Finishing Up Corn Harvest 2018...

Apparently Phoebe found something interesting to watch...

(and yes, she's looking a little rough.  She's being treated for allergies...a farm dog allergic to things on the farm. Hmmmmmmm....)

But more importantly, here's what she was watching...

Yesterday and today we had our corn shelled out and sold, except for what Jim used to fill the crib.  It looks like we averaged close to 180 bushels per acre, which we are pleased with, considering  the weather challenges we had this year!  Although the wet weather definitely affected the crops, we didn't have some of the problems that we anticipated.

We're very thankful for this stretch of beautiful dry fall weather to get in the fields.  Everyone and their brother is either combining, picking corn, baling corn fodder or seeding cover crops.

Next up are the beans...hopefully this weekend, before the rain returns!

Looking Back On a Strange Summer...

As fall has suddenly arrived here, it's interesting to look back on what has been an unusual year...

Let me start by saying, we do have so much to be thankful for.  There are so many people who have dealt with drought, fires, hurricanes and other issues that we need to keep it in perspective. The weird weather has all of us in the same boat.  All we can do is shake our heads, share stories with our farmer friends and hope for a good harvest despite the weather difficulties that were/are 2018.

We saw rain totals this year like I don't ever remember. With the exception of the month of June, I can't say with confidence that we had many long stretches of consecutive days of sunshine all summer long!

Lancaster County averages 43" of rain annually.  This year we surpassed that total by the end of August.  There was a storm that stalled over the county on August 31, that dumped at least 10" on a nearby town in just a few hours, resulting in unprecedented flooding.

The West Lampeter Community Fair saw major mud this year.  I saw tractors pulling 4 X 4's out of the mud on Wednesday morning, as the vendors were trying to set up their booths.  The fair's board of directors "and company" did an amazing job of making it a memorable year despite circumstances that were out of everyone's control.  Trailer loads of mulch were hauled in and spread...they arranged shuttles from satellite locations for fair goers and they patiently dealt with the many headaches that they were handed.  Hats off to them~ it was still a fun community event!

Baling hay was a challenge all summer, but right now Jim is raking up the last of 5th cutting hay, hoping to bale tonight or tomorrow morning.

Here's what the corn and beans look like today...

It sure would be nice if all the beans looked like this!

There are reports of corn sprouting on the ears in the fields.

There are reports of truck loads of soybeans being rejected at the mills because of mold.

It's been that wet.

It's been cool and windy this week, so I went to the basement and dug out the quilted flannels, washed them and hung them out to dry in the breeze. It didn't take them long!  We haven't had to run the big fans in the barn, so it's been blessedly quiet...

...and just for fun, here's a picture I took at a neighborhood auction about a week ago.  Our little Amish neighbors couldn't wait to try out their "new" sled!

I guess they're dreaming of snow a  bit  lot more than I am!

Silo Filling 2018

Yesterday was the day...

Jim tested corn stalks twice in the last week, and yesterday morning corn silage went into the east silo.  Jeff (the guy who chops our corn) bought a different harvester over the winter.  He always had a John Deere, and this time he bought a Claas.  Merle ( our neighbor and the man who used to chop our corn) wanted to take some video of the harvester so he hung out on the barn hill for a while...

It didn't take long at all to fill this silo as full as Jim wanted it.  Some changes are coming...soon...on our farm, and we don't need both silos to be full right now.  More on that later...but don't worry...we're good with it!

It still makes me nervous when I see Jim "run" up the ladder on the outside of the silo!  I only do it on rare occasions, and I'm shaking in my boots the whole way up...and down...

The silage is beautiful and the unloader is all set up, ready to go!  As I sit here typing, our Amish neighbors are running up and down the road with their horses/mules and empty wagons, preparing for their corn harvest.  I don't envy them that job!  What takes us a few hours can take them days, sometimes several weeks to finish.

Wishing farmers everywhere a safe and bountiful harvest!

Grapes, Grapes and More Grapes...

The grapes are ready!  I guess they really liked all the rain we've had this summer, because the vines are that heavy that they've fallen off the top wire, and have begun pulling one of the posts over!

This bucket full is from a section only about three feet wide...

Yesterday's outcome, from one bucket full...two batches of white grape jelly.  I never tried it before, but just followed the directions for Concord grape jelly in the pectin box.  We had some on English muffins for breakfast, and it got a thumbs up!  (that's salsa in the jars behind the jelly.  The tomatoes are just as happy as the grapes!)

