Photos from last week

There was a tornado warning for the next county east last week. Tornado warnings are very rare in Idaho, averaging less than on per year. This is the storm that caused all the excitement. This photo was taken looking SES.

A few days earlier I took a walk around the farm, and took pictures with my phone.

The quality is far from great, but you get an idea of the variety of crops and irrigation techniques we use. The first image is a field that is water by siphon tubes, a form of gravity flow irrigation. I will give more detail about it in a later post.

Both images below show a field irrigated by sprinkler pipe. The examples shown are wheel lines. Named because of the wheels that aid in moving the pipe. The last photo shows two wheel lines that are twisted together. This field had yet to be irrigated for the year because of the unusually wet spring weather.

JHN

I - D - A - H - O!

I am finally back to Idaho. While walking around the farm this morning I took a few pictures on my Blackberry. I am still figuring out the best way to get them onto here.

Now that I'm back I will try to post frequently.

Update

My blog quickly became my last priority while I was substitute teaching, working my day job, and searching for a full time teaching position.
A full time teaching job became an adventure that has taken me to teach in South Dakota.
I'll be back to Idaho in late May, again on the job hunt, this time maybe not teaching, but I will begin blogging again once I'm in the treasure valley.

Early Spring Photos

Hard Red Spring Wheat planted late last fall





Hard Red Wheat; high in protein typically ground into flour for breads






Wheel Line Sprinklers tossed and tangled by Treasure Valley wind storms

Impact of Treasure Valley Agriculture on You and the World

All of us who reside in the beautiful bountiful Treasure Valley encounter some form of our great agricultural heritage. For some of us this may be driving past the hundreds of miles of canals in the Treasure Valley, for others it is the fields near our homes that we watch change from day to day and season to season.

Most people never stop to think about the impact that agriculture has on this valley, both historically and in the status quo. From the development of our water control system to being a large portion of the economy directly, through production, or indirectly, through shipping or marketing.

The Treasure Valley produces approximately seventy-five percent of the world's sweet corn seed. The farmers of the Treasure Valley along with seed companies create hybrids of established corn varieties. This seed to used to grow the corn that eventually ends up in a can or frozen, or even the corn on the cob you buy at chain grocery stores.

The semi-arid climate, water availability, volcanic rich soil, and ability to rotate a variety of crops makes our valley unique and vital to the balance of crops grown in the United States and through out the world.

The reservoir system on most of our rivers was started by the need for water to feed the early immigrants brave enough to settle in the barren sagebrush grassland this valley once was.

I will continue with the history of our waterways, reservoirs, and dams next time.
If you are interested in some facts about Idaho agriculture check out the link below, it's a PDF file from the Idaho State Department of Agriculture.

Think of Agriculture Today.
JHN

http://www.agri.state.id.us/Categories/Marketing/Documents/englishagfactsbrochure%202.pdf

What is Agriculture?

Agriculture is defined by Merriam-Webster as the science, art, or practice of cultivating the soil, producing crops, and raising livestock and in varying degrees the preparation and marketing of the resulting products.

Agriculture is a large portion of our economy in Idaho and directly effects every one's life everyday even though most people never think of it. I want this blog to help people realize how agriculture effects them and how being a smart consumer helps both the consumer and the producer.

This is my first post. As the growing season is fast approaching full swing, I plan on posting entries and photos of crops here in the Treasure Valley and throughout Idaho as they are planted, cultivated, irrigated, and harvested.

I hope to base many of my future posts off of feedback, ideas and questions from readers, so please let me know what you would like my to cover. Anything from a specific crop to growing techniques such as organic and sustainable to following the product from field to table.

Thank you for reading.
JHN