Most years corn harvest in this part of the country occurs in August to the beginning of September....at least that's what I'm told, cause out of 6 corn harvest that I have been here for that has only occurred one time. But that's what I am told is "normal" for corn harvest.
Well since we had to plant corn in some fields 3 times and the planting dates spanned from early April all the way to June, harvest was also spread out for all the farmers around here, us included.
We didn't actually have very much of the early April corn this year. Caleb and his dad thought it was best not to plant it then because at the time they were calling for cool wet temps right after we would have planted it. With the soils on our farms that's just asking for trouble and they knew they would have to re-plant so instead of wasting the time and money it would cost to put in the corn we waited to plant most of it till the weather looked better. The sad thing was the weather never really looked all that much better. We planted in May and then got cool wet weather following that planting too and it wrecked a lot of our corn.
So then June rolls around and we are still trying to plant corn. We have fields that have 1/2 stands and so we trying to decide on weather to plant corn back in these fields or if we should tear it all up and just plant soybeans. The problem with planting corn at this time is we are starting to run out of water. And by that I mean if we do get rain it's small pop-up showers, so you can't really count on that for a source. And all this June corn would be pollinating at the end of July to the beginning of August....a time of the year known for being extra dry. After finding out we had taken out re-plant insurance on the corn this year I suggested that we re-plant corn, cause it was going to be cheaper to plant than the beans and there was no guarantee that the beans would produce either and Caleb had kinda been thinking the same thing. So after doing a lot of praying and trusting that God would take care of it we put a lot of corn in the ground in the month of June. Since it was a crazy busy Spring I knew that we wouldn't have time for a big vacation so I told Caleb all I wanted to do was go on a float trip / canoe trip. So early in the month of July picked a date in August to go. I invited some of our friends to go with us and there you have it we were going floating. Well farmers Your Welcome....cause the original concern with this trip was that there wouldn't be any water and we would have to drag our boats...instead we got woken up at 6:30 in the morning by the staff telling us we need to evacuate our cabin because they were scared it might flood. No float trip for me :( On a side note, there were three couple that went and we had a blast!! We stayed up till 12:30-1:00 am and it wasn't cause of a sick kid...lol.
As crazy as it was planting in June, we trusted and God provided. If we could go back and do it again we wouldh have planted all of it in the month of June cause it was so much better that all the rest of our corn....who knew!?!?
So here is about 4,622 pictures that I took (give or take a thousand) of this year's corn harvest. Most of these are from the early harvest (end of September - beginning of October) cause after that Caleb was in the tractor drilling wheat, so we spent more time in the wheat field taking pictures.
I don't know why, but these kinds of pictures are always my favorite.
That was before this guy came along and now he makes every picture so much better!
Also he insisted on riding the combine every time we were at the field. If he wasn't able to there would be a major meltdown occurring.
He may look like his momma, but he is so much like his daddy....when concentrating we have to stick out our tongue, good grief.....and we are totally obsessed with everything farming. There could be worse things.
At this point in time this is probably my favorite picture of all cause it has my two favorite men in it!
If you are standing in the right place you don't have to worry about getting nailed by this stuff. The problem comes when you leave the windows down on your truck and it is down wind from this. Oops!
Like I said concentrating = tongue out of mouth.
This is about all you see of me when we are in the field cause this is the only way I get a picture taken of me. I think I was about 7 months here.
The Big Red Barn was by one of our corn fields and well it just looked so pretty this evening!
Every now and then we would have an "accident" and corn would get spilled on the the ground, but it sure is fun to play in when your a kid.
As an adult it stinks, cause you have to shovel all of up and get it back in the truck....I'm glad I was pregnant this year and didn't have to do this!
We were so thankful to finally get the last 30 acres of corn out last week and have been going strong trying to get the beans out and replanting a lot of our wheat.
