Weekly Review April 10-16

Busy week of fitness, farm, and life! We had a major event that really changed our outlook on the farm this week. Read on!

Our apricot trees blossomed this week. It was pretty!

Fitness
I continue to make good progress in my April fitness challenges. At this point, I've done 7 out of 13 different running routes/workouts for #Oisellefullhalf, and I've put in 25 miles toward my 50 mile goal in Million Mile Month--half way! I'm also getting really close to my goal of scoring 600 points in Shape Up Montana this year. I'm not ready to coast toward any of these challenges yet, though. Gotta keep working so I can get them done.

Here's how the week shaped up:
Sunday- I had an awesome 6.4 mile run up to the Goldstone Road and back. I didn't push pace, just went for it. When I got back, Harvey gave me a ton of kisses. I'd like to think he was telling me "Thank you for taking me for the run!" He's not usually a big kisser.

Post-run vizsla kisses!

Monday- No running or dedicated physical activity but I ended the day with four miles of walking on my pedometer.
Tuesday- 3 miles on treadmill before school (running), 30 minutes of yoga, and 4 miles of walking.
Wednesday- 30 minutes of yoga
Thursday- 4 miles of walking
Friday- I was sick, so I did nothing.
Saturday- I felt slightly better, plus the weather was really lovely and it was too nice to stay inside, so I forced myself out for a 2.2. mile walk/jog. Felt good to move a bit, even if it was really a struggle just to do that.

Year To Date, through April 16
Running: 148.7 miles
Walking/Hiking: 53.7 miles <-- Really pumped up this one this week!
Yoga: 685 min 
CC-Ski: 500 min / 14.1 miles *Done for the season
Alpine Ski: 3 days *Done for the season
Mountain bike: 34 miles 

Also in Fitness news, I'm really excited about next Sunday-- it's the Icebreaker Road Race in Great Falls. Jeff and I are pretty firmly planning on going down to run it. I'm planning on doing the 5 mile. It would be my first official race of the season, and I'm pretty pumped. Hoping I can stay healthy to be able to run it.

Farm
We were really busy in the first part of the week with seeding.

Photo cred: Jeff
Jeff had checked in to see how the peas we seeded last week were doing, and happily, they are already sprouting!

Jeff and Tom got all our barley seeded, thankfully, just ahead of some much needed RAIN that fell on Thursday and Friday. Truly, this rain is the biggest news of the season, perhaps even of the entire year so far. We were DESPERATELY in need of some rain. Last year was pretty much drought conditions the entire year, and we really depleted our pasture, not to mention our crops taking a huge hit. Starting off this year with minimal optimism for both crops and pasture grass was not a great feeling. We had actually talked and planned for what we would do if it didn't rain this year again--how many cows would we sell? how could we cut input costs on farmland?

And then it rained over 2 inches. And it was glorious, and there was much rejoicing! It can be very hard to convey to people outside of agriculture just how dependent we are on rain. We can plan and plan and do everything within our own power to try to ensure a successful farm or ranch season, but if we don't get rain, we're in trouble. With this rain being over 2 inches, it was huge for us. We're feeling much, much better about our pasture grasses taking off, hay ground being productive, and our crop land getting the moisture it needs to germinate and sprout strong seedlings. This one weather system totally reversed our entire outlook on the year, and we are so, so grateful.

After the rain, there were huge puddles and lots of mud EVERYWHERE!
Photo credit: Jeff

Life
Jeff and I have been enjoying early season baseball games. I'm a Cubs fan and he likes the Braves. Otherwise, nothing earth-shattering in the Life department. I was not feeling well over the weekend, and still am not feeling 100%, but I know it will pass. I'm looking forward to the beautiful weather we're supposed to be having this upcoming week, and hoping to get some good runs in outside. This week, I'm grateful for the rain, my awesome husband who is a constant source of strength for me, and simply the ability to run and move, and that my body is capable. 

What are you grateful for this week?

Our rain translated in to snow on the Sweetgrass Hills. 

Mucky and Ducky



 

"It's cool and mucky; now it's ducky! Better pack a sweater." 

 

So begins the Weather segment of the August calendar page in our edition of The Old Farmer's Almanac.   Does anyone read those things? Actually, what I meant was, does anyone read those things and take them seriously?  Is it the OLD FARMER's almanac, or is it the OLD ALMANAC belonging to farmers? Does it not count if I read it and I'm not an old farmer? Do I have to pass it off to the nearest septuagenarian agrarian for oral readings?

