Bringing in a New Year

On the last day of 2011, three brave souls--Katy, Evan and Rawley--came with me for a farm tour at Pleasant Grove Farm. Here's a little of what we saw:

Grain Bins, Christmas Tree, Fuel Tanks

Katy, Evan and Rawley do their thing on the catwalk

Seed Cleaner

Inside the seed cleaning mill

Rawley on an old land grader

Old electric well motors--may be where R2D2 is from

Parts from cultivating implements

The old parts (not junk!) yard

John Deere CTS Rice Combine

Tractors enjoying their 2 week farm vacation

Rawley getting ready to harvest some rice...it's gonna be a long wait

Corn Harvester

This machine spends 3 months harvesting and 9 months as a very expensive cat perch

Tractors and combines

The Pleasant Grove Farm Machine Shop

The Sutter Buttes to the north

Harvesting the last bits of rice

'Winter' Wheat

We celebrated the New Year together at Katy and Evan's farm in Esparto, eating tamales, black eyed peas and their delicious pomegranates. After a pancake breakfast I headed to the Capay Valley to spend first day of 2012 in one of my favorite places:

View of Rumsey Canyon from the 'New' Trail

Another view of the Sutter Buttes

Capay Valley

Chickens at Full Belly Farm

Pear orchard in Winter Time

Comments

GJW said…

love these pics reed! wish we couldve been there but seeing these is next best thing. happy new years!

January 2, 2012 at 5:52 AM

From the cab of a John Deere 8410

Ready for another day of field work Spending long days in the cab of a John Deere 8410 belted tractor gives me a lot of alone time. When I'm not staring at the sheaths of earth left tossed up by the powerful steel disks in tow behind the tractor, I watch the rice trucks on Highway 99, which runs next to the field, or I observe the chickens, cranes and the crows as they feast on insects unearthed by cultivation. And I wonder how of all things I ended up driving a tractor on a farm in South Sutter County. It is because I spent these recent days alone on the tractor--and because Fall is the season for remembering and for contemplation of life and death-- that I have resurrected up this blog yet again. Sutter County Mornings I could go back years, trying to figure out how I ended up where I am, but a good starting point would be the Summer of 2009, when I began my fourth year as the Nutrition Education Site Coordinator, aka 'Garden Teacher' at Park Elementary...

Oakland Stroll

February 4, 2008: Nervous about Super Tuesday, but hopeful that Obama can pull it off and eventually get the nomination. Slightly pleased that the somewhat more respectable McCain is leading over the deplorable Romney (even though I don't have much love for Republicans). Current Book: "China Road", Rob Gifford Current Song: "SF Anthem" Traxamillion and San Quinn First in an installment. I hope to explore East Bay neighborhoods and take pictures. I'm not attempting to interview people to get the pulse of an area, but rather capture the images that strike me and hopefully create a visual sense of the community. I plan to do this a couple times of month. Let me know what you think. This being one of the few sunny, rainless days we've had of late, I decided to spend part of my day off walking through some Oakland neighborhoods instead of doing housework or studying. I live near High Street and 580, in Maxwell Park. I headed west, along Brookdal...

Food, Books, Hikes, Politics

I realize it's been a while since I've posted, so I thought I'd fill in those of you who read this on some snippets from my life of late... Books: I just finished a fantastic book called Lost City Radio, by Daniel Alarcón, a Peruvian-born author who now resides in Oakland (and from his description of the neighborhood, probably not far from me). I'm not really in the game of writing literary reviews, but I would say the book is an excellent, though at times, difficult read. The story is set in a fictional South American country that bears many similarities with Peru: a dry coastal capital city, a mountain region and a jungle area. The book delves into the violence and disappearances that tore the country apart during a civil war. Of note, the author does an incredible job weaving recollections into the storyline. I highly recommend reading in; in fact, I bought the book, so if you're in the area, you're welcome to borrow it. Hikes: I've spent some t...

When the Almond Tree Blooms

Search This Blog