Significant events in agricultural history

These events are once again, taken from American Farm Bureau Federation's Farm and Food Facts booklet. Editorializing, by me, is in italics and should not be construed as anything but goofiness on my part.

8000 B.C. - Animals and grain domesticated in the Middle East - the birth of agriculture.

1493 -  Christopher Columbus brought calves, goats, sheep, pigs, hens, citrus, melons and many kinds of vegetables to America. Good thing he decided to come here, because we needed that stuff!

1731 - Jethro Tull introduced the horse-drawn cultivator and seed drill to English farming. It was not called the Aqualung.

1793 - Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. Gin in this case is not short for gin and tonic, but rather "engine."

1850 - About 75-90 hours of labor are required to produce 100 bushels of corn with a walking plow, harrow and hand planting. Yields were around 40 bushels per acre. And if you have been following this blog, you know that an acre is about the size of a football field.

1900 - The amount of labor needed to produce 100 bushels of corn is down to 35-40 hours. Yield remain about the same as they were in 1850. An acre is still about the size of a football field.

1940 - One farmer feeds about 19 people annually with what he/she produces.

1945 - Commercial fertilizer use helps increase yields to 50 bushels per acre, and one farmer now works 10-14 hours to produce 100 bushels of corn. An acre remains about the size of a football field. 

1960 - One farmer feeds about 46 people annually.

1980 - One farmer now feeds about 115 people annually. And it is probably the same farmer as it was in 1960, because farming tends to stay in your blood. And he probably STILL hasn't taken a vacation! 

1987 - It now takes less than three hours of labor and yield are at 100 bushels per acre. By now, the farmer is using a tractor, 5-bottom plow, 20-foot tandem disk, planter, 20-foot herbicide applicator, a 12-ft. self-propelled combine and trucks. And yep, you guessed it, that acre is still about the size of a football field.

2009 - Each U.S. farmer produces food and fiber for 154 people annually. And you know how important fiber is these days! Especially for the elderly like me!

And the best news of all? They are producing more food (like 262% more) with fewer inputs than ever before.

Bottom line? American agriculture rocks!

Dawn

Gopher stare down

I was pulling up to the office a few weeks ago, when I looked out the passenger window, and here was this  gopher, checking out the 'hood. Thankfully, I just happened to have the camera with me that day, so I rolled down the window (okay, I pushed a button and the mechanism that I really don't understand or know anything about rolled the window down for me; and when you don't actually have a rotating handle to get the window down, are we really "rolling" the window down?) and made a couple of faux gopher chirping noises. It sat there, so I slowly brought my camera up, zoomed in and took a picture. Then, I tried to move to the passenger side of the vehicle, and it just scampered off. At least I got one shot.

My all-time favorite gopher encounter (if there is sucha a thing) happened last summer. I was sitting on the front porch of my house just contemplating life. I must have been pretty quiet, because all of a sudden, a gopher popped its head out of one of its holes, not more than 10 feet away from me. I must have made some kind of sound that alerted it to my presence and it froze. So did I. We each sat there, motionless, for what seemed like an eternity. Actually, it was probably all of five minutes. But you know how it is when you realize how silly something is? And then you start to giggle? I started to giggle and down the hole it went.

What have we learned from this? That I can't even beat a gopher in a stare down.

Dawn

Bubbling over!

Mr. Bubble is getting "his" own day!

I think this is totally cool! I remember as a kid loving Mr. Bubble commercials. And I had no idea at the time Mr. Bubble was from North Dakota. Some people probably still don't, so it's a nice way to create a little more recognition, particularly since Mr. Bubble is still #1 in bubble bath sales.

So, North Dakota is #1 in the production of 15 crops, and #1 in the bubble market.

What better reasons to be a proud North Dakotan!

Dawn

Pumpkin wrap rap

I traipsed out to my Father's Day planted garden the other night. The kids weeded it, and I needed to check their work. (Besides, I hadn't been out to the garden in about two weeks -- it's amazing how you just don't think about it much when it's out of sight and you have weekly downpours to keep it watered.)

They did a good job weeding what was there.

It's not very much.

I counted three onion tops, nine carrot tops, one basil plant, zero oregano plants, enough corn plants not to bother counting...

But the pumpkins!!!

Pumpkin vines were crawling up trees and wrapping themselves around corn stalks. And there were several actual pumpkins on those vines.

Photographic evidence....

Despite the fact that I am very sad about my carrot crop, (There is nothing better than carrots pulled from the garden after a light frost to sweeten them up!) I have to admit I am tickled about the pumpkin situation.

In fact, I am so tickled, I even wrote a rap (and I use the term V-E-E-E-E-E-R-R-R-R-R-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y loosely) song about it. And here is where the disclaimer goes that says this in no way is an indication of what REAL rap music sounds like, just an old lady's attempt at silly humor. To all real rappers, I apologize profusely.

The pumpkin wrap rap
So I walked to the garden.
Checking out the situation....

The carrots were few
Not much carrot vegetation...

A couple of onions and
A lone basil plant...

I could've been mad
I could've started a rant...

But then I took notice
Of all the pumpkin vines

So I wrote me a rap song
It's tough to make it rhyme..

The pumpkins are growing
Like weeds I must say..

So I'm gonna let 'em go
To keep 'em growing that way.

The pumpkin wrap rap
It's where it's at at.

The pumpkin wrap rap
It's where it's at at.

Yes, I am officially off my rocker. I even put it to "music." But I don't know how to add an mp3 to my blog yet, so I guess you'll have to wait for THAT treasure! : )

Dawn

Wordless Wednesday: Beauty and the butterfly

While resting in the shade on a hot summer afternoon, a monarch landed on my daughter's foot.

Dawn

Precision, precision, precision

I'm stealing this information directly from American Farm Bureau Federation's new "Food and Farm Facts"  booklet, mostly because I don't know much about it. You see, they didn't have all that new-fangled technology when I was a farm kid 30-some years ago. And since I don't have an opportunity to spend time in the fields, I can only marvel at what is being accomplished today compared to what was happening on the farm back in the "old days."

While we were on vacation recently, my husband talked to his phone and asked it to give us directions to a particular place. The autmoated lady voice then told us exactly which turns to take. I giggled because I thought it was pretty cool. Then on the way home, we tracked a storm that was in our path and managed to miss the worst of it, thanks to GPS.

But farmers use even more precise GPS technology. In fact GPS technology in agriculture is often within a few inches, or less.

AFBF says that about 50 percent of U.S. farmers and ranchers use precision ag technologies. "GPS and auto-steer guidance systems are two types of precision agriculture used to increase crop yields, lower costs and reduce chemical use, which benefits the environment. The two types of technology work together, helping farmers identify precisely where to plant seeds (and how many) and if needed, apply variable rates of pesticides and fertilizer."

AFBF also says that farmers started using satellite technology in 1994. That is less than 20 years ago.

Isn't that cool? I mean, I was totally impressed by the automated lady voice who told us which roads to take on our vacation. Imagine how awesome it is to have an even better system giving you details that help you plant the right stuff in the right place at the right time! It's yet another way that farmers and ranchers are doing more with less.

And then someone tries to tell you that modern farming is bad?

I'm just not buying that one!

Dawn

Already, it starts

I noticed today that I had 25 messages in my email junk folder. Sometimes good stuff accidentally gets put there, so periodically, I check it out.

What did I see today? Not one, not two, but THREE emails screaming, "The Face you had 10 years ago....Get It Back Now!"

And the email was from those Lifestyle Lift people that have those info-mercials on at dark thirty in the morning, when this old woman is getting up to exercise in a vain attempt to keep that youthful appearance that I had ten years ago (the no spare tire around the middle, the decidedly thinner thighs, etc.)

Considering that those extra pounds and inches are stubbornly staying where they landed, and I'm getting the very jowels that these women say the "lift" helps them get rid of, I guess I will have to admit that my regime just isn't working.

Even though the emails weren't directed at me as much as my age, it still stung a little. I might feel and look my age, but I really don't need an email marketing campaign sent to me that REMINDS me I  look my age.  I mean, where's the love, man?

I am amazed at what can be done to alter someone's appearance through surgery. And when I see my sagging jowels, I think, "Wow, I bet I would look better if I had that done." But then I ask myself, "Would this really make me FEEL better about myself?"

"Oh, maybe for about a week," I answer myself. "I know how I am. Once the 'newness' of it all had worn off, I'd be back to the same old me." (The one that has conversations with herself -- sometimes even out loud -- and tends to be a people pleaser and an introvert.)

Maybe that isn't such a bad thing.

The whole point of this journey we call life is supposed to be about learning and growing, and yes, growing older. I figure I've earned every wrinkle, every sag and every conversation with myself.

So, even though I am amazed at how good those ladies look after their "lifts" I'm just going to let nature have her way with me.

Dawn

How does your garden grow?

I wish my gardens looked this weed-free!

Dawn

Glub, glub

What a way to end the work week! The last two Fridays nights have included torrential downpours at My Two Acres. This past Friday, however, caused a river to run through our yard, bringing with it dirt from our tree rows. How do you get two inches of dirt out of your grass that's not supposed to be there? You rake it. And rake it. And rake it. Then haul the mounds of raked dirt back to the six-inch deep gullies in the tree rows.

Here, the "river" emerges from the trees... (all those white spots on the photo are raindrops)

It also went over the driveway and was inches from going over the road...

It was over my feet too! (Okay, they aren't the prettiest feet in the world, but they get me where I need to go!) I'm standing in the grass, next to the "flash river"...

While it was amazing, I'm hoping we are done with the gully washers for awhile. Oh my achin' back!

Dawn