You were right to (almost) refer to my home as a desert for that is exactly what it is. From the Sierra Nevada and Cascades to the Rockies, it is high desert sagebrush sea with pinion/juniper forests to the eastern part. Carson Valley is cow country with vast pastures of grown and mown grass hay and alfalfa. Lately, though, the ranchers have been expanding their options. One is planting a huge orchard of, we think, apples. Another has cleared the grass for a row crop, perhaps garlic, potatoes, or onions. It's a hard place for anything that doesn't like the dry cold climate. But with beef, potatoes, onions, garlic, and rye grass for whiskey, what else does one need, right? (Oh, and there's still one sheep rancher left in the Valley for a luscious bit of variety. Can't keep a self-respecting Basque down!)
O yes for sure.. WOWO was always on in the milk barn. Crop reports, cattle and hog markets, and some scientific reports from a land grant college on how to grow crops more efficiently. Boy David you nailed it on how to communicate by “ farmer speak”. There was one more group though, the farmer whose crops were always 15% better than anyone else’s …. the braggers… and everyone knew who the braggers were. 😂
From what I've seen with my eyes,the crops in England look good but I'm no farmer. They are growing a lot less rape seed,those blocks of bright yellow that make the landscape look like a Van Gogh in real life. In USA you use a more polite name for the product 'Canola oil'. It's because the previous political administration banned a host of useful pesticides and herbicides they enable our farmers to produce food we,the low income people can afford to buy. It's under the disguise of environmental concern. Supposedly,due to flawed and biased and paid for "research results" neo-nicotinoids kill bees,wel,they don't. Yes,everything needs to be sensibly regulated but to use concern for the environment to throw people under the bus is diabolical. That's what the USA did in 1960 when thanks to the use of DDT life in Africa,for Africans began to thrive and flourish and the economy of Africa was set to overtake USA. So a book was written and published demonising DDT and pushing Africans right back in the ditch. While in Florida,all the new housing estates and settlements get sprayed with DDT every week (from a plane) or people couldn't live there. No,it's not called DDT,and the chemical formula is just tweaked a bit,so it can get away with not being DDT,but it is.
You were right to (almost) refer to my home as a desert for that is exactly what it is. From the Sierra Nevada and Cascades to the Rockies, it is high desert sagebrush sea with pinion/juniper forests to the eastern part. Carson Valley is cow country with vast pastures of grown and mown grass hay and alfalfa. Lately, though, the ranchers have been expanding their options. One is planting a huge orchard of, we think, apples. Another has cleared the grass for a row crop, perhaps garlic, potatoes, or onions. It's a hard place for anything that doesn't like the dry cold climate. But with beef, potatoes, onions, garlic, and rye grass for whiskey, what else does one need, right? (Oh, and there's still one sheep rancher left in the Valley for a luscious bit of variety. Can't keep a self-respecting Basque down!)
So interesting Sue! Is there much irrigation? You’re in the rain shadow of the Sierra!
Yes, there's irrigation. It's a fact of life out here in the West and water rights can be a major cause of contention.
O yes for sure.. WOWO was always on in the milk barn. Crop reports, cattle and hog markets, and some scientific reports from a land grant college on how to grow crops more efficiently. Boy David you nailed it on how to communicate by “ farmer speak”. There was one more group though, the farmer whose crops were always 15% better than anyone else’s …. the braggers… and everyone knew who the braggers were. 😂
I remember Jay Gould. He was an icon in the farming community
Wow thanks Tim. Your Dad sure wasn’t one of those braggers! He, like most of the real good ones, was always tight lipped.
Myra reminded me I forgot to mention Jay Gould.
From what I've seen with my eyes,the crops in England look good but I'm no farmer. They are growing a lot less rape seed,those blocks of bright yellow that make the landscape look like a Van Gogh in real life. In USA you use a more polite name for the product 'Canola oil'. It's because the previous political administration banned a host of useful pesticides and herbicides they enable our farmers to produce food we,the low income people can afford to buy. It's under the disguise of environmental concern. Supposedly,due to flawed and biased and paid for "research results" neo-nicotinoids kill bees,wel,they don't. Yes,everything needs to be sensibly regulated but to use concern for the environment to throw people under the bus is diabolical. That's what the USA did in 1960 when thanks to the use of DDT life in Africa,for Africans began to thrive and flourish and the economy of Africa was set to overtake USA. So a book was written and published demonising DDT and pushing Africans right back in the ditch. While in Florida,all the new housing estates and settlements get sprayed with DDT every week (from a plane) or people couldn't live there. No,it's not called DDT,and the chemical formula is just tweaked a bit,so it can get away with not being DDT,but it is.
Cor! Wind me up and let me go,eh!