The Farmer's Daughter USA

Hi, I'm Amanda! My family farms corn and soybeans in Southwest Michigan. I'm also a practicing attorney.

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We Were In A Parade!

August 10, 2016

On Saturday, we got to advocate for agriculture in a very fun way – we were in a parade!

Like most small towns, ours has an annual festival celebrating something that is unique or special to the area. In our community, we celebrate gladiolus flowers and peaches, both of which are locally grown in our area. In fact, we even have varieties of peaches that were bred and developed right here! The Glad-Peach festival is usually held in the first week of August and includes two parades, lives music, and plenty of festival food!

This year, we were asked to participate in the main parade on Saturday by bringing some of our big tractors to drive through the parade route. Dad agreed and the guys spent Friday afternoon cleaning up two of our tractors for the parade. We have magnetic decals that we fixed to the front of the tractor to display the farm name (usually these are placed on our semi-trucks).

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On Saturday morning,ย we drove the tractors over to where the parade was assembling and got them into place. We participated in the parade as part of the tractor exhibit. Our community has a rich connection with agriculture, so this was particularly fitting. There were some antique tractors in the parade showcasing a history of farming. Our tractors made quite the contrast, especially in size!

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I rode in the first tractor with my brother. My other brother and sister-in-law rode in the tractor behind us. Needless to say, it was a little nerve wracking driving those big tractors through the downtown area. It was even worse because there were so many people, many of them small children, and people aren’t necessarily something we usually need to be too aware of in the fields. There was one incident where a little girl did try to run out to touch the tractor. Thankfully, her grandfather grabbed her before she got too far!

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Despite that, it was pretty cool to see the little kids mesmerized by the big equipment driving past them. We made quite an impression driving down Main Street! It was also fun to get my parade-wave on.

At the end of the parade route, we were able to park the tractors in the festival area so that people could come up and check them out, take photographs, and talk to us. It was a great opportunity to just meet people in the community and interact with the general public. The kids were really excited about being that close to the tractors and some of them took advantage of the photo opportunity.

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Overall, I think it was a great chance for us to show off our equipment, promote our farm, and put a positive light on modern agriculture! Hopefully, we will be asked to participate again next year.

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Filed Under: Farming Fridays Tagged With: farm living, farm picture, farm pictures, my videos

Comments

  1. Andy says

    August 10, 2016 at 8:44 am

    Looks like a great experience for you as well as your community.

Hi, I'm Amanda. My family farms corn and soybeans in Southwest Michigan. I'm an attorney and I'm passionate about agriculture!

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thefarmersdaughterusa

Amanda | The Farmer's Daughter USA
I'm a proud farmer's daughter & advocate for modern agriculture. U.S. farmers are leaders in sustainability.

Amanda Zaluckyj
Just a reminder. #agriculture #usagriculture #far Just a reminder.

#agriculture #usagriculture #farmers #usfarmers #farming #farmfamilies #sustainableag #sustainableagriculture #sustainable #sustainability #farmerscare #homegrown #localagriculture #knowyourfarmer #shoplocal #madeintheusa #madeintheus #americanagriculture
Happy Thanksgiving! I realized this morning that Happy Thanksgiving!

I realized this morning that it's been 20 years since I performed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. What a trip!

I hope you and yours have a lovely day! ๐Ÿฆƒ
Honestly, what is she even doing?? #Mischa #dogsl Honestly, what is she even doing??

#Mischa
#dogslife
She's got me. #dogslife #onlyfurbaby #naptime She's got me. 

#dogslife #onlyfurbaby #naptime
Some of you see this picture and appreciate the vi Some of you see this picture and appreciate the view. Our grain cart driver (mom) just sees that scary hill to drive up. ๐Ÿซฃ

 #farming #sustainableag #agriculture #sustainableagriculture #farmers #sustainableagriculturepractices #sustainable #agriculturelife #agricultureeducation #farm #farmer #harvest23๐ŸŒพ
Happy Halloween! I dressed up as an attorney today Happy Halloween! I dressed up as an attorney today. ๐Ÿคฃ

Oh, lawyer jokes. Listen, if you can't make fun or yourself and have a little fun, what are you even doing?
It's true. My puppy. ๐Ÿ’œ๐Ÿ’œ It's true. My puppy. ๐Ÿ’œ๐Ÿ’œ
The first 25 acres of soybeans are done! But the b The first 25 acres of soybeans are done! But the beans still have very high moisture content. It's so high the granary won't accept them. So we'll have to dry them.

The big concern with soybeans is that the pods won't pop open. If that happens, they'll be discarded  out the back of the combine with the other plant material. Obviously not what we want to happen. After testing a bit, enough were opening that we felt like we should just get started.

Slow going, but at least it's going!

 #farming #sustainableag #agriculture #sustainableagriculture #farmers #sustainableagriculturepractices #sustainable #agriculturelife #agricultureeducation #farm #farmer #fearfree #cleanfood #foodsafety #dietfads #FactsNotFear #cleaneatingdiet #foodlabels #truth #cleaneating #Harvest2023
We're still not harvesting yet. Why not? Moisture We're still not harvesting yet. Why not? Moisture content.

We're currently about 4 weeks behind. But we can't start because our crops are still too wet. The moisture content is the amount of water in each kernel or soybean. If there's too much, they can spoil in storage. If it's really too high, then combine has a hard time handling it.

For corn, the sweet spot is about 15%. We have a dryer system on the farm that can help finish the kernels to the correct moisture level. But the dryer takes a lot of energy to run, so its cost prohibitive if the moisture content is too high. And if we try to sell the crop when it's too wet, we'll take a price hit at the grain elevator. So either the granary dries it, we dry it, or Mother Nature dries it. Right now, it's still too wet for after-harvest drying.

The other complication is that IT. JUST. KEEPS. RAINING. That doesn't help because the corn doesn't have a chance to dry out, and it maintains that moisture. We need some warm, dry days to speed up the process.

So, for now, we're still waiting...

#harvest23
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