Farm Day 2012

For Margaret's birthday proper, we decided as a family to go out and celebrate Manitoba Farm Day, where numerous farms around Manitoba open themselves up to the public.  The only reason I had heard of it was because on the way up to the lake we stopped at Chorney's family farm, a long standing Yost tradition, and they were opening themselves up this year for the first time.  Due to time constraints though we were only able to visit the Chorney's farm, but hopefully next year we can make a longer day of it.

We learned all sorts of tidbits about their farm and farming in general.  The Chorneys do mixed farming with around 1500 acres within 6 miles of their farmhouse.  They have a ton of crops that they bring in, in addition to the produce for the farmstand, including oats, wheat, canola, corn & soybeans.  I had never thought that soybeans were so prevalent in Canada yet, but they have made a large inroad in the past decade, in part due to their success in low rain environments.  The level of automation is pretty amazing nowadays.  Apparently when he first started it would take hours to fill a grain truck, now with the large combines they are filling them every 15-30 minutes.  The combines now weigh their loads so they have an inventory management system that is accurate within 1%.  They just added an air blower to their combine to keep more seed on it that was apparently necessitated by their foray into soybeans, which will now yield slightly greater harvests for all crops.

According to Mr. Chorney (I believe it was Doug) they plant about 14 acres for their farm stand (under 1% of their acreage), but it takes up 50% of their time.  Clearly this is either a lucrative venture or they understand the part they play in some people's weekend driving trips around Manitoba...

Now for a short retrospective on the day.

On Highway 59, just North of Highway 4.  Home of the 1976 Manitoba Potato of the Year.

Big tractor tires.

Cara approves of their choice of John Deere equipment.

This tractor was attached to a disker / plough / seeder that was run by air pressure.

After seeing the tractors, the combine & the grain augers, we were off to the garden patch to pick our own produce.

Cara is SUPER EXCITED about getting her own tomato.  We had a frost two nights prior, so the plants were suffering.

Frances is pleased with her selection of a tomato and a jalapeño pepper, though not nearly as excited as Cara was...

 

Apparently they use this little guy when they are out picking produce, and removing severely injured football players from their fields.

Enjoying theirs self-chosen carrots by the grain truck.