Skip to main content

Shredding Almond Prunings

It's winter on the farm and that means it's pruning time!


We have had crews going through the orchards pruning the dead wood and any overlapping branches what would be prohibiting sunlight from getting through the orchard canopy. The trees need ample light to ensure nuts develop and grow throughout the whole tree.


Once the pruning is done, crews then stack the branches down the center of the orchard rows and prepare for the shredder! The shredder has a series of multiple blades and is pulled behind a tractor through the orchard. We are left with small wood chips. Really, the videos and seeing this machine in person are pretty cool!


The wood chips will break down over time with rain, irrigation and general orchard practices. All those nutrients that are in tree and branches will remain in the orchard via those wood chips to ensure mothing is lost.


But what are you waiting for, go check out my YouTube video all about it!
AND be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel for all …
Post a Comment

A New Adventure


It’s been a busy month and a half to kick off the year.

New adventures, new beginnings and a new home!

 
PC: STACEY LEIGH PHOTOGRAPHY
 



We sold our house, were temporarily homeless as our family called it, then we bought our new home on some farmland, and to top it all off I am in the middle of "conference season" as it is referred to by my husband. 

 

Growing up in the country, I've missed living on the farm. Living on the farm were some of my greatest memories. It helped mold me to who I am today. I loved watching the tractors from outside the kitchen window, being able to jump in the truck with my Dad whenever he was working near by, having the opportunity to raise livestock, riding quads around the farm and just being outside as a family. When the opportunity came up to purchase acreage with a house, we jumped on it. 

 

Logistically speaking it was a hard decision. We had to sell our house, which meant closing escrow before we closed on the new house. With a few weeks in between, we found ourselves bunking up with my in-laws. Not ideal, especially for them, but thankfully they took us in.

 

But it all worked out and now we are living on our “new farm” as my son calls it. The kids are busy exploring the almond orchard and we are busy making the beautiful farmhouse ours! 

 

We are lucky the orchard was planted in almonds 10 years ago, so we should be able to get some more years of productive life out of it. It will be all hands, big and little, on deck to ensure we keep costs down and make it a true family farm. Hoping to do as much ourselves as possible. My son is already driving his little tikes tractor around picking up sticks and my daughter just cries every time you tell her its time to go inside.

 
PC: STACEY LEIGH PHOTOGRAPHY

The home is in great shape, I just of course want to make it my own. So a few small renovations and we will be living in the main house soon! In the meantime, our little family of four is getting real cozy in the 1,000 square foot original 1930’s homestead that is also on the property. The real purpose for the original homestead will  be my mom’s guest house when she comes to visit, but in the short term it’s our home for now. Hoping we don't have to stay in this little house for too much longer and can move into the main house soon.

 
PC: STACEY LEIGH PHOTOGRAHY

Did I mention there are also corrals on the property? I grew up raising sheep and pigs so I can’t wait to get my kids some animals too! The 4h years will be here soon and if I can convince the farmer husband we will have chickens and sheep soon, but he’s still not too excited about it. My son already thinks he is getting a bunny for Easter…. wish my luck on that one!

The farmer husband is happy too because he finally gets his shop. He has been needing his own space for awhile now. Let's be real, the house is mine and the kids overtake the outside space. So with this new property, he gets a shop as well as a semi detached office space that I promised to just take one wall....and maybe a corner.

 

There will be a lot going on for us for awhile, the craziness is only just starting. I’ll be sure to share our journey, so be sure to follow along on my Instagram stories for the inside look! I have already been sharing some, but if you don't follow me go find me instagram.com/almondgirljenny/

 

We are so excited for our new adventure and to be able to enjoy life on the farm! 

Until Next Time,
Almond Girl Jenny





Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Almond varieties

Did you know there are over 30 different varieties of almonds grown commercially?! All have their own unique purpose, size, and shape. Most almond farmers, have multiple varieties in the same orchard, the most popular being nonpareil. Nonpareil is the prettiest almond, most widely produced and comes with the biggest return back to the grower. But we can't all farm nonpareils, they need to be pollinated somehow. Almonds typically need at least two varieties in an orchard because the almond flower cannot pollinate itself like other fruit trees can. We learned about that with the almond bloom and bee blog!! So we have pollinator varieties that complement other varieties and offer their own unique purpose. I am going to outline a few of the more widely grown varieties for you, but feel free to check out The Almond Board of California's full guide.


Nonpareil has the most uses and purposes of any other nut. It can be used in raw form, blanched, processed or anything you …
1 comment
Read more

Almond by-products

When people think of almond uses they tend to just think of using the almond meat. Almonds have multiple by-products actually. When almonds are processed at the huller the almond meat is separated from the hull and shell. The hulls, shells and hash are also sold and used.

Almond hulls are the green out most layer of the almond while on the tree. The hull is what splits and starts the countdown to harvest. Once the almond has dried in the field, the hull also dries and begins to separate from the almond. At the huller, they remove the hulls and stock pile them until sold. Almond hulls are sold for animal feed, most commonly dairy feed. The hulls actually add nutrition to the animals diet and aid in healthy milk production. Growing up on my family's farm, we used the hulls to feed our breeding sheep. It was cheaper than grain, helped to add nutrition to the animal diet and while filled them up faster.

Almond shells are the hard layer between the hull and the almond meat. …
Post a Comment
Read more

Modern Agriculture

What is Modern Agriculture?
Modern agriculture could be a scientist in a lab creating the newest impossible non-meat hamburger. Modern agriculture could mean the development of GMO seeds to decrease pesticide use. Modern agriculture could be turning on your irrigation system from an app on your computer. Modern agriculture could just mean the use of GPS in tractors, or maybe just the use of a tractor on a farm. Modern agriculture could mean something different to you depending on how you look at agriculture.






Modern agriculture is essentially developing practices that help farmers increase efficiency and reduce the amount of resources to meet the world's needs. But depending on your interpretation of the term you could already have created your opinion of modern agriculture. 2% of the population is involved in agriculture but 100% of the population has opinions.
That's the situation we face today, consumers tend to develop their own opinions of modern agriculture without unders…
Post a Comment
Read more