Dry Farming

Dry Farming Wheat -- Pete

The term 'Dry Farming' sounds something like an oxymoron. In extremely dry areas, farming without the aid of irrigation is, of course, impossible. But in areas of Steppe climate, with 15 to 20 inches of precipitation per year, with a precipitation maximum in spring or early summer, farming can be done successfully using dry farming methods.

This method involves a technique used to build reserves of soil moisture, and, over a year's time, when combined with the normal precipitation as the crop grows, is adequate for production. This method involves what is called the 'summer fallowing' of parts of the fields. The fields are divided into wide strips and crops are planted on every other strip. The land between the cultivated bands is called the summer fallow. The purpose of leaving this soil idle is to allow moisture to accumulate in the subsoil where it will be available to help grow next year's crop in effect, using two years of moisture for a single crop. Year to year, the pattern of crop and fallow reverses. Sort of like a Venetian blind being pulled one way and then the other. Snow is an important source of moisture, and a slow snowmelt is a very beneficial event. Winds that blow snow off the fields or into drifts and low areas are not desired. This is true for adjoining grazing lands too.

Dry farmed areas normally have very large farms, often of thousands of acres. Only half the land is actually in production in any given year. Yields per acre are only moderate which also explains the huge size. The crop is often harvested by custom combine crews, which can place several machines in the fields to accomplish the harvest rapidly. Storms and hail damage at this time can be devastating.

Crops raised in dry farmed areas must either be drought resistant or drought evasive. Drought evasive means that the crop goes through its vegetative cycle early when the moisture is available, and later, as the crop matures, the lack of rainfall is actually a benefit to drying and harvesting.

Wheat is such a crop.

Wheat is a cereal plant of the Gramineae (grass) family. In dry farming wheat, producers are working with nature since the growing conditions for wheat are similar to the natural short grass vegetation of the steppe lands. Wheat is grown in many other climate zones too it is certainly not restricted to dry-land areas.

Wheat was one of the first grains to be domesticated. Cultivation began in the Neolithic period some 10,000 years ago. A time called the Agricultural Revolution. Wheat for bread was grown in the Nile Valley 7,000 years ago. It was later cultivated in the Indus and Euphrates valleys, China, and England. The Mediterranean area appears to be its place of origin. The English introduced wheat to Virginia in the 1600's.

For its early growth wheat prefers cool weather. Modern wheat varieties are usually classified as winter wheat or spring wheat. Winter wheat is planted in milder areas where the threat of winterkill is reduced. It is planted in the fall and develops crowns and roots before freezing weather begins. With the arrival of the first warm days of spring, the wheat is ready to begin growing again. Winter wheat is harvested is the late spring or early summer. 75% of all wheat grown in the United States is winter wheat. In the more severe winter areas of the northern US, winterkill is too much of a risk for many wheat varieties, so planting takes place in the spring. This wheat is called Spring wheat. The Winter Wheat Belt centers on Kansas, the Spring Wheat Belt on North Dakota. There is an intermixing of Winter and Spring wheat depending on the varieties being grown, so there is no highly defined boundary between the Belts.

How the wheat will be used depends on the gluten content. Gluten is a mixture of proteins that compose strong flexible molecules. Glutens give flour its chewiness and trap gases during the baking process allowing the dough to rise. Different types of wheat have varying ratios of gluten-to-starch (called hardness) and this is what determines the use of the flour.

Generally, the wheat of the Great Plains and western states are of the hard variety, rich in gluten, and used for bread. Durum is the hardest wheat of all and is used in pastas. North Dakota is the major producer of durum. Soft wheat is rich in starch and used for cakes, pastries and breakfast foods. They are produced in the Soft Wheat Belt located generally in the eastern and Midwestern part of the US and the eastern parts of Oregon and Washington. Wheat is also used in the manufacture of beer and whiskey. It is sometimes used as a livestock feed, depending on the market prices of other feed grains.

Kansas leads all states in the production of wheat, and North Dakota is normally second. About half the wheat grown in the United States is exported.

So, when enjoying breads, and bagels, we'll thank the Great Plains producers. For the pastas, the good people of North Dakota. And for the cakes, pastries, crackers and Wheaties, -- that could be the eastern producers or those in the Pacific Northwest.

Lots of types of wheat to meet, Pete!

And when traveling through the rural wheat states, we'll look for those sometimes-gigantic 'Prairie Skyscapers' - and if told to turn right at the elevator - we won't look for a lift inside a building!

Cemetery on a Sand Dune

In Illinois? Yup. Downstate Illinois? Double yup!! Where could that possibly happen?!

Just west of Woodland, Illinois. Approximately 80 miles south of Chicagos Loop. Woodland does have woods a somewhat unusual feature in this part of the state well see them in just a little bit. It is also where the Union Pacific RR and CSX Transportation join together for the final double track run into Chicago. Trains Magazine called Woodland one of its Hot Spots to watch rail action. Can be. Woodland came into existence when a railroad used the Pythagorean Theorem to shorten the run to St. Louis. Railroaders know Geometry too! The place became known, and still is, as Woodland Junction to the train crews and Dispatchers.

