PLOWING!

Upper left before chiseled and sweep, on the right after.

I know I have been too long in returning but please forgive me! I could use a million different good excuses but none of them are really that good. Anyway, I hope you enjoy learning a smidge about plowing on the farm!

Plowing up volunteer wheat~volunteer means it comes up from a previous crop.
 

Plowing is what farmers do to make a crop even better! It either prepares the soil for planting, spreads the moisture around, kills weeds, or keeps the dirt from blowing, just to name a few.  It is pretty continuous on the farm depending which crops are being grown and what the weather has been like. 


 For example, last year during the drought there was not much plowing going on but now that the rain is coming so are the weeds which means more plowing is needed to keep the weeds under control.

On the left is a weed ripped up from plowing.  See its roots. The one on the right is still nestled in the ground, growing bigger by the minute. 

Here comes a "Chisel and sweeps plow"! It is turning the soil over for a seed bed, and killing weeds.  The sweeps are behind the chisel and living up to their name, they sweep the ground making it smooth and level.  I think it is interesting to note that an inch and a half rain had occurred just a few days before.  It had been so dry the soil quickly absorbed the moisture. 

Can you smell the fresh dirt scent as this plow turns the soil over? (This country girl loves that smell!) There are many different plows for a variety of purposes. 

 Most plows serve more than one purpose and serve more than one type of crop.  The plow below is called a "Big Ox". I like to think it was so named after its predecessor--oxen.  They were used to pull plows before tractors.

This big boy is used to RIP the soil good and deep. This breaks the hardpan so the soil will be loosened up for the planted crop's roots to go down deep. (Sometimes that is where the moisture is when it has been dry.)

You can see how deep it ripped the soil here.  You can also see very little moisture in the underneath soil.  Thank the good Lord, we have been blessed with rain since this picture was taken.

Thanks for spending a little bit of your time with me today and don't forget to thank the Lord for your own blessings!