What do people do down there in all those circles and squares?

You see them flying over and must wonder, what is it like down there?

The squares are sections a mile x a mile. The sections are sold in pieces. A farm can be chunks of separate sections, they usually are.

Southwest Nebraska, the northeast portion of the county.

I asked a lot, actually. I always imagined I'd be good at driving one of those tractors. I can focus, and stay focused. I'd make straighter lines, better turns, I'd follow the terrain better than what I would see as passenger driving by. I imagined myself a farmer.

And wheat, don't get me started. I am fascinated about every aspect of it. I can listen for hours about yields, protein levels, red VS white, winter VS spring, hard VS soft. Where it is stored, how the grain is mixed, where it goes, how it gets there, who buys it, how silos work, and tractor implements. I am a good audience for otherwise taciturn ranchers. I am specifically interested in the details of wheat.

I ask, and am answered.

This is personal!

Always nice to hear from you.

The new Google earth updated satellite view of my farm was taken in 2013, showing the effects of our ongoing drought. Not one acre was harvested in 2013, first time in the history of our farm since 1917. Even in the worst year of the dust bowl, 1934, we received 4 inches of rain, but in 2013 only 3 inches total for the year. 2014 is shaping up to be just as bad. An early frost stopped the growth of the newly planted wheat so there wasn't enough growth to survive the below zero temps of late, shrinking the plant to below the surface so now all the land is highly erodible from wind. It's a real mess with sifted dirt drifts. The odd result, however, is that I made more money with Federal Crop Insurance than if I would have had a normal crop. 

I took my third Belgian to the house center of this screen grab. The house with the arched driveway. She would not let me out of her sight. Not one second, not one foot. There would be no chance of our separation.

I was told drive up to the big white house but all I saw was a small one so up to that I went. With nothing around for scale everything looks small. Once inside the house the foyer is large as my apartment. To the left is a room that used to be several rooms now with windows on three sides. Full windows on three sides that open up to wheat all around. It is like looking out from a boat upon a true sea of amber waving grain.

But not now.

Farmer Dean spoke about health. I spoke about exercise. His exercise is impressive, I said.  He mentioned he thought he wasn't having enough and I countered he has more than most. Walking up and down the ladder into the tractor is excellent exercise right there, but not for an hour, for a whole day. Then in deeper than ankle-depth dirt, fine dirt, the most extraordinarily groomed dirt you ever saw. Dust, actually, but it smells alive. The dirt must be cleared of weeds, the kind that grow and dry out and turn into tumbleweeds. Those type get caught up in the grooming equipment and must be cleared out by hand. The farmer climbs out of the cab to release the pulled up weed caught in the groomer so that it does not spread seeds throughout the whole field. 

That is what I learned from my day as farmer. 

The new tractor I bought this year is gigantic (400 horsepower) and so computerized that I can't even drive it. Thankfully, James has a degree in computer science from Georgia Tech so he can program everything on the touch screen in mere minutes. It even chooses the gear & engine rpm for you automatically depending on the soil conditions. Here's a pic (scroll down on pics to see computerized controls:)

Embarrassed to tell you that I paid $238,000 for the damn thing. There's five steps up to get to into the cab, as opposed to four on the old one & wouldn't ya know, James missed that last step on our last day of planting, fell hard to the ground & broke his ankle.

Bummer. (The link provided was unhelpful. I could not find what it was supposed to show.)

Earthstone Energy from Denver is planning on drilling an exploratory oil well on my land in early March. We haven't drilled for oil since 1972, dry hole at 4700 feet. They will be drilling to 6200 feet this time. We told them we do not want any more natural gas wells (though if they hit gas & not oil they will tie in to the existing pipe line.) We now have 17 gas wells (I have 5 on my own land and my family has 12 on the theirs). I'm also very concerned about the fracking chemicals going into our water supply. Natural gas is so cheap that it cost us more to farm around them than what the royalty check adds up to.  I could certainly use an oil well if my health prevents me from continuing to farm. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

So far he's spoke only of his father. I thought that is all the family there is.

So that is what they do. I also learned about family-farm politics. One family is (was) buying up property in the area and bragging about how many combines it takes to harvest their sections. Six or seven harvesters whatever. It angers other farmers who do not take to bragging like that so when one of them sells they arrange in advance to avoid selling to the successful land aggregator that brags too much.

I was also told the house at the bottom left was originally a Sears house, bought directly from a catalog. Added on to since then.

One thing about living out there in isolation like that is you can wake up in the morning and step out onto the front porch stoop to greet the day and take a morning piss right there with nobody around to observe or judge you.

That is what happens down there in those circles and squares.