Barley Harvest 2015

Hey everyone!

Yes, we are still in the midst of harvest around here, although it has been somewhat disjointed. We've had a lot of stop and go with harvest this year, largely because the crops are all ripening at different times. Even within the barley harvest, we had a few days break between cutting barley at Tom and Carol's and cutting the barley that Jeff and I raised. At this point our barley harvest is more or less finished, so I thought I'd give you all a brief wrap-up of that. If you want to go back and read up on how our winter wheat harvest went, you can do that by CLICKING HERE. The winter wheat post was one of my most-clicked posts of the summer, so that tells me that people must be enjoying the farm-related posts and hopefully learning something, too! 

So. Barley. 

When barley is ripe, the heads bow down.

 We raise what's called 2-Row Barley. That means that the grain head itself has two rows of seeds. There are other types of barley, such as 6-Row. In Montana, most everyone raises 2-Row. Our friends in North Dakota raise 6-Row. From what I gleaned from Jeff's explanation, it sounds like 6-Row barley produces a higher yield. Makes sense-- more rows, more seeds. But 2-Row barley may have better, more consistent malting qualities, and that's the desired end-use for the barley we raise.

So, what happens during harvest is we cut the barley and send a sample to the malt plant with whom we have contracted our grain. They will test the sample to see if the grain we raised is sufficient for malting. They have a lot of stipulations, including test-weight, protein, moisture, plump vs. thin kernel size, germination... on and on. Jeff just showed me the list and after reading through it, I began to wonder how anyone makes malt grade, ever. But, I guess demand for beer doesn't go down, so sometimes the malt companies will be a little more lenient. Actually, it seems like you're less likely to get docked by the malt company than you are by the wheat buyers. So, there's that.

Something else I learned as I was doing a little research for this post is that malt is made from germinated barley kernels. So, at the malt plant, they soak the kernels in water so they germinate, then they dry them out with hot air. Something happens within the seed during germination process that makes it sweeter. When the malted grain reaches the desired dryness and color, it's ready to go.

We are at the point where almost all of our barley has been cut, but we're not sure if it will make malt grade yet. We have to send our samples in and then wait and see. If it doesn't make malt, then it'll be sold (for a lesser price, most likely) and used in animal feed. We hope that's not what happens.

I don't have a ton of photos from barley harvest because anyone who knows anything about barley kind of tries to stay away if they don't have to be involved. Barley dust is really itchy. It's kind of a burny, stingy itch that gets in the sweaty areas at the back of the neck or in the inside of the elbows and doesn't go away until you take a shower. This year, some of the barley cutting days were in the upper 90s, so that means more sweat and worse barley itch.

There was also the day that the air-conditioners broke. Our friend Brett helped us cut barley this year because we were planning on baling the barley straw and his combine makes a better straw-row than ours does. One day, both combines had been running hard all day long on a hot, hot day and then, oddly, around 7 p.m., the air-conditioners quit in both of them. Being in the glass-walled cab of a combine is like being an ant under a magnifying glass- it's hot! And there's no opening windows when you're cutting itchy barley. There was no going on that evening without the A.C. Honestly, I don't think anyone minded the early quitting time that day, though!

In this photo, Jeff is driving combine and Tom is in the truck, just across the road from Tom and Carol's house.
Taken on the first day of Barley harvest, July 31.

Right now, we are in another one of the harvest pauses that seem to be the norm this year as we've been working on other projects and waiting for the spring wheat to finish ripening. Once we get rolling on the spring wheat, probably by Thursday, I'm hoping we can just cut through it without any more multi-day pauses. I think everyone is ready to put the bookends on this harvest and move on. Stay tuned for more harvest posts as we plow ahead! 

Thankful Thursday ~ State of the Farm

Hey Everyone!

Happy Thursday ! 

Things have been busy around here lately. Jeff and I were on vacation visiting family in Iowa, which you can read a bit about in my previous Thankful Thursday post. Then, we were home for a few days before some great friends of mine came from Seattle for a visit of about four days. I'll write a bit more about that soon, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, for the most part it has continued to be dry, dry, dry with the weather. Jeff just showed me the drought report put out by our local tv news station...

We are located near Havre on that map, in the peachy-tan colored section. So, we're not as bad as some parts of the state, but we're still pretty bad. We have not had much rain at all this year, which makes it pretty difficult to grow crops.

Then, on July 4th we had some "fireworks," brought to us by Mother Nature by way of a severe thunderstorm with rain and the four-letter H word. Yep, you guessed it.. hail. There was actually a tornado warning issued for part of our county. 

