TALES FROM THE BACK 40 -It feels like a whole new world on the farm when spring comes around. When we visited the Back 40 in March, I promised that—after ordering the seed and fertilizer—we would get to the field this time. We had to be patient because, as Dad said in last month’s installment, he’d started in the fields as early as March only twice in his farming career.

TALES FROM THE BACK 40 - My view out of the window as I write this is of a lot of snow covered by a nice glaze of ice, but my thoughts have turned to what we used to do on the farm about this time of year. As the temperatures were regularly above freezing, it was a waiting game for the snow to melt and the ground to thaw so we could get into the fields. 

ALES FROM THE BACK 40 - s most of the country this January weathered temperatures that were colder than normal, my thoughts turned to what we used to do on the farm in cold weather.

TALES FROM THE BACK 40 - Ya haul 16 tons of manure and whatta ya get? Many of us have pleasant memories of farm life, but few of us fondly recall one particular chore that involved animals: manure hauling. Obviously, manure can be looked at as an expected byproduct of livestock as well as free fertilizer, but that doesn’t mean any of us had to like the job of cleaning it up and disposing of it.