And Just Like That...It's Fall...

What a difference a few days can make!

The past weeks have been...IMHO...horribly uncomfortable.  The humidity has been so thick you could just about cut it, and the temps just couldn't come down.

Yesterday we spent the day at Eric's final home cross country meet.  How did he become a college senior so quickly?!  It was a beautiful day for running...overcast and in the mid 70's.  First day we've had weather like that in a very. long. time.

He had a great race...

...and the team had a great finish, winning the invitational.  He's 3rd from the right...

Afterwards, as tradition has it, the team and families held a tailgate potluck.  My fingers were freezing by the time we were finished, but I'm not complaining!  As long as there's a blanket to throw over me or a sweatshirt to put on, I'm good.

This week we finished our silage harvest. With all the rain we've been having, the guys have been burning the candle at both ends.  They've been putting in really long days, trying to keep up with all the farms that they need to get to before the corn gets too dry.  The equipment arrived at 1:30 am, and sat waiting until they arrived around 8 am...

For some reason, the silage pipe kept getting plugged up.  Jim is up at the top, and Mark is sitting on top of the blower, working at getting it open...

The last load of silage...

The guys moved on to the next farm quickly, and took the blower with them.  Silo gas, which can be deadly, forms when fresh silage is put into a silo.  To deliver fresh air into the silo, farmers usually run the blower when working inside the silo for the first day or so.  The gas doesn't form right away, so Jim quickly leveled the silage and we set up the unloader after lunch. I was at the bottom of the silo inside the silage room, lowering the unloader at his instruction.  I found our kids' handprints in the concrete, where we had reinforced with shotcrete years ago.

Eric...

...and Jenna...

Things change so quickly!

For now, we hope to enjoy fall!  The West Lampeter Fair is this coming week, and I'm sure we'll be spending a lot of time there.  It might be a muddy mess (it's raining, again!) but it will happen regardless!  It's one of the highlights of the year for us. Goat, sheep, pig and dairy beef shows, baked goods, contests, fair food, and much more bring the community together for a great time.

To Chop Or Not...2017

We've done it before...and we'll do it again this year...

...walk the corn fields and test the moisture level in the stalks before chopping corn, aka filling silo.

This was my view this afternoon...

...and there's one of my helpers!

Phoebe and Murphy tagged along this time, and they had so much fun!  It was like a maze for them...running through tunnels of corn, stepping on the stalks I was dragging...STOP IT!...and getting out some of their pent up energy after several days of rain.

The corn is being tested this afternoon, and we'll have to soon commit to a day for chopping.  There's a narrow window with our small silos...too dry, the silage won't pack well and the air will allow the feed to get moldy.  Too wet, and there's juice, juice, juice.

We'll see...

Filling Silo 2016...

It's been a busy couple of weeks here, and I haven't taken the time to post much, other than about the puppies.

They're sweet...and growing like crazy!  Two weeks old already...here's a quick  peek from a few days ago...

We've been doing more than playing with puppies though...although that's definitely been the most fun "job"!  Last week we had a return of horrible hot, humid weather.  When it comes in September, it's especially draining.  Both kids had cross country meets on Saturday...one high school and one college...and the heat was not helpful!  We're done with heat and ready for flannel shirt and blue jeans weather.

Anyway...

On Saturday evening they started chopping corn and filling silo here at home. Here's the chopper...ready to go, just waiting for the tractors and silage wagons to come up the road...

I'm always anxious to see this particular field chopped, because then I can see out again.  Some people like to be surrounded by corn fields, but I like to be able to see out!

This morning they came back to finish...

The fields look so different now.  Jim said that he thinks it really starts to feel like fall once you see bare fields appearing...

One of the wagons unloading at the silo...

There was some trouble with the goose neck at the top of the silo this morning, so Jim was at the top working on it for a bit.  I'm not a fan of heights, so I'm sure glad it wasn't my job!

Clean up at the bottom of the silo this morning after the silos were both full...

Deciding when the moisture is just right to chop corn is not an easy thing, so to have this job behind us is very satisfying!

Now it's time to concentrate on fifth cutting of hay.  That starts tomorrow.

Preparing To Fill Silos...2016...

It's that time of year again.

Late August...school has started, the weather is s l o w l y turning cooler, and the silos are quickly getting empty.

Behind these closed doors is the silage room...

We store the feed carts in here and lock the doors so that the cows can't get in them and eat themselves sick!  Yes, they would do that!  (It happened one time, and the cow almost died.  After she recovered, she didn't have much of a desire for corn the rest of her lactation!)

Here also is access to the silos, which are almost completely empty, as you can see.  The unloader is resting on the last few inches of silage in the east silo...

This is looking up into the west silo...

This is the old tile silo at the other farm.  Several years ago, Jim put a plastic liner in the silo to make it airtight.  Each year we have to put another plastic liner over the doors.  That's the black strip that is hanging down from the top.  After the silo is full, Jim will cut the plastic off over each door from the top down, so he can open the door and toss the silage down the chute into the cart below...

This afternoon we walked through the corn field that he plans to chop, cutting samples of stalks throughout the field.  We ran them through the chopper and will have the silage moisture tested to see where we're at.  It's too green right now, we know for sure, but once we have the moisture sample back we'll have a better idea of when we might be able to fill the silos.  It can be a nerve wracking process, because we want a moisture level between 66% and 69%, and it also has to suit the custom chopper's schedule!

We bought one load of silage last week to hold us over until we can chop our own corn.  Every year is different, so we'll see how this one goes!

August Around Here...

Can I ask again, if it's really August?

You'd never guess it, with the gorgeous weather we've been having!  Mid to upper 70's, low humidity.  Wow.  Just wow.  And "thank you"!

August is a transition month here...especially this year, because Eric will leave for college two weeks from today, and Jenna will soon start her junior year of high school...and get her driver's license!

The weather will slowly begin to have a fall-like feel to it.  Cooler nights, good for sleeping...

The garden plants are beginning to turn a little brown, and the canning shelves are beginning to fill again...

Jim just began  mowing 4th cutting hay...

The corn is slowly beginning to dry and turn a little brown, suggesting that silo filling is just around the corner...

(actually this field isn't really all that dry yet, but I just love seeing the corn and beans stretching out beside each other! :) )

And the silos are getting empty...

Don't mind all the silage dust in the feed room...but here's where the silage comes down the chute from the silo into the feed cart...

See that hole behind the chute?  The open door means that the level of the silage is almost to the bottom of the 50' silo, and it had better be soon time to fill again, or the cows will be really hungry!

Yesterday Eric picked up these new silo doors at a nearby Amish shop. Eventually the wood rots and the doors need to be replaced, so they re-use the hardware from old doors and make new ones.  When we're ready to fill the silos, Jim will put the new doors in place, and close and fasten all the doors shut, the whole way to the top of the silo.

There are two different styles of doors here...two are for the old tile silo at the other farm, and the one in the foreground is for here...

We almost always begin filling silo (chopping corn) the last week of August, which coincides with the first week of school.  We'll see how the timing works out this year!

Of course with August in full swing, that means that fair season is almost here too!  That's one of my favorite times of the year, although it's usually crazy busy.

What does August feel like to you?