First Snowfall of 2018...

It had to happen eventually...

Obviously by that comment,you can tell that I am not a fan of cold weather. I will admit though, that the first snowfall of the season is beautiful!

These first few pictures were taken mid morning...

...and this was mid afternoon...

Most of our trees seem to be late in dropping their leaves this year, so the snow is now scattered with beautiful yellow leaves!

We ended up with about six inches of snow by milking time...just enough that Jim cleared the driveway with the skid loader, as the milk truck is expected in the morning. The temperature is hovering just above freezing right now, so any precipitation is in the form of light rain at the moment. The snow may melt away, or the roads might be an icy mess in the morning.  We'll see what happens over night!

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!

Picking Corn 2018...

The corn in the fields is drying down, and it's time for picking and combining. 

Jim spent time over the weekend setting up the corn elevator at the empty corn crib.  It's challenging to get it set up perfectly, so that the corn goes directly through the small hole at the top of the corn crib, and not down over the sides and on to the ground.

This is the hole at the top of the corn crib.  The metal disc you see hanging below it, is a spreader.  When the corn falls into the crib, it first hits the spreader and does just that...spreads around so that the crib fills up evenly.

For example...

It's a fabulous day today.  Beautiful.  Perfect.  What more can I say, but that we finally have a beautiful fall day with little breeze, no rain, blue sky and perfect temperatures for working outside without breaking a sweat or freezing your fingers!  Yay!

The ears are of varying sizes.  These were from the edge of the field, in a low, wet spot. Hopefully the majority of the ears, which are from prime soil, are of the larger variety!

It's days like this that make farming fun! 

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!

Filling the Corn Crib...

Like I mentioned in one of last week's posts about combining corn, Jim left a few acres of standing corn to pick and fill the crib.

He had to figure out just how much to let standing in order to fill the crib full enough that the level of corn was at least above the roof line without having any left over.  He wanted to keep the rain and snow off the top of the corn so it could remain dry and mold free, just like it's supposed to be!

So here's why we all had to take math classes in school...

First figure out how many bushels of corn the crib holds...then figure out how many bushels of corn yield from an acre...then look at your field maps and look at the remaining corn and decided how many acres are remaining...then ask yourself if it will be enough or too much?

Then you start  picking...

Oh wait!  First you get the corn crib ready.  You set up the elevator so that the corn goes inside the crib and not out over the roof!

Then you start picking and unloading.

Jim's friend Phil came on Saturday morning and unloaded wagons for about 4 1/2 hours!  Thanks Phil!  (I can move a two wheeled cart like the cow trailer just fine, but haven't ever practiced on a four wheeled wagon, so I was a bit helpless here)

After Phil left, I unloaded a couple of wagons that were set up for me.  This is Jim unloading one of the last bin wagons, just before milking time.

When I was a girl, I remember climbing up into the wagon on top of the corn, pushing it down towards the open door with my feet to help my Dad unload faster.  Our kids did the same, years ago!

Coming down the home stretch!  I love it when I can see the road again!  That's a two row picker pulled by the 170, which is hidden by the corn.  One complete round, up and back, filled a bin wagon...

One of the last loads going into the crib.  How do you think Jim's estimate was?

I'd say it was just about perfect!  There was only enough room remaining under the peak of the roof for a partial load.

It pays to pay attention in math class!  :)

Soybean Harvest 2017...

Two posts in two days...it's a recent record!  Ha!

Yesterday after the corn was finished, the headers were switched and they combined the soybeans.  I hope none of the neighbors had wash hanging out...or had just washed their windows!

(actually, I deed peek at the wash lines, and they were all empty!)

Phoebe watched intently from the barn hill...

See what I mean...a cloud of dust!  The beans were definitely dry enough...

And off they go.  The loaded truck heads east around the corner to the mill...the combine heads to the next farm, trailing his grain header behind...and the tractor and grain cart bring up the rear...

(a note of interest here...that huge grain cart holds 1000-1100 bushels, which when full, is about the same as a tractor trailer load of grain!)

The bean yield wasn't quite as spectacular as the corn yield was this year, but "mid-seventies" bushels per acre is still good!

Now it's time to bale 6th cutting hay this afternoon...pick the rest of the standing corn...shred  corn stalks and bale fodder...and clean out heifer pens, now that there's a place to spread the manure.  Fall is definitely our busiest time of year!

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!

The Applesauce Experiment...

I've been making applesauce for a long time, but I'm far from a pro. I can never remember what combination of apples makes the best tasting and prettiest sauce!  I don't like to add sugar, so I need to start out with apples that aren't too tart and have plenty of flavor.

Yesterday I went to a local fruit farm that has bargain bin apples in lots of different varieties. I filled three bags with different combinations of apples, and today I experimented.

Here we go.  Batch number one.

Smokehouse and Crimson Crisp...

This combination was tasty, but I prefer a pink looking sauce!  (it's the lighting...this sauce truly was very light in color and not at all pink!) Nit picky, I know...but hey, it's important!

Batch number two was a mixture of Rome and Jonamac.  By the looks of the skins, I would expect a pinker looking sauce...

It might be kind of hard to tell on these pictures...once again, it's the lighting in the pictures...but the sauce from this second batch was definitely much more pink!  But...not as tasty.

The third batch was what I call a medley...

That's what you call it when you can't remember what kind of apples you put in your bag!  

It's especially a bummer when this batch was the most tasty!

Do you have a certain variety of apples that you think makes tasty sauce?

A "Finishing" Day...

It was a "finishing" day today...

We finished filling silo for the year...Jim finished baling and wrapping fifth cutting hay...and it was the final day of the fair...

Each year we chop corn to fill the silos, and a few weeks later we top them off with "late corn".  Late corn is corn that has intentionally been planted later than the rest...usually after wheat or barley has been harvested...for the purpose of refilling, or topping off the silos.  It's a way to make sure that we have enough corn silage to make it through the winter and until next summer when we chop again.

A forage wagon full of corn silage...

Unloading silage into the blower at the bottom of the silo...

What is he looking at?

He's looking at Jim who is at the top of the ladder, watching to see when the first silo is full.  Jim will wave at him, and he will stop unloading until Jim can swing the gooseneck at the top over into the other silo.  Rather him than me, up there at the top!

It didn't take them long here at home.  Then they unhooked the blower and took it over to the other farm to chop a little more corn over there for the heifers and dry cows...

It's a great feeling to have this job finished for the year.  Tomorrow, Jim will level off the silage in both silos, and we'll get the unloaders set up.  That sure will be a lot nicer to feed silage using an unloader rather than a pitch fork!

I made it over to the fair tonight for the livestock sale and to pick up a few things that I had entered.  Jim finished up wrapping the hay that he baled this afternoon.  Fifth cutting is now history, and as I walked in the door from the fair tonight, it started drizzling.  We could use a little moisture again!

What kind of things are you finishing up?