 

All that aside, out of curiosity, I opened ours up for the first time today. We were given it as a Christmas stocking stuffer.  Maybe Jeff reads it some (he's not old yet and neither am I), but this was a first time for me.  The weather prediction in the calendar for our region for the month of August has so far been pretty accurate. According to the almanac, temperatures were supposed to be about 4 degrees below average (check!), precipitation about 3 ", or 1" above average (check!), and with daily scattered thunderstorms (check!).  Cool, wet, and humid have ruled the first four days of August.  It's not exactly ideal harvest weather.

 

After coming back from the fair last Sunday, Jeff and I spent some time prepping for harvest.  We greased and readied the combine, washed windows on it and the grain trucks, vacuumed all the vehicles, prepared the auger, and moved to the field.  We were starting on our yellow field peas, north of our house. It's a new combine and header for us this year, so Jeff was anxious to give it a whirl.  We tried it out on the peas that night, so the official First Day of Harvest was Sunday, June 28.



Prepping the Combine



It took until Thursday, August 1 to finish cutting our peas.  And that was only about 250 acres.  Those dang thunderstorms halted harvest for a few days in there, between Sunday and Thursday.  Days when it didn't rain, there was so much dew that cutting couldn't begin until late in the afternoon.  Wednesday and Thursday were big days of low moisture, however, which allowed the pea crop on our farm to cut completely.  Just in time for the next bout of thunderstorms.  Friday and Saturday saw a lot of rain in this country, which is abnormal for this time of year. Perhaps if we had consulted our Farmer's Almanac back in January, we would have known this ahead of time... alas, I don't think any of our plans would have changed! 

 

Everyone is hoping to get back in the field as soon as possible.  If we get some good warm, drying days, it could be by Tuesday or Wednesday. I'll have to remember to pack my sweater! We are ready to be done with the mucky, ducky humidity and get some grains in the bin. If harvest continues to be postponed, I'll have plenty of time to revisit the Old Farmer's Almanac for a little light reading.  Next up, "The Right Way to Kiss," on page 172!

 

Harvey posing for yet another glamour shot.

Abby: "Well, if you guys aren't going to pet me, I'll just rest here in the shade!"

Cutting Peas on the First Day of Harvest, July 28.

A Day in the Life AND Early Summer Roundup, Installment Four: Seattle Proper!

A day in the life...

So good to be home for the whole weekend. Jeff and I both have been looking forward to the time when we'd no longer be traveling so much and this is the first full weekend of being home.  Not that we aren't busy, however.  Jeff has been spending most of his time mowing CRP that we will be putting into production.  And when he isn't mowing, he and I have been on ranch duties. 

Right now, our cows are running with Tom's at pasture.  They are in four groups and spread out among the different pastures we own and rent.  Late July is a restless time for the cattle, however. The bulls in particular are starting to get antsy.  By now, they have been with the cows for some time and have, ahem, well... one might say they have achieved their mission.  At least we hope they have.  Judging by the tendency of the bulls to get out lately, one could safely say that at least the good majority of the cows are bred.

Therein lies the problem.  The bulls get restless and decide to push on fences here and there and escape.  They go into the neighbors herd (where there are fewer bred cows...) or into the neighbor's wheat field (wheat tastes better than grass! Duh!)... or just into some other pasture (Hence the phrase, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence).  All this activity has lead to Jeff and I spending time mending fences and gates here and there.  As Jeff is on the mower as much as he can be, it has been my job over the past few days to drive around and check whether the cows are in or out at the various pastures. 

Mornings have also been spent watering the vegetable garden and flowers at Tom and Carol's house, and harvesting veggies.  Lettuce is on the down-side of its bell curve of ripeness, while cucumbers and green peas, and snow peas are on the upswing.  If anyone has any good cucumber or pea recipes, send them our way because we have a bumper crop for sure! Tonight I am making pasta with bacon and peas, and I think I am going to experiment with making pea spread either today or tomorrow. It will be like hummus, only green, and I think it'll freeze fine, too.  First step in making pea dip will be simply to figure out how to put together and use the food processor...

So that's what has been happening around here over the weekend.

Back to the Early Summer Roundup, here's the photos from our time in Seattle. 

Really, the only super-touristy thing we did was go to Pike's Place market.  Even though it was crowded with throngs of people, I still enjoyed it.  It was cool to see so much produce and seafood in one place. Although I did wonder how much of it was produced locally versus shipped in from warehouses or facilities from far away...

