Beginning Corn Harvest 2015...

Boy oh boy, has the weather sure changed in the past few days!

Last week we were shrouded in gray clouds, with soaking rain.  We weren't sure what would happen with Joaquin.  I didn't realize just how much my mood is affected by the weather, but over the weekend I was feeling a little bit depressed.  Too much gray and rain, I guess.

Thankfully, the hurricane went out to sea, and on Sunday afternoon the rain stopped, and the sun came out!  We've had beautiful blue skies, and milder temps yesterday and today. Flannel shirt weather, yes, but it's so much nicer than shivering under blankets.

Last night our corn harvest began.  After evening milking, the combine started shelling corn at the other farm.  When Jenna and I came home from her violin lesson later in the evening, they had moved to Esbenshades.  I settled in on the sofa with my kindle and Monday night football...and before long I heard the equipment moving in here.  I only got one picture from last night...from an upstairs bedroom window, because I was too lazy to go outside and walk down the road to where the action was.

Don't get too excited...you can't see much, but the lights on the left are on the combine...the ones in the middle are from the tractor and grain cart...and the grain truck is parked along the road on the right.  There's no missing him...

This field is where they stopped around 10:00 last night. We shell our corn and send it away to be dried, toasted and stored until we need it.  If the moisture in the corn is too high, we are charged a fee for drying. As it turned out, the moisture of the corn in the fields here at home was too high to make it worth continuing for now.  We'll let it dry a bit longer before finishing up. The yields were great, though.  One field at Esbenshade's showed a yield of 230 bushels per acre!

This morning I took a few pictures.  I like this view down the rows of the corn field that you don't usually see...

So happy to see this beautiful blue sky again!

At least this field along the road is finished.  It was hard to see pulling out from the stop sign with the corn still standing.  Next on the list is getting these corn stalks shredded, and baling corn fodder...

We could use a long stretch of dry weather now!

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

It's raining, it's pouring, and (hopefully NOT blowing)!

People everywhere are affected by extreme weather, and we have so much to be thankful for!  Typically we have just enough moisture, just enough sunshine, and the right temps for a good growing season.  We don't usually have extreme weather issues here that threaten our lives or our properties like some areas do.  

However, occasionally this time of year especially, we are affected by a hurricane or tropical storm as it moves up the east coast.  Right now we're nearing the end of a wet week.  We've accumulated just about 2.5" of rain so far, which isn't so bad, but it's enough!  There's a rain storm that's been dumping on the east coast and it just won't go away.

This is a typical view out the windows lately.  Gray skies and rain...

There's still a lot of standing corn, (and soybeans) waiting to dry enough to be combined. There goes Jim on the manure spreader, in the rain.  He will be really soaked by the time he's finished this morning...

Right now, all eyes are on Joaquin, the current hurricane that is pounding the Bahamas.  Not knowing for sure what track the storm will take, lots of people are wondering what will happen later this weekend and into next week.

We had a wet spring, and the corn grew quickly.  In conditions like that, the roots don't go as deep, and the corn is more susceptible to blowing down late in the season in windy conditions.  Farmers are keeping a close eye on the weather, hoping that the corns stays standing.

Our thoughts are with those who will be directly affected by the storm, and we pray for their safety. 

Peanut's Plan...Thwarted...

This is Peanut...

Her plan is was to take over the farm.

She is the matriarch from whom every cat on the farm has descended. She's a lovely cat...very affectionate...very dominant...a fabulous mother and hunter...but we just couldn't let her do it.

Her plan has been nipped in the bud.  Literally.

Poor Peanut.  I think she's a bit miffed.

Doing the Mundane...Among Other Things...

I've had folks ask already..."what needs to be done in the barn in the morning besides milking and feeding?"

Well...it used to be what I often did...but now the truth would be..."what does Jim (or Daniel) do in the barn in the morning and what do you sometimes help with?"

After milking (which I do help with) and feeding, the mundane morning work must be done.  Cows poop.  A lot.  Anywhere.  And everywhere.  So...the manure must be cleaned out of the gutters every morning,  Dry corn fodder or straw is then put into the gutters to help reduce splashing and to help provide bulk that carries the manure up the elevators and into the spreader.

You can also see the white barn dri that has been spread on the entryways behind the cows.  It makes a nice, non slip surface to walk on and helps to keep the barn clean...