To add insult to injury in a dry, dry growing season, we then were hit with sideways hail. On the land that Jeff and I farm, we received hail damage to some extent on 100% of our crops. Tom (Jeff's Dad) had hail damage on some of his land, too. Both farms were reeling from droughthy weather. Some of our neighbors literally have no crop left standing in the field. With harvest just around the corner, their crops are completely totaled out already. 

You can see how the wheat is literally laying down.
The power of strong wind and hail.

So why do I bring all of this up? There are a fair number of friends and family who read this blog because they like to know what is going on here on the farm. Now you know. I'm not writing about this to gain sympathy or to share a sob story. It's simply statement of fact as to how the year is going. I.e. not very well. 

But what we must do, despite everything, or rather, IN SPITE of it all, is try to remain positive and thankful for what we do have. In agriculture, we are completely at the mercy of the weather. We cannot control it. We can do everything we can to plan and prepare for how we expect weather conditions to unfold according to typical weather patterns for our area, but when we have an off-year, that's just how it is. Not every year is going to be tremendous. Most will be average. When bad years or bad things happen, we have to learn from it, if possible, and move on. 

And just to lighten the mood while emphasizing my point, please watch this video from The Lion King:

"It doesn't matter-- it's in the past!"

What happens, happens. And, it really DOESN'T matter, because it's in the past! We can't change the past. What we can control is our own behaviors and actions in the moment and going forward.

Is it easy to let go? Hell no! Does it still suck when bad things happen? Absolutely. But I believe that a person can recognize, acknowledge, and give some weight to the negative emotions we feel due to bad circumstances, learn from them, and then let go and move forward. Try to make the best of what's still here to work with.

Rather timely, I'd add, another blog that I follow posted this article this week: Things You Gain When You Let Go Of Control. It's all about letting go of what you can't control, giving space to those things, and relishing what you can control, which is really only yourself. When you do that, you find that you're more able to recognize the good and the peace in what is all around you, and in yourself. I think the best quote of the entire article is this: "If you want to control your cows, give them a bigger pasture." Ponder that one for a while. :)

And so, even as the summer drags on, with whatever mixed bag of tricks Mother Nature still has in store for us, I remind myself of some of the many reasons I still am glad to be here. What we do on our farm helps feed a hungry world. Today's modern agricultural practices feed more people than ever before, and we are part of that. Every bit of grain we will harvest in the coming weeks, even though it's less than we originally thought we would have, helps to serve others. That's something to be proud of and to be thankful for.

I'll leave you with this Wendell Berry excerpt. There's a lot in there that rings true.


Happy Thursday, everyone! 
What are you thankful for this week?

Salad In a Jar

If you haven't noticed, mason jars are really trendy right now. Just do a Google or Pinterest search and see what you come up with. They are being used for everything from light fixtures to soap dispensers and everything in between, including good old canning and food storage. Here on the farm, we do a fair amount of canning to preserve our garden bounty and Carol also does canned beef every year. We have no shortage of jars around and we're not afraid to use them!

So when this week's Shape Up Montana Weekly Challenge was to make ahead some salads in mason jars, we were completely on board and ready to go! We don't have any garden produce yet, but since we do get a Bountiful Basket every other week, we were able to find some salad recipes that utilized ingredients we had on hand, including lots of fresh produce and grains and some healthy, lean proteins. Yesterday, Jeff, Tom, Carol and I got together and combined our resources and ingredients to put together a whole bunch of mason jar salads to eat throughout the week.

Beautiful jars of Chopped Black Bean and Corn Mason Jar Salad.

The inspiration and recipes for our salads came from an article I found on Buzzfeed. The article featured eighteen recipes, each a different combination of ingredients for mason jar salads. Jeff looked through all of them and found two that worked well with ingredients we already had. When we all got together, Jeff was the task master, too, and coordinated all of the salad creating efforts. The recipes we chose were similar, but contained different ingredients. We made Burrito Bowl Salads, and  Chopped Black Bean and Corn Mason Jar Salad.  Both had southwestern inspiration and flavors, and both had a "dressing" of greek yogurt and salsa.

Jeff places the first ingredients in the jars. I'm showing off his skills with Vanna hands. 

 What took the most time in preparing these salads was chopping veggies and preparing the ingredients. We were more or less starting from scratch, so all the veggies had to be cleaned and diced, chicken and sweet potatoes had to be seasoned and cooked, corn had to be thawed, black beans rinsed and drained, lettuce was torn, rinsed and spun dry. It was a good thing we had all hands on deck because it would have been a lot of work for one person.

While waiting on a few ingredients to be prepped, Jeff and Tom talked farming as Tom read the latest copy of Progressive Farmer.  