 

We met up with a very dear friend of mine from college, Ellen, whom I hadn't seen since I still lived in Iowa.  She and her husband and their young son were also in Seattle for a wedding (not the same wedding!) so we met at the market for breakfast.  They are organic farmers in Western Iowa.  They also have a CSA and Ellen is a huge advocate for local, sustainable food. I love her.  Here's one of their websites: Pin Oak Place.

I took this picture in the market because of the beef prices.  HOLY COW! No pun intended.  Glad I don't have to buy beef at the store... although I am sure there is a Pike's Place Market Markup.  Would anyone out there like to pay Bangs Beef that much for one of our steaks?!?! :) 

I bought some delicious Tequila Caramel from this stand. We were first attracted to this booth because of the name-- Woodring Orchards.  We have some close family friends from Townsend, MT with that last name... any relation!?

 

And now moving into the main reason we went to Seattle in the first place! For the wedding of my dear friend, Steven.  Steven and Jessica started dating back when I still lived in Ames... so maybe 2006? I had the great delight of meeting and getting to know Jessica before the two of them moved to Seattle.  Steven I have known since we were in seventh grade.  He's actually still to this date the friend I have had the longest who I still keep in touch with.  He's a pretty tremendous guy! Jessica is so wonderful as well.  Wish we all lived closer. :)

Steven is a very talented person in many different realms. One of his talents is glass blowing.  Steven and a friend made all these little glass penguin figurines and glass ornaments for the centerpieces at the wedding reception.  They were beautiful!

 Another person I was so fortunate to reconnect with at the wedding was another dear friend from high school, Leslie! I hadn't seen her since high school but was so delighted to find that we were still easy friends. Sometimes when you reconnect with someone you haven't seen in a while, either you or they have changed so much that you can't see why you were friends in the first place. Not so with Leslie.  I had a great time catching up with her!

 Jessica and Steven.  The happy couple! I wished we had more time to catch up with them, but that's the nature of weddings. You're surrounded by friends and family but it's so hard to have meaningful conversations with any of them.  Next time, friends!

The light is a little goofy in this photo, but here's me, Jessica, Steven, and Leslie.

 

The wedding reception was at Golden Gardens park, right on a public beach on the Sound. Looking across the water, you could see the Olympic Peninsula and the mountains. 

 The reception was held in what was formerly a bath house and is now an events venue. It was perfect. The weather was perfect. The people were perfect. Everything was perfect!

 
 We were really only in Seattle for about 48 hours, in total, so we didn't have a ton of time to see too many people, unfortunately. Sunday, we did take some time to relax at a baseball game. Happily, the Cubs, my long-time favorite team, were playing the Mariners in interleague play. We decided rather last minute to buy tickets at the gate and go to the game before heading out of town.

 

Approaching the stadium, with great Mount Rainier in the background.

Safeco Field is pretty new and a very nice stadium.

The view from our seats.

Alas, we look pretty confused as fans.  Jeff in his Braves shirt and I in a Mariners hat, and we both cheering for the Cubs.  We got a few funny looks from the people seated around us.  I bought the Mariners hat because I had neglected to bring a hat of my own to the game and it was pretty sunny.  I guess I'm a Mariners fan, now! Since they are AL and the Cubs are NL it's probably OK to be fans of both, right?

 

Stay tuned for the next episode of Early Summer Roundup, coming soon!

Another Piece of the Puzzle

What happens to the crops from our fields after they go to the elevator? Here's an inside look at another section of the food-supply chain.

Last night, Jeff, Tom and I attended an open house at a newly opened pulse grain processing facility near Chester. The plant was formerly an aging grain elevator, poised for decline in business after the opening of two huge, brand new elevators in the area within the past year or so.  This factor combined with increasing bushels of pulse crops grown in the area made the elevator a good fit for the upgrade.

The elevator will now accept solely pulse crops-- yellow and green peas, chickpeas, and lentils, for example.  Green peas and lentils, specifically, will be processed within the facility. On the tour, I was able to snap quite a few photos and create this sort of photo tour.

It's hard to get an idea of the size of the plant from only these interior shots. It was dark outside already when we arrived, so I didn't bother taking any photos of the exterior.

Basically what happens is, farmers cut their crop in late summer and haul it to the elevator. At the elevator, it is processed and packaged before being shipped out to buyers around the world.  The night of the open house, they were processing lentils.  The first step was for sensors to identify off-color lentils and flush them out.  Tiny puffs of air separated individual lentil kernels from the whole.  We were told the off color kernels (and other "unusable" kernals, basically any kernels that didn't fit the quality standards) were separated out and are primarily used in gluten-free pet food.

