The Planting Window

Have you ever heard the saying, “Life is a marathon not a sprint”? I’m sure you have. Crop planting season is nothing like that. It is a sprint and our goal is to get the seed planted as fast as we can.

Photo courtesy of Quin Biarski

There are several things that affect when we can plant our crops and it is all based around the weather. When dealing with Mother Nature, we need to take advantage of what good weather we can get in Michigan. The temperature must be warm enough and not raining. The soil must be warm enough to support plant growth. The soil must be dry enough, but not too dry. When all of these things align we have what we call a planting window.

Often during planting days start early and they go late. My dad is the person that plants on our farm. Even though my dad is the person planting, this time of the year is definitely a team effort. Some of our favorite family memories are meals being eaten out in the field. I remember taking lunch or dinner to my dad and talking about how things were going.

A couple of weeks ago we were able to get into the fields and start the 2018 planting season. We had a few good days in, and then we were rained out for several days in a row. At the end of last week, the ground was dry enough for us to start planting again. While my husband was cultivating the field, my dad was planting soybeans, and I was picking rocks. We have to go around the fields a few times in the spring and summer and remove the big rocks that could potentially damage the machinery.

Planting is such an exciting time of the year. It means we have longer days to look forward to, another season of watching the fruits of our labor grow, and watching beautiful seas of green plants growing each and every day.

And, a friendly reminder to everyone to slow down and be respectful if you see farm equipment on the road. Farmers want to get home safely to their families, too.  

This post was originally published in June 2016.