English lesson please

[1948berg]

Having learned English in school only, and not been living in an English speaking country , there is a lot of doings I dont have the right words for, like in agriculture. Maybe even english speaking city slickers lack these expressions as well.
What do you call the work you do in the spring, is it one word that covers the whole operation( plowing, harroving, seeding++)
Do you sow the seed for grass?, can you sow corn?, grain, what about potatoes and vegetables?
What do you call the season when you harvest the hey? Do you cut the grass? When you turn it over for drying? Here we used to hang it on a "hesje", or make "såte" http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/nn/thumb/7/7b/Hesje.JPG/400px-Hesje.JPG
What about harvesting the grain, corn, is it a name for the whole operation, do you pick potatoes. Do you tresh with a combined harvester? In norwegian there is a difference in cutting the harwest, we cut the grass, but shear the grain.
Lot of questions, hope someone will give me an English lesson

 

[dubba]

This is probably gonna vary by locality.. around here-

We sow grass & potatoes, plant corn & vegetables.

We harvest hay in the summer, first cutting the grass with a sickle bar mower, then tedding the hay with a tedder, then windrowing the hay with a hay rake, then baling it.

Not really any grain harvesting in my area, but we dig potatoes, pick high moisture corn, make silage (ground corn, stalks & all). Pick the vegetables out of the garden.

In the spring we plow, disc & plant. no one word that I know of.

Common grain store lingo is like this-

Hey bill whatcha doing?

Planting time ya know (usually with a smile)

Haying, know anyone looking for work?

Silage (accompanied by rolling eyes)

Diggin' taters

Most farmers up my way are men of few words. If you can get a sentence out of them, they probably like you /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I'm from Kentucky. We are what the rest of the world calls "Hillbillies". (YES, we are allowed to wear shoes, have teeth, and marry outside the immediate family nowdays) We have our own lingo. It varies from county to county. Fortunatly, most of the farming language is common statewide.

We "plant corn", but sometimes we "drill corn". (Years ago, they "hill-dropped" corn. In the fall, we "pick corn", but occationally we "shell" corn or "chop" corn.

We "plant grass", every few days we "cut" it.

We sow oats, wheat, barley, ect...
When it's ready, we "combine" it, "thrash" it, or "run" it.

We "plant" our garden. We "hoe" weeds, and "pick" the finished product before we "can" it. (No "cans" used. Jars or freezer bags mostly)

Then there's our states #1 money crop tobacco (marijuana is #2 I'm told) We "set it", "cut it", "case it", "book it", "hang it", and of late, "bale it". Then sell it. We're always doing SOMETHING with "it".

It's in the pronunciation of these words where us "hillbillies" seperate ourselves from the rest of the world. We'd have to re-invent the alphabet to type the "correct way" of "talking Kentucky".

Should little green men from another world land on earth someday to learn our language, let's hope they don't land in Kentucky. (For one thing, NO ONE would notice strange people walking around here. They'd blend in too well.)

 

[PitbullMidwest]

Around here "field work" is a catchall for the work done in the spring to prepare for planting. More specifically they say "plowing", "discing" and "chiseling" (adding nitrogen to the soil and not to be confused with chisel plowing). Like others have said, we "plant" corn and you either "plant" or "drill" soy beans depending on your equipment. Cultivating is called, well, cultivating. At harvest they either "pick" or "combine" both crops.

As far as hay, only the larger farmers have mower/conditioners so the small farms still "mow", "rake" and then either "put up" or "bale" once the hay is dry.

 

[Egon]

We define each crop separetly and do not lump them all under the name "Corn" like you do. Perhaps Harvest would be a semblance of your Corn. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

As to other definitions they have a tendancy to vary from region to region. If you figure it out let me know please. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Egon /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[CRJCaptain]

FarmWithJunk,

In northern Kentucky some local people say "Please?" when they didn't hear what you said and want you to repeat it...When I first moved here and heard this I was royally confused. I think this is an Ohio or Indiana colloquialism that drifted over to northern KY. Do they use this over in your area?

 

[plumboy]

Well.As far as the plowing its just plain plowing...OR, turning ground if your old. Discing is discing or working ground.As far as hay, you cut hay,ted hay,rake hay and bail hay or 'get the hay up'.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

You might be right about that NOT originating in Ky. Around here, when we don't hear what someone says, it's "Ehhh?".

My wife just got done cutting my hair. Until I met her, I didn't know hair had a "y" in it. Hay-yer. Yep! She's a redneck just like her ol' man.

 

[lrunge]

I had always heard the reason for the use of "Please" in the greater Cincinnati area to be from the translation of the German word "bitte". It can mean several things depending on how it is used ...pardon, please, etc. Since this area was so heavily populated with German imigrates it just became a reponse that was picked up and used locally.