 The first salad we started on was the black bean and corn salad. It contained Greek yogurt, salsa, black beans, corn, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, red onion, cubed pepper jack cheese, and lettuce. Even though this salad is meatless, the beans, corn, cheese and yogurt will pack a powerful protein punch.

Jeff measures out black beans for each jar.

 We tackled the Burrito Bowl jars next. Ingredients for this one include Greek yogurt, bell peppers, cubed sweet potatoes, cilantro-lime quinoa, diced cooked chicken, shredded cheddar cheese, and lettuce. Again, this salad will be a protein powerhouse as quinoa is high in protein and it also contains chicken, cheese, and Greek yogurt.

Tom and Carol spoon some Greek yogurt into the bottom of the Burrito Bowl jars.

 I think the salad in a jar idea is really great because it allows you to prep some meals ahead of time that can be used later in the week. Jeff and Tom will be able to take them in their lunches while they're working on seeding barley, Carol can eat one for a quick lunch in the house or wherever she is, and I plan to bring a jar to my track meet tomorrow evening. It's a great on-the-go meal for busy people.

Putting lettuce in each jar.

If a person didn't want to spend a bunch of time cutting and chopping, you could use leftover ingredients from meals earlier in the week, or buy pre-cut produce and pre-cooked chicken, etc. I think a person could be really resourceful in using up leftovers from the fridge and making up your own salads whenever odd bits of leftover ingredients are around. 

Screwing lids on jars.

One thing that is important to remember in creating a mason jar salad is to put the wetter ingredients and salad dressings in FIRST. Then progress to drier ingredients as you fill the jar, saving lettuce for last. This way things like lettuce and cheese don't get soggy from sitting in the dressing. Plus, the colorful layers really look great in a clear jar!

Finished! Aren't those layers beautiful?

 When you're ready to eat, just dump your jar out onto a big plate or bowl and chow down. Easy, right?

If you're looking for a fun meal to make as a family that's healthy and delicious, mason jar salads could be just the ticket! Even young kids can get involved in helping and layering ingredients, and you can teach them about nutrition along the way. We had a great time making these together over the weekend and I can't wait to dig in! The four of us will definitely get our ten bonus points for Shape Up Montana, and these will work well for the Protein Challenge I'm participating in, too.

Have you ever made mason jar salads? What are some great, healthy meal ideas you use in your busy house?

Harvest: Take 2!

After a long rainy break in the harvest action, I'm pleased to say that we have started cutting again as of yesterday at about 4:00 p.m.  Hooray! Right now we are cutting spring wheat on the fields that Jeff and I are farming. Tom and our friend Brett are driving combines and Jeff and Stennie are driving truck back and forth from the field to the yard. Carol and I are on home-support/meal crew. I would like to say that we are getting back into routine quickly, but this year's harvest has been anything but routine.  It is definitely good to be cutting again, though.

The yard is filled with trucks and machinery during harvest!
How many trucks can you spot?
How many pickups?
(Did you know those were two different things?!)

Last night we had dinner in our house, provided by Carol and Jeff's Aunt Dorothy (Tom's eldest sister). Dorothy has been visiting and staying at Tom and Carol's since last Friday. It was so great to have the meal all thought up and prepared by them so that when I got home from school, I didn't have to worry about it. I even had time to sneak in a short run with Harvey, since we didn't eat until late.

Harvey is always ready to run! 

Dorothy and Carol are both great cooks, and had planned a delicious meal for the evening. Dorothy has a specialty sandwich called Muffaletta that Carol had requested the recipe for upon hearing that Dorothy was going to be visiting. Dorothy did her one-better and brought most of the ingredients to make the sandwich, too! They also had made a peachy rum upside down cake, which was fantastic as well.

Me and Dorothy with the muffaletta.
The photo should have been Carol and Dorthy, since they were the ones who actually made it! 

Close up of the sandwich. The ladies baked the bread from scratch, too. 

Delicious sandwich, corn from the garden, pickled beans (also from the garden), and a delicious Montana brew! 

Peachy pecan rum upside down cake. Yum! 

Tonight, we'll be taking dinner out to the field and then, hopefully dodging a rain shower that is supposed to be in the area later this evening. If we miss the rain, I think the plan is to cut wheat late into the night, or at least as long as it doesn't get too dewy. I haven't taken a meal out since the very first night of harvest, so that will be fun. It will be nice not to eat at 9pm.

Yes, that's our dog...in our bed...
He likes to have his head under the sheets. Goofy creature!

