TALES FROM THE BACK 40 - In a list of the most dangerous industries where accidents happen the most often you’ll find agriculture. Farm workers’ fatality rates are seven times higher than the average for other jobs. Considering the dangers—from the moving parts on machinery to high voltage power lines to animals that far outweigh the farmer—it’s easy to see why many folks end up in the emergency room or hospital.

TALES FROM THE BACK 40 - Last month, I wrote about how my family and I spent plenty of time out in the field and up in the haymow producing and putting away thousands of small square bales each year. On our farm, they were 18 inches wide, 14 inches high, and 36 inches long and weighed around 40 pounds each. Those are Dad’s measurements; Mom said they’re underestimated. “They were more like seven feet long and weighed about 100 pounds each,” she said. While we kept making those thousands of square bales every summer, we also graduated to other sizes and formats of hay accumulation.

TALES FROM THE BACK 40 -When I was growing up, we harvested our first crop of hay in early June, as the alfalfa plants were budding. These days, farmers seem to be cutting and baling their first crops earlier and earlier each year.

TALES FROM THE BACK 40 - My, what big machines you have! As spring planting is in full swing (and maybe even finished in your part of the country), I can’t help but notice how big all the equipment has become. Of course, it is a function of the amount of ground that the operators of today’s larger farms have to cover in a day, and I’d sure like to have the chance to drive one of those behemoths.

TALES FROM THE BACK 40 -It feels like a whole new world on the farm when spring comes around. When we visited the Back 40 in March, I promised that—after ordering the seed and fertilizer—we would get to the field this time. We had to be patient because, as Dad said in last month’s installment, he’d started in the fields as early as March only twice in his farming career.

TALES FROM THE BACK 40 - My view out of the window as I write this is of a lot of snow covered by a nice glaze of ice, but my thoughts have turned to what we used to do on the farm about this time of year. As the temperatures were regularly above freezing, it was a waiting game for the snow to melt and the ground to thaw so we could get into the fields.