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!

Summer Update...

I've been terribly negligent in keeping you up to date on our corn and soybeans, and you might be surprised at how tall they are now!  This is what happens in five weeks during a typical Pennsylvania summer.

I had to use live measuring devices, since they're so tall...especially the corn! It's well over my head now, and I'm 5' 5" ...

Phoebe is the measuring device for the soybeans.  (she was looking for a cat that disappeared into the field in front of her. This was in between bounces)...

Everything is growing like crazy right now.  We've had a lot of rain (another almost 2" today!) and hot, humid temps, which together make both miserable conditions for the humans and terrific growing conditions for the crops!

Jim just finished up third cutting of alfalfa last night before the rains came, so we're happily enjoying a small break in the craziness.

How's your summer going?

Corn and Beans..."Episode 2"...

They're still growing  (they'd better be!!)...

A few weeks ago I posted pictures of the tiny corn and bean plants that were beginning to grow in our fields. We've had a lot of moisture, which is good...but the temps have been cooler than usual, so the growth in the fields hasn't been quite as fast as some years.

Here is the corn today, 16 days later...

And here are the beans...

The corn always seems to grow faster than the soybeans, but when you figure how much taller it has to grow than the beans do before maturity, it makes sense.  If we continue the pattern of plenty of moisture and the temps soar next week like they're calling for, everything should grow like crazy!

All in all, it's doing really well for 3 1/2 weeks.

Watching the Corn and Beans Grow...

A couple of years ago, I did a series of post throughout the growing season, following one particular corn stalk...from seed to harvest.  You can read that series of posts here...

I decided to do it again this year...but I'm going to compare the corn and soybeans.  They were both planted on the same two days...last Monday and Tuesday (May 15 and 16).  Over the weekend, I noticed a few shoots poking through the soil, and this morning you can clearly see down the rows.

Here are the soybeans...

...and the corn...

It's clear the the first time I did this (2012) that the corn was planted earlier than this year!  The weather has so much to do with it...but by Memorial Day, which is fast approaching, the corn that year was already several inches high.  We'll see though...with the rain we just had, and the warm temps to come...it's going to grow in leaps and bounds!

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.

Friday's Hunt...#26!...

When I decided to join with Teresa at Eden Hills for Friday's Hunt each week, I didn't expect the time to go by so fast...here we are at week 26 already!  I missed two weeks, but tried to catch up with at least a photo for the letter from the week when I did my next post.

Here we go with "the letter Z"...

This is the inside of one of the big doors upstairs in the barn. Can you see the Z? You can see that some repairs have been done to the door, and only the outside's been painted...

"Week's favorite"...

My purple cone flowers opened this week!  I moved them to the bed close to the house last summer when I got rid of my big perennial bed, and they have grown in leaps and bounds!  They're probably three feet high, and look so much healthier and happier than they did ever before.  Maybe it's that compost I added to the soil?  I have a lot of favorite flowers, and this is definitely one of them...

"Today"...

This prompt is wide open!

This is looking west over the fields here at home today, from up on the barn hill.  The corn and beans were planted on May 26th and 27th.  They came up quickly, and with the rains we've had lately, they should continue growing well. There's a line of white ag bags out along the water way on the left side of the picture.  Some are first cutting alfalfa and some are rye grass...

I also tried something new today...

Home made pesto, with basil from the garden...

I've been wanting to try it, and finally got around to it.  I usually plant basil in pots on the porch, but this time I had an extra plant that I put in the garden. Apparently it's happier there, and has grown huge in a short amount of time...much bigger than the ones on my porch!

I hope you've enjoyed the Friday's Hunt posts.  It's been fun to participate!

It's Great Growing Weather...

What happens when you have a weekend of hot humid sunshine and .3" of rain overnight?

You can take a guess...looking at this freshly planted corn field...

Corn that was planted only 48 hours ago has sprouted!

...and soybeans planted just on Thursday are up so far that you can see the rows!

