My dad told me not to seed double. He told me doing so would cause lodging in the wheat. It’s the section of the field closest to the road everyone on our lane takes to town, and there is a lot of lodging to be seen. It is a mistake I’m reminded of every time […] Read more
Seeding lessons
Can’t take the farm from the boy: Side benefits of farming
It’s busy on the farm now. My fingernails are outlined by what seems to be a permanent, u-shaped bead of grease. It feels right. We’ve been here now closing in on 10 months. This farming season will be my first — from seeding to harvest — in many, many years. I’m excited. My wife’s excited. […] Read more
Can’t take the boy from the farm: Finally spring
Spring! I bet I could repeat the word “spring” 800 times and you, the reader, who is starting to experience warmer weather, would read each word. I would. Sadly, though, any article starting with spring would have to end with the word “flooding,” as the two seem to have a close relationship, at least this […] Read more
Make your own trail groomer
Now that he’s a farmer, Toban Dyck starts acting like one —making his own inventions. Learn how he made his own cross-country ski trail groomer
The best way to get rid of spilled oil on your workshop floor is by sprinkling gravel or sand over the area, waiting for an hour, then sweeping it up. There. Done. The workshop is ready for spring. All the debris, fluids, clumps of snow and other relics of winter have been swept away. Our […] Read moreWinter on the farm
I fixed the tractor the other day. The bolt the PTO lever pivots on snapped, a diagnosis I came to after dismantling most of the console. Feeling the lever go limp was one of those “oh shoot” moments where my previous, city-dweller self would have parked the tractor and called someone, assuming there was no […] Read more
Equipment: leasing versus buying
There has been a long-standing stigma around leasing that suggests that leasing is shameful. Some believe that leasing is something someone does when they can’t afford to own. In that old-fashioned view, to own, to possess a piece of farm equipment is a source of honour and a show of a fiscally responsible operation. These […] Read more
Making the seeding decisions
Toban and his father are deciding what they’re going to put in the ground this spring — Toban’s first year back home on the farm
Seeding. The word alone fills me with nervous excitement. Nervous, because it’s what seeing your work in print is to the farming world. The big show. No turning back. What’s done is done. This is what it’s all about, seeding and harvest. Excitement, because it’s the beginning of a new season, and it’s a tangible […] Read moreFiring staff
I had to fire someone, a fellow writer, about a year ago, and it was a moment that defined me as a man and changed the course of my life. “He must be exaggerating.” No, he is not. This was indeed such an experience. Okay, the defining me part may be pushing it, but the […] Read more
Liquid versus granular
Your crop will take up nutrients in either liquid or granular form. How you decide to provide those nutrients is up to you
History, routine and that’s the way it’s always been done. The smartest, most savvy farmers among us are susceptible to ruts, mentally and practically. The liquid versus granular fertilizer debate, if there is one, is, at its core, a question of science, finances, tradition and geography. Crops need specific nutrients during specific stages of growth. And those nutrients need […] Read moreBin full of death
I took this picture of a bin full of dead, frozen pigs. It’s not an indictment of the hog industry. It’s not strong commentary. It’s not even an exposé of a heinous act. It is, however, a bewildering tableaux to see so close to a highway. And, it is a stupid thing for a farm […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
