The Farm in February...

I’m not sure “down time” exists on a farm, but if there is a less busy stretch for us, it runs from late December until about now. We use this short window to condition seed and to catch up on the work that’s hard to fit in once the season ramps up.

Today, we’re conditioning soybean seed—what most folks call cleaning. Seed conditioning is one of the most important steps between harvest and planting. It’s where we use a special machine with screens to remove dirt, debris, cracked seed, and weed seed from the harvested crop. This process prepares seed for safe storage and ensures farmers end up with high-quality, uniform seed that plants efficiently in the field.

Good seed matters. Careful conditioning improves stand consistency and helps planting go smoothly when the time comes. This work happens long before a planter sees the fields, but it plays a big role in how a crop performs later.

Conditioning seed is part of our "certified seed" operation, which deserves its own post. I'll get on that soon! I'll try to get a good video of the cleaner in action, too.

After we condition the seed, it goes into this hopper (that daddy painted "Clemson orange") so that we can put it into a bulk bag that hangs on the 4 metal hooks. It's weighed with the built-in scale and then moved by forklift to another part of the shed. If we're putting the conditioned seed in paper bags, it is sewn using the sewing machine in the background and then stacked on a pallet by hand.

Equipment checks take up a lot of our time right now, too. We go through tractors, planters, and support equipment piece by piece. When planting starts, there’s no room for surprises. We’d rather catch issues in the shop than in the field.

There’s also plenty of planning happening behind the scenes. We’re lining up deliveries of inputs, reviewing field histories, and making sure everything is ready to move when the weather cooperates. Farming never really stops. Even when we're not in the dirt, there’s always paperwork, numbers, and logistics to handle in the office.

This season reminds us why we do this. It’s not flashy work, but it’s necessary work. Every decision right now sets the tone for the months ahead.

It's much easier to work on equipment at the shop than it is in the field. Tractors have multiple filters that need to be changed after so many hours of use, and oil should be checked regularly. The red pieces of equipment behind the tractors are litter spreaders. A little note about the shed in the background: My granddad built it back in the 60's! We had to repair part of the roof in 2016 after a rare tornado hit the area.