If you need me today...or for the rest of the week...I'll be standing at the kitchen sink!

Corn Harvest 2017...

It's been a terrific growing season for the corn this year...plenty of rain just when necessary, and just about the right amount of heat.  Some would say the corn could've used a bit more heat, but the humans are happy with what we had (or didn't!!)...

This was my view from upstairs last night around 9 pm, as the truck arrived and soon after, the combine...

They ran for an hour or so, until the truck was full, and then quit for the night. 

The combine and full grain cart were waiting in the field this morning.  When the truck arrived, the driver emptied the full cart, preparing it for the next load...

This is one huge machine! 

...a twelve row corn head...

...and no, it's not ours!

Jim and I rode in the combine for the last field.  What a fun view!

Looking behind the driver's seat, into the hopper, which is filling with shelled corn...

There was a little bit of downed corn along the edge of this field that plugged up the head for just a little, but it was no problem to get going again...

These machines are fascinating to me...sensors, cameras and computers are everywhere!  When this beacon light above the cab begins to flash, it indicates to the grain cart driver that the hopper is almost full...

...and he shows up just in time, driving along side the combine as we continue through the field, emptying our load into his cart...

Here's a shot of the computer in the cab which shows the yield, the moisture, the area of the field (the colors indicate the yields in different parts of the field), the weight and the bushels...

All the corn is now shelled, except for a few acres that Jim plans to pick to fill the corn crib again this year.  The corn here at home was still a little high in moisture.  We're docked (or not) according to those numbers, so by picking and filling the crib, we can wait until next to sell it, when it's dried out completely.

We're very happy with the corn yields this year...over 200 bushels per acre is great!  Some fields were close to 250 bpa, and we're thrilled with that! 

Next is the soybeans...

When Jim and I hopped out of the combine this morning on that last field, the plan was to switch to the grain header and begin on them.  That will take a little while...they'll show up here at home in a few hours and then I'll have an idea how they're yielding. 

The word from the combine driver is that they've been doing will this year.  We'll see!

Silo Filling Prep...

It looks like today is the day.  The chopper is scheduled to roll in around 2:00 - 3:00 this afternoon, so we spent the morning doing some final prep work in the silos.

We have two silos here at home.  The west one had been empty for some time already, so Jim put that unloader up a few weeks ago.  This morning after feeding the cows, he got the second unloader ready to winch up to the top of the silo.  There's some prep involved...first, the unloader has to be lowered so that there's enough slack in the cable for him to hook it up properly for the journey upwards.  That's my job...cranking it down.  And it's a pretty easy one...

That big electric cord is unhooked...

And here's the cable fastened to the bottom of the silo.  We don't crank it the whole way up by hand, but rather remove the handle...

...and use the electric drill that you see in this second picture.  This picture was taken when the unloader was the whole way up at the top, and you can see how much more of the cable is wrapped up...

Doesn't it look kind of like a lunar lander?  I enjoy seeing the unloader from this perspective, with the shadow against the inside of the silo...

By this time tomorrow, Jim will hopefully be leveling off the full silos, and we'll be setting up the unloaders from the top!  There's a lot of climbing the silos involved on the agenda these next few days!

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...

Harvest 2016...

Fall harvest is in full swing all around these days...

Last evening the combine arrived to harvest soybeans.  They finished combining late last night, and emptied the last of the beans from the grain cart into the semi this morning...

Then it was time to switch from the bean head to the corn head...

Then he headed out across the harvested bean field towards the corn.  He opened up the fields here at home so that Jim could pick the rest of the corn here for the corn crib...

Jim began picking around lunch time this morning, and here are the first two bin wagons emptied into the corn crib...

Jim doesn't fill the crib every year, but decided it would be a good idea this year to pick at least a portion of our fields rather than shell them out to be sold or stored in the grain bank.

If the weather stays nice and the equipment works like it should, he should hopefully finish up by tomorrow.  Then it will be time to shred stalks and bale corn fodder.

2015 Canning...

It feels so good to be filling up my canning shelves again!

At the beginning of this summer, my shelves were almost bare.  There are a few jars on the top two shelves that are left over from last year...some pickles, apple pie filling, a few tomatoes, some relish and applesauce.

I'm thoroughly enjoying my small garden this year, but I'm still finding things to can.  I bought several baskets of tomatoes for salsa and plain canned tomatoes, my sister gave me some peaches, Jim's cousin has a couple of pear trees that gave more than she needed, and a neighbor also had some extra tomatoes that she didn't want to go to waste.