Fresh sawdust is tossed under the cows to help keep them clean and dry. The sawdust is stored upstairs on the barn floor, and shoveled down through a hole in the floor into a cart, which is then pushed through the barn to wherever it is needed.

On a side note, a little fyi.  If you look closely, you'll see an orange tag above the cow on the right.  She came into the barn in heat this morning, and that sign indicates to the breeder which cow needs to be serviced...

We were hoping that the heat and humidity were about gone, but it's really sticky outside this morning.  So the cows are staying inside today with all the fans running.  We have five of these 48" fans, along with some smaller hanging fans that help to keep the cows comfortable...

After the routine morning work is finished, the heifers and dry cows at the other farm need to be fed.  Then after lunch, who knows what might need to be done?  There are a bunch of cows that are ready for their vaccinations. Maybe that's one thing we'll do today.  There's always something!

Looking back on the past couple of weeks, which have been super busy...

The silos are full...

Fifth cutting hay is finished...

Rye grass has been seeded in the fields where corn silage came off...

Some of the pens are cleaned out, now that there are some bare fields to spread the manure on...

The West Lampeter Fair has come and gone for another year...

Now we wait for the beans and the remainder of the standing corn to dry and be harvested...hopefully in another few short weeks.  Then there will be corn fodder to bale and more pens to be cleaned out.

I've always said that I think fall is the busiest time of year here...and I think I'll stick to my story!

Happy Birth Day...

We were beginning to wonder if she was ever going to have her calf...

All in her own time...only one week late...

I never get tired of seeing the babies stand up so soon after birth.  They wobble around for a while as they find their legs, but soon they're up and running!  This little big guy has had his first bottle of colostrum and will soon be settled in for the night.

Happy birth day bully!

It's Feeling Like Fall...

Over this past weekend, the weather has made a big u-turn, and it's beginning to feel like fall.

We'd had a long stretch of dry weather...it was beginning to feel like a drought, but that's sure changed.  On Thursday we had 4" of rain...and on Saturday another 1" +.  Along with the much needed moisture, a lot of the humidity has disappeared, and temps yesterday and today have been in the 70's.  It's wonderful!

We're in between projects right now...Jim just mowed the first fields of fifth cutting hay yesterday...and we're hoping to refill silo at the end of the week. The quiet has been nice.  Fall things are happening, and it's nice to be able to enjoy them.

I began cleaning up my "garden" yesterday...

My pepper plant and two late tomato plants that didn't die still look happy, so I left them standing.  Everything else went into a pile in the middle of the garden and will be fodder for a big bonfire in a few weeks.  When we clean up leaves this fall, I'm hoping to spread them all over the garden as mulch for winter.  I was really happy with how few weeds I had this year by mulching instead of rototilling, so I'll try it again next year.  Keeping the clumps of grass at bay is the biggest problem...but with lots of mulch, they pull easily if I get them when they're small.  That's the challenge!

The chickens have decided that they like table scraps after all.  Here they're chowing down on an over ripe watermelon and some pumpkin waste...

Speaking of pumpkin...our neighbor gave me a big neck pumpkin last week. This morning I chunked it and cooked it up.  Now it's cooling and hopefully I can make some pumpkin whoopie pies out of it later today.  I've eaten them often, but have never made them before, so I need to find a good recipe...

And last but not least...and not nearly the most exciting...the birds have ruined our sidewalk!  The second half of this summer, they've begun roosting in the maple tree right beside our house.  This is what everyone who comes up the walk to our door gets to walk through.  Lucky them...and how embarrassing for us!  I try to sweep it often but I would have to get on my hands and knees several times a day with a bucket and scrub brush to thoroughly clean this mess up, and that's just not feasible.

Last week I was walking out to the car when splat...something landed right on my face.  It was horrible! I guess we should put up a sign..."walk at your own risk!"

Maybe we should have started slamming the door...or started making some kind of loud noises weeks ago to scare them away.  I guess maybe it's a matter of pride...but it's embarrassing!

Next week is the Lampeter Fair, and we always look forward to that week.  I'll be busy there on Tuesday and Wednesday...and hopefully we'll all get over there a few evenings for supper and seeing friends.  I can't believe it's actually that time already!

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!