. Today there are more than 67,000 pork operations compared with nearly 3 million in the 1950s.  Less operations trying to supply the demand. 

From the start

Running Strips in early April for tobacco planting in May.  We look for the best and greenest way to plant tobacco without disturbing the ground as much as possible..

Strip-till allows the soil’s nutrients to be better adapted to the tobacco plants needs. We like this method better because the amount of erosion on a strip-tilled field is light compared to the amount of erosion on a conventionally tilled field (where you see a disk).

We bought the fertilizer bins (metal bins above the disk and rollers) this past year so we can directly apply our dry fertilizer in these rows where the plant is to be set.  This reduces the amount of fertilizer needed and wasted --while improving proximity to our tobacco plant.

Farmers are always looking for new TOYS and better ways to save time and money. Strip tillage can reduce the amount of trips through a field, saving us a considerable amount of time and fuel, while reducing soil erosion. Scott uses GPS inside the tractor, to maximize the greatest use of the field and keep the rows straight........something he couldn't do without. :)

Hello World

What a great day for my blog to start!!!  We have had ample rainfall and looks like more to come..........this being after our first REAL drought in this business.  After 12 years of farming and seeming like every other year is a drought, this years official in the books for 2012!