Odd jobs

We had a mostly warm week, followed by a couple cold days.  The cover crops and wheat are greening up, making us think spring must surely be coming soon.  The men have been working on different jobs around the farm.  They spent some time cutting trees around the edges of fields and spreading out corn stalks that washed in to piles with the big rains last fall.  Planting will be upon us before we know it!

 

Cutting trees



Cover crops are looking green!

Finished!

Quentin finished up strip-tilling the rest of our fields this afternoon.  He is happy to be done!  Although, he did enjoy running that new (or new for us) tractor.  It is actually a used tractor, and there are a few minor things that need work on it, but it seems to be in good shape.

Paul tells me calving season is also starting.  He had two new baby calves this morning!

Happy Valentine's Day

Some guys get their wives roses or candy for Valentine's Day.  I got...a tractor!  Quentin brought our new addition home this morning.  The dealer even threw in a pink hat for me that says "I (heart) John Deere".  Be still my heart.

New addition

It's an 8310R and will be much more versatile for us than the set up we had with the 9200.  (As a side note, the 9200 is now up for sale if anyone wants to get their significant other a unique V-day gift.  It would make a great, one-of-a-kind lawn ornament that would be sure to get the neighbors talking.)

Quentin is out finishing up the last of Steeby's now.  He was a little delayed yesterday after his near breakdown.  He hopes to be done by early afternoon and then plans to swap tractors before he goes back to strip-tilling.  He is eager to get the new one out in the field to see how it runs.  So far I have heard that it "drives like a car".  I am not sure what that means, but it is clearly a good thing.



A close call

We know some of you remember us in your prayers, and we thought we would let you know that you can punctuate them with a big "thank you" tonight!  Quentin is certain the Lord was watching over him yesterday.  He was hooking up an anhydrous tank yesterday when he noticed a fertilizer tower on the strip-till bar looked a little crooked.  Now, he got a little technical telling the story, and I am not mechanically inclined so bear with me.  Let's just suffice to say where there should have been two U-bolts holding a massive amount of weight, there was only one.  The other had broken.  We do not know how long he had been running like that, but if the one remaining U-bolt would have snapped under the added pressure, half the strip-till rig would have been in serious peril.  Not to mention, if he would have been running at speed, it also would have probably torn up the anhydrous tank he was pulling.  It would have been a very extensive, expensive and potential dangerous accident.  Whew!  We are counting our blessings today!

Rolling

The men are rolling now!  They were able to get the rest of the lime spread Saturday.  Paul ran a borrowed loader, and the COOP did the spreading for us.

Finishing lime

Quentin has been out strip-tilling.  He finished on Street's down at Rose, and then did a couple fields near Paul and Helen's.  Today, he will hopefully finish on Steeby's.  He is waiting to move over on Chambers' until the weatherman makes up his mind on whether or not we will have rain.  The chances keep popping in and out of the forecast.  Right now, we have about a 30-40% chance of rain today/tonight with overcast skies.  It's anybody's guess.

Strip-tilling

After a morning of running around tying up loose ends and finishing fertilizer "prescriptions", Quentin was able to get back to strip-tilling yesterday afternoon.  He started down on Street's at Rose.  However, he brought everything back last night and needs to flush out the anhydrous lines before he can run again.

Glad I don't have to drive this rig

Spring is in the air...

Today is a nice, warm day.  The kind that makes you think that surely spring is right around the corner.  Never mind that it's still the first part of February!  The surest sign of spring coming around here is Quentin and Paul out in the fields.  Today, Quentin took out the strip-till rig and started tilling and putting out fertilizer in strips on the fields going to corn this spring.  He has started on Marilyn's north field first.  (Always a good idea to start close to home for the first field just in case something isn't running right!)  The forecast looks dry for a while so he should be able to cover a lot of acres this week if things go well.

Lime!

If you are excited to see this picture, you must be a farmer.  (Or else under the age of 10.  The kids think it looks like something that would be fun to climb on.)

We were excited to see the lime!  It is so important to keep the pH of the soils from getting too low.  Low pH reduces the availability of the good nutrients and increases the availability of the "bad" ones.  The lime is used to neutralize the soils, bringing the pH up to a level the crops prefer, somewhere in the slightly acidic range.

Quentin was able to have most of the lime spread last week.  It has been windy off and on so spreading the last of the lime and fertilizer has been off and on.  Mostly, the men have been smoothing ruts and terraces the last few days.

Busy!

The men are busy, trying to coordinate several different activities these days.  The lime is arriving at various fields around the farm, and Quentin hopes to get someone to start spreading it today.   Yesterday, he was putting more fertilizer over the top of fields, but switched gears when it started to get windy.  He wanted to get the disk out and smooth some field ruts, but found flat tires on it.  Instead, he tried the field cultivator, but it doesn't do the best job for what the fields need right now.  Paul was busy clearing trees on Kenneth's with the skid steer, but it was having some mechanical issues, too!  Never a dull moment around the farm, especially in almost-springtime. 

Field cultivating