Hear Ye! Hear Ye! The time has finally arrived to plant our yearly turkey food plot! (And the crowd goes wild ahhhhhh!!!) Ok, maybe it's just me going wild! I tend to get overly exuberant when any activity concerning turkey hunting arises. Planting a turkey food plot is step one, on the road to a successful season! This required an early rise on a Saturday, a tractor, a four wheeler with a seed spreader, seed, and a whole lot of driving in circles! In the past I have helped plant several dove food plots, but this was the first time for me planting a turkey food plot! If you are unfamiliar with what a food plot is, it is an area of ground that is disced and planted with seeds. The goal being to grow the plants that turkey's (or whatever you are hunting) likes to eat. This will attract the animals, to that specific area everyday to feed, and then when hunting season rolls around you know just where to set your blind up.
Tyler graciously started the discing process (which is not a quick process) last night while I was a work, so this morning I helped finish it up! After the shock of waking up at 7 on Saturday wore off and my coffee kicked in, I was a farming fool!
I even found a friend to keep me company while driving. Although something tells me he was more interested in the fresh bugs being dug up behind the disc, rather than me! But I digress.
This is the tractor we used to do our discing,
it is affectionately named "The Flea", because it's pretty small and for some reason, I have the feeling it's secretly an Autobot that one day will transform, and will pole vault 30 feet in mid air right before my eyes! That might be a stretch, but The Flea despite its name, certainly is big enough to get the job done. Today's adventure also included the ins and out of tractor driving.
First thing first, what is what? Steering wheel, ignition key, and gas/temp gauges are obvious to any licensed driver.
The not so obvious things are the clutch,
the bucket and bucket lift lever,
pushed forward the bucket raises, pulled back it lowers, right dumps the bucket and left pulls it back up.
Speed control behind the wheel and brake on the floor board.
A second speed control and gear shift,
hydraulic disk lever, pull back the disc lifts, and pushed forward the disc drops to the ground.
Finally the piece de la resistance, the disc!
After familiarizing myself with all the controls I was on my way. We disced up an area of about one acre. After approximately two hours of discing the ground was soft and my buns were sore. This was my que to start spreading the seeds. If you know anything about wild turkey eating habits, you know they love winter rye! Wrens Abruzzi Rye to be specific. 
In true redneck fashion, a four wheeler rigged up with a seed spreader on the front, is the fastest and most fun way to disperse seed. So we filled the spreader, and fired up the four wheeler!
This is what winter rye seeds look like!
Don't ask why this was fun, it just was!
And off I went.....
Also, it must be mentioned that on the back of the four wheeler, we attached a grate scrapy looking thingy! Ok so I don't know it's technical name, but I know that it was a huge help when drug behind the ATV, as the seed was being thrown from the front this grate helped sift the seeds in the ground from behind!
A successful day of discing and seeding, complete, and we got it down before the rain came!
If we continue having the same weather we have been, which includes plenty of rain, then it should be no time at all before we see the seeds sprouting.
Hopefully the turkeys will find what we planted, ASAP! Turkeys have been spotted on this private property many a mornings, so this hunter is keeping her fingers crossed.
Stay tuned for the fruits of thy labor, and more farming adventures with The Girl Outdoors!
