[AT] today in the snow - also Harvest machinery trip

[Grant Brians]

This reminds me why I like living here in coastal central California. This
morning when I got to the ranch to load the truck out at 3:30 it was 47
degrees and right now at 6:55AM it is 44 degrees. These cold temperatures
don't even need a jacket when moving around.
     On the downside, we have not had a significant rain since December and
won't get one until winter rolls around again unless there is a tropical
storm that tracks 200+ miles of normal AND packs rain. I have already used a
significant portion of this years pipeline water allotment irrigating
Spinach, Lettuce, Turnips etc. at my home place and will have to switch to
all well water there like the other ranches.
     On Sunday morning I had driven down to Westmorland in the Imperial
Valley to check out operating Potato and Carrot harvesting machinery. When
we were there it was about 80 degrees, with a forecast for Monday of 97
degrees. Watching those big Carrot harvesters moving through the field at
7mph and filling a set of doubles (a bit over 25 tons of Carrots) at what
seems like warp speed was bizarre and impressive. It was also amazing to see
the number of Carrots left on the ground after digging them out. They would
run three machines simultaneously through the field with big articulated 4
wheel drive tractors pulling the trailers. I was told that between Grimmway
and Bolthouse (the two companies that account for over 80 percent of the
carrots produced in North America) they are hauling hundreds of truckloads a
day out of the Imperial Valley right now. I know that in the space of 10
minutes I saw 11 truckloads of Carrots go by on highway 86 heading for the
Border Patrol's station heading north toward Bakersfield.
     I am going to buy within the next week or so a Potato harvesting
machine as I need to do this with the labor shortages and costs. I hope to
get this year a Carrot or Root harvester too as I desperately need the labor
savings there too if I wish to make a living this year and in the future.
LOTS of costs. I will not be getting one of those 700+hp units they use
though, mine would be a single or two row unit pulled by one of our 80-100hp
tractors.
     Returning to the trip down to Imperial Valley, I drove over 1000 miles
and even with the severe traffic on Sunday coming back Northbound made very
good time and was impressed how bad drivers are now versus 30 years ago. I
had my sidekick with me (my now 10 year old son) and we had a good time and
talked a lot about history, machines, crops, fields, geography, soils and so
much more. That was actually probably the best part. Especially since I have
had a sever leg pain on my throttle leg for two weeks or so. The trip was
hell, but at the same time very good. My F350 burned a lot of money but good
mileage considering that I climbed the Grapevine at 70mph in 6th gear! 4200
feet elevation coming up from 500 feet in less than 7 miles.
     The potato harvest machinery will come to me on a Semi-trailer
though....
          Grant Brians
          Hollister,California vegetables, fruit and nut farmer

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com]On Behalf Of Ralph Goff
Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2013 6:15 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] today in the snow


On 4/9/2013 3:39 PM, Richard Fink Sr wrote:
> Ralph did you get that much snow from the two storms or is it drifts.
> It has been good here in central PA weather this week so far above
freezing
> to hit 69.
> R Fink
>
That is actually the whole winter's accumulation of snow you are seeing
in my photos. We have not had a thaw since it started in early November.
So every time I open the driveway it gets a little deeper. That photo
link I posted was actually a bit extreme. I was opening up a path to get
to a grain wagon parked in the hedges and the snow was literally deeper
than the 13x38 wheels on the old 40. It took a while to chew through
that pile but I got there.
Glad the link worked for the photo as image shack is being a bit hit and
miss for me the past day or so. Here is a link to the real driveway. The
"bigger view" out in the open spaces.
http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/4922/snowblowingapril8.jpg

Ralph in Sask.
>

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