Summer days

Sorry it's been awhile checking in.  Quentin hijacked our computer and is working on installing some programs on it up at Paul and Helen's house.  We missed much of the rain again this week.  We measured only 0.1" one morning, but were treated to a beautiful rainbow!  

The men have been busy haying.  They just finished up on Chambers today, and only have one more meadow near Paul's house to finish up for the season.  They will be glad to be done.  It has been some hot days to ride on the open-cab raking tractor!

Gen 9:16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.

Practicing

 

Future farmer Isaac is practicing unloading hay with the old 4020.  Once he can reach the clutch, we will have to put him to work.

 

And the winner is...

The farmer wins again!  For anyone who saw my post on weeds a week ago, here is the same field all cleaned up and looking good.  We are glad to have taken care of those weeds so the beans could really grow this week.

Meanwhile it is still hot, hot, HOT.  My little farmers are restless and wanting to be outside, and the "big" farmers would love a chance to hide in the air conditioned house for awhile.  They mowed hay on Marilyn's today and will bale that tomorrow.  Another chance for some much needed rain in the forecast tomorrow night in to Wednesday.  We are praying for a good soaking this time.

A good Sunday

What farmers do on a good Sunday:
-Go to church (pray for rain!)
-Lunch at Helen's (mmmmm...)
-Nap (if the kids let you)
-Family time!


Catching up

Denting corn

The corn is coming along nicely.  The hot, dry weather won't bother it.  I found some along the field edge starting to fire.  I pulled back the husks, and it is starting to dent.  It will be harvest time before we know it!

Putting up hay

Haying is back in full force.  The men are working on Watts' now and should finish it up tomorrow.  It's a good year for prairie hay, but not a great year for hay prices.

Paul unloading hay bales in to the hay barn at the house.

 

Growing fast

Well, it wasn't a soaker, but we did get a little rain this morning.  Here at the house we received 0.3" and Rose may have had a bit more again.  It was just a small cell, but we were still happy to settle the dust a bit.

 

These soybeans are getting tall. Most are between 3 and 4 feet!

Still waiting for rain!

We are still waiting for the rain to hit us.  There was some rain pretty close to us this morning.  It did rain down at Rose, and we are hoping the same cloud went over Chambers' to the east.  Nothing here at the house yet, but we still have a chance tonight.  Meanwhile, the men are getting anxious to get back in the hay field.  If it doesn't rain tonight, they will be hitting it hard again tomorrow.  We did have a couple days of slightly cooler temperatures, although it was pretty hot and humid by late afternoon again today.  Lots of 90+ degree days in the forecast this week so a rain would be very, very welcome!

Taking a little family time while we watch the skies for rain clouds

Catch-up day

We are having a catch-up day today.  The guys don't have any hay mowed down since there were some good chances for rain last night.  The rain this morning just missed us, but we are hoping for some tonight.  Meanwhile, the men are doing their "busy work" like equipment maintenance and mowing the lawn.  I should have had my honey-do list ready this morning...

 

Quentin likes to keep the equipment in good shape!

 

Weed is a four letter word

Weeds, weeds, weeds...

Weeds are becoming more of a problem.  Often it is too wet to get in the field early and spray when the weeds are small enough to easily control.  When they get bigger, it is much tougher to kill them.  We are stepping up our weed control program to try and knock back the problem weeds...pigweeds and marestail, in particular. 

We are thankful to be getting out now in all our later-planted soybean fields.  Beans AND weeds are growing fast after some rains a couple weeks ago.  Here's a particularly bad spot that just got sprayed.  We'll check back next week to see how they look.

 

Once our three kiddos get big enough, hand weeding might become an integral part of our weed control program.  Builds character...or that's what they used to tell me.

 



Another scorcher

Hot, hot, hot.  It was another hot and humid day.  Hopefully, the corn and beans still have enough moisture to enjoy the sunshine.  The kids and I have been inside enjoying the air conditioning this afternoon.  Still praying for rain this week.  Paul mowed down some hay this afternoon.  He says that's a good way to make it rain.

Praying for rain

Rain in the forecast!  We have a few chances of rain in the forecast again this week with a good chance by midweek.  They seem to change the forecast every hour, though, so we'll believe it when we see the raindrops.  We have been blessed with some good rains so far this year.  We had a dry spell in June, but I don't think it hurt the corn too much.  Stay tuned.  I'll be posting some corn pictures sometime this week. 

The early-planted soybeans are starting to pod!  They could use a nice shower this week.

Soybeans just west of our house; planted April 29

Haying season

Even Paul's granddaughter Caysia is getting in on the fun this year.  It is her first time raking hay.  She did a great job!

Spraying and haying

The men are busy spraying and haying these days as the weather allows.  Hard to fit in spraying sometimes with all that Kansas wind.  Baling is going well.  The guys finished the small patches they wanted to do this year and the one large hay field on Steeby's.  I am not sure where they are headed next as they don't have anything else mowed down right now.  We have had some rain delays, but no one here is complaining about rain in July!!

Welcome to the Stoll Family Farm Blog!

Hello!  We would like to keep everyone up to date on the farm happenings and thought this would be a good way to stay in touch.  Paul and Quentin wouldn't pose for an official farm photo, but I caught them and future farmer(?) Noah checking the weather this morning. 

 



 

A small system came through south of here and gave us some sprinkles and a nice, cool morning.  It wasn't enough to do much for the crops...just enough to keep the guys out of the hay field.