Back to work

The men are back in the corn field today! They moved over to Chambers' and will cut as much as they can before the next rain.  Our next big chance is Tuesday night in to Wednesday.  Hopefully, they can harvest a lot of corn before then.

Routine maintenance

The men are spending the down time doing some light maintenance on the combine...under the watchful eye of the "boss," of course.

Quentin is hoping that the fields dry out enough by Friday to get rolling on corn harvest again.

Rain

More rain.  We had 2.6" last night through about lunchtime today.  Since things were just borderline dry before, we are very, very wet again now!  I guess the harvest crew gets a few days off.

Soybean harvest

The men were able to get all the early beans harvested today!  They finished just in time as we can see lightning in the west now.  Soybean harvest is a slightly slower pace, and they were able to keep up well with just one truck driver (Ken) and a grain cart (Paul) to haul the beans out of the field.  (I got a day off!)  Quentin is very happy to have these beans out of the field so that he does not have to worry about them shattering.

The rest of the beans are changing fast, but harvest will be awhile yet for them.

Late beans turning

Beat the rain?

We are in a race against the rain today.  Yesterday, we were able to finish the corn on Steeby's.  It was a bit soft and there were still a few mud puddles to avoid, but it went pretty well.  The truck just stayed on the drive near the road and the grain cart stayed mostly at the field edges.  No one got stuck.  Yeah!  Hopefully, we did not compact the field too much.

Still some wet spots

Quentin has the corn header off the combine this morning so I would guess he is going to try to get those early soybeans out of the field today before the rain.  We will just have to keep one eye on the sky (or radar) and changes our plans as needed.

Progress

We had another good day today.  Quentin finished cutting down at Rose late afternoon, and then cut the last of Marilyn's, a small field near the house.  Tomorrow should be good harvest weather, but a front is still expected to move through some time on Saturday.  Quentin will have to evaluate the early beans tomorrow to see if they need to come out before the rain or if we should stay focused on corn.

Feeling blessed!

Yesterday ended up being a short combine day.  They ran in to mud on Steeby's and quit by 7pm.  Today, they decided to try down at Rose.  We started about noon, and Quentin is still out now (8pm).  I expect he'll run out of truck space for the night soon.  There were some soft spots in the field, but the trucks stayed on the road and let the grain cart/combine go back and forth across the field. 

Quentin was feeling blessed today.  We had two truck drivers, a grain cart operator and a Grandma willing to babysit for much of the day.  We can move a lot of corn that way!  Unfortunately, the grain cart driver had to shut it down by 5 and go back to being a soccer mom (literally), but we were VERY thankful to have our extra truck driver up from Texas!

I don't do selfies, but...can you believe they let me drive this thing!?!

Trying it

The men are out "trying it" on Steeby's.  The ground is a little wet, and the grain is just a hair wet, but they have decided to combine this afternoon.  There is a chance of rain again on Saturday, and they would like to get as much done as possible before that.  Prayers that they won't get stuck!!

Impatient beans

The men are getting out the soybean header this morning.  The fields of soybeans are turning fast, especially the field of early-planted beans over on Leisure's.  Soybeans are not quite as "patient" as corn when it comes to harvest time.  Once the beans are ready, they need to come out of the field or they will start to shatter (the pods pop open and the seeds fall out.)  Quentin decided it was wise to use his time out of the corn field to get the other header ready.  We might have to switch to beans and then back to corn if things get tight this fall.

A little R and R

It rained 1.25" on Friday, a soaking rain that saturated the fields again.  It gave us a chance for a little rest and relaxation this weekend!  We spent time visiting with family and made some homemade ice cream, a nice break for us.

With the wet fields, Quentin has been able to spend some time looking in to cover crops for next year.  We will need to plant those as soon as possible after the crops are harvested.  He is going to plant a cover on more fields this year to see how they respond to it, and it would be best to get a good start on growth yet this fall.

Too wet

On hold again!  The men tried to cut on Chambers' yesterday, but the ground and grain were too wet.  They also tried a field on Steeby's, but the corn was too wet there also so they brought the combine back home to watch the storms roll through.  We have had quite a bit of thunder, but not much rain to speak of yet.  

Slight progress

It wasn't the best drying day on the farm.  This morning, it was windy, but cloudy.  We had a small shower around 10am, and then it was sunny with very little breeze.  We counted ourselves luckily, however.  We heard that they had a downpour in Yates Center!  Quentin was able to combine a little bit late afternoon.  He cut the small field directly west of our house.  It was a little soft in spots, but went OK.  There was some corn down in parts of the field where the water must have been draining through.  Overall, not bad considering it was flooded just last week.