This year's corn went into the ground pretty late, due to circumstances beyond our control. The field pictured at the top was planted after dark on Friday...only a little over two days ago.  It was heartwarming to see the 1/2" sprouts this morning when we poked around in the soil "just to see".  A wet spring has left lots of moisture in the warm ground, and combined with unseasonably warm hot temps the germination process has been accelerated.

We're feeling thankful this morning!

Shades Of Green...

Green is my absolute favoritist color.  Yes, you read it right...favoritist.

This year we're seeing more green because we've had lots and lots of rain. Last night we had another 1.5" during a thunderstorm.  The corn and beans are growing like crazy!

At a recent family reunion, I was talking to Jim's Aunt, and she mentioned how many different shades of green there are, if you just look around.  She's right, you know!  I've been paying attention, and today I took the camera and captured some of the beautiful shades of green in our neighborhood. Some are at home and some are not, but all are within a two mile radius of home.

Roadside weeds, neighbor's hay fields, corn and tobacco...

Neighbor's tobacco...

Grassy meadow at the other farm, beans, a "just baled" hay field, and corn...

Jim started mowing third cutting alfalfa today...

I think the green hay wagon counts!  Waiting for "hopefully" Saturday, to be filled with some dry hay if the weather behaves...

Headed back home again...corn, tobacco, trees, hay...so many different shades of green...

Back home, the corn behind the barn with tassels, giving it a different look...

I love all these shades in my shrub border and the garden beyond...

...and these lovely variegated coleus are my favorite...

Green really is my favoritist color!  How about you?

The Thirsty Ground is Happy...

The corn and beans have come up...

The garden is growing...slowly...

The flowers are weary of my watering can...

We finally got some much needed rain over the past two days!

Eric's graduation party was on Sunday evening...outside...and we were pretty nervous about the weather.  However...as dry as it's been here, and as much as we've needed rain, we didn't want to complain.  As farmers, we are so dependent on the weather.  Thankfully, we got to enjoy a beautiful evening with friends...and then a thunderstorm rolled through around midnight. Yesterday we had a few rain showers, and overnight we had some more, totaling right around 1.5".

Perfect!

The graduate (almost)...

Yesterday...a wonderful sight to see a gray sky...

The beans are coming up nicely through the old rye field.  After this rain, they'll grow quickly...

My flowers would much rather be fed the natural way.  And Little Ed is glad for some shelter from the rain.  I call him my garden kitty.  Last summer he would follow me everywhere in my vegetable garden.  Since my vegetable garden has shrunk considerably this year, he's moved to my "new", smaller perennial bed. This is where I've saved my favorites...

The thirsty ground is happy!

And so are the farmers.

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.

Three Weeks Later...

It's been three weeks since I last wrote a blog post, and a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then.

...a lot of weeds have grown tall and strong.  (no pictures...it's too embarrassing!)

...the kids have started school.  We have a senior and a sophomore this year and they're both off to a great start in their cross country season.  I was able to get to their first meet on Wednesday.  Such a fun sport, and a great bunch of kids/parents to hang out with.

...the weather cooperated, and Jim was able to get all of 4th cutting hay baled into dry bales.  That's the first time in a long while that he hasn't baled some of it into high moisture round bales.  We're glad to have all the dry hay we can get.  We think it's better for the cows, and it's much easier to feed than balage.

...I turned another year older

...The corn has started to dry down.  Silo filling might begin this coming week, and that's good, because our silos are both almost completely empty!

...It's been a great year for crops around here.  We've had just the right amount of rain, and we couldn't have asked for a more pleasant summer, weather wise.  I think the past few days have been the most uncomfortable yet...but it's to cool off tomorrow...yay!

The beans look great, and are just beginning lose their deep green color.  Soon they'll turn yellow, and then brown...

Each day my back is feeling better, and hopefully I'll soon be back into the full swing of things.  I'm able to do what I need to take care of my family, but have to be really careful with lifting and twisting.  I've had to swallow my pride and allow others to do things for me/us.  Even though that is hard, we are so grateful for good friends and family who stepped in and cared for us!