Final Exam

Well guys looks like we finally made it to the end of the tunnel!  As I think back on the semester I was pretty excited about the Photoshop portion of AIS 4203.  Photoshop may have been a long week for most of us in the class but it taught me things i will use in the future for photography.  We also had a guest speaker a former MSU alumni Mr. Will Gilmer speak to us about social media and agvocating one day during class via skype.  I had never really thought about the impact you can make by just informing people of little facts via instagram, twitter, or facebook.  Mr. Gilmer has mad a great example out of the proper use of social media and has shown it can be used as great marketing tools.  Another point we realized about Mr. Gilmer was how he managed so many different account types at once so he can reach a broader audience. 

thankful

As most you are aware i'm sure, last week was thanksgiving. At MSU we dont get the full week out because we have a fall break so we only get 3 days off from school instead of 5.  This is usually upsetting but since we had the egg bowl on thanksgiving day it wasnt that bad. My family came up to starkville for the game and we had dinner at my apartment and then proceeded to the game from there.  This week really got me to thinking about what im thankful for.  Like most people im thankful for my family but more importantly im thankful for my family that has already passed away.  My great great great grandfather who started the farm taught both his boys about the land and how important it is. My grandfather for passing that passion for farming on to my father and ultimately my Dad for passing it on to me.  Farming runs deep in my family and its not something that is picked up easily.  I have learned about the heartaches of rough times and i have seen the good years too.  I pray that one day i will be able to confidently make the decisions my dad does daily with even half the confidence he has. I hope that i have brought a few things about agriculture to yall to make you more informed about row cropping at least.  This is my last post for my class but i will try and keep it going and share interesting facts with y'all! 

winter weather

This weekend i finally got to go home to the delta. Everything looks great on the farm the rows are starting to grow wild boiena (sp) which is great for hunting season the deer love it! We will have to do burn down next spring and kill it off but until then its a great natural deer attractant. It looks as if we may get some below average cold weather this week.  That would be great for the farm if we could get a good cold freeze we havent had one in years.  A freeze helps kill insect pests that over winter in the ground or in other organic matter in the field. We also have Thanksgiving coming up this week and the egg bowl. I would normally be really excited about it but this weather  is going to be so cold for the game.  If all goes well we can have good freeze , warm up in time for the game and pull out a win! I may be dreaming there but a girl can dream cant she?!

another week down

Time is going by pretty quick these days.  We finished another week here at Mississippi State, lost another football game but at least it wasnt a run away game like it could have been.  I didnt go home to the farm since all the work has been done and it rained earlier last week.  Its finally getting to be close to hunting season so we have been working on stands getting them ready.  Christmas break has become my favorite time of year because its the only time i get to go home and enjoy the peaceful farm.

Small World Connections

     I hope that everyone that finds this post is doing well! Its been a very busy week in starkville for me, im sure everyone else has been busy as well.  The weather has been very cooperative on that farm so much that we have caught up on just about everything except a few sandy fields we are waiting until spring to row up.  Its such a blessing that we are so far ahead of schedule and ready for next year but we didnt get there by doing nothing.  It took a lot of long days and late hours to finally get where we needed to be with the field work.

   In one of my classes AIS 4203 our Ag computer class we learned about social medias impact on Agriculture.  I have been following a girl named Erin Ehnle for about the past year she advocates farming and photography.  She posted a picture that really hit home with me this week it was about how farmers get 584 hours less sleep than the average american.  I thought it was a great picture first of all and the fact it was an infographic i always share her pictures on my page.  It wasnt until after i shared the picture i realized why she made it.  She made it in response to a comedian that was putting down farmers and what they do.  Some people just really dont have their facts straight so hopefully we can inform them of the truth.  Erin is a great agvoate and hope yall check out her page and see all the great things she shares!  In my opinion even ag students get less sleep than the average american since many of us not only go to school but have jobs or ag related jobs also!

Heres Erins facebook she also has a pinterest go follow her!

https://www.facebook.com/lens.of.a.farm.girl  

http://www.pinterest.com/erin_ehnle/

Rain is a good thing!

       Hello everyone! Once again it was another week to be put in the books at Mississippi State.  I was fortunate enough to be able to go home to the farm again this weekend.  We received 2 inches of rain last week which was a blessing to our farm since the majority of it has been disked, subsoiled and rowed up. The rain not only helped lock in moisture for next years crop but it gave everyone a break from the nonstop work that had been ongoing since harvest.   

      Whose to know whether we will have a wet spell start up this winter again or not. I do hope for the farmers that still have cotton in the field they can get their crop out without anymore damage than whats already occurred.  This situation in its self is the very reason weather forecasts are so important to farming without an idea of whats going on you may miss out on a perfect opportunity to get your crop out and have to suffer a loss on your return profit.  Some people can get away with a little profit loss, whereas some depending on the size of loss its very detrimental.   

    I learned from a young age from my father that the weather is something you should always be keeping up with no matter if you farm or not.  Weather constantly changes and you should be aware for your safety and your plans for the future. The most critical time to watch the weather during row crop farming in my opinion is planting season. If you dont know that the cool snap is not over for the spring or that the temperature will drop this can throw off your germination time and possibly kill your seed.  If you just simply paid attention to the weather you could save yourself some money and time and waited until it was over.  I hope you will make an effort to be more aware of your local weather conditions whether you be a farmer or not its still important. 

fall break

        Hey y'all! I hope everyone had a great week! We had fall break this week and I was lucky enough to get the chance to go home on Wednesday.  Since we had that cool snap come in earlier last week it really had me missing home. There is no greater feeling than coming home to the farm and seeing everything ahead of schedule and almost complete.
         I finally got to see the new hipper roller in action. I didn't think it would make that much of a difference in the moving of it or opperation of it clearly I underestimated the situation.  The hipper roller weighs so much that the tractor actually needs more weight added to the front of it to keep it held down when the hipper is not in the ground.  The fact that it weighs so much and rises up makes for one scary ride!  Daddy tried to warn me before we got on that it was going to do it but I had no clue it was going to raise up as much as it did.  I would guess that it would probably raise about 3 ft in the air every time maybe not that much but it sure felt like it.
        According to my dad it couldn't flip because the hipper would catch its self and push it back forward to the ground. It wasn't until this afternoon that I finally witnessed what was really going on from outside of the cab.  My dad was driving and turned off the blacktop road on to the turn row to enter the field.  As my dad was turning the tractor i saw it get off balanced  and rock backwards.  Obviously i freaked out and told daddy he needs to get that weight put on sooner rather than later since he almost gave me a heart attack, of course he just laughed since he knew what he was doing.  
     On a more positive note we have only 300 acres left to row up and its all sandy ground so that can be done anytime.  Its great news because that means we wont be working during gun season this year.  The deer are starting to move with the weather getting colder, i actually counted  17 just from my back yard and 4 of which were bucks. I cant wait until next week hopefully we will be completely done with the fieldwork for the year!