Farming in the shade

The $450 operators manual we recently purchased for the combine that we’ve owned for 8 years has paid off already. We were able to find the problem and get the grain head hydraulics to work again. The first of the small grains are in the bin. This year we are harvesting four small grains--einkorn (an old variety of wheat), oats, barley, and rye. Much of the field drowned out in the Monsoon of Fall 2018 or the Monsoon of Spring 2019. But it looks like we will be able to harvest some of each of what we planted, and we're grateful for that.  For more on our combine woes through the years, search “combine”. It’ll make you feel better about your life, I promise. 

This morning it is raining. We are glad for that, as it's been a bit dry lately. But that was good, too, because it allowed us to get the oats planted on time for the first time in several years. We worked the sand field that had beans in it last year several times over a two-week period in preparation for planting.  This is the "new" tractor we purchased last year. We sold two of our older tractors that were pretty tired in order to be able to buy this one.  Oats are drilled into the ground using the implement behind the tractor. Hopefully, the oats will come up thick and in very narrow rows that will eventually blanket the field. We harvest the oats to use as a feed for some of the ewes when they are in the late stages of pregnancy and sometimes during lactation.