A Day at the Farm

It was a clear, beautiful May day at the Jeschke farm in Mazon, Illinois. While I could have spent hours rambling along the country roads and fields, I was there for a reason; to learn about farming. I was among a group of urban and suburban moms, farmers and agricultural experts who got together to discuss farming and farming methods.

The learning process started as soon as we boarded the bus early in the morning. A group of women from the farm answered questions as we drove from city to suburb to country. (For more details about what I learned, keep your eyes open for my blog post at Watch Us Grow.) As soon as we got off the bus, we were able to see a planter ready to go into the field. I was able to climb up into the tractor and talk with the Jeschke’s nephew about the GPS system that guides the planter, and the technology he uses to map the field. High yield areas are planted with more seed, and low yield areas are planted with fewer seeds to give the corn plants and root systems plenty of room to grow and be productive. All the technology he uses is amazing!

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If you look through the window, you can see how high up we are!

As soon as I climbed down, he was off to go planting. The fields were planted later than usual this year because of flooding conditions in April. You may remember me writing about how those floods affected me. By the end of April in 2012, all the corn and soybeans had already been planted. This year, it was the middle of May and there were still some fields that needed to be planted. Here’s a quick video of the corn planter folding up and going up the road, headed for the fields. (This video is 4 times the actual speed.)

Watch on YouTube.

After the planter left, we walked down the road to see the Field Moms’ corn and soybean acres. We’re going to watch the crops grow online throughout the summer and into harvest.

Throughout the day we talked about how farmers grow crops, feed livestock, and provide food for a growing population. This Memorial Day weekend, as you grill delicious meats and enjoy potato salad and corn on the cob, remember that your meal is so delicious because a farmer helped put it on your plate!

Field Mom Corn Acre
Field Moms’ Corn Acre

 

Field Moms

Tell me; what are you eating this weekend?

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New Girl on the Farm

Even after living over half of my life in the Chicago suburbs, I consider myself a small town girl. Until I was 12, I lived in Central Illinois in a town which no one has ever heard of before. Sometimes when I describe what the town looks like from I-57, that you can see a tall church steeple as you drive by, people will say, “Oh, I think I’ve seen the exit sign!” Unless you live in Buckley, there’s no reason to get off the highway.

As a child, I ate a lot of fresh food in the summertime. I picked green beans and ate them right off of the bean stalk. We always had a lot of tomatoes and cucumbers that Mom would slice and serve for lunch. We would also have freshly picked sweet corn, and I would get sick of eating corn on the cob for supper. In the winter, we would eat the frozen and canned food Mom had prepared during the summer months. At the time, I didn’t appreciate all the fresh food we were able to eat.

As a suburban mom who tries to prepare healthy meals for my family, I now realize how lucky I was to have all that local produce as a child. I used to live in the middle of corn fields, now I’m surrounded by subdivisions and strip malls. My farm experience is limited to hayrides at pumpkin farms. When my friend from MOPS asked me if I wanted to be a Field Mom, I jumped at the chance to be able to visit a real farm. I applied to be a Field Mom through Illinois Farm Families, and am thrilled to have been accepted into the program!

 As a Field Mom, I’ll be able to visit family farms to see how they grow the food that we eat. I’m a late-comer to the program, so I missed the first visit to a hog farm. Fortunately, the other Field Moms have written about their visit. I haven’t even gone to the farm yet and I’ve already learned so much from these moms!

https://lemondroppie.com
My daughters and I on a hayride last Fall

Throughout the year, we are going to watch an acre of  soybeans and an acre of corn grow. Planting season is coming soon! Not only that, but as field moms we will also watch baby pigs grow up. We had a conference call online this week to meet our little pigs, and the Mayor of Crazyville wrote a nice summary about the Field Moms’ pig pen.

Just a note: I’m participating as a Field Mom under my real name, not as Ginny Marie. 😉 Watch for more updates soon! If you are also an Illinois Field Mom, please leave a comment with your blog link so that I can make a return visit. I’m looking forward to our May farm visit!

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