Next, the lentils went through a series of large machines that cleaned out chaff and small rocks:

Jeff sticks his hand into the (not-running) machine, to give an idea of scale.

The machine in action. Lentils pour in onto this large tray with holes in it.
The holes are sized such that unwanted pieces fall through and the lentils stay on top.

After the cleaning process, the lentils are filled into 55lb bags and machine-stitched closed.

Finished bags of grain.
These are two of the company's premier products: Emerald Empire Lentils and "Natures Choice" green peas.

A robotic arm stacks bags of lentils onto pallets.

Pallets are eventually loaded onto boxcars and away they go!

 I found it interesting to see how product we raise in this area is handled after we drop it off at the elevator.  Several other reasons I am excited about the facility include:

• Encouragement of crop diversity beyond wheat
• The facility creates a few more jobs for the area
• The building was "recycled" for a new purpose, rather than left abandoned.

They served lentil chili for dinner, which was really yummy!

Some samples of pulse grains this facility could take.
A few varieties of lentils, yellow peas, and green peas.

Pulse crops are destined primarily for human consumption.  Yellow peas (which Jeff and I grew for the first time this past season) and chickpeas are primarily ground into flour. India is the major buyer for these. Green peas and lentils are often unaltered after leaving a facility like the one in Chester. One company in the Philippines uses green peas to make a snack food.  

Philippino snack food, anyone?  

A sample of green peas used to impress buyers all around the world.

The marketing pitch from company representative was a little over the top and hard to swallow at times. I kept hearing the words to the old song "Sixteen Tons" as he spoke about contracts... "I owe my soul to the company store..." and seeing visions of Monopoly properties and price control... But if you can attend the presentation and read between the lines, you're OK in the end. Overall, it was a really interesting night.  The processing was really interesting and the global nature of the food supply was, too.  We will likely not contract with this elevator ahead of time, but, happily, we will still be able to bring our peas here if we need to or want to. In all, another piece of the food supply chain puzzle was filled in for me, and I can seldom pass up an opportunity to learn. 

What Comes After Hay Season?

Hay season has come and gone. To me it seems like it was shorter this year than it was last year. Part of this is because the hay fields produced less hay this year. Another reason is that some of the CRP that was coming out this year was sprayed or burned instead of hayed.  All the same, we find all the hay ground that was going to be cut this year had been cut and baled. Tom finished in the baler over the weekend.

What comes after hay season? Harvest.

Let me tell you, there is definitely a buzz about harvest in the air everywhere you go. People comparing the ripeness of their crops and discussing who has and who hasn't started cutting yet. It seems like once someone starts cutting in the area, all the farmers feel like they need to be cutting and they are already behind. In some cases, people start cutting even before their  crop is ready to be cut.  They just get that itch and need to start I guess.

Jeff and I had a busy weekend in Bozeman this past weekend, attending the bachelor/bachelorette parties of some friends. It was a fun weekend and great to see some friends and family we don't see very often.  Now that we are back, we are in full on GET-READY-FOR-HARVEST mode.  Good thing we got off the farm for a few days when we could, because now it is unlikely we will leave the area again until after harvest is over, unless a chance rain shower should cause a delay.

Jeff and I went on a crop tour last night.  We evaluated the winter wheat and the peas for ripeness and determined that both probably could have been cut already, especially the peas. So now it is game on. Get ready for harvest as fast as you can. Don't delay a moment!

The guys have been busy today preparing grain bins to be filled with wheat and also prepping the combine.  I have to admit, when I see the combine out of the shed and being worked on, even I get a little excited. I guess it didn't take long to turn me into a farm girl!

All things considered, what I am most excited about is cutting our first crop on the land Jeff and I are renting.  Truly, it looks like a great crop. It is so encouraging in our first year of farming together to see the golden harvest looming on the horizon.

Holy Hail!

We had it lucky.

For me and Jeff, our first year farming our own leased land looked like it would be pretty good. Each passing day fed the optimism for the potential of a great crop. Jeff has made great farming decisions all season long. This coupled with some well-timed rains and the crops were really looking pretty good.

Our winter wheat is headed out and looking good.

Jeff demonstrating a pea blossom.  Each bloom will create a pod.

A field of bloomin' peas.