Because it was so rainy over the weekend, some farmers are experiencing wheat sprouting in the head. We've heard whispers of that occurring in our area, but haven't been seeing it in our own wheat yet. It's not good if the grain is sprouting, but the elevator will still take it-- they just dock your price because of it. We're hoping that we continue to see good, dry wheat kernels. So far, so good.

This is some grain that had spilled onto the ground before the rain, and since sprouted.
I think it's pretty and it reminds me of spring. 

It's so satisfying to finally be cutting our own crop off our own fields. I think so far Jeff has been pleasantly surprised with the yield on the fields that have been cut. Always a good thing to be pleasantly surprised. If we stay dry, we should be finished with harvest more or less within a week. Here's hoping for steady progress and no breakdowns!

Life is good!
Can you spot the Vizsla?! 

Meet Stephanie!

Now that I've mentioned Stephanie in a few posts, it's probably about time I formally introduce her to my ever-expanding blogosphere (ha!).

Stephanie is a dear friend of mine from my hometown, Ames, IA. What's funny though is that we never actually met until college while on the same study abroad program. So, even though we grew up only a few miles from each other, had some great mutual friends in high school, and then proceeded on to attend the same university (Iowa State-- Go Cyclones!), we actually met for the first time in Lyon, France! The world is a crazy place. That would never happen where I live now. The difference between living in a large town vs. a rural, small town area where everyone knows everyone else from before they were born. But I digress.

Wind blowing in our faces, that's me and Stephanie from early July 2007 in front of the Golden Gate Bridge!

Stephanie has always had interest in agriculture and was in 4-H as a kid, winning prizes for dairy showmanship at our County Fair. For the past two years she has worked on farms, seasonally full-time. They have been CSA "Old McDonald" farms with produce, livestock, and dairy. She has lived in every time zone of the USA gaining experience at every farm where she has worked, but has discovered that dairy is ultimately the key to her agriculture passion. Stennie (short for Stephanie) loves cows!

I have been bugging Stennie to visit me and Jeff here on the farm since before I lived here, so when she contacted me earlier this summer about a potential visit in August, the answer was Yes, Of Course! After much discussion between Stennie, me and Jeff, what was originally to be a visit of about 1-2 weeks has turned into something a bit longer term and she'll be staying on through September! Stennie has been helping with our grain harvest by driving truck. We are doing our best to make her feel welcome and like she is part of the team.

A little hard to see, but Tom, Jeff, and Stennie contemplating something about this grain bin.

For my part, I love having Stephanie here. It's so, so wonderful to have one of my closest friends available and interested in seeing where we live and what we do, especially as someone I knew before living here was even an inkling of a possibility in my mind. It's great to have her perspective and her questions as to why we live the way we do and do what we do and farm the way we do. Jeff's family is as patient and welcoming to her as they have been with me, which is something I am so very thankful for. Stephanie's questions and interests help make me realize just how much I have learned since moving here and all the ways this place is home now.

Stephanie's first time unloading a truck without Jeff's assistance.
She did great, even with me hanging around distracting and taking photos! 

Even more than all that, though, I have been truly struck by her willingness to just jump in and help with harvest-- our busiest, most stressful time of the year. Yesterday, we began cutting our barley crop. It was in the 90s outside with no wind, and itchy barley dust sticking to everyone. Not the funnest time. But Stephanie continually had a smile on her face and a positive attitude, which helped keep everyone's spirits a little higher than they might have been. It means so much to me on so many levels to have her here.

Stephanie monitors barley emptying out of the truck and into the auger.

I have somewhat of a twang of guilt that I am not the one driving truck, but since we knew she was going to be here through harvest and beyond for a while, it made most sense to teach her. I'll be starting school next week (YIKES!) and would be out of commission at that point anyway. This way, they could teach her early on and let her fly, rather than giving me a pretty major refresher lesson only to ultimately show her the ropes anyway. So, Stennie works hard outside and I continue to be support staff-- working in the garden, helping with meals, parts runs, and other odd miscellany that still needs to be kept up with during harvest.

Future Beer! 

With all of this, we're still managing to find times here and there to do a bit of baking. I think I mentioned in a previous post that Stennie is an excellent baker. We made a batch of pie crusts the other day and mostly froze the discs of dough. One did get held back, rolled out, and is awaiting being filled with delicious Key Lime custard, baked, and then topped with raspberries. Can't wait to try it!

She's doing a great job! Like and old pro already! 

As I also mentioned in a previous post, she's a wonderful writer and photographer, too, so there's always the chance of a guest blog appearance. If you are one of my readers who lives around here and you see Stephanie on the road, give her a friendly wave and a hello!