All of my cucumber plants died, so I didn't make any more pickles this year, but our raspberry bushes are out doing themselves, so I've made several batches of jelly with plans for more.  The jars in the front are sour cherry jam, made with cherries from Jenna's violin teacher's tree.  I picked them while Jenna had her lesson...

The fun thing about preserving is not only seeing how the shelves fill up, although that's fun...but remembering where everything came from!  In years past, most of it came from my garden, but I'm finding it just as rewarding to do it this way...

...and I'm thankful for my friends who have shared in their abundance!

First Week of Fall...

I love living in a part of the country where we have four very distinct seasons.  By the time we get tired of one season, another one comes along!  

I'm having a little trouble letting go of summer this year, though.  We had a fabulous summer, weather wise...just the right amount of rain...lower humidity and lower temps than normal, with just enough hazy, hot and humid days to remind us that we do indeed live in southeastern PA.  I don't ever remember a summer like this, and oh how I would love to see another one like it next year!

There are some definite signs of fall here, and I've captured a few.

The corn fields are disappearing, and the soybeans are turning yellow.  Soon they'll be ugly and brown, and it will be time to harvest them.  Give them another three weeks or so...

These bales were from last week's 5th cutting of hay.  Some of you have commented on how many cuttings we get.  Five cuttings are typical for this area, and occasionally we get a sixth off of a few fields...

Jim's been busy spreading manure on the fields, now that some of the corn has been chopped for silage.  There's still a lot of standing corn.  Some of it will be used for refilling the silos and the rest will be shelled out and stored until we need it...

I can see my neighbors again!  And no...I'm not spying!  She likes it too!

Last but not least...tonight's sunset was so pretty.  It was raining all day, but I think there's better weather coming, at least if  "sky red at night" is true.

Three lonely corn stalks, left by the chopper...

...and the beautiful sunset...

What does fall look like where you are?


*an update on my back issues...
It's been six weeks since I herniated a disk, and it's been frustrating to say the least.  I've waited for doctor appointments, had tests, and waited some more for doctor appointments.  In order to avoid surgery, we've decided to try the epidural steroid injections, followed by physical therapy.  Finally, yesterday, I saw the doctor who will do this.

The last few days were horrible...I think perhaps the worst two days in the last month. Maybe that was a blessing in disguise, though...because when I saw him yesterday, he looked at me...looked at my chart and said..."I can see how long you've been dealing with this, and I can see that you're in a lot of pain.  I'm leaving on vacation..."  and my heart sank.  And then he said, "I'm going to fit you into the schedule tomorrow, so we can get started on this now. I don't want to make you wait any longer."  I am so very thankful that we were able to start doing something, even if it doesn't work.

This morning I had the (virtually painless) procedure, and everything went smoothly.  We should have a pretty good idea by the beginning of the week if it is possibly going to help, and we'll go from there.  But for now, I'm thankful for strong pain meds that make me sleepy, and for finally seeing  a doctor who was willing to go the extra mile for a patient.

Random Five Friday...

It's been almost a week since I've posted, and I feel like I'm finally catching up with laundry...redding up...cleaning...and with life in general.  There's always something to do, and here is a sampling of what's happening here. I'm joining up with Nancy, at Random Five Friday today.

1. Even though most things in the garden are dying...or almost dead...the zinnias are still blooming their heads off.  I brought this bouquet in yesterday, and played around on Picasa with the picture this morning...

Zinnias are such cheery flowers, and so easy to grow!

2.  Our nephew has been doing some painting here this week.  With an old house, there's always somewhere that paint is peeling, and he did a great job.  He painted the pillars out front...painted the white wooden siding on the front porch...and here he's finishing up on the balcony ceiling!  It's amazing what some scraping and painting will do to make things look fresh and clean!

3.  Some of the harvesting is finished, but there's still more left to do.  In this picture looking to the west from the barn, you can see three fields.  The corn field on the left is late corn...planted after the last cutting of rye grass...and will be chopped for silage and put into an ag bag.  That will hopefully happen on Monday.  The corn field on the right, and the soybean field in the middle are drying down and will be combined sometime in the coming weeks...

4.  This was one of Jim's projects this morning...forking out a box pen...by hand...

5.  I think the hydrangeas are especially pretty this time of year.  I have several bushes, and they all bloom different colors in the summer, but this time of year as they are drying, I think they are at their most beautiful!

I could probably do a "random ten" or so, but I'll save the rest for another day!

Enjoy your day!