So far this season we had dodged the pop-up hailstorms and severe weather (even some tornados!) that had pummeled some of our neighboring communities.  Yesterday, that changed; A severe storm system moved its way through our area.  Many farms along its northeasterly trajectory were affected, not only by hail stones the size of shooter marbles or golf balls, but also by strong winds.  One neighbor of ours reported a gust of 85mph. Another neighbor had recorded 92mph.

(Photo from Rachel Kimmet Berg's facebook page)

Electric lines were knocked down, leaving many country homes without power well into the evening.  Some neighbors lost roofs on buildings and found cracked and broken windows.  Our house and property was spared- no damage.  Our farmland was hit with some hail damage: minor in most places.  Jeff thinks maybe around 25-30% at the very worst spots, from what he could tell. Unfortunately for our neighbors, some of the farmland adjacent to ours is much worse.

The torrential hail damaged many ripening wheat fields in the area.  Heads battened down and kernels shattered all around.  One friend of mine was pretty bummed when we were comparing damage reports.  She described her wheat as looking like it had "gone to sleep." The wheat was laying down in the field. She and her husband are another young couple, just starting out in farming. I find a lot of similarities between them and us, which underlined in my mind that it could have just as easily been me and Jeff whose wheat had gone for The Big Sleep. Another farmer south of us said he thinks he may have a hundred acres LEFT.  When farms acres are measured by the thousands as they are in these parts, to have only about one hundred acres spared is a pretty big deal.

Crop insurance with added hail policies offer some monetary protection and reimbursement against unpredictable damages crops can suffer. Hail and other weather-related disasters are unavoidable, despite a farmer's best effort at planning. It is a well-known truth that weather cannot be counted upon.  Weather can make or break any crop. It has no regard for hopes of farmers and their families. Perhaps it is the disappointment of not being able to cut a great crop at its fullest potential come harvest that bums us out the most. By now, we have all seen a glimpse of the promise of what the crop could amount to.

Looking on the bright side, we are not currently faced with raging wildfires that are burning up our neighboring states, and even in some places in Montana.  There is no Tropical Storm Debby, either. Our hail storm, small by relative standards, also came with rain.  Rain that may even be enough to offset damages done by the hail in some places.  For all that, we should be thankful.

After all, we really have it pretty lucky.

Early Spring Roundup!

Yeehaw, buckaroos! Spring is in full fling!  We have had a lot going on around here, much more than the dearth of blog posts may suggest.  Here's a compilation of blurbs and photos-- the Early Spring Roundup, if you will-- of the goings-on.

Seeding Has Begun

Using the air drill for the first time to seed yellow peas.

Jeff recently planted yellow peas on our rented farmland. Jeff had been stewing the idea of peas and other legumes around in his mind for some time and was recently encouraged by another young couple we met and got to know at the Young Ag Couples Conference back in January, and also by personal research (never stop learning, people!).  Peas help restore nitrogen and other nutrients to the soil and are a nice rotation crop.  Any time we can naturally augment the land, I am happy.  Seeding of barley and spring wheat will follow within the next few weeks.  Our winter wheat (planted last fall) is filling in nicely, as well.

Sewing Projects
Speaking of dearth of activity, my sewing corner had been feeling neglected until this past weekend.  I finished a set of curtains and completed a prom dress alteration.  For the dress, the task was to take out the zipper and convert to a lace-up corset style back.  Upcoming projects include a commissioned project to create some apron and pot-holder sets for Mothers Day gifts, some fabric collage notecards, and re-stocking SweetGrassSewing.

Prom Dress!!

A close up on the curtains.  

Two of the more recent pairs.

Calving
The last heifer calved on Easter, right as Jeff and I were preparing to sit down to our Easter Dinner.  We ate rushedly and hurried back to the corral to check on her.  When we got there, she was cleaning her newborn, TINY calf as if she were an old pro. At this point, there are less than ten cows who are still preparing to calve-- just the stragglers.  It has been a great calving season of warm weather and relatively few issues thus far.

And What About the Men?
The bulls Jeff and I purchased at the BULL AUCTION back in February were scheduled to arrive this past Tuesday evening.  They ended up arriving a little after 10:00pm.  We unloaded them and the new young bulls joined their more experienced brethren, bringing the bull count back up to six.  Soon, the time will come for them to join the cows out in the pasture and the birds and the bees shall run their course.

A recent sunset.

One Hundred Photos
Thank you to everyone who checked out my 100th post slide show.  It was a pleasure to create and share with all of you.  Many have shared comments of appreciation.  Thanks for taking a look!