Goodbye 2015!

Before life on the farm, we only had a glimpse of the importance of the end of the year.  Mainly, we just had to work out our charitable contributions or other minor deductions for the year.  Boy, having your own business is a whole different ball game!  I typically do the bookkeeping for Quentin's part of the farm operation and have been busy crunching numbers.  The end of the year for us now is a fine line of spending and selling grain so that our expense-income ratio makes sense tax-wise.  I am very thankful I am not an accountant!

Christmas blessings!

We had a wonderful Christmas, and I hope all of you did, too.  We were out of town for a few days, but are back to the farm now.  What a difference a few days makes.  It is COLD!!  I am very thankful for all the wood Quentin was able to find time to cut for us.  Our wood stove feels so good this week.  The guys are working odds and ends and staying inside more than usual.  Paul is still busy feeding cows, of course, and checking to make sure their water supply isn't frozen over.  Good thing the cattle have thick hides in this cold weather.  As Paul likes to say on cold mornings, "It's a good day not to be a cow."

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year!

 

 

Slow week

A slow week on the farm this week.  The men kept busy figuring out next year's herbicide plan and ordering chemicals.  Quentin also had time to cut some firewood for us; although, it has not been cold enough to start the wood stove yet this year!  The also spent a couple days working on our new church building in town.  No field work, but always something to do!

Combine maintenance

Quentin has scheduled the combine for a "check-up" at the dealership this winter.  Isaac would love to help.  He's an expert at getting in those tight spaces.  We may have to send him to a farm mechanics school!

 

Rain, rain, rain...

If only we could bottle some of this rain and save it up for next July and August...  We received another 2.60" today!  The ponds getting pretty full now.  I am very thankful that the weather is warm enough that it came as rain and not snow.  We would have been buried!  I think Quentin has given up on getting any fall tillage done, but he still would like to start strip-tilling fertilizer as soon as it dries up.

And they say roosters are loud...

You should have heard the noise at our house this week...and it wasn't just the kids!  Paul decided it was time to wean a bunch of calves.  The calves DISAGREED.  You should have heard them bawling for their mamas.  The first night, I kept thinking the kids were making some strange noises.  By morning, it was really a racket out there.  Luckily, they settled down within a couple days.    We walked down to see them yesterday, and they seemed pretty content.  They must have decided the hay was OK.

Cover crops

The cover crops continue to do their work this winter.  The turnips and radishes should winter kill soon.  The rye, much like our wheat fields, did not put much growth on this fall, but will hopefully get a chance to grow significantly taller this spring before corn planting.

 

Cover on Winfrey's

Filling up

Ken's new pond is filling nicely after all that rain!

 

Wheat check

The wheat didn't put on a lot of growth this fall, but it did appear to fill in nicely after the late rain we received.

 

Throwback: Tractorcade

In the late 1970s, Paul and Clayton participated in a tractorcade to Topeka.  I'll have to have Paul tell me the story sometime so I can share.  Some "experts" say we might be looking at more lean years for the foreseeable future, but this family farm continues to survive!

 

Window reads "Help keep this girl on the family farm"  We do still have this tractor!

Gathering for the tractor strike