Pic-of-the-Week for July 24, 2013

Yes, I am a little late getting this one out!

This week has been spent visiting with our daughter  and family in the Eugene area.  We all are staying at Harriet’s cousin’s house.  Our trailer is parked in his driveway, and our daughter and family are staying in their house.  The cousin is a major part of Malpass Farms, LLC and what a farm it is! 

They are currently farming over 8,000 acres.  They grow many types of grass seed, about 4 kinds of wheat, corn, and spear mint.  This is one of their busy times of the year, and they have about 50 employees working in the fields and in the warehouse.  Below is a photo of two of the many barns used to store straw after the seed has been harvested.  Also, in the picture is one of the many large, very old native oak trees that are around the houses where we are staying.  Both barns are full to the brim of the straw now.  This straw is eventually shipped to Japan and used for cattle feed!  

One of the trucks and trailers used to haul the seed from the field to the warehouse.

Here is a combine harvesting wheat, and at the same time, the combine is unloading the grain into a large hopper which then unloads into a truck trailer.  This equipment may look like something you have seen in the past, but it is not!  Modern farm equipment and tractor can pretty much operate by themselves.  The combine is being controlled by a GPS system that controls its path within about 1”.  It could also be controlling the tractor direction and speed.

The tractor when used for an operation like plowing can plow a field by itself once the perimeter has been defined, and the first pass has been made by the operator.

One of our first mornings staying at the farm we were awakened by an airplane spraying mint that was growing on all 4 sides of the house.  

For a video of the airplane spraying, check out our July 2013 Picasa album  .
Specifically, the videos are ONE and TWO.


Harriet thinks that she has the cutest and smartest grand kids in the world!  They seem to think that our travel trailer is just the right size and made just for them!

OK.  Ben wrote the farm stuff.  I get to write the kid stuff.  I bought David a set of wooden, magnetic ABC's, and he's been thrilled to death with them.  So far, he hasn't even lost any letters, I think.  I also got him a magnetic message board for him to write on, and he loves the combination.  The other day, I asked him what he had written on his board.  He told me it was Arabic ABC's, and Rebecca said it was pretty correct, other than backwards (Arabic goes right to left).  Not bad for a three 1/2 year old!!  He even recited them for me! 

Aaron is winning hearts wherever he goes.  How can you resist a smile like this ?

Our two dachshunds, Sam and Zoey, and also enjoying life on the farm.  I bought a ball for the boys to play with the other day, but Sam decided it was HIS!  I've never seen him play with a ball like this before.  He'll chase and bite and roll over it!  Here's the link to the video of Sam and his ball.  

We hope you enjoyed our "farm report".  Until next week,

Your Baja amigos hanging out at the farm with the kids,
Ben, Harriet, Sam & Zoey