Bison Farm Diary

Goings on at a Kansas buffalo farm.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Turning Towards the Sun


The local fields of sunflowers are starting to bloom. They turn their yellow heads with the sun until the seed sets. There are more sunflowers grown in Western Kansas and in drier climates, but we have a few farmers that grow it locally to rotate with their wheat ground.

Because sunflowers have a large tap root, it breaks through the hard pan that can form with grain crops. In other words it "fluffs up" the soil.

These seeds will be harvested when the stalks dry down this fall and they will be crushed for sunflower oil. The kind of sunflower seeds we eat, are called a confectionary variety and are different than the oil variety.

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posted by Bison Farm Diary at 6:13 PM 0 Comments

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Finishing Kansas Wheat Harvest 2008


Loren and Dad finished wheat harvest Tuesday. Mom usually rides along in the grain truck to the elevator at least once during the season, so here's a photo documenting their 62nd wheat harvest together.


And here's a photo of a neighbors field that says it all- a full bin of wheat in the combine, a full truckload and a harvested field of bright yellow straw.
Kansas farmers have had some bad weather and luck with the past few wheat harvests, so wonderful to get a good crop off the field this year.

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posted by Bison Farm Diary at 4:07 PM 0 Comments