I still haven't popped yet. This was me last weekend at 39 weeks. My official due date is the 22nd, this Friday, and I am good with anytime after today, cause it's suppose to rain tonight and the guys are trying to get a few more things done before it does....and I would rather not have my husband trying to run away from the hospital to go to the field. Later, JP
So fist thing this morning when I was talking about the things I needed to get done before Stinker #2 gets here Caleb repeated a statement that my father-in-law said about kids and I so don't agree.... "They are easier to take care of while they are on the inside than when they are on the outside" I remember hearing this statement when I was pregnant with Chester and once again this statement was said by men. And just so you all know it is such a lie! Now I'm not here to complain about being pregnant, cause I know there are ladies out there that would give anything for this opportunity, and to be honest I have very easy pregnancy's. My blood pressure is perfect every time I go to the Doc, I feel "great" 95% of the time and I don't get sick like a lot of women do.
But no matter how good you feel at 38+ weeks along you are done. Sleep doesn't happen all that much, either you can't find a comfortable position to lay in or you are getting up 20 times to go pee and hoping you make it there before your child headbutts your bladder and you have to get some new underwear. Also there is no comfortable position to set in and standing makes you tired.
Now the guys would say you aren't gonna sleep when the baby gets here, and that's true, but the difference is you are able to sleep comfortable and good for 2 hours instead of uncomfortably for that time and boy does that make a difference! Also I know that I won't sit comfortably for about week or so after pushing monster #2 out cause everything down there...well lets just say it will be a little sore, but really it wasn't all that bad and heals really quickly.
Also I am reminded as I get up to get Chester a drink that once the baby gets here I will be able to walk normally again....once again this may take about a week to happen, because of what we just talked about, but it's amazing how much better it is! Also there will be no more heartburn or popping nasty tums. And for those with gestational diabetes as soon as they cut the cord you are able to eat sweets again!!
Needless to say when Caleb told me that statement this morning my return statement was "what does he know!" I can set the baby down and get things done and I can breath again. And as I found out with Chester I feel 5 million times better.....
I also don't have a little monster who is try to beat me up from inside my body and any woman that has ever been pregnant and about to pop knows exactly what I am talking about.
With all that being said, after thinking about this for a bit, the statement wasn't all that untruthful when you think of where it came from....
A man.
It is a lot easier for them while the baby is still on the inside. They sleep better with few distractions. They don't have to change diapers, feed bottles, deal with spit-ups and everything else that comes with a new baby. So I guess my father-in-law and other men who have said this statement do know a little about what they are saying...
They just shouldn't say it women who are 38+ weeks pregnant cause we might bite your head off or punch you in the face. Men you have been warned! ;)
Now on to other things. Since I don't think it would be right to have a post where there is no pics here are some from Halloween this year.
My not so little Owl had such a good time and got way more candy than he needed!
And last but not least here is a full family pic from Halloween....
My little Owl, me as a big ol' Oak tree with a large termite nest and Caleb.....as a farmer. He's kinda a party pooper when it comes to thing like this! But I was glad that he came with us cause I was wore out when it was all said and done!
It's said "Few things are certain in life but taxes and death," and when you work on a farm you can add in break downs.... Which usually come in the middle of harvest or planting season...probably because that when everything is being use really hard. Caleb always hates break downs cause it slows him down from going 100 mph....but honestly what farmer doesn't hate breakdowns? The other day when I posted about Sunday Drives my friend Carrie (if you haven't checked her blog out you should, she takes some wonderful pics!!)...well she made the comment that their harvest has been going slow due to break downs. Well that's not the reason our harvest is going slow, but we have had a few and they sure don't help things! Well about 10 minutes into our first field this happens...
There is suppose to another snout on the end of that header. This is the brand new header and this was the first time that it was ever used and...
Caleb was the one driving...ouch!
The automatic header height wasn't working just right and Caleb was unloading on the go and going really fast and was going over a terrace (the only one in the field)....oops.
The only good thing about it was that I was actually at the parts store getting Chester's birthday present when this happened so I didn't have to make a special trip for it. ;)
As you can see Caleb had some "good help" when fixing it.