The field last week!

There are chances of rain tomorrow, but we are hoping it holds off a bit longer.  The men would like to get over to Chambers' tomorrow if that ground is dry enough.  Some fields over there by Owl Creek were flooded over the ears, and the grain is trying to sprout on the cob.  It would be good to get that harvested sooner rather than later.

Drying out

We are slowing drying out around here.  Quentin walked a few soybean fields this morning and did some hand spraying for late flushes of weeds.  It was drier than you might expect with all that rain.  There have been a few combines rolling in the area, but Quentin checked our corn fields earlier and it is still too wet.  The weather has been good for drying, but chances of rain start sneaking back in to the forecast by tonight so we will have to see if they are able to get the combine out at all this week.

Flooded

We are flooded!  We received another 4.5" last night, which brings us up to 7".  There is water over the road both directions, and I can hear the creek roaring from up here by the house.  Luckily, you can still get through with the pickups.  This morning, the men had to pull a couple pieces of equipment to higher ground that were parked in a low spot.  The forecast calls for more rain later today/tonight.  I think it will be a while before the combine is back in the corn fields.

Our road to the east

Our road to the west

Screeching halt

The rains are coming down!  Harvest has come to a screeching halt around here.  We have received over 2.5" already, and it is still raining.  It will be several days before the fields dry out, and there is more rain in the forecast.

On the upside, we were all able to relax and celebrate our littlest farmer today.  Happy 2nd Birthday to Farmer Noah!

Desperate times...

Desperate times call for desperate measures.  Long rows and great yields (yeah!) have forced the men to enlist the help of an inexperienced grain cart driver...me!  It was scary for all of us, but I'm happy to report that both the equipment and my marriage are still mostly in tact.  (Most married couples fight about money.  We fight about the appropriate speed to drive a grain cart through the field!)

Double duty

The rain moves in tonight or tomorrow, but Quentin seems happy with the harvest progress.  We were able to finish Kenneth's corn by early evening and brought all the equipment home before the storms set in.

Filling trucks

Quentin was able to finish Marilyn's last yesterday afternoon and moved on to Paul's field just east of the hay barn.  This morning, the dew is light with a good breeze so hopefully he'll be able to get an earlier start again today.  A front moves in later this afternoon/evening so they would like to get as much done as they can before the rain starts.

Filling trucks

A start

Moisture on Claude's was fine yesterday, and the men were able to get a start on corn harvest.  Quentin finished up on that field this morning.  He tried some of Kenneth's, but the grain is just a little wetter than we would like.  Now he is off to try a test cut on Marilyn's.  It was planted just a few days earlier than Kenneth's with the same hybrid maturity so it might go this afternoon.  We have had some good sunshine and wind to help the drying the last few days.  There are chances of rain starting late tomorrow so we will see how much they are able to do before then.

Yields look well above average thus far!!  It's very exciting even with disappointing corn prices.  And I've only made one run to the parts store since the start of harvest (for something minor) so we are feeling blessed.

Snouts down!

Quentin has the combine out and is putting down the snouts on the corn header.  They are ready to try their first field.  Paul's corn on Claude's looks the furthest along so they will go there first.

Finished!

Paul finished baling the last of the hay yesterday afternoon.  Whew!  Many in the area are still going strong on haying, and we are very thankful to be done.  Time to set sights on corn harvest!  I expect they'll be checking the fields to see if the ground is still too muddy for the combine this week.

Full barns!

A shaky morning!

You may have heard of (or even felt) the Oklahoma earthquake this morning.  We hope none of you had any damage!  I never thought we'd have an earthquake on the farm, but we certainly felt it here.  Our oldest came out and announced that the floor woke him up.  He didn't know what to make of a shaking floor.  I am happy to report that all Grandpa Peck's tools are still up on the wall, but I was watching them get a good shaking and wondering if I would have a mess to clean up.  The rattling added more drama than a Hollywood sound effects crew!

Paul is busy baling hay today.  We'll see how much he can get done before he runs in to wet hay.  I know he would like to be finished.  It sure is heavy hay this year!  The trucks and grain cart are close to ready.  They have to have a couple tires fixed/replaced on one truck, but thankfully, they spotted the need for repairs before we had a blow out on a loaded grain truck.

Drying out

We are trying to dry out a little bit this week.  Paul went back to mowing yesterday and finished up this morning.  He is hoping to have everything baled and hauled in before harvest, of course.  Quentin is working to get the grain cart and trucks ready for harvest.  There isn't any rain in the forecast until the middle of next week so they may get a chance to get in the corn fields if the ground dries out enough over the next couple days.