Union Pacific controls all points north of Woodland and does an admirable job of keeping traffic moving but its not unknown to see a CSX train get stabbed at Woodland waiting for UP to run their stuff first! While those GE Diesels idle, lets take a walk west of town.

http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=40.7144&lon=-87.7311&size=s&s=25

Thats Sugar creek immediately west of downtown Woodland pretty neat meanders and oxbows. The trees are growing on or next to the river bottom. Sugar Creek continues north to join the Iroquois River and sends its drainage on to the Illinois River. Look a little farther west, there is a cemetery.

About one mile west of Woodland is Body Cemetery interesting name! Actually, it is pronounced BO-dee. Graves there date from the 1800s. We need to remember that Mortuary Science back then isnt what it is today and those good people were oftentimes buried is simple wooden coffins with no vault. (This is a major factor in why older tombstones are often tilted over time, the coffin disintegrated beneath it.) It was imperative that the coffins be buried at a site with good drainage and Body fills that need.

Its a sand dune!

Toward the end of the Pleistocene, a glacier deposited an end moraine approximately 15 miles to the south in northern Vermilion County. As the ice front retreated, that moraine acted like a dam and pooled the meltwaters into what is known as Lake Watseka. Eventually, that lake was drained but its flat floor and sandy deposits are evidence of its existence.

During Ice Age winters following the draining of the lake, the lake floor sediments freeze-dried and strong winds whipped the material into dunes. The dunes become more numerous in a northward direction. If we climbed back into those GEs, notched em out to Run 8, and headed north (with UPs permission) we would be impressed with the number of dunes around St. Anne, Illinois. Many farmers here grow Produce for the fresh markets of Chicago but irrigation is often a must because of the sandy soil.

http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=41.0527&lon=-87.6658&s=50&size=s

This map is to the northeast of St. Anne thats the railroad to the west it made an alignment for Chicago back in town. Look at all the mounds those are dunes. Look at the gentle windward side facing southwest and the steep slip-off slope facing northeast. Pretty neat stuff to be looking at on the prairies of Illinois!!

Reaching Yard Center in Chicago we could look at some of the cemeteries in the Windy City and see they too are located on sand deposits not dunes this time though, sand spits and former shorelines of Glacial Lake Chicago!

So, sand and cemeteries, -- the gravediggers didnt complain too much about the difficulty of shoveling the deposit!!

http://www.uprr.com/
http://www.csx.com/

Kamchatka

The volcanic mountain tops of the Kamchatka Peninsula are littered with whale bones at least thats what the ancient people who lived there believed. They were convinced that spirits called Gomuls lived high in the mountains, and at night they would fly over the ocean to catch whales. The whales were then brought back to the mountain tops for roasting which
explained why the mountain tops became lighted at night! No one ever dared to ascend the mountain to find out. Or, if they did, they never returned to tell of it.

Today, there is a slightly different interpretation. J

The Kamchatka Peninsula lies in eastern Russia between the Sea of Okhotsk to the west and the Bering Sea and Pacific ocean to the east. It is a relative newcomer to the geographic scene which explains its volcanic action. It
is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire; the Kuril-Kamchatka island arc system, which has many active volcanoes and some two dozen of them are on Kamchatka. This is the result of plate collisions with the Pacific plate diving below the North American plate. As strange as that may seem, a United States Geological Survey map of the plates of the world shows this as
correct! http://geology.about.com/science/geology/library/graphics/crustalplates.gif

The peninsula is approximately 750 miles long and 300 miles wide. The total area is just a little less than that of Nevada at 104,000 square miles.

Volcanism began in the late Pliocene and ultimately resulted in the speartip-shaped landmass we see today. Not unlike other volcanic areas, as the magma was withdrawn to feed the volcanoes, subsidence of the overlying rock occurred, creating a sort of horst and graben landscape. Modern volcanoes are located atop the eastern fault zones. The Kamchatka River flows in a graben between volcanic areas to the east and west.

The most active volcanoes today are along the eastern and southeastern parts of the peninsula, but an older and quieter zone lies to the west of the Kamchatka River in the central and western regions. Kluchevskoi is a dominating volcano of the Kliuchi Group at the northern end of the eastern volcanic chain. It is over 15,000 feet in elevation and is the largest active volcano in all of Eurasia.

Considering its origins in fire, the climate of Kamchatka is almost the opposite. This land is windswept and has bitterly cold and snowy winters. Summers are cool. Few people live in this part of the world. Subarctic climate dominates and mountain vegetation covers huge areas. The central valley and west coast have peat bogs and mosses resembling tundra. The
eastern coastline is rugged due to the active collision and volcanics, while the western coast is more level and swampy.