Caleb has complained to me that Chester sometimes gets in his way and things take longer when he is around....hmmm really I didn't know that. ;) But he does love having him around.
Thankfully it didn't take them to terribly long to fix this and they were going again.
Well this wasn't the only mishap that we have had, yesterday I was taking Caleb lunch to the field and this happened.
Look closely at the front window.
Caleb was on the phone when it happened, so he's not really sure what happened. It wasn't muddy so the tires weren't throwing anything so it's kind of a mystery as to why this happened.
There was tons of small bits of glass that needed to be cleaned up.
Since the corn was too wet to pick just yet, Caleb was hoping to get a lot of ground worked really fast so he could drill some wheat.
Caleb's dad was able to get a new piece of glass ordered and on it's way and until it get's here they went and got a piece of plexiglass cut to fit and put it in there for now....really it will probably stay until the glass gets in and we get a rainy day to work on it. Breakdowns and accidents are boud to happen on farms, but as long as no one is hurt that's all that really matters! *all the combine pics were taken with my phone that's why they aren't as good of pics. Hope ya'll have a GREAT weekend!! JP
Well it gets treated an awful lot like a farm truck. I drive it everywhere. It's a 1/2 ton truck, so it's not really built for hard work like our other trucks, but it's got 4-wheel drive so I'm not afraid to take it places.
Ya see this piece here, well it belongs on the front of my truck. The point of it is unclear to me but that's where it goes.
Evidently it got ripped off some time last week and it took Caleb about 2-3 days before he noticed it was gone. I'm not sure that I ever would. When we did discover it was gone I knew which field it had to be in...there was a corn field I did a lot of driving through last week and sure enough I went back to look for it and there it was. A corn stalk had finally gotten a hold of it and ripped it off. For a short period I think Caleb was thinking about putting it back on if we found it, but I said there's no need. I like it better without it and if you put it back on it's just gonna get ripped off again. Truck aren't just for looks around here! JP
Almost every Sunday after we get our afternoon naps Caleb, Chester and I all load up and go look at the cattle and along the way we will stop at the crop fields and see how they are doing.
Chester loves these drives, cause he get to get out and be part of the action.
At this point in the year the corn has made, but the beans are still going, so Caleb is checking to see how the plants are doing and if there are any bugs that are causing problems and determine if we need to spray for them....Thankfully it's cooled down and the bugs aren't a problem.
Our little helper is bring us a sample of what he found while he was out looking at the beans. As long as he picking the beans in the field and staying away from mine that are in my garden then I don't care!
If you look close at these two pods you will notice 4 little bumps, those are the beans. We don't often find a lot of 4 bean pods on our beans, but Caleb was finding a bunch in this field and that made one farmer very happy.
Caleb is showing Chester what the beans actually look like. They are tiny here but they have grown a lot since then and the longer the freeze holds off the bigger they will get and the more bushels they will produce!
While we are out and about we also do some checking to see if the corn is ready as well. How we do that is go out and pick a few ears and shell all the corn off of it.
You can tell a lot by just hand shelling the corn. The easier it shells off the cob the drier it is and the closer to being ready to harvest. The more accurate way is by using a moisture tester....it's that little thing there by Caleb's hands.
How it works is you take the lid off and fill it with a sample of corn...if your lucky you will have a good helper for this part!
Then the lid is replaced...
And then you just choose what type of crop you are testing and let it do the rest.
On this day the moisture was around 17-18% and dry corn is considered around 15%. You don't want to harvest it too wet because if you take it to the local elevator then you will get docked on the amount of money you get when you sell and if you put it into your own bin then you have to run fans to dry it down so it doesn't spoil.
Since harvest is so late this year we have been harvesting some wetter corn and taking the dock, because we need to get it out so we can get the ground worked back up and wheat planted. These pics were from a few weeks ago and since then the corn has dried down some....in between rains...so we have done some harvesting.
They were back at it again yesterday and they will be going today so I will give you some more harvest up-dates later. JP
