Farming in the shade

Last night we had a doozy of a storm, the likes of which we've been longing for all summer. Okay, I'm not all that fond of storms, but we sure appreciate the rain! Our old rain gauge (tipped away from the rain slightly to the south) registered 3/4". My dad's newfangled computer whiz-bang rain gauge measured 1.44" overnight. We agree that we probably got somewhere between 3/4" and 1-1/2" of rain in last night's storm. And this is the 3rd time in 3 weeks that it's rained, for which we are SO grateful. We worry and pray about those farmers who grow only 1 or 2 crops and have seen them whither in the fields. Droplets on the clothesline--what a gift! Puddles in the driveway--amazing! With a storm we sometimes get extras--wind, hail, trees down. We had only a bit of wind in the middle of the night last night, but we lost power anyway. This is a picture of our trusty generator--very necessary to keep the fans running and the water flowing in the barns. ...

In our spare time (cue laugh track here), we've been getting ready for a wedding. The Farmer made a wedding gift for our daughter and soon to be son-in-law, at her request. It's based on the Ana White Farmhouse Bed, and the plans can be found here. BRAG ALERT: Of course, all The Farmer needs is a picture, and he's on his way. The end result might not be exactly as planned--likely it's a bit better. He's amazing. The recipients wanted to finish the bed. They chose distressed white, which distresses me somewhat. It has to do with repressed memories of stripping paint off of perfectly good wood. It's my humble opinion that wood should be appreciated for its beauty, not covered up. But it's their bed, and I'm happy that it turned out so beautifully, just the way they wanted. Our son made them coordinating night stands (plans are also available on the Ana White site, I believe). He was a little slower with his execution, delaying the staining process. The to...

The Farmer did a bang-up job of cultivating the beans this year. There were some things we might have done better (plant thicker, plant deeper) and some things that are outside of our control that we wish for (rain!). But compared to last year's weed infested bean fields, I like what I'm seeing! But cultivating doesn't get the weeds IN the rows, right next to the plants. So, early in the morning on most days, a few of us head out to the bean fields to pull weeds. We stop when it gets too hot, or when we have something else that's more urgent. Some of the varieties are more weedy than others--usually the thicker the beans are, the less weeds are present. This morning, we weeded the Hutterite Soup Beans. They are blossoming.

These photos are of the Jacob's Cattle Gold beans, taken last evening. Beans are beginning to develop. The top leaves look healthy yet, despite the drought. But some of the plants are starting to shed their bottom leaves. Not a good sign. Yesterday during the day, we received 3/100" of rain. Measurable, but barely. This morning we woke up to this! Honest to goodness puddles! And nearly 1/2" of rain in the rain gauge. We received an additional 2/10" of rain this afternoon. Thanks be to God!

We made arrangements to sell the wheat recently. Our buyer wanted the wheat in totes. These are some pretty hefty totes--you need a forklift to move them around once they're full. You also need a forklift to hold up the totes while you're filling them. Each tote weighed about 2,500 pounds and held about 43 bushel of wheat. We carefully loaded them on a borrowed trailer, and set off. The short version of the story is that, after borrowing a trailer and fixing two sets of brakes, we still had to replace four tires on our trip across the state. Two tires blew, and two were ready to blow. So this "borrowed" trailer thing didn't work out all that well for us. But the wheat is sold and delivered. On to the next thing...

One would think an early-morning walk in the countryside would be quiet. Right? I spent some time listening this morning. A barking dog. Early morning birdsong. A far-away siren. The random shots of an air cannon. This cannon is used in neighboring blueberry fields (photo above) to scare off the birds that would gladly harvest all the ripening fruit. We segue right from firework season to blueberry cannon season. The bleating of ewes, calling for their lambs. We separated them yesterday, and it's always a sad couple of days on the farm. Highway traffic noise off in the distance. The crunch of gravel under my feet. A rooster, announcing that the world is lucky he is alive. What do you hear when you go for a walk in your neighborhood?

We are walking through a difficult time. We have had no measurable rain for several weeks, and it shows. We've had a week of mid-90 degree temps, and today and tomorrow we should hit 100 degrees. The Farmer talks about the top layer of soil being extremely dry, locking in some moisture below. When we dig down in the soil, we do find some moisture. In the mornings, the corn leaves glisten with dew and lay out flat. But later in the day, these same leaves are all dried up and curled up. I suspect it's the corn plant's way of protecting itself against the heat and evaporation. Eventually, the whole corn plant starts to look kind of spiky. We call this the pineapple stage, and it's not a good thing. Without rain, those spiked leaves are the "death rattle" of the corn plant. This morning, while walking, I had tears in my eyes as I saw that the beans still look good. How they can look good in spite of the circumstances, I'm not quite sure. This would be our fir...

Last year at the normal wheat harvest time (which is mid-July for us) we had a bit of equipment trouble. We harvested some of the wheat, but the majority of the harvest was lost. This year, due to an early spring and extra warm summer weather, the wheat was ready about two weeks earlier than normal. We can tell that the wheat is nearly ready by walking out to the field, picking a head of wheat (not from the edge, but from in the field a ways), and testing the kernels with a thumbnail or a pocket knife. If it's squishy, it's not ready. It needs to be dry. The new combine worked wonderfully (though not without adjustments and slight repairs). The combine sweeps the stalks and grain in with a rotating head. The stalks are cut with moving knives at the base of the rotating grain head. The stalk and head are pulled into the combine where the kernels are separated from the rest of the wheat plant. The kernels go in a bin in the upper back of the combine which can be emptied when it ...