Fall Harvest 2011

Have you missed me?

Things have been crazy.

I have been sick. :(

Now its time to play catch up, the Farmer has been asking me to take harvest pictures. I'll post them but before we harvested the corn and after we harvested the beans we planted our winter wheat. The Farmer has always planted Hard Red Winter Wheat. I was curious as to why he never planted hard white winter wheat (HWW for short). He didn't really know anything about HWW but was willing to put some in the ground for me.

So, I started calling the local seed plants to see if they had any HWW. I started with the organic seed place near our home that was run by Amish. Not only did they not have any for sale but he also told me that it wouldn't grow in our area. "Really", I asked, "why not?" "I don't know" was his response, "you just can't grow it in this area". That was really all I needed to hear and somewhere in the back of my mind I heard "Watch Me"!

After a few more dead end phone calls I went to the Internet and came up with a company in Albert Lea Mn that had HWW for sale. So, I called them but the seed he had was infested with a moth of some type and he really didn't want to sell me any. So, I asked him if there was any reason it wouldn't grow in our area. We are after all only 5 hours away from Albert Lea. He didn't see any reason and gave me a couple of phone numbers to seed dealers, both from South Dakota- anyway, a few phone calls later I finally had located some wheat and I am happy to say that it has been planted in the ground and I am watching anxiously to see if it will emerge before winter sets in or if we have to wait till spring.

Here he is drilling the wheat

The Hard Red wheat has been out of the ground for awhile now.

I love how green it is when everything around it is turning brown.

Today we finished the corn harvest and at the farmers request, I was out with my camera and even drove the combine for awhile.

The Farmer is driving the combine and teenage son #2 is running the grain cart.



Jake unloading into the auger

From the seat of the combine

It's been an absolutely beautiful fall.
The harvest is complete and we are blessed.

I will attempt to post more regularly and give updates on all that has been going on.

~ Kathy

Fall Harvest begins

I love fall- and the weather has been near perfect lately. This years early spring has allowed us to begin harvest early as well. It was a new record for my DH- The earliest he has ever started picking corn - September  fourth. I play chauffeur a lot, driving them back and forth to the fields to get equipment and either put it away for the night or move it to another farm. I caught my husband and 2 oldest boys just as they were finishing up for the day.

I was dropping Jake off to pick up the semi - now full of corn. He passed his CDL tests just after his 17th birthday and has beendriving the semi ever since.

My Hubby bringing the combine in

A.J. has been driving the grain cart the past couple years.

As long as he gets fed- he doesn't complain!

Now, its time for a late supper and early to bed. (if were lucky) Tomorrow we have school in the morning

and then back at it in the afternoon.

Life Is Good!