The few people who do live here (400,000 or so mostly Russians), earn their living by fishing, canning, sealing, mining, lumbering, shipbuilding, and woodworking. Fishing dominates the economy and huge King crabs are the main catch and exported worldwide. Trapping of fur bearing animals is the occupation of some, and Kamchatka leads all of Russias Far Eastern areas in production.

In the graben between the volcanic areas flows the Kamchatka River, and it is here, in somewhat sheltered conditions, that the lumbering and agriculture take place. Agriculture is extremely limited as we might expect, but cattle, and crops of rye, oats, potatoes, and vegetables are grown. There are also small farms in the southern area near the city of Petropavlovsk. Reindeer are raised on the peninsula too.

Kamchatka has its mineral wealth as well though far removed from marketing areas. Deposits of coal, gold, mica, pyrites, sulfur, and tufa (a calcareous porous mass found near hot springs and geysers) are found here.

Southern Kamchatka is even the site of Russias only geo-thermal installation.

Even a bit of tourism is developing as people come to Kronotsky Nature Reserve to see hot springs and geysers kind of like a very remote Russian Yellowstone!

So, even as isolated and inhospitable as Kamchatka is, there are reasons for people to live there and who knows, maybe, sometime, someone will find some whale bones up on the glowing mountaintops!

The Shetland Islands and Their Dog

The Shetland Islands lie in the North Atlantic 130 miles from the coast of Scotland. They are remnants of an ancient mountain range formed at the close of the Silurian Period of geologic time. These mountains extended from Norway through Scotland, northern England, and Ireland and continue on as the northern Appalachians of North America. The separation of Europe and North America has distanced these sections by some 2,500 miles. About 100 islands make up the archipelago, but only 15 or so are inhabited. Grazing lands were used on the uninhabited islands and this created a need that the Shetland Islanders were very creative in solving.

The islands have deeply indented fjord-like coasts with steep rocky cliffs. Few trees grow there due to the constant winds and gales. At latitude 60 degrees north, the islands climate might be expected to be quite severe but the warm waters of the North Atlantic Drift modify things considerably, though the climate is still described as harsh. Snow is rare.

The Islands occupy an area of approximately 550 square miles; the population is roughly 22,000. The town of Lerwick, on the largest island of Mainland, is the administrative center and chief port. Economic activity includes fishing, farming, livestock, tourism, and petroleum.

The main type of agriculture is called crofting that includes a few acres of arable land and the sharing of pasturelands. To supplement their incomes, crofters also fish, work in the oil industry or join the Royal Navy.

Lerwick is a large fishing port and processing center. Traditionally, herring has been the most sought after catch, but has declined over several decades. Today whitefish, crabs, and lobsters are most important. Tourism is important too, as some 40 cruise ships make call each season.

Discovery and development oil fields in the North Sea have provided additional jobs. A major oil terminal is located at Sullom Voe in the Shetland Islands. The oil industry has also increased the importance of Lerwick as a supply and service center.

The Vikings once controlled the islands and used them as a base for attacking Scotland and Ireland. Among the things the Vikings introduced were sheep. The present-day animals retain some of the wild characteristics of the originals and are known as Shetland Sheep. The Shetland is the smallest of the British breeds and has a very distinctive fine-fiber, silky, wool. This wool is woven into patterns called Shetland and Fair Isle, and used in various articles and garments. Shetland sheep withstand the harsh weather conditions, graze on the common pastures called scattald; but they also descend the rocky cliffs to the shoreline to feed on seaweed. The unique mutton is of increasing importance.

Since many of the sheep are pastured on uninhabited islands, a way had to be found to herd and protect them. The Shetland Sheepdog was the answer. The Shetland Sheepdog or Sheltie may look like a miniature Collie but it is a distinct breed. Both the Shetland and the Collie may share a heritage to a herding dog from Scotland something like todays Border Collie it is thought. The Sheltie was downsized to accommodate the conditions of the Shetland Islands. Shelties are double coated, with an insulating inner coat for warmth and a long flowing outer coat for protection from wind and rain. Shelties were left in charge of the flocks. Their small size, agility, and superior intelligence allowed the crofters to trust them completely.

The Sheltie was recognized as a breed by the English Kennel Club in 1909, -- known then as the Shetland Collie, but became known as the Shetland Sheepdog in 1914. The American Kennel Club recognized the Sheltie in 1911.

The Sheltie is a bright, responsive dog loves to play and has a great desire to please. But they do need a job to do. That instinctive need to be active and doing something continues in the Shelties we have as pets. We might even say a Sheltie is a Natural Geographer - observe how they will position themselves in such a way as to keep an eye on all of the action going on around them!

One dog trainer suggested Dont ever teach a Sheltie something you dont want them to know, because they will never forget it!

So, while there is a great deal more to the Shetland Islands than we might imagine, perhaps that vivacious little sheepdog is the best contribution of all!