IF THEY WEREN’T WORKING the land, farmers along a stretch between Mankato and west of New Ulm were preparing to plant on Saturday.
Everywhere, these tenders of the earth steered tractors along roadways and through fields, hurrying to prep the soil and seed crops during this year’s delayed planting season.
Seed bags topped wagons and pick-up trucks.
Mammoth tractors pulling equally mammoth implements crept along rural roadways.
Sky and land swallowed small scale tractors.
On a rare occasion dust flew in the field.
And I took it all in, savoring this sweet time in the growing cycle as only one born and raised on a farm can.
This place, this land, still claims my heart each spring, each summer, each fall, through the seasons of planting and growing and harvest.
Photos were taken along U.S. Highway 14 and along Brown County Road 29.
© Copyright 2014 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Yes, and the planting race is furious here culminating with the perfect rain late yesterday afternoon and continuing yet this morning. Those plant will leap out of the soil in the coming hours!!!!
We saw a few fields with plants emerging on our weekend trek. But mostly, we saw lots of black dirt.
Definitely green sprouts around here!
You are definitely ahead of our region.
That is so interesting!!
Nice photos of our farmer friends in action, Audrey. Thanks!
It’s definitely a busy time of year with the race to get seeds planted.
It is a magical time of year; for the last two years in a row it has arrived later than normal. I get pretty excited for my own planting season around the yard. Every time I see this massive machinery I think of how different this was 100 years ago and how much smaller farms were. Bigger isn’t always better. Quicker, faster, better, go-go-go. I am not convinced that this is really progress.
I’m with you on that, Dan. More debt, more work, more…
That’s why I’m always especially pleased to spot a small tractor traversing fields.
Beautiful Captures 🙂 Makes me want to get outdoors in wide open spaces. Happy Hump Day!
There’s nothing like the wide open space of the prairie.
Ahh….we spent nearly our whole weekend in the yard, planting, building a trellis for the raspberries, pulling garden thugs from the soil. I know it’s different for people who’ve lived on a farm, but I do find plenty of magic in my little garden at this time of year. Lovely photos, as always.
I love your connection to the earth, Kathleen. I have been playing in the dirt in my yard, too.
Ahhhh for a moment I almost thought I was there. Thanks for sharing the country with us!
You are welcome, country loving friend.
After all that snow it’s lovely to see how green it is. Some of that farm equipment is enormous! xx
The weather here is beautiful, the landscape, as you noted, green.
Beautiful farmland Audrey; yes, the farmers here now are sweating it out as we received about 3″ of rain over past week and there’s a lot of wheat still in the fields that is ready for harvest. Weird that we would be that much ahead of you all.
Rain is forecast here for the weekend, meaning farmers are really pushing to get the crops in.
Great series, Audrey.
I knew you’d enjoy these posts, Ryan.