I am amazed how the winter flew by, and we are already on the verge of spring field work! It is high-time for me to post an update on what has been happening this winter! So below is a list of  what has been going on/excuses of why I didn’t post sooner, in chronological order:

• We celebrated the arrival of our 3rd kiddo, Parker Wayne, on Nov 6th. (Labeled “New Guy” in the pic of the kids in their thoughtfully given “uniforms!”)
• We were able to apply a base rate of stabilized ammonia in mid November during a nice stretch of dry, cool weather.
• We are excited and thankful for the opportunity to be partnering with 3 new landowners/families for the coming year!
• Thanksgiving and Christmas with 2 excited kids and a new baby were fun but a blur!
• We purchased a used Kenworth semi-tractor to update our “fleet” and offer an automatic transmission for simplicity of driving. Not so much, of course, for Ben the professional, but for the fall drivers! However, the newer/quieter/smoother benefits are a nice improvement even the professional!
• We also got a used dump trailer to be able to haul dirt, rock, and lime around the farm when needed.
• We spent a considerable amount of time updating the planter in the shop this year to use new electric drive and hydraulic down-force technology from Precision Planting. More on that during planting season…
• February weather was highly unusually and allowed numerous warm, dry days for things like leveling of dirt from a creek dredging project and trying out all the new technology on the planter to make sure it was all set and ready for spring.
• We cleaned up a whole pickup load of trash along road ditches of the farms. It’s always amazing how much litter they collect in a year!
• All of the machinery has been through the shop and is ready for the year ahead! Braxton often enjoyed coming out to “help!”
• Almost all of our seed has been brought in and is ready for planting.