Earth Day on a Nebraska Farm

April 21, 2016 by Real Farmwife On The County Line in Grain

April 22nd is Earth Day. Having lived on a farm nearly all of my life, I feel a strong connection to nature on a daily basis. Whether it’s the spectacular sunrises and sunsets of the Great Plains, the landscapes that change with the seasons, acres of healthy growing crops, cattle grazing in the pasture or the red-tailed hawks flying overhead – there’s always something beautiful to be discovered.

Winter Work on the Farm

January 05, 2016 by Real Farmwife On The County Line in Grain, Livestock

Are farmers busy in the winter? Yes. We may be outside of the growing season, but there’s plenty of winter work, especially on a grain farm with livestock. Here’s what the season looks like on my farm:

Time of the Season: Winter Wheat in Early Spring

April 17, 2015 by Taylor Thompson in Grain

After a few seemingly endless months of winter on the Great Plains, the sight of green on the landscape is a beacon of hope that warmer days are just around the corner.

Although a few cool season weeds in my yard almost sneak past my attention undetected, it’s tough to ignore an entire field of winter wheat greening up. It seems to take at least another month for the rest of the countryside to come back to life.

How Farmers Buy Seed

March 18, 2015 by Taylor Thompson in Grain

One of the first signs of spring is the arrival of a garden catalog in the mailbox. Fantasizing about picking crisp green cucumbers on a warm summer evening is the perfect antidote to a cold, windy day.

Mr. Corn Farmer often reminds me that he’s a bigger and better gardener than I am. It’s true, but selecting seed for our farm is no fantasy. It’s serious stuff.

Predicament at the Pump

February 07, 2015 by Taylor Thompson in Grain

When I fuel up my vehicle, I use an ethanol blend without any second thoughts. But what if I wasn’t a farmer?

There are two main schools of thought right now on ethanol. While ethanol industry promotes it, the petroleum industry promotes fear of it.

A reduction in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has been proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and some members of Congress. The RFS is legislation that sets targets for blending ethanol with gasoline. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a reduction of 1.4 billion gallons.

Going Green

February 04, 2015 by Taylor Thompson in Grain

“Going Green” on a farm isn’t limited to John Deere tractors. Let’s think about sustainability.

We could say that sustainability encompasses how humans live, how industry and agriculture function, and how ecosystems are affected by this activity.

I realize this is a vast oversimplification, but the main idea is that we replenish any resources that we use, and that we do not cause damage to planet Earth. This challenge is amplified by a rapidly increasing world population.