Spring's Work has Begun!

Well, the nice weather has arrived and along with that comes the work of Spring! Monday we spread the liquid manure on the corn fields. Oh, the smell of liquid manure! There is really no way to describe this smell other than STRONG! Imagine the mild smell of composted manure that you may buy at the garden centre for your plants, well...liquid manure is essentially "fresh". No fermentation has occurred and the manure is extremely high in nitrogen. Just what a growing corn plant needs. Unfortunately, the smell is strong too. I went to town on Tuesday evening for a meeting and when I got out of my car, I smelled the faint scent of the manure, probably from my car's tires.
My 13 year old daughter came home from school on Monday to see the tractors and tanks thundering through the yard as the manure was carried from our pit, down the road to the unplanted corn fields. Although we live in a rural area, there are not that many working farms anymore. Much fewer now, than when my husband was her age. So for the younger boys on the bus to see, close up, the huge machinery is a thrill. For my daughter, it's horrifying! When she came in the house she was mortified that I hadn't warned her that we were spreading manure that day! My husband and I were unsympathetic and just laughed! It's what we do, we told her. I can't imagine the other kids are horrified at what their fathers and mothers do for a living! But then again, their jobs probably don't require them to stink up the neighbourhood!
The guy we hired to spread the manure left his equipment at our farm that night and came in the morning to pick it up and move on to the next farm a few kilometres away to stink up that neighbourhood. Just as they were leaving the school bus was arriving to pick up my daughter, "They're STILL at it!!!!" she cried, absolutely horrified, once again. I told them they were just leaving and boy did she let out a sigh of relief!
Now the race has begun with the weather to get the manure worked into the soil and plant the corn before it rains! Oh let's pray for sun, then later we'll be praying for rain!
